The Season of Epiphany

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you.

²Look, darkness covers the earth,

and deep darkness covers the peoples,

but the Lord will dawn upon you,

and his glory will be seen over you.

³Nations will walk to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴Look up. Look all around and see!

All of them have been gathered. They are coming to you.

Your sons will come from far away,

and people will carry your daughters on their side.

⁵Then you will look and be radiant.

Your heart will race with excitement and burst with joy.

For great riches from the sea will be delivered to you.

The wealth of the nations will come to you.

⁶Caravans of camels will cover your land,

young camels from Midian and Ephah.

All those from Sheba will come.

They will carry gold and incense,

and they will announce the good news of the praise of the Lord.

For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

²Surely you have heard of the administration of God’s grace given to me for you, ³namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation (as I have already written briefly). ⁴When you read this, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. ⁵This mystery was not made known to people in past generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is that in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and people who also share in the promise through the gospel.

⁷I became a servant of this gospel, in keeping with the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. ⁸To me—even though I am the very least of all the saints—was given this grace: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ⁹and to enlighten everyone about the administration of this mystery. In past ages this mystery remained hidden in God, who created all things. ¹⁰He did this so that, through the church, the multifaceted wisdom of God in the heavenly places might now be made known to the rulers and authorities. ¹¹This was done according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²In him we can freely approach God with confidence through faith in him.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. They asked, ²“Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴He gathered together all the people’s chief priests and experts in the law. He asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the prophet:

⁶You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of Judah: because out of you will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people, Israel.”

⁷Then Herod secretly summoned the Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.”

⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. Then the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy. ¹¹After they went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²Since they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight.

I am placing my Spirit on him.

He will announce a just verdict for the nations.

²He will not cry out.

He will not raise his voice.

He will not make his voice heard in the street.

³A bent reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out.

He will faithfully bring forth a just verdict.

⁴He will not burn out, and he will not be broken

until he establishes justice on the earth.

The coastlands will wait for his law.

⁵This is what the true God says,

the Lord who creates the heavens and stretches them out,

who spreads out the earth

and everything that it produces,

who gives breath to the people on it

and life to those who walk on it.

⁶I am the Lord.

I have called you in righteousness.

I will hold on to your hand,

and I will guard you.

I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,

to be a light for the nations,

⁷to open the eyes of the blind,

to bring the prisoners out from the dungeon,

and to bring those who sit in darkness out of prison.

⁸I am the Lord; that is my name.

I will not give my glory to another,

nor my praise to idols.

⁹Look, the former things have taken place,

and I am declaring new things.

I am making them known to you before they spring forth.

What shall we say then? Shall we keep on sinning so that grace may increase? ²Absolutely not! We died to sin. How can we go on living in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.

⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him, to make our sinful body powerless, so that we would not continue to serve sin. ⁷For the person who has died has been declared free from sin. ⁸And since we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he will never die again. Death no longer has control over him. ¹⁰For the death he died, he died to sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹In the same way also consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John at the Jordan. ¹⁴But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, because it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John let him. ¹⁶After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up out of the water. Suddenly, the heavens were opened for him! He saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and landing on him, ¹⁷and a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.”

Listen to me, you coastlands.

Pay attention, you faraway peoples!

The Lord called me from the womb.

When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.

He hid me in the shadow of his hand.

He made me a polished arrow.

He concealed me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant Israel,

in whom I will display my glory.”

⁴But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain.

I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.

Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord,

and my reward is with my God.”

⁵But now the Lord,

who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to turn Jacob back to him,

so that Israel might be gathered to him,

so that I will be honored in the eyes of the Lord,

because my God has been my strength—

⁶the Lord said:

It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant

to raise up only the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel,

so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations,

so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.

⁷This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One,

says to the one deeply despised,

to the one who is detested by the nation,

to the servant of rulers.

Kings will see and stand up.

Officials will see and bow down,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

because of the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God in Corinth—those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are called as saints—along with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

⁴I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. ⁵You were enriched in him in every way, in all your speaking and all your knowledge, ⁶because the testimony about Christ was established in you. ⁷As a result you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful, who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

²⁹The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me outranks me because he existed before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know who he was, but I came baptizing with water so that he would be revealed to Israel.”

³²John also testified, “I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from heaven and remain on him. ³³I myself did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I saw this myself and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵The next day, John was standing there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶When John saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” ³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

³⁸When Jesus turned around and saw them following him, he asked, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹He told them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying. They stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his own brother Simon and say to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “the Christ”). ⁴²He brought him to Jesus.

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for the land that was in anguish. In former times, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will cause it to be glorious, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.

²The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.

For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.

³You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you like the joy at harvest time,

like the celebration when people divide the plunder.

⁴For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them.

You have broken the bar on their shoulders and the rod of their oppressor,

as you did in the day of Midian.

¹⁰Brothers, I am making an appeal to you using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I ask that you all express the same view and not have any divisions among you, but that you be joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. ¹¹For the news I heard about you, my brothers, from members of Chloe’s household, is that there are rivalries among you. ¹²What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one can say that I baptized you into my own name. ¹⁶(I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides them, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—not with the wisdom used in speeches, so that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God

¹²When Jesus heard that John was put in prison, he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴He did this to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

¹⁶the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,

and on those dwelling in the region and the shadow of death a light has dawned.

¹⁷From that time, Jesus began to preach: “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.”

¹⁸As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. ¹⁹He said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

²⁰They immediately left their nets and followed him. ²¹Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

²³Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴News about him spread throughout all Syria. People brought to him all who were ill with various diseases and suffering severe pains, the demon-possessed, those who experienced seizures, and the paralyzed. Then he healed them. ²⁵Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Listen now to what the Lord is saying.

Get up. Plead your case to the mountains.

Let the hills hear your voice.

²Listen, you mountains, to the accusation from the Lord.

Pay attention, you enduring foundations of the earth,

because the Lord is presenting a case against his people,

and he is indicting Israel.

³My people, what have I done to you,

and how have I made you weary? Answer me!

⁴I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

I redeemed you from the place where you were slaves.

I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you.

⁵My people, remember what Balak king of Moab planned,

and how Balaam son of Beor responded to him

when you were about to travel from Shittim to Gilgal,

so that you may acknowledge the Lord’s righteous acts.

⁶With what am I to appear before the Lord?

How should I bow down to God on high?

Should I appear before him with burnt offerings,

with one-year-old calves?

⁷Will the Lord be delighted with thousands of rams,

with tens of thousands of streams of oil?

Should I give my firstborn for my rebellion,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has told you, mankind, what is good.

What does the Lord require from you,

except to carry out justice and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God?

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹In fact, it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nothing.

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age? Has God not shown that the wisdom of this world is foolish? ²¹Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message. ²²Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵We preach Christ crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For example, consider your call, brothers. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view, not many were powerful, and not many were born with high status. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong, ²⁸and God chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to do away with the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before God. ³⁰But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom from God, namely, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. ³¹God did this so that, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up onto a mountain. When he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²He opened his mouth and began to teach them. He said these things:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Blessed are those who mourn,

because they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the gentle,

because they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

because they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful,

because they will receive mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,

because they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,

because they will be called sons of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. In fact, that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

³“Why do we fast, but you do not see?

Why do we afflict ourselves, but you are not aware?”

This is what you do!

On the same day when you fast, you do whatever you please,

and you oppress all your workers.

⁴ You fast so you can fight and quarrel,

so you can strike with a wicked fist.

You should not fast the way you are doing it today

if you expect God on high to hear your voice.

⁵Is this the kind of fast that I would choose:

a day when a person afflicts himself

and bows his head like a reed

and makes his bed on sackcloth and ashes?

Do you call this a fast, a day to gain the Lord’s favor?

⁶On the contrary, isn’t this the kind of fast that I would choose:

to loosen the chains of wickedness,

to tear apart the ropes of a yoke,

to release the oppressed so they go free,

and to tear every yoke to pieces?

⁷Isn’t a true fast that you share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless and afflicted into a house?

Yes, when you see a naked person, you are to cover him,

and do not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood.

⁸Then your light will break forth like dawn,

and your healing will spring up quickly.

Your righteousness will go out ahead of you,

and the Glory of the Lord will follow you.

⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.

You will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am!”

As for me, brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with superior speech or wisdom in order to proclaim to you the testimony of God. ²For I had no intention of knowing anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³I came to you in weakness, in fear, and with much trembling. ⁴My message and my preaching were not marked by persuasive words of human wisdom, but by a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, but it is not a wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are being reduced to nothing. ⁷Instead we speak God’s wisdom that has been hidden in mystery—before the ages, God foreordained that this wisdom would result in our glory. ⁸None of the rulers of this world knew it. (If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.) ⁹But as it is written:

What no eye has seen and no ear has heard

and no human mind has conceived—

that is what God has prepared for those who love him.

¹⁰But God revealed it to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. ¹¹Indeed, who among men knows a man’s thoughts except the man’s spirit within him? So also, no one else knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit.

¹²What we received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the blessings freely given to us by God.

¹³We also speak about these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual truths with spiritual words. ¹⁴However, an unspiritual person does not accept the truths taught by God’s Spirit, because they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually evaluated. ¹⁵But the spiritual person evaluates all things, and he himself is evaluated by no one. ¹⁶Indeed, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

¹³“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? Then it is no good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

¹⁷“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled. ¹⁹So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

¹⁵See now, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. ¹⁶This is what I am commanding you today: Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, and keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and increase in number, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are going to possess.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you do not listen, and you are lured away, and you bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸then I declare to you today that you will most certainly perish. You will not live a long life on the land that you are about to enter and possess by crossing over the Jordan.

¹⁹I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live ²⁰by loving the Lord your God, by listening to his voice, and by clinging to him, because that means life for you, and you will live a long life on your land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Brothers, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as people who are led by the flesh, as infants in Christ. ²I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you were not yet ready. Why, even now you are still not ready, ³because you are still people who are following the flesh. Indeed, insofar as jealousy, strife, and factions have a place among you, are you not people who are following the flesh? Are you not behaving in a merely human way? ⁴When one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are ministers through whom you believed, and each served as the Lord gave him his role. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. ⁷So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters are united, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. ⁹For God is the one whom we serve as coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building.

²¹“You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will have to answer to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of hell fire.

²³“So if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift.

²⁵“If someone accuses you, reach an agreement with him quickly, while you are with him on the way. Otherwise your accuser may bring you to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶Amen I tell you: You will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ²⁸but I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to fall into sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰If your right hand causes you to fall into sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

³¹“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to be regarded as an adulteress. And whoever marries the divorced woman is regarded as an adulterer.

³³“Again you have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not break your oaths, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I tell you, do not swear at all: not by heaven, because it is God’s throne; ³⁵and not by earth, because it is his footstool; and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. ³⁶And do not swear by your own head, since you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Instead, let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes,’ or ‘No, no.’ Whatever goes beyond these is from the Evil One.

¹The Lord told Moses ²to speak to the whole community of the Israelites and tell them these things:

You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

⁹When you reap the harvest from your land, you are not to finish reaping all the way to the edge of the field. Do not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰Do not strip your vineyard clean, and do not pick up the fallen grapes from your vineyard, but leave them for the poor and the alien who live with you. I am the Lord your God.

¹¹You shall not steal. You shall not swindle. You shall not lie to one another. ¹²You shall not swear falsely by my name so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

¹³You shall not exploit your neighbor. You shall not rob him. You shall not keep the wages of a day laborer with you overnight until morning.

¹⁴You shall not curse a deaf person, nor shall you put an obstacle in front of a blind person, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.

¹⁵You shall not act unjustly in court cases. Do not show favoritism to a poor person, and do not show undue honor to an important person. You must judge your fellow citizens with justice.

¹⁶You shall not go around spreading slander among your people. You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor in a capital case. I am the Lord.

¹⁷You shall not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. You must openly rebuke your fellow citizen so that you do not become responsible for his sin. ¹⁸You must not take revenge. You must not bear a grudge against the members of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

¹⁰In keeping with the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. But let each person be careful how he builds on it. ¹¹In fact, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²But if anyone is building on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³each person’s work will become evident. The Day will make it plain, because it is going to be revealed in fire, and the fire will test each person’s work to show what sort of work it is. ¹⁴If what someone has built remains, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but it will be like an escape through fire.

¹⁶Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this world, let him become a fool so that he may become wise. ¹⁹To be sure, the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰and again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise; he knows that it is worthless.” ²¹Therefore let no one boast about men. For all things belong to you— ²²whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All things belong to you, ²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I tell you, do not resist an evildoer. If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰If anyone wants to sue you to take away your shirt, give him your coat too. ⁴¹Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶Indeed if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even tax collectors do that, don’t they? ⁴⁷If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the unbelievers do that? ⁴⁸So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

⁸This is what the Lord says.

In the time of favor, I will answer you.

In the day of salvation, I will help you.

I will guard you,

and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,

to re-establish the land,

to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted,

⁹to say to the prisoners, “Go forth!”

to those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”

They will graze beside roads,

and they will find pasture on all the barren heights.

¹⁰They will not hunger, and they will not thirst,

and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,

because the one who shows them mercy will lead them.

He will guide them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a smooth road,

and my highways will be raised up.

¹²Look, people will come from far away.

Look, some will come from the north and the west,

and some from the land of Sinim.

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens,

and rejoice, O earth.

Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy,

because the Lord is comforting his people,

and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.

The Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child

and not show mercy to the son from her womb?

Even if these women could forget,

I will never forget you.

¹⁶Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. ²In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³But it is a trivial matter to me if I am evaluated by you or by a day in a human court. Why, I do not even evaluate myself. ⁴I do not in fact know of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this; rather, the one who evaluates me is the Lord. ⁵Therefore judge nothing ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts. Then there will be praise for each person from God.

⁶Brothers, I turned these things into a lesson using myself and Apollos as examples. I did this for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be arrogant, favoring one person over the other. ⁷For who makes you so special? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁸Oh, you are already filled! You have already become rich! You have begun to reign without us! If only that were really true, so that we could reign with you!

⁹For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, in the lowliest position, like men sentenced to death, because we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak—but you are so strong! You are honored! But we are despised. ¹¹At the present we still hunger and thirst and lack proper clothing. We are treated roughly, and we have no settled place to live in. ¹²We toil, working with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. ¹³When slandered, we speak kind words. We have been treated like the world’s garbage, like everyone’s trash, right up to the present time.

²⁴“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and

²⁵“For this reason I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

²⁷“Which of you can add a single moment to his lifespan by worrying? ²⁸Why do you worry about clothing? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, ²⁹but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not clothe you even more, you of little faith?

³¹“So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For the unbelievers chase after all these things. Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

⁸Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people. He said, “Look, here is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord made with you by means of all these words.”

⁹Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. ¹⁰They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet they saw what looked like a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky. ¹¹The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people of Israel. They gazed at God, and they ate and drank.

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, so that you can teach them.”

¹³Moses set out with his assistant Joshua and went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, here are Aaron and Hur. They will be with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”

¹⁵Moses went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. ¹⁶The Glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. ¹⁷The appearance of the Glory of the Lord looked like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸Moses entered into the middle of the cloud and climbed up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

¹⁶To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from within the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” ¹⁸We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹We also have the completely reliable prophetic word. You do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, ²⁰since we know this above all else: No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James; and he led them up onto a high mountain by themselves. ²There he was transfigured in front of them. His face was shining like the sun. His clothing became as white as the light. ³Just then, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.

⁴Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them. Just then, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell face down and were terrified. ⁷Jesus approached and as he touched them, he said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” ⁸When they opened their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus alone. ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”