Matthew 5

English Standard Version

The Sermon on the Mount

5 Seeing the crowds, ^(A)he went up on the mountain, and when he ^(B)sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

²And ^(C)he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

³^(D)“Blessed are ^(E)the poor in spirit, for ^(F)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴“Blessed are ^(G)those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

⁵“Blessed are the ^(H)meek, for they ^(I)shall inherit the earth.

⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and ^(J)thirst ^(K)for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

⁷“Blessed are ^(L)the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

⁸“Blessed are ^(M)the pure in heart, for ^(N)they shall see God.

⁹“Blessed are ^(O)the peacemakers, for ^(P)they shall be called ^(Q)sons^[a] of God.

¹⁰^(R)“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for ^(S)theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹^(T)“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely ^(U)on my account. ¹²^(V)Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for ^(W)so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth, ^(X)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

¹⁴^(Y)“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵^(Z)Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so ^(AA)that^[b] they may see your good works and ^(AB)give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

¹⁷^(AC)“Do not think that I have come to abolish ^(AD)the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but ^(AE)to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly, I say to you, ^(AF)until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹^(AG)Therefore whoever relaxes ^(AH)one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least ^(AI)in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great ^(AJ)in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds ^(AK)that of the scribes and Pharisees, you ^(AL)will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Anger

²¹^(AM)“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ^(AN)‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable ^(AO)to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that ^(AP)everyone who is angry with his brother^[c] will be liable ^(AQ)to judgment; whoever insults^[d] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to ^(AR)the hell^[e] of fire. ²³^(AS)So if ^(AT)you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵^(AU)Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. ²⁶Truly, I say to you, ^(AV)you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.^[f]

Lust

²⁷^(AW)“You have heard that it was said, ^(AX)‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I say to you that ^(AY)everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹^(AZ)If your right eye ^(BA)causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into ^(BB)hell. ³⁰^(BC)And if your right hand ^(BD)causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into ^(BE)hell.

Divorce

³¹^(BF)“It was also said, ^(BG)‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²^(BH)But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and ^(BI)whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

³³“Again ^(BJ)you have heard that it was said to those of old, ^(BK)‘You shall not swear falsely, but ^(BL)shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ ³⁴But I say to you, ^(BM)Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for ^(BN)it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is ^(BO)the city of the great King. ³⁶And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; ^(BP)anything more than this comes from evil.^[g]

Retaliation

³⁸^(BQ)“You have heard that it was said, ^(BR)‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I say to you, ^(BS)Do not resist the one who is evil. But ^(BT)if anyone ^(BU)slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰And ^(BV)if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,^[h] let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹And if anyone ^(BW)forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴²^(BX)Give to the one who begs from you, and ^(BY)do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

⁴³^(BZ)“You have heard that it was said, ^(CA)‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, ^(CB)Love your enemies and ^(CC)pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵^(CD)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and ^(CE)sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶^(CF)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers,^[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even ^(CG)the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸^(CH)You therefore must be ^(CI)perfect, ^(CJ)as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Footnotes

Matthew 5:9 Greek huioi; see Preface
Matthew 5:16 Or house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before others that
Matthew 5:22 Some manuscripts insert without cause
Matthew 5:22 Greek says Raca to (a term of abuse)
Matthew 5:22 Greek Gehenna; also verses 29, 30
Matthew 5:26 Greek kodrantes, Roman copper coin (Latin quadrans) worth about 1/64 of a denarius (which was a day's wage for a laborer)
Matthew 5:37 Or the evil one
Matthew 5:40 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin
Matthew 5:47 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters

Jeremiah 5-6

English Standard Version

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

5 ^(A)Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look and take note!
Search her squares to see
    ^(B)if you can find a man,
one who does justice
    and seeks truth,
^(C)that I may pardon her.
²^(D)Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    ^(E)yet they swear falsely.
³O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
^(F)You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
^(G)They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
^(H)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
^(I)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore ^(J)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a ^(K)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
^(L)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their ^(M)apostasies are great.

⁷^(N)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    ^(O)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
^(P)When I fed them to the full,
    ^(Q)they committed adultery
    ^(R)and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    ^(S)each neighing ^(T)for his neighbor's wife.
⁹^(U)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

¹⁰^(V)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    ^(W)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
¹¹^(X)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
¹²They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
^(Y)no disaster will come upon us,
    ^(Z)nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, ^(AA)I am making my words in your mouth ^(AB)a fire,
    and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
¹⁵^(AC)Behold, I am bringing against you
    a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
    it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
    ^(AD)nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶^(AE)Their quiver is like ^(AF)an open tomb;
    they are all mighty warriors.
¹⁷^(AG)They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
    they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
    they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your ^(AH)fortified cities in which you trust
    they shall beat down with the sword.”

¹⁸“But even in those days, declares the Lord, ^(AI)I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹And when your people say, ^(AJ)‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, ^(AK)so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹“Hear this, ^(AL)O foolish and senseless people,
    ^(AM)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
²²^(AN)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^(AO)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though ^(AP)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
²³^(AQ)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
^(AR)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    ^(AS)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
²⁵^(AT)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶For wicked men are found among my people;
    ^(AU)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.^[a]
^(AV)They set a trap;
    they catch men.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
²⁸    ^(AW)they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    ^(AX)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
²⁹^(AY)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

³⁰An appalling and ^(AZ)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
³¹^(BA)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
^(BB)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

6 Flee for safety, ^(BC)O people of Benjamin,
    from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in ^(BD)Tekoa,
    and raise a signal on ^(BE)Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms ^(BF)out of the north,
    and great destruction.
²The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
    ^(BG)the daughter of Zion.^[b]
³^(BH)Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
    ^(BI)they shall pitch their tents around her;
    they shall pasture, each in his place.
⁴^(BJ)“Prepare war against her;
    arise, and let us attack ^(BK)at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
    for the shadows of evening lengthen!
⁵Arise, and let us attack by night
    and destroy her palaces!”

⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(BL)“Cut down her trees;
    ^(BM)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be ^(BN)punished;
    there is nothing but oppression within her.
⁷^(BO)As a well keeps its water fresh,
    so she keeps fresh her evil;
^(BP)violence and destruction are heard within her;
    sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    ^(BQ)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you ^(BR)a desolation,
    an uninhabited land.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(BS)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
¹⁰^(BT)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
^(BU)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    ^(BV)they cannot listen;
behold, ^(BW)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
    ^(BX)I am weary of holding it in.
^(BY)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
^(BZ)both husband and wife ^(CA)shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
¹²^(CB)Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
¹³^(CC)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone ^(CD)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from ^(CE)prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ^(CF)‘Peace, peace,’
    ^(CG)when there is no peace.
¹⁵^(CH)Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    ^(CI)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
    and ask for ^(CJ)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
    ^(CK)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷^(CL)I set watchmen over you, saying,
    ‘Pay attention to ^(CM)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ^(CN)‘We will not pay attention.’
¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
    ^(CO)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
    and as for my law, they have rejected it.
²⁰^(CP)What use to me is ^(CQ)frankincense that comes from ^(CR)Sheba,
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
^(CS)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
²¹Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(CT)‘Behold, I will lay before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

²²Thus says the Lord:
^(CU)“Behold, a people is coming ^(CV)from the north country,
    a great nation is stirring from ^(CW)the farthest parts of the earth.
²³They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are ^(CX)cruel and have no mercy;
    ^(CY)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
²⁴We have heard the report of it;
    ^(CZ)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    ^(DA)pain as of a woman in labor.
²⁵Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    ^(DB)terror is on every side.
²⁶O daughter of my people, ^(DC)put on sackcloth,
    and ^(DD)roll in ashes;
^(DE)make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.

²⁷“I have made you ^(DF)a tester of metals among my people,
    that you may know and ^(DG)test their ways.
²⁸^(DH)They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    ^(DI)going about with slanders;
they are ^(DJ)bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.
²⁹The ^(DK)bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
^(DL)in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
³⁰^(DM)Rejected silver they are called,
    for the Lord has rejected them.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 5:26 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Jeremiah 6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture

Job 3

English Standard Version

Job Laments His Birth

3 After this Job ^(A)opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²And Job said:

³^(B)“Let the day perish on which I was born,
    and the night that said,
    ‘A man is conceived.’
⁴Let that day be darkness!
    May God above not seek it,
    nor light shine upon it.
⁵Let gloom and ^(C)deep darkness claim it.
    Let clouds dwell upon it;
    let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶That night—let thick darkness seize it!
    Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
    let it not come into the number of the months.
⁷Behold, let that night be barren;
    let no joyful cry enter it.
⁸Let those curse it who curse the day,
    who are ready to rouse up ^(D)Leviathan.
⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
    let it hope for light, but have none,
    nor see ^(E)the eyelids of the morning,
¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb,
    nor hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹“Why ^(F)did I not die at birth,
    come out from the womb and expire?
¹²Why did ^(G)the knees receive me?
    Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
¹³For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
    I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth
    who ^(H)rebuilt ruins for themselves,
¹⁵or with princes who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁶Or why was I not as a hidden ^(I)stillborn child,
    as infants who never see the light?
¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling,
    and there the weary are at ^(J)rest.
¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together;
    they hear not the voice of ^(K)the taskmaster.
¹⁹The small and the great are there,
    and the slave is free from his master.

²⁰“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
    and life to ^(L)the bitter in soul,
²¹who ^(M)long for death, but it comes not,
    and dig for it more than for ^(N)hidden treasures,
²²who rejoice exceedingly
    and are glad when they find the grave?
²³Why is light given to a man whose ^(O)way is hidden,
    whom God has ^(P)hedged in?
²⁴For my sighing comes ^(Q)instead of^[a] my bread,
    and my ^(R)groanings are poured out like water.
²⁵^(S)For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
    and what I dread befalls me.
²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
    I have no rest, but trouble comes.”