The Glorious New Creation

Let Zion Rejoice

³ For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.^{(C) 4} For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.^{(D) 5} Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised.^{(E) 6} Therefore my people shall know my name; on^[b] that day they shall know that it is I who speak—it is I!^(F)

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

³⁶ While they were talking about this, Jesus^[a] himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^{[b] 37} They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.^{(A) 38} He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”^{(B) 40} And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.^{[c] 41} Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”^{(C) 42} They gave him a piece of broiled fish,^{[d] 43} and he took it and ate in their presence.^(D)

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”^{(E) 45} Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶ and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah^[e] is^[f] to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day^{(F) 47} and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.^{(G) 48} You are witnesses^[g] of these things.^{(H) 49} And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”^(I)

The Ascension of Jesus

⁵⁰ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.^{(J) 51} While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.^{[h](K) 52} And they worshiped him and^[i] returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and they were continually in the temple^[j] blessing God.^[k](L)

Unity in the Body of Christ

4 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,^{(A) 2} with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,^{(B) 3} making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: ⁴ there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,^{(C) 5} one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.^[a]

⁷ But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.^{(D) 8} Therefore it is said,

⁹ (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended^[c] into the lower parts of the earth?^{[d] 10} He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers^{(F) 12} to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,^{(G) 13} until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity,^[e] to the measure of the full stature of Christ.^{(H) 14} We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;^{(I) 15} but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,^{(J) 16} from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.