Book of Common Prayer

¹⁷ Here then is what the Lord has told me to say. You must not live like the people who do not believe in God. They do not think clearly.

¹⁸ Their minds are dark. They are far away from God's life because they do not know the truth. They have no love in their hearts.

¹⁹ Nothing makes them ashamed anymore. They live a very bad life. They do every kind of wrong thing. And they always want to do it more.

²⁰ That is not what you have learned from Christ!

²¹ You were taught by him, and Jesus has the truth!

²² Stop being the person you used to be in your old life. That person was bad because he wanted to do wrong things.

²³ Have a new mind and heart.

²⁴ Be a new person. That new person has been made like God. He does what is right and holy because he knows the truth.

²⁵ So stop telling lies. Tell the truth to each other. We all are parts of the same body.

²⁶ When you are angry, do not do anything wrong. And do not stay angry after the sun goes down.

²⁷ Do not let the devil control you.

²⁸ The person who used to steal must not steal now. But he must do some good work with his own hands. Then he will have something to give to the poor people.

²⁹ Do not let any bad words come out of your mouth. But say good things that will help people. Then those who hear you will also be blessed by what you say.

³⁰ Do nothing that makes the Holy Spirit feel sad. He is the mark God has put on you until the day you will belong to God altogether.

³¹ You must stop all hate, big and small anger, loud talk, saying wrong things about people, and all wanting to do wrong things to people.

³² Be kind to one another. Have a loving and understanding heart. Forgive one another because God has forgiven you for Christ's sake.

¹⁵ The people wanted to take Jesus by force to make him a king. When he saw this, he left again and went on the hill by himself.

¹⁶ In the evening his disciples went down to the lake [called the sea of Galilee].

¹⁷ They got in a boat and crossed over the sea toward the town of Capernaum. It was dark, but Jesus had not come back to them.

¹⁸ A strong wind was blowing. It made the water very rough.

¹⁹ They rowed the boat into the middle of the lake. Then they saw Jesus walking on the water. He came close to the boat. They were afraid.

²⁰ But Jesus said to them, `It is I. Do not fear.'

²¹ Then they were glad to take him into the boat. Then at once the boat reached the land to which they were going.

²² The people who stayed back on the land had seen one boat only. They had seen the disciples get in it and go away without Jesus.

²³ But there were some other boats from Tiberias. It was near the place where they had eaten bread, after the Lord had thanked God for it.

²⁴ The next day the people saw that Jesus and his disciples were not there. Then they went to Capernaum in boats to look for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said, `Teacher, when did you get here?'

²⁶ Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. You do not want me because you saw the big works I did, but you want me because you ate all the bread you wanted.

²⁷ Do not work for the food that spoils, but work for the food that will never spoil, the food that will give you life for ever. The Son of Man will give you that food. God my Father has chosen him to do that.'