Book of Common Prayer

4 And now, brothers, here is what we ask you to do. We beg you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We taught you how to live and to please God. You are living that way now, and we want you to do so more and more.

² You know what we told you through the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ This is what God wants. He wants you to live clean lives. He wants you to keep away from wrong sex.

⁴ Each of you should know how to control yourself. Honour your body to make it holy.

⁵ Do not have sex with a person you are not married to. Control your strong feelings. Do not act like the people who do not know God.

⁶ Do not do wrong to your Christian brother by taking his wife for yourself. The Lord will surely punish all those who do wrong in these things. We have already told you that and made it very clear.

⁷ God did not call us to live unclean lives. He wants you to live clean and holy lives.

⁸ So anyone who does not obey is not just disobeying a man, but he is disobeying God. And it is God who has given us his Holy Spirit.

⁹ You do not need anyone to write to you about how to love each other. God himself has taught you to be loving towards each other.

¹⁰ And you do love all the Christian brothers who are in the whole country of Macedonia. But we beg you, brothers, love them more and more.

¹¹ Please try to live a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work with your hands as we told you to do.

¹² Then people who do not belong to the church will respect you. And you will not need help from anyone. here is something I want you to know about those who have died. You should not cry for them like people cry who have no hope.

⁴¹ But Jesus asked them, `How can people say that Christ is David's son?

⁴³ David himself says in the book of the Psalms, "The Lord said to my Lord, sit beside me until I make you master over your enemies."

⁴⁴ So David calls Christ his Lord. How can Christ be David's son?'

⁴⁵ Then Jesus talked to his disciples while all the people could hear him.

⁴⁶ He said, `Take care. Do not let the scribes fool you. They like to walk about dressed in long gowns. They want people to greet them in the market. They want to have the front seats in the meeting houses. They want to sit in the best places at feasts.

⁴⁷ They take away the homes of women whose husbands are dead. They cover up their wrong ways by talking to God a long time. They will be punished more!'

21 Jesus looked around in the temple. He saw the place where the people put in their money. Rich people were putting in their money.

² And he saw a poor woman whose husband was dead. She put in two small pieces of money.

³ Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. This poor woman has given more than all the other people.

⁴ All these people had plenty of money and they gave only a part of it. She was poor and she gave everything she had. She has nothing left to live on.'