Thematic Bible: Delivers the "sermon on the mount" (in galilee)


Thematic Bible



Then, raising his eyes he looked at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you poor! the Realm of God is yours. Blessed are you who hunger to-day! you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep to-day! you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men will hate you, when they will excommunicate you and denounce you and defame you as wicked on account of the Son of man; read more.
rejoice on that day and leap for joy! rich is your reward in heaven for their fathers did the very same to the prophets. But woe to you rich folk! you get all the comforts you will ever get. Woe to you who have your fill to-day! you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh to-day! you will wail and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you! that is just what their fathers did to the false prophets. I tell you, my hearers, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you: bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If a man strikes you on the one cheek, offer him the other as well: if anyone takes your coat, do not deny him your shirt as well; give to anyone who asks you, and do not ask your goods back from anyone who has taken them. As you would like men to do to you, so do to them. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Why, even sinful men love those who love them. If you help only those who help you, what merit is that to you? Why, even sinful men do that. If you only lend to those from whom you hope to get something, what credit is that to you? Even sinful men lend to one another, so as to get a fair return. No, you must love your enemies and help them, you must lend to them without expecting any return; then you will have a rich reward, you will be sons of the Most High for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Also, judge not, and you will not be judged yourselves: condemn not, and you will not be condemned: pardon, and you will be pardoned yourselves: give, and you will have ample measure given you ??they will pour into your lap measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over; for the measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to yourselves." He also told them a parabolic word: "Can one blind man lead another? will they not both fall into a pit? A scholar is not above his teacher: but if he is perfectly trained he will be like his teacher. Why do you note the splinter in your brother's eye and fail to see the plank in your own eye? How dare you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,' and you never notice the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see properly to take out the splinter in your brother's eye. No sound tree bears rotten fruit, nor again does a rotten tree bear sound fruit: each tree is known by its fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, and grapes are not plucked from a bramble-bush. The good man produces good from the good stored in his heart, and the evil man evil from his evil: for a man's mouth utters what his heart is full of. Why call me, 'Lord, Lord!' and obey me not? Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man engaged in building a house, who dug deep down and laid his foundation on the rock; when a flood came, the river dashed against that house but could not shake it, for it had been well built. He who has listened and has not obeyed is like a man who built a house on the earth with no foundation; the river dashed against it and it collapsed at once, and the ruin of that house was great."