dedication

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

¹⁷Let everything whatsoever that you do, whether in word or in deed, be done all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

¹³For this reason, gird the waist of your mind, be sober, and hope perfectly in the grace that is offered to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night. ³And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper. ⁴Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore, the impious will not prevail again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.

²My brothers, when you have fallen into various trials, consider everything a joy, ³knowing that the proving of your faith exercises patience, ⁴and patience brings a work to perfection, so that you may be perfect and whole, deficient in nothing.

⁸I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you will walk. I will fix my eyes upon you.

²⁸All that is consecrated to the Lord, whether it is a man, or an animal, or a field, shall not be sold; neither is it able to be redeemed. Anything, once it has been consecrated, shall be the Holy of holies to the Lord.

¹⁶Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives within you? ¹⁷But if anyone violates the Temple of God, God will destroy him. For the Temple of God is holy, and you are that Temple.

²⁷Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites from all their places, so that they might bring them to Jerusalem, and so that they might keep the dedication, and rejoice with thanksgiving, and with singing, and with cymbals, psalteries, and lyres. ²⁸Now the sons of the singing men were gathered from the plains surrounding Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophati, ²⁹and from the house of Gilgal, and from the regions of Geba and Azmaveth. For the singing men had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites were cleansed, and they cleansed the people, and the gates, and the wall. ³¹Then I caused the leaders of Judah to ascend the wall, and I appointed two great choirs to give praise. And they went to the right upon the wall, toward the dung gate. ³²And after them went Hoshaiah, and one half part of the leadership of Judah,

²⁷I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted to me my petition, which I asked of him. ²⁸Because of this, I have also lent him to the Lord, for all the days when he shall be lent to the Lord.” And they adored the Lord in that place. And Hannah prayed, and she said:

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of hosts, if, in looking with favor, you will see the affliction of your servant and will remember me, and will not forget your handmaid, and if you will give to your servant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall pass over his head.”

²²And after the days of her purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem, in order to present him to the Lord,

¹²Here is the patient endurance of the Saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.