diversity

⁹After these things, I saw a great crowd, which no one could number, from all the nations and tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out, with a great voice, saying: “Salvation is from our God, who sits upon the throne, and from the Lamb.”

¹My brothers, within the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, do not choose to show favoritism toward persons. ²For if a man has entered your assembly having a gold ring and splendid apparel, and if a poor man has also entered, in dirty clothing, ³and if you are then attentive to the one who is clothed in excellent apparel, so that you say to him, “You may sit in this good place,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit below my footstool,” ⁴are you not judging within yourselves, and have you not become judges with unjust thoughts? ⁵My most beloved brothers, listen. Has not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you through power? And are not they the ones who drag you to judgment?

¹⁶For in him was created everything in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created through him and in him. ¹⁷And he is before all, and in him all things continue.

¹⁶Be of the same mind toward one another: not savoring what is exalted, but consenting in humility. Do not choose to seem wise to yourself.

¹But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas. ²For one person believes that he may eat all things, but if another is weak, let him eat plants. ³He who eats should not despise him who does not eat. And he who does not eat should not judge him who eats. For God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another? He stands or falls by his own Lord. But he shall stand. For God is able to make him stand. ⁵For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind. ⁶He who understands the age, understands for the Lord. And he who eats, eats for the Lord; for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

¹⁰Consider that there are so many different kinds of languages in this world, and yet none is without a voice.

²⁶What is next, brothers? When you gather together, each one of you may have a psalm, or a doctrine, or a revelation, or a language, or an interpretation, but let everything be done for edification.

¹¹where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, servant nor free. Instead, Christ is everything, in everyone.

¹²For just as the body is one, and yet has many parts, so all the parts of the body, though they are many, are only one body. So also is Christ. ¹³And indeed, in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether servant or free. And we all drank in the one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body, too, is not one part, but many. ¹⁵If the foot were to say, “Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body,” would it then not be of the body? ¹⁶And if the ear were to say, “Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body,” would it then not be of the body? ¹⁷If the whole body were the eye, how would it hear? If the whole were hearing, how would it smell?

¹Alleluia. All nations, praise the Lord. All peoples, praise him. ²For his mercy has been confirmed over us. And the truth of the Lord remains for all eternity.

¹Thus says the Lord: Preserve judgment, and accomplish justice. For my salvation is close to its arrival, and my justice is close to being revealed. ²Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds to this, keeping the Sabbath and not profaning it, guarding his hands and not doing any evil. ³And let not the son of the new arrival, who adheres to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord will divide and separate me from his people.” And let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” ⁴For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: They will keep my Sabbaths, and they will choose the things that I will, and they will hold to my covenant. ⁵I will give them a place in my house, within my walls, and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, which will never perish. ⁶And the sons of the new arrival, who adhere to the Lord so as to worship him and to love his name, shall be his servants: all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it, and who hold to my covenant.

⁶And I saw another Angel, flying through the midst of heaven, holding the eternal Gospel, so as to evangelize those sitting upon the earth and those of every nation and tribe and language and people,

¹¹And he said to me, “It is necessary for you to prophesy again about many nations and peoples and languages and kings.”