family problems

¹³Support one another, and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive one another. For just as the Lord has forgiven you, so also must you do.

¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just. ²Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with a promise: ³so that it may be well with you, and so that you may have a long life upon the earth. ⁴And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but educate them with the discipline and correction of the Lord.

¹A Psalm of David, before he was sealed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? ²Meanwhile, the guilty draw near to me, so as to eat my flesh. Those who trouble me, my enemies, have themselves been weakened and have fallen. ³If entrenched armies were to stand together against me, my heart would not fear. If a battle were to rise up against me, I would have hope in this. ⁴One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, so that I may behold the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple. ⁵For he has hidden me in his tabernacle. In the day of evils, he has protected me in the hidden place of his tabernacle. ⁶He has exalted me upon the rock, and now he has exalted my head above my enemies. I have circled around and offered a sacrifice of loud exclamation in his tabernacle. I will sing, and I will compose a psalm, to the Lord.

³Cry out to me and I will heed you. And I will announce to you great things, things that are certain, though you do not know them.

²³And having called them together, he spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴For if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house is not able to stand.

⁵¹Do you think that I have come to give peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division. ⁵²For from this time on, there will be five in one house: divided as three against two, and as two against three. ⁵³A father will be divided against a son, and a son against his father; a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother; a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

¹A Psalm of David. The Lord directs me, and nothing will be lacking to me. ²He has settled me here, in a place of pasture. He has led me out to the water of refreshment. ³He has converted my soul. He has led me away on the paths of justice, for the sake of his name. ⁴For, even if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they have given me consolation. ⁵You have prepared a table in my sight, opposite those who trouble me. You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup, which inebriates me, how brilliant it is! ⁶And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and so may I dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days.

¹It is for man to prepare the soul, and for the Lord to govern the tongue. ²All the ways of a man are open to his eyes; the Lord is the one who weighs spirits. ³Open your works to the Lord, and your intentions will be set in order. ⁴The Lord has wrought all things because of himself. Likewise the impious is for the evil day. ⁵All the arrogant are an abomination to the Lord. Even if hand will be joined to hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is to do justice. And this is more acceptable with God than to immolate sacrifices. ⁶By mercy and truth, iniquity is redeemed. And by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.

⁴Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with that future glory which shall be revealed in us.

⁸Listen, my son, to the discipline of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother,

⁶But we strongly caution you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to draw yourselves away from every brother who is walking in disorder and not according to the tradition that they received from us.

¹¹Brothers, do not choose to slander one another. Whoever slanders his brother, or whoever judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. ¹²There is one lawgiver and one judge. He is able to destroy, and he is able to set free.

⁵Fear not, for I am with you. I will lead your offspring from the East, and I will gather you from the West.

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners! And purify your hearts, you duplicitous souls!

³⁵For I came to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶And the enemies of a man will be those of his own household. ³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me.

¹⁵But if it seems evil to you that you would serve the Lord, a choice is given to you. Choose today what pleases you, and whom you ought to serve above all else, either the gods that your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”