following god

¹“So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep. ⁵Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses. ⁶Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

¹⁵If you love me, keep my commandments.

²⁷In response, he said: “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from all your strength, and from all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will suggest to you everything whatsoever that I have said to you.

⁸Jesus Christ, yesterday and today; Jesus Christ forever.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

¹Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.

¹⁹Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.”

¹I am the Lord your God. You shall not make for yourselves an idol or a graven image. Neither shall you erect a monument, or set up a conspicuous stone in your land, in order that you may adore it. For I am the Lord your God. ²Observe my Sabbaths, and be fearful toward my Sanctuary. I am the Lord. ³If you will walk in my precepts, and observe my commandments, and accomplish them, I will give to you rain in its time, ⁴and the ground shall bring forth its seedlings, and the trees shall be filled again with fruit. ⁵The threshing of the harvest shall last until the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing. And you shall eat your bread to fullness, and you shall live in your land without fear. ⁶I will give peace to your most distant regions. You will sleep, and there will be no one to strike you with terror. I will take away harmful wild beasts, and the sword will not cross your borders.

²³I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his own. Neither is it given to man to walk and to direct his own steps.

¹A Psalm of David versus Goliath. Blessed is the Lord, my God, who trains my hands for the battle and my fingers for the war.

⁵²Then Jesus said to him: “Put your sword back in its place. For all who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. ⁵³Or do you think that I cannot ask my Father, so that he would give me, even now, more than twelve legions of Angels? ⁵⁴How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must be so?”

²⁸For who among you, wanting to build a tower, would not first sit down and determine the costs that are required, to see if he has the means to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, after he will have laid the foundation and not been able to finish it, everyone who sees it may begin to mock him, ³⁰saying: ‘This man began to build what he was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or, what king, advancing to engage in war against another king, would not first sit down and consider whether he may be able, with ten thousand, to meet one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If not, then while the other is still far away, sending a delegation, he would ask him for terms of peace. ³³Therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses is not able to be my disciple.

²⁶The just falling down before the impious is like a fountain stirred up by feet and like a corrupted spring.