getting rid of evil

⁷Therefore, be subject to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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.

²¹Do not allow evil to prevail, instead prevail over evil by means of goodness.

⁴For he is a minister of God for you unto good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it is not without reason that he carries a sword. For he is a minister of God; an avenger to execute wrath upon whomever does evil.

¹⁵If you love me, keep my commandments.

¹And the Lord spoke all these words: ²“I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude. ³You shall not have strange gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth. ⁵You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my precepts.

¹¹Be clothed in the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the treachery of the devil.

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, in order to be tempted by the devil. ²And when he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. ³And approaching, the tempter said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” ⁴And in response he said, “It has been written: ‘Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” ⁵Then the devil took him up, into the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶and said to him: “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it has been written: ‘For he has given charge of you to his angels, and they shall take you into their hands, lest perhaps you may hurt your foot against a stone.’ ”

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

⁸But if anyone has no concern for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and he is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

¹Then, seeing the crowds, he ascended the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples drew near to him, ²and opening his mouth, he taught them, saying: ³“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. ⁵Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled. ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.

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.