martial arts

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.

³The Lord is like a fighting man. Almighty is his name.

³²For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God? ³³It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate. ³⁴It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights. ³⁵It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass. ³⁶And you have given me the protection of your salvation. And your right hand sustains me. And your discipline has corrected me unto the end. And your discipline itself will teach me.

¹¹Rescue those who are led away to death. And do not cease from delivering those who are dragged away to a violent death.

²⁴Do you not know that, of those who run in a race, all of them, certainly, are runners, but only one achieves the prize. Similarly, you must run, so that you may achieve. ²⁵And one who competes in a contest abstains from all things. And they do this, of course, so that they may achieve a corruptible crown. But we do this, so that we may achieve what is incorruptible. ²⁶And so I run, but not with uncertainty. And so I fight, but not by flailing in the air. ²⁷Instead, I chastise my body, so as to redirect it into servitude. Otherwise, I might preach to others, but become myself an outcast.

²If a thief will have been discovered breaking into a house, or digging under it, and he has received a mortal wound, he who struck him down will not be guilty of blood. ³But if he did this when the sun was risen, he has perpetrated a homicide, and he shall die. If he does not have the means to make restitution for the theft, he shall be sold.

¹⁴When Abram had heard this, namely, that his brother Lot had been taken captive, he numbered three hundred and eighteen of his own armed men and he went in pursuit all the way to Dan. ¹⁵And dividing his company, he rushed upon them in the night. And he struck them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the substance, and Lot his brother, with his substance, likewise the women and the people.

¹³Because of this, take up the armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand the evil day and remain perfect in all things. ¹⁴Therefore, stand firm, having been girded about your waist with truth, and having been clothed with the breastplate of justice, ¹⁵and having feet which have been shod by the preparation of the Gospel of peace. ¹⁶In all things, take up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. ¹⁷And take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God). ¹⁸Through every kind of prayer and supplication, pray at all times in spirit, and so be vigilant with every kind of earnest supplication, for all the saints,

³⁵teaching my hands to do battle, and making my arms like a bow of brass.

²⁰And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, a very strong man of great deeds, was from Kabzeel. He slew the two lions of Moab, and he descended and slew a lion in the middle of a den, in the days of snow. ²¹He also killed an Egyptian who had a spear in his hand, a man worthy to behold. And yet he had gone down to him with only a staff. And he forced the spear from the hand of the Egyptian, and he killed him with his own spear.

¹⁶Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be as prudent as serpents and as simple as doves.

¹⁵All things are clean to those who are clean. But to those who are defiled, and to unbelievers, nothing is clean; for both their mind and their conscience have been polluted.

¹¹In those days, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers. And he saw their affliction and an Egyptian man striking a certain one of the Hebrews, his brothers. ¹²And when he had looked around this way and that, and had seen no one nearby, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³And going out the next day, he spotted two Hebrews quarrelling violently. And he said to him who was causing the injury, “Why do you strike your neighbor?” ¹⁴But he responded: “Who appointed you as leader and judge over us? Do you want to kill me, just as yesterday you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid, and he said, “How has this word become known?” ¹⁵And Pharaoh heard this talk, and he sought to kill Moses. But fleeing from his sight, he stayed in the land of Midian, and he sat down next to a well. ¹⁶Now there was a priest of Midian with seven daughters, who came to draw water. And having filled the troughs, they desired to water their father’s flocks.

⁴And he prevailed over an angel, for he had been strengthened. He wept and petitioned him. He found him in Bethel, and there he has spoken to us.

²²If men will have quarreled, and one of them has struck a pregnant woman, and as a result she miscarries, but she herself survives, he shall be subject to as much damage as the husband of the woman shall petition from him, or as arbitrators shall judge.

¹⁵Truly, it was the Author of Life whom you put to death, whom God raised from the dead, to whom we are witnesses.

²¹From that time, Jesus began to reveal to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and to suffer much from the elders and the scribes and the leaders of the priests, and to be killed, and to rise again on the third day. ²²And Peter, taking him aside, began to rebuke him, saying, “Lord, may it be far from you; this shall not happen to you.” ²³And turning away, Jesus said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan; you are an obstacle to me. For you are not behaving according to what is of God, but according to what is of men.” ²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone is willing to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵For whoever would save his life, will lose it. But whoever will have lost his life for my sake, shall find it. ²⁶For how does it benefit a man, if he gains the whole world, yet truly suffers damage to his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?