praying to the dead

⁵For there is one God, and one mediator of God and of men, the man Christ Jesus,

⁵For the living know that they themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. For the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Likewise, love and hatred and envy have all perished together, nor have they any place in this age and in the work which is done under the sun.

¹⁹And though they say to you, “Seek from seers and diviners,” they who hiss in their incantations, should not the people seek from their God, for the sake of the living, and not from the dead?

⁶Jesus said to him: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

³¹Do not turn aside to astrologers, nor consult with soothsayers, so as to be polluted through them. I am the Lord your God.

⁸And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having stringed instruments, as well as golden bowls full of fragrances, which are the prayers of the saints.

⁵For there is one God, and one mediator of God and of men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a redemption for all, as a testimony in its proper time.

¹¹nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead.

¹⁰Do not let there be found among you one who would purify his son or daughter by leading them through fire, nor one who consults seers, nor one who observes dreams or omens. Do not let there be found among you one who practices the occult, ¹¹nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead.

²⁷And in the same manner as it has been appointed for men to die one time, and after this, to be judged,

¹⁹And though they say to you, “Seek from seers and diviners,” they who hiss in their incantations, should not the people seek from their God, for the sake of the living, and not from the dead? ²⁰And this is, moreover, for the sake of the law and the testimony. But if they do not speak according to this Word, then he will not have the morning light. ²¹And he will pass by it; he will fall and become hungry. And when he is hungry, he will become angry, and he will speak evil against his king and his God, and he will lift himself upward. ²²And he will gaze downward to the earth, and behold: tribulation and darkness, dissolution and distress, and a pursuing gloom. For he will not be able to fly away from its distress.

¹³And no one has ascended to heaven, except the one who descended from heaven: the Son of man who is in heaven.

¹²And there is no salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which it is necessary for us to be saved.”

²⁸so also Christ was offered, one time, in order to empty the sins of so many. He shall appear a second time without sin, for those who await him, unto salvation.

¹And so, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as if to those who are spiritual, but rather as if to those who are carnal. For you are like infants in Christ. ²I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. For you were not yet able. And indeed, even now, you are not able; for you are still carnal. ³And since there is still envy and contention among you, are you not carnal, and are you not walking according to man? ⁴For if one says, “Certainly, I am of Paul,” while another says, “I am of Apollo,” are you not men? But what is Apollo, and what is Paul? ⁵We are only the ministers of him in whom you have believed, just as the Lord has granted to each of you. ⁶I planted, Apollo watered, but God provided the growth.

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,

⁹Therefore, you shall pray in this way: Our Father, who is in heaven: May your name be kept holy. ¹⁰May your kingdom come. May your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. ¹¹Give us this day our life-sustaining bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. ¹³And lead us not into temptation. But free us from evil. Amen.

⁸Because of this, he says: “Ascending on high, he took captivity itself captive; he gave gifts to men.” ⁹Now that he has ascended, what is left except for him also to descend, first to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the same one who also ascended above all the heavens, so that he might fulfill everything.

³²‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”