raising up leaders

²¹Then provide, from all of the people, men capable and fearing God, in whom there is truth and who hate avarice, and appoint from them tribunes, and leaders of hundreds, and of fifties, and of tens,

¹³Offer, from among you, wise and experienced men, those whose conversation has been proven within your tribes, so that I may appoint them as your rulers.’

²and by the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses. These things encourage faithful men, who shall then be suitable to teach others also.

⁵For this reason, I left you behind in Crete: so that those things which are lacking, you would correct, and so that you would ordain, throughout the communities, priests, (just as I also ordained you) ⁶if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination. ⁷And a bishop, as a steward of God, must be without offense: not arrogant, not short-tempered, not a drunkard, not violent, not desiring tainted profit, ⁸but instead: hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, chaste, ⁹embracing faithful speech which is in agreement with doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to argue against those who contradict.

¹It is a faithful saying: if a man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work. ²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, ³not a drunkard, not combative but restrained, not quarrelsome, not covetous; ⁴but a man who leads his own house well, having children who are subordinate with all chastity. ⁵For if a man does not know how to lead his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God? ⁶He must not be a new convert, lest, being elated by pride, he may fall under the sentence of the devil.

²¹And he alters the times and the ages. He takes away kingdoms and he establishes them. He gives wisdom to those who are wise and teaching skills to those who understand.

³Therefore, brothers, search among yourselves for seven men of good testimony, filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom, whom we may appoint over this work.

¹⁵And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, ¹²for the sake of the perfection of the saints, by the work of the ministry, in the edification of the body of Christ, ¹³until we all meet in the unity of faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as a perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.

²³And traveling by way of Pisidia, they arrived in Pamphylia.

³⁷Then he said to his disciples: “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. ³⁸Therefore, petition the Lord of the harvest, so that he may sent out laborers to his harvest.”

¹Therefore, I beg the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the Passion of Christ, who also shares in that glory which is to be revealed in the future: ²pasture the flock of God that is among you, providing for it, not as a requirement, but willingly, in accord with God, and not for the sake of tainted profit, but freely, ³not so as to dominate by means of the clerical state, but so as to be formed into a flock from the heart. ⁴And when the Leader of pastors will have appeared, you shall secure an unfading crown of glory.

¹And the Lord said to Samuel: “How long will you mourn for Saul, though I have rejected him, so that he would not reign over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and approach, so that I may send you to Jesse of Bethlehem. For I have provided a king from among his sons for myself.” ²And Samuel said: “How shall I go? For Saul will hear of it, and he will put me to death.” And the Lord said: “You shall take, by your hand, a calf from the herd. And you shall say, ‘I have arrived in order to immolate to the Lord.’ ³And you shall call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will reveal to you what you should do. And you shall anoint whomever I will indicate to you.” ⁴Therefore, Samuel did just as the Lord told him. And he went to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city wondered. And meeting him, they said, “Is your arrival peaceful?” ⁵And he said: “It is peaceful. I have arrived in order to immolate to the Lord. Be sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and he called them to the sacrifice. ⁶And when they had entered, he saw Eliab, and he said, “Could he be the Christ in the sight of the Lord?”

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, ¹²for the sake of the perfection of the saints, by the work of the ministry, in the edification of the body of Christ,

⁷For it is neither from the east, nor from the west, nor before the desert mountains. ⁸For God is judge. This one he humbles and that one he exalts. ⁹For, in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup of undiluted wine, full of consternation. And he has tipped it from here to there. So, truly, its dregs have not been emptied. All the sinners of the earth will drink.