the human mind

²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

⁵For this understanding in you was also in Christ Jesus:

¹³For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother. ¹⁴I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly well. ¹⁵My bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in them.

⁷And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

²⁷And God created man to his own image; to the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them.

⁹And as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts, and understands the thoughts of all minds. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will cast you aside for eternity.

³But I am afraid lest, as the serpent led astray Eve by his cleverness, so your minds might be corrupted and might fall away from the simplicity which is in Christ.

²³And may the God of peace himself sanctify you through all things, so that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved without blame unto the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²³Preserve your heart with all watchfulness, for life proceeds from this.

⁸Your hands have made me and formed me all around, and, in this way, do you suddenly throw me away? ⁹Remember, I ask you, that you have fashioned me like clay, and you will reduce me to dust. ¹⁰Have you not extracted me like milk and curdled me like cheese? ¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh. You have put me together with bones and nerves. ¹²You have assigned to me life and mercy, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.

²⁹Then, as the crowds were quickly gathering, he began to say: “This generation is a wicked generation: it seeks a sign. But no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ³⁰For just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of man be to this generation. ³¹The queen of the South will rise up, at the judgment, with the men of this generation, and she will condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, more than Solomon is here. ³²The men of Nineveh will rise up, at the judgment, with this generation, and they will condemn it. For at the preaching of Jonah, they repented. And behold, more than Jonah is here. ³³No one lights a candle and places it in hiding, nor under a bushel basket, but upon a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. ³⁴Your eye is the light of your body. If your eye is wholesome, your entire body will be filled with light. But if it is wicked, then even your body will be darkened.

³The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.

⁷and the dust returns to its earth, from which it was, and the spirit returns to God, who granted it.

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night. ³And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper. ⁴Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore, the impious will not prevail again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.

²And you, Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Judah. From you will go forth he who shall be the ruler in Israel, and his landing place has been set from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

¹⁰For even now the axe has been placed at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not produce good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.

¹He who was from the beginning, whom we have heard, whom we have seen with our eyes, upon whom we have gazed, and whom our hands have certainly touched: He is the Word of Life. ²And that Life has been made manifest. And we have seen, and we testify, and we announce to you: the Eternal Life, who was with the Father, and who appeared to us. ³He whom we have seen and heard, we announce to you, so that you, too, may have fellowship with us, and so that our fellowship may be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And this we write to you, so that you may rejoice, and so that your joy may be full.

⁵This one will say, “I am the Lord’s,” and that one will call himself by the name of Jacob, and yet another will write with his hand, “For the Lord,” and he will take the name Israel.

¹In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. ²But the earth was empty and unoccupied, and darknesses were over the face of the abyss; and so the Spirit of God was brought over the waters. ³And God said, “Let there be light.” And light became. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good; and so he divided the light from the darknesses. ⁵And he called the light, ‘Day,’ and the darknesses, ‘Night.’ And it became evening and morning, one day. ⁶God also said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide waters from waters.”

²⁶And I have made known your name to them, and I will make it known, so that the love in which you have loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.”