Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ;20 A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,21 And a high priest over the house of God:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water.23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful that hath promised),24 And let us consider one another, to provoke unto charity and to good works:25 Not forsaking our assembly, as some are accustomed; but comforting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage to Him alone, persecuted for His doctrine, offering to Him, at His own requirement, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer despatched from the chaste body, an unstained soul, a sanctified spirit, not the few grains of incense a farthing buys -tears of an Arabian tree,-not a few drops of wine,-not the blood of some worthless ox to which death is a relief, and, in addition to other offensive things, a polluted conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims are examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not rather of the sacrificers than the sacrifices.
There is, too, that will of God which the Lord accomplished in preaching, in working, in enduring: for if He Himself proclaimed that He did not His own, but the Father's will, without doubt those things which He used to do were the Father's will; unto which things, as unto exemplars, we are now provoked; to preach, to work, to endure even unto death.
On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell therein.2 For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon the rivers.3 Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall stand in his holy place?4 The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour.6 This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Let no one speak deceitfully to his neighbor. The mouth of the malevolent is a deep pit. The innocent person, while he believes easily, falls readily; but though he falls, he rises; and the shuffler, with all his arts, goes headlong to ruin, from which he can never rise or escape. Therefore let everyone weigh well his words, and let him not say to another what he would not say to himself.
And he said to them: Doth a candle come in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad.23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.24 And he said to them: Take heed what you hear. In what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you.†25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, that also which he hath shall be taken away from him.
(non occ.) After the question of the disciples concerning the parable, and its explanation, He well subjoins, And he said unto them, Is a candle brought, &c. As if he said, A parable is given, not that it should remain obscure, and hidden as if under a bed or a bushel, but that it should be manifested to those who are worthy. The candle within us is that of our intellectual nature, and it shines either clearly or obscurely according to the proportion of our illumination. For if meditations which feed the light, and the recollection with which such a light is kindled, are neglected, it is presently extinguished.
(non occ.) Again it may be said, that he hath not, who has not truth. But our Lord says that he hath, because he has a lie, for every one whose understanding believes a lie, thinks that he has something.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)