Let the charity of the brotherhood abide in you.2 And hospitality do not forget; for by this some, being not aware of it, have entertained angels.3 Remember them that are in bands, as if you were bound with them; and them that labour, as being yourselves also in the body.4 Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.5 Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have; for he hath said: I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.6 So that we may confidently say: The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man shall do to me.7 Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation,8 Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever.
But rather, he says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel surrendered his birth-right; and lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." And then, as putting the finishing stroke to the question about marriage, he adds: "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
We must then exercise ourselves in taking care about those things which fall under the power of the passions, fleeing like those who are truly philosophers such articles of food as excite lust, and dissolute licentiousness in chambering and luxury; and the sensations that tend to luxury, which are a solid reward to others, must no longer be so to us. For God's greatest gift is self-restraint. For He Himself has said, "I will neyer leave thee, nor forsake thee," as having judged thee worthy according to the true election. Thus, then, while we attempt piously to advance, we shall have put on us the mild yoke of the Lord from faith to faith, one charioteer driving each of us onward to salvation, that the meet fruit of beatitude may be won.
We must join in disciplining ourselves to beware of all that is subject to the passions. We must, like true philosophers, escape from any foods that arouse sexual desire, from a dissolute relaxation in bed, from luxury and all the passions that make for luxury. We realize that others find this a grievous struggle. It is no longer so for us, since self-discipline is God's greatest gift. He has said, "I will never forsake you or abandon you," who have judged you worthy by a decision that is wholly genuine. In this way, as we carefully strive to go to him, the Lord's "easy yoke" will receive us.… There is, according to Hippocrates of Cos, a discipline of the soul as well as of the body, "a state of health which does not shrink from hardship and cannot have enough nourishment."
The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?3 If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.5 For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.8 My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.9 Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.
And king Herod heard, (for his name was made manifest,) and he said: John the Baptist is risen again from the dead, and therefore mighty works shew forth themselves in him.15 And others said: It is Elias. But others said: It is a prophet, as one of the prophets.16 Which Herod hearing, said: John whom I beheaded, he is risen again from the dead.17 For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her.18 For John said to Herod: It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.19 Now Herodias laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death, and could not.20 For Herod feared John, knowing him to be a just and holy man: and kept him, and when he heard him, did many things: and he heard him willingly.†21 And when a convenient day was come, Herod made a supper for his birthday, for the princes, and tribunes, and chief men of Galilee.22 And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and had danced, and pleased Herod, and them that were at table with him, the king said to the damsel: Ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee.23 And he swore to her: Whatsoever thou shalt ask I will give thee, though it be the half of my kingdom.24 Who when she was gone out, said to her mother, What shall I ask? But she said: The head of John the Baptist.25 And when she was come in immediately with haste to the king, she asked, saying: I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish, the head of John the Baptist.26 And the king was struck sad. Yet because of his oath, and because of them that were with him at table, he would not displease her:27 But sending an executioner, he commanded that his head should be brought in a dish.28 And he beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a dish: and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother.29 Which his disciples hearing came, and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
(de Con. Evan. ii. 43) But in these words Luke bears witness to Mark, to this point at least, that others and not Herod said that John had risen; but Luke had represented Herod as hesitating, and has put down his words as if he said, John have I beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? We must however suppose, that after this hesitation, he had confirmed in his own mind what others had said, for he says to his children, as Matthew relates, This is John the Baptist, he has risen from the dead. (Matt. 14:2) Or else these words are to be spoken, so as to indicate that he is still hesitating, particularly as Mark who had said above that others had declared that John had risen from the dead, afterwards however is not silent as to Herod’s plainly saying, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead. Which words also may be spoken in two ways, either they may be understood as those of a man affirming or doubling.
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.)