And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ.1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as most dear children;2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints:4 Or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of thanks.5 For know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words. For because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief.7 Be ye not therefore partakers with them.8 For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light.
Such examples, therefore, brethren, it is right that we should follow; since it is written, "Cleave to the holy, for those that cleave to them shall [themselves] be made holy." And again, in another place, [the Scripture] saith, "With a harmless man thou shalt prove thyself harmless, and with an elect man thou shalt be elect, and with a perverse man thou shalt show thyself perverse." Let us cleave, therefore, to the innocent and righteous, since these are the elect of God. Why are there strifes, and tumults, and divisions, and schisms, and wars among you? Have we not [all] one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us? And have we not one calling in Christ? [Ephesians 4:4-6] Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body, and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that "we are members one of another?" [Romans 12:5] Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, "Woe to that man [by whom offences come]! It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my elect. Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my little ones." Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all. And still your sedition continueth.
Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.4 Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.
And "the chair of pestilences" will be the theaters and tribunals, or rather the compliance with wicked and deadly powers and complicity with their deeds.
And he was teaching in their synagogue on their sabbath.11 And behold there was a woman, who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years: and she was bowed together, neither could she look upwards at all.†12 Whom when Jesus saw, he called her unto him, and said to her: Woman, thou art delivered from thy infirmity.13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.†14 And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the sabbath) answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you ought to work. In them therefore come, and be healed; and not on the sabbath day.15 And the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on the sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to water?†16 And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?17 And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the things that were gloriously done by him.
(Hom. 9. in Hex.) Because the head of the brutes is bent down towards the ground and looks upon the earth, but the head of man was made erect towards the heaven, his eyes tending upward. For it becomes us to seek what is above, and with our sight to pierce beyond earthly things.
(Basil. Hom. 1. de Jej.) The hypocrite is one who on the stage assumes a different character from his own. So also in this life some men carry one thing in their heart, and shew another on the surface to the world.
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.)