Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and most sincere heart: and put away the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.15 But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.16 And the people answered, and said: God forbid we should leave the Lord, and serve strange gods.17 The Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: and did very great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way by which we journeyed, and among all the people through whom we passed.18 And he hath cast out all the nations, the Amorrhite the inhabitant of the land into which we are come. Therefore we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.19 And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve the Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not forgive your wickedness and sins.20 If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, he will turn, and will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good he hath done you.21 And the people said to Josue: No, it shall not be so as thou sayest, but we will serve the Lord.22 And Josue said to the people: You are witnesses, that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they answered: We are witnesses.23 Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.24 And the people said to Josue: We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to his commandments.25 Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem.26 And he wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.27 And he said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a testimony unto you, that it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie to the Lord your God.28 And he sent the people away every one to their own possession.29 And after these things Josue the son of Null the servant of the Lord died, being a hundred and ten years old:
That Christ is called a stone.… Also in Joshua: "And he took a great stone, and placed it there before the Lord; and Joshua said unto the people, Behold, this stone shall be a testimony to you, because it has heard all the things which were spoken by the Lord, which he has spoken to you today; and it shall be for a testimony to you in the last of the days, when you shall have departed from your God."
The inscription of a title to David himself. Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put trust in thee.2 I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover my reins also have corrected me even till night.8 I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved.11 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end.
The words in [this psalm] are sung as if by the person of Christ, who although he is noble as Lord by nature and has under his feet creation as a handmaid, yet he asks to be preserved by the Father as the head of the body of the church.… He made those sanctified by the Spirit a marvel in the land—in his church—teaching them the will of the Father as an angel of mighty counsel. They hastened to hear the preaching, not through blood [sacrifices] or practices of the law to please God, but through praise and bloodless sacrifice. Nor with names that befit their former works did he say, I shall call them, that is, idolaters and polytheists and atheists; but called and holy and pious, and who have a share in the Lord. Because the latter was obedient to the Father to death—which he calls a cup—for this reason he gave him as a portion and inheritance to the Gentiles. And he binds it to him with cords—fetters of spiritual life.… He is on [the Father's] right hand in that we gain through his hands his heavenly Father as helper, and like a rod of power he has supported our weakness. Therefore he also says to him: My flesh will reside in hope. The hope, then, is that his flesh will again assume the soul that was constituted. For his soul was not left in Sheol, nor did his body see the corruption of the grave.… For these things are granted us in him as the head and firstborn of the resurrection and because we have grown rich with his poverty. And again we shall be in unfading delights, which the saints will receive on the day of his manifestation from him who is the Father's right hand.
We die not by our own choice but by necessity of nature and against our will. However, the Lord, being himself immortal yet having mortal flesh, had power, as God, to separate from his body and to take it back again, when he would.… For it was fitting that the flesh, corruptible as it was, should no longer after its own nature remain mortal, but because of the Word who had put it on, should abide incorruptible. For as he, having come in our body, was conformed to our condition, so we, receiving him, partake of the immortality that is from him.
Then were little children presented to him, that he should impose hands upon them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.14 But Jesus said to them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me: for the kingdom of heaven is for such.15 And when he had imposed hands upon them, he departed from thence.
For they now understood from His previous mighty works, that by laying on of His hands and by prayer evils were obviated. They bring therefore children to Him, judging that it were impossible that after the Lord had by His touch conveyed divine virtue into them, harm or any demon should come nigh them.
Mystically; We call them children who are yet carnal in Christ, having need of milk. They who bring the babes to the Saviour, are they who profess to have knowledge of the word, but are still simple, and have for their food children’s lessons, being yet novices. They who seem more perfect, and are therefore the disciples of Jesus, before they have learnt the way of righteousness which is for children, rebuke those who by simple doctrine bring to Christ children and babes, that is, such as are less learned. But the Lord exhorting His disciples now become men to condescend to the needs of babes, to be babes to babes, that they may gain babes, says, For of such is the kingdom of heaven. For He Himself also, when He was in the form of God, was made a babe. These things we should attend to, lest in esteeming that more excellent wisdom, and spiritual advancement, as though we were become great we should despise the little ones of the Church, forbidding children to be brought to Jesus. But since children cannot follow all things that are commanded them, Jesus laid His hands upon them, and leaving virtue in them by His touch, went away from them, seeing they were not able to follow Him, like the other more perfect disciples.
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.)