Woe is me, my mother: why hast thou borne me a man of strife, a man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts.17 I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with threats.18 Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.19 Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and if thou wilt separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.20 And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass: and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.
How then can one who is baptized among them seem to have obtained remission of sins and the grace of the divine mercy by his faith, when he has not the truth of the faith itself? For if, as some suppose, one could receive anything abroad out of the church according to his faith, certainly he has received what he believed. If he believes what is false, he could not receive what is true. Rather, he has received things adulterous and profane, according to what he believed. Jeremiah, the prophet, censures in detail this subject of profane and adulterous baptism, saying, "Why do those who grieve me prevail? My wound is incurable. When shall I be healed? When this is done, it is become for me as treacherous water not having faith." The Holy Spirit makes mention through the prophet of treacherous water also not having faith. What is this treacherous and faithless water? Assuredly it is that which asserts falsely the image of baptism and frustrates the grace of faith by its shadowy simulation.
Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; and defend me from them that rise up against me.3 Deliver me from them that work iniquity, and save me from bloody men.4 For behold they have caught my soul: the mighty have rushed in upon me:10 I will keep my strength to thee: for thou art my protector:11 My God, his mercy shall prevent me.17 But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the morning. For thou art become my support, and my refuge, in the day of my trouble.18 Unto thee, O my helper, will I sing, for thou art God my defence: my God my mercy.
So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, "If you refuse and do not listen to me, the sword shall devour you," has proved that the sword was Christ, for rebellion against whom they have perished. In the fifty-ninth psalm he demands of the Father their dispersion: "Scatter them in your power." By Isaiah he also says, as he finishes a prophecy of their consumption by fire: "Because of me this has happened to you; you shall lie down in sorrow." But all this would be meaningless enough, if they suffered this retribution not on account of him who had in prophecy assigned their suffering to his own cause but for the sake of the Christ of the other god. Well, then, although you affirm that it is the Christ of the other god who was driven to the cross by the powers and authorities of the Creator, as it were by hostile beings, still I have to say, see how manifestly he was defended by the Creator: there were given to him both "the wicked for his burial," even those who had strenuously maintained that his corpse had been stolen, "and the rich for his death," even those who had redeemed him from the treachery of Judas, as well as from the lying report of the soldiers that his body had been taken away.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.45 Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls.46 Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it.
This treasure is indeed found without cost; for the Gospel preaching is open to all, but to use and possess the treasure with its field we may not without price, for heavenly riches are not obtained without the loss of this 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.)