How scripture sits with sorrow, and never tells it to hurry.
Grief is what love does when the person it was pointed at is gone. It isn’t only for death, though death is its sharpest form. We grieve the marriage that ended, the health that didn’t come back, the friendship that quietly went cold, the future we were so sure of. The size of the loss and the size of the ache don’t always match, and that’s not a flaw in you.
It doesn’t move in a straight line, either. You can have a good week and then get leveled by a song in the grocery store, or a smell, or an empty chair. And the world around you keeps moving at its own speed. It isn’t that people don’t care, they’re just busy with their own lives and can’t stand where you’re standing. The check-ins thin out while you’re still in the middle of it, and a lot of grief ends up carried in private, on a schedule no one else can see.
The Bible does not hurry the grieving. It gives them whole books to say the worst of it out loud, lets its people fall on the ground and wail, and never once tells them to look on the bright side. It refuses the cheap comfort of pretending the loss is small. What it offers instead is stranger and sturdier: a God who comes near the broken instead of waiting for them to pull it together, and who weeps before he does anything else.
This study walks that road, from the rawest cry to the last promise the Bible makes about tears. It won’t rush you and it won’t tidy you up. Read it slowly. Every verse below is a door. Touch one and it opens into the chapter it came from, so you can stand in the whole room a single line was taken from.
The study
Start with how grief actually sounds, before anyone has cleaned it up. A king gets word that his son is dead, and the most powerful man in the kingdom comes apart at the seams.
The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!”
And when Jesus stands in front of a grave, watch what he does before he fixes anything. His friend Lazarus is dead, the sisters are wrecked, and he knows he is minutes away from raising him. He cries anyway.
32Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” 33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, 34and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus wept.
The Bible even has a book made entirely of grief. It is called Lamentations, and it does not flinch. But in the middle of it the poet does something quietly astonishing: he turns one true thing over in his hands until it steadies him.
19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness. 20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. 21This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. 22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. 23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
None of this is meant to be carried in private forever. The comfort that reaches you is the kind that turns into something you can hand to someone else later, when they are where you are now.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
And the whole story is leaning toward one particular morning. Not a vague someday, but a promise with tears named in it, and a hand reaching to wipe them.
3I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”
One way a conversation about grief can go in Sojourn. The verses are live, the same doors as above.
Everyone keeps telling me it will get easier with time, but it’s been almost a year and some days still knock me flat. I feel like I’m failing at this. Shouldn’t I be further along by now?
1David counted the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2David sent the people out, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I will also surely go out with you myself.” 3But the people said, “You shall not go out, for if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that you are ready to help us out of the city.” 4The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” The king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 5The king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” All the people heard when the king commanded all the captains concerning Absalom. 6So the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. 7The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. 8For the battle was there spread over the surface of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. 9Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak; and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was hanging between the sky and earth; and the mule that was under him went on. 10A certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 11Joab said to the man who told him, “Behold, you saw it, and why didn’t you strike him there to the ground? I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a sash.” 12The man said to Joab, “Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I still wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Beware that no one touch the young man Absalom.’ 13Otherwise, if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hidden from the king), then you yourself would have set yourself against me.” 14Then Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this with you.” He took three darts in his hand and thrust them through Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the middle of the oak. 15Ten young men who bore Joab’s armor surrounded and struck Absalom, and killed him. 16Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab held the people back. 17They took Absalom and cast him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. Then all Israel fled, each to his own tent. 18Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king’s valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in memory.” He called the pillar after his own name. It is called Absalom’s monument, to this day. 19Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me now run and carry the king news, how Yahweh has avenged him of his enemies.” 20Joab said to him, “You must not be the bearer of news today, but you must carry news another day. But today you must carry no news, because the king’s son is dead.” 21Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen!” The Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran. 22Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, “But come what may, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, since you will have no reward for the news?” 23“But come what may,” he said, “I will run.” He said to him, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite. 24Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. 25The watchman shouted and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” He came closer and closer. 26The watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, a man running alone!” The king said, “He also brings news.” 27The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.” 28Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, “All is well.” He bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, “Blessed is Yahweh your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king!” 29The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, even me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I don’t know what it was.” 30The king said, “Come and stand here.” He came and stood still. 31Behold, the Cushite came. The Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king, for Yahweh has avenged you today of all those who rose up against you.” 32The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you to do you harm, be as that young man is.” 33The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!” 1Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. 2It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” 4But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.” 8The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?” 9Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.” 11He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.” 12The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. 14So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. 15I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.” 16Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, that we may die with him.” 17So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away. 19Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house. 21Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.” 28When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.” 29When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him. 30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. 31Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” 33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, 34and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus wept. 36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” 37Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?” 38Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?” 41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.” 45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 46But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. 48If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” 51Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. 54Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples. 55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” 57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him. 1I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. 2My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let’s exalt his name together. 4I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame. 6This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him. 10The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing. 11Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. 12Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies. 14Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it. 15Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry. 16Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth. 17The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. 19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. 20He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. 21Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. 22Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned. 1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. 3Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long. 4He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones. 5He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 7He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy. 8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked. 10He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding. 11He has turned away my path, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate. 12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys. 14I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long. 15He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood. 16He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes. 17You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity. 18I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.” 19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness. 20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. 21This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. 22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. 23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.” 25Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh. 27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him. 29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope. 30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach. 31For the Lord will not cast off forever. 32For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. 33For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. 34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, 35to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High, 36to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve. 37Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it? 38Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High? 39Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh. 41Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. 42“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned. 43“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied. 44You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. 45You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples. 46“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. 47Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.” 48My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission, 50until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven. 51My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. 52They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. 53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. 54Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.” 55I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon. 56You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.” 57You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.” 58Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life. 59Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause. 60You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me. 61You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me, 62the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long. 63You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song. 64You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. 65You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them. 66You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh. 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. 6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. 7Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort. 8For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. 9Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, 10who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us, 11you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf. 12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you. 13For we write no other things to you than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end— 14as also you acknowledged us in part—that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. 15In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit, 16and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea. 17When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?” 18But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” 20For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us. 21Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. 23But I call God for a witness to my soul, that to spare you, I didn’t come to Corinth. 24We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith. 1I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. 2I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.” 5He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.” 6He said to me, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” 9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls which were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12having a great and high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 13On the east were three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 15He who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 16The city is square. Its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. 17Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb. 24The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 25Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), 26and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. 27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 1I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. 3Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name. 5For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. 6As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled. 8I cried to you, Yahweh. I made supplication to the Lord: 9“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth? 10Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper.” 11You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, 12to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever! 1Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 10Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men. 14“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. 15Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 16Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 21“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna. 23“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25Agree with your adversary quickly while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. 26Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny. 27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ 28but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 30If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 31“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’ 32but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery. 33“Again you have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ 34but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; 35nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black. 37But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one. 38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. 41Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you. 43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, 45that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 48Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. 1Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God, 6that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you. 9But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, 10for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; 11and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you, 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing. 13But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, 17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound, 2to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. 4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the former devastated places. They will repair the ruined cities that have been devastated for many generations. 5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards. 6But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their glory. 7Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them. 8“For I, Yahweh, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.” 10I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.