Sermon on the Mount
Up went Jesus on a mount
when He saw the people’s count:
for they were many gathered there
to hear the Master in his prayer.
So He opened his mouth to talk
unto his attentive flock.
“The poor of spirit, they are blessed
for the kingdom of heaven is at their breast.
They that they mourn, they shall find
comfort from the Spirit divine.
Blessed are the meek today
for they shall inherit the earth one day.
They who thirst and who hunger
after righteousness shall wonder
why they ever felt so ill,
for they shall eat and drink their fill.
The merciful shall have mercy;
the pure of heart shall see God shortly.
The peacemakers upon the earth
are God’s children from their birth.
They who are persecuted and abused
for righteousness shall be amused
when after they face all aggression
they receive the kingdom of Heaven.”
“Blessed are you when you shall be
Reviled and persecuted for Me
And spoken of by evil tongues:
rejoice, for soon your reward comes.
For they who speak against thy name,
once to the prophets did the same.”
“You are the salt of the earth:
but what gives salt its measured worth?
The salt which has lost its savor
has no value without flavor;
it is therefore good for nothing
than to end under foot crushing.
You are the light, a worldly shine;
and a hilled city cannot hide.
When men light their home by candle
they place it proudly on the mantle
and do not hide their light about.
So likewise let your light shine out,
so all who look behold to see
your good works giving your Father glory.”
“Look not at me in shock or awe
or think I come to destroy the Law;
to ruin the Law is not My will,
I come instead to fulfill.
Not a jot or tittle shall pass
until heaven and earth end en masse.
He who breaks the commandments
and teaches others by his enactments
shall be counted least in heaven;
but he who makes it his expression
to do and teach those commands
shall be greatest in those lands.
For unless your righteousness is more
than what the Pharisees call for
and what the scribes profess they hold:
heaven shall not be thy abode.”
“You know the Law ‘Thou shalt not kill’:
but I take it further still!
For I say whoever boils in anger
at his brother, or a stranger
is judged the same as the slayer
and must repent through humble prayer.
So if thou come before the altar
and– knowing this– your heart does falter,
turn around and go straight
unto the one whom you hate
and bring your hearts into accord
before returning to the LORD.
For you cannot come up out of jail
until you have paid full your bail.
Into the Law, it is committed
that adultery is not permitted.
Yet I say, whoever in lust
looks upon a woman must
acknowledge there his faithless state,
for that sin is just as great.
If thy right eye looks to sin,
pluck it out and throw it in
the fire, so it goes without thee,
while the rest of you is free.
And if thy right hand offends thee
cut it off that thou be cleanly:
for ‘tis better to enter heaven maimed
than enter whole into the flame.
It has been said, you may leave your wife
as long as a divorcement you write;
But I say whoever divorces their spouse
or casts their partner from their house
puts on them adulterous blame
and to themselves does the same.
I tell you, not as you’ve been told,
swear not yourselves in spoken oaths:
but let your ‘yea’ mean only yea
and let your ‘nay’ stand for nay.
For whatsoever is more than that
comes from evil, lies and wrath.”
“‘An eye for an eye’, it has been said
and ‘a tooth for a tooth’ is thusly read.
Yet I say, resist not evil
nor extol thy justice on people.
But if a man slaps thy cheek,
offer the other in spirit meek.
And if a man shall take thy coat,
give to him also thy cloak.
And if a man shall demand of you,
that you run a mile, instead run two.
And if a man would borrow from thee,
give him what he asks with glee.
Instead of loving just thy neighbor,
which curries only earthly favor,
love also those whom you see
as your hated enemies.
Bless them who curse you,
love those who hurt you,
and pray for those who do you wrong:
so all know to Whom you belong,
for in this will you be seen
as children of your Father supreme.
For He makes the sun to rise above
both those who dwell in hate and love;
and He makes the rain to fall upon
just and unjust heads thereon.
If you love only those in accord,
what therefore is your reward?
The publicans and sinners do
exactly the same as you.
Be therefore, perfect, never flawed
as your holy Father God.”
“Do not your alms before men
just to be seen of them,
when giving alms, sound not a trumpet
as the hypocrites have done it,
for they have received their reward
and are of men adored;
but in secret do thy alms
whispering thy silent psalms,
so your Father, who in secret sees
shall reward thee openly.
And likewise do not as they
who shout in the synagogue and pray;
instead, go and lock thy door
and humbly fall and kneel before
thy Father, who in secret hears–
not praying before all your peers–
and hearing you in secret prayer
He will reward thee in open air.”
“When praying, blow not on a shofar
or repeat yourself over and over:
for God knows before you even speak
what you want and what you need.
So therefore pray in this manner
not after worldly gaudy clammer:
Our Father, of heaven acclaim,
Hallowed be Thy holy Name.
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done,
on earth as well
as heaven Thou dwells.
Give us each day the bread we need
that we may bore the daily deed.
Forgive us of the debts we sold
as we forgive those whom we owe.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from damnation.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, now and at every hour.
Amen.”
“For if you forgiven those who trespass
against you, so will your sins pass.
Yet if you do not forgive those who
trespass, it will be held against you.
And when you fast, wash thy face
that you can enter to a place
and seem to be of happy state
not as the hypocrites, who moan so great.”
“Lay not up on earth your treasures,
for nothing earthly lasts forever:
moth and spider do corrupt
and the elements break and rust,
so do thieves steal away
your treasures earthly, in their way.
Lay up, therefore, these things in heaven
where they are safe and never lessen:
for where your treasure is, there will be
your heart within it certainly.
The light of the body is the eye,
so great does darkness there apply:
for if thy eye’s in darkened state
thy whole body shall be in darkness great!
No man can two masters serve:
for he cannot give each what they deserve
but for one in love, he goes after
while he hates his other master.
You shall therefore be a fraud
to serve both mammon and God.”
“Take no thought unto your life:
sufficient is this worldly strife.
For who, by thinking, can grow taller?
Or who, in wishing, removes his squalor?
Behold the fowls, which soar above
who are cared for out of love
by your Father every day–
are you not much better than they?
Consider the lilies: happy, glowing
whose majesty is overflowing
better than the Temple hall,
outshining Jerusalem’s mighty wall.
If God should deck the fields of grass
with such beauty there amassed,
and take care of things in the soil–
that neither sow or reap or toil–
how much more then will He care
for you who stand above them there?
Think not what you shall eat or drink
but after His kingdom and righteousness seek.
Take no thought unto the morrow:
sufficient is the daily sorrow.”
“Judge not that you be not judged,
or into perjury are plunged:
For with what judgment that you choose
it shall be judged against you.
And with what measure that you make
it shall be measured against thee straight.
For why do you, thou hypocrite,
thy brother to scrutiny submit?
Why the mote in his eye deem
so horrible, yet in thy own’s a beam!
Behold, first from your eye
remove the beam and then can thy
see clearly to assist thy neighbor
in helpful vision clearing labor.”
“Give not the holy to the dogs,
nor cast pearls before the hogs:
lest they break them on their hooves
and turn to rend you clean in two.
Ask and it shall be given,
forgive and you shall be forgiven,
knock and the door shall show behind,
seek and you shall surely find .
To everyone that asks, receives,
and blessings to he who believes.
For if your son asked you for bread,
would you grant a stone to him instead?
If you know, still in sin,
to give good gifts unto your kin:
how much better will God so good
reward his children as He would?
Therefore unto others do
as you would have them do to you.”
“Enter ye upon the gate
which stands narrow, thin and straight:
for wide is the gate, and broad the path
which leads unto destruction’s wrath.
Narrow treads the way of life
and destruction’s way is rife
with travelers who mindless follow
up to the hellish gates that swallow.
Beware false prophets, who lying creep
and come as wolves dressed as sheep.
You shall know them by their fruits
and spy them also by their roots.
The fig cannot produce a grape,
the thistle does not berries drape.
The good tree brings forth the good,
and the evil tree does as it should,
so at the last the two are gathered
and their fruits are picked and scattered:
the good is left to be admired,
the evil tree is thrown to fire.”
“Not everyone that says to me:
‘Lord, Lord!’ shall surely see
the kingdom upon heaven’s hill
but he who does my Father’s will.
Many on the final day
shall come unto me and say:
‘Have we not prophesied and preached?
Have we not proselytized and teached?
Have we not in Thy holy name
done many wondrous works of fame?’
Thus will I address these people:
‘Depart from me, men of evil
who work iniquity in shame,
be cast forever to the flame.’”
“I therefore will liken him–
who hears these sayings and within
turns his ways unto My words
and turns his heart into the LORD’s–
unto a house build on a slab
which rain and wind could not drag
into the mud and earthly nether,
so it stood despite the weather.
But he who hears and does not do,
how should I liken you?
You are as a foolish man
who built his house upon the sand,
and when the rain and wind came down
the house gave off a creaking sound,
and sank below its former summit:
and great was the fall of it.”
This spoke Jesus to the crowd
and they stood in awe, astound:
for He spoke not as the scribes,
and the doctrine He did prescribe
was as one having authority
standing above in seniority.
So those Jesus words echoed out
with his authoritative shout:
and though these sayings long ago completed,
here again they are repeated.
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