¹² Not that I did already obtain, or have been already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by the Christ Jesus;

¹¹ and thou, O man of God, these things flee, and pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness;

¹² be striving the good strife of the faith, be laying hold on the life age-during, to which also thou wast called, and didst profess the right profession before many witnesses.

¹⁹ treasuring up to themselves a right foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on the life age-during.

¹³ brethren, I do not reckon myself to have laid hold; and one thing -- the things behind indeed forgetting, and to the things before stretching forth --

¹⁴ to the mark I pursue for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

³ And we know -- we pursue to know Jehovah, As the dawn prepared is His going forth, And He cometh in as a shower to us, As gathered rain -- sprinkling earth.'

¹ Hearken unto Me, ye pursuing righteousness, Seeking Jehovah, Look attentively unto the rock -- ye have been hewn, And unto the hole of the pit -- ye have been digged.

¹⁰ and when that which is perfect may come, then that which `is' in part shall become useless.

⁴ according as He did choose us in him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,

¹³ And we -- we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, that God did choose you from the beginning to salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth,

¹⁸ and increase ye in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; to him `is' the glory both now, and to the day of the age! Amen.

⁸ Jehovah doth perfect for me, O Jehovah, Thy kindness `is' to the age, The works of Thy hands let not fall!

¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, `Be going on, because a choice vessel to Me is this one, to bear My name before nations and kings -- the sons also of Israel;

²³ to the company and assembly of the first-born in heaven enrolled, and to God the judge of all, and to spirits of righteous men made perfect,

¹¹ let him turn aside from evil, and do good, let him seek peace and pursue it;

¹² because the eyes of the Lord `are' upon the righteous, and His ears -- to their supplication, and the face of the Lord `is' upon those doing evil;'

¹³ and who `is' he who will be doing you evil, if of Him who is good ye may become imitators?

⁵ And this same also -- all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge,

⁶ and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety,

⁷ and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love;

⁸ for these things being to you and abounding, do make `you' neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who did call you to His age-during glory in Christ Jesus, having suffered a little, Himself make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle `you';

¹⁴ peace pursue with all, and the separation, apart from which no one shall see the Lord,

¹⁰ in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after;

¹⁵ see no one evil for evil may render to any one, but always that which is good pursue ye, both to one another and to all;

¹⁶ but to what we have come -- by the same rule walk, the same thing think;

¹⁷ for the flesh doth desire contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the flesh, and these are opposed one to another, that the things that ye may will -- these ye may not do;

⁹ And the righteous layeth hold `on' his way, And the clean of hands addeth strength, And -- dumb are they all.

¹ To the Overseer. -- An Instruction. By sons of Korah. As a hart doth pant for streams of water, So my soul panteth toward Thee, O God.

¹ A Psalm of David, in his being in the wilderness of Judah. O God, Thou `art' my God, earnestly do I seek Thee, Thirsted for Thee hath my soul, Longed for Thee hath my flesh, In a land dry and weary, without waters.

² So in the sanctuary I have seen Thee, To behold Thy strength and Thine honour.

³ Because better `is' Thy kindness than life, My lips do praise Thee.

⁸ Cleaved hath my soul after Thee, On me hath Thy right hand taken hold.

² My soul desired, yea, it hath also been consumed, For the courts of Jehovah, My heart and my flesh cry aloud unto the living God,

² The rod of thy strength doth Jehovah send from Zion, Rule in the midst of thine enemies.

³ Thy people `are' free-will gifts in the day of Thy strength, in the honours of holiness, From the womb, from the morning, Thou hast the dew of thy youth.

⁵ O that my ways were prepared to keep Thy statutes,

¹⁸ And the path of the righteous `is' as a shining light, Going and brightening till the day is established,

³ And in the going, he came nigh to Damascus, and suddenly there shone round about him a light from the heaven,

⁴ and having fallen upon the earth, he heard a voice saying to him, `Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?'

⁵ And he said, `Who art thou, Lord?' and the Lord said, `I am Jesus whom thou dost persecute; hard for thee at the pricks to kick;'

⁶ trembling also, and astonished, he said, `Lord, what dost thou wish me to do?' and the Lord `said' unto him, `Arise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what it behoveth thee to do.'

¹ Having, then, these promises, beloved, may we cleanse ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God;

¹⁷³ Thy hand is for a help to me, For Thy commands I have chosen.

¹⁷⁴ I have longed for Thy salvation, O Jehovah, And Thy law `is' my delight.

¹⁷⁵ My soul liveth, and it doth praise Thee, And Thy judgments do help me.

¹⁷⁶ I wandered as a lost sheep, seek Thy servant, For Thy precepts I have not forgotten!

¹⁹ for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.

²⁰ And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.

²¹ I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,

²² for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,

²³ and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that `is' in my members.

²⁴ A wretched man I `am'! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

⁹ for we rejoice when we may be infirm, and ye may be powerful; and this also we pray for -- your perfection!

¹² unto the perfecting of the saints, for a work of ministration, for a building up of the body of the Christ,

²¹ make you perfect in every good work to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom `is' the glory -- to the ages of the ages! Amen.

² for we all make many stumbles; if any one in word doth not stumble, this one `is' a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body;

¹⁵ For to righteousness judgment turneth back, And after it all the upright of heart,