2913 verses about Truth

I would counsel you, old man, before your tortures begin, to taste the swine’s flesh, and save your life; for I feel respect for your age and hoary head, which since you have had so long, you appear to me to be no philosopher in retaining the superstition of the Jews.

And you will be acting, I think, still more senselessly, if you follow vain conceits about the truth.

Will you not awake from your trifling philosophy? and give up the folly of your notions; and, regaining understanding worthy of your age, search into the truth of an expedient course?

We, O Antiochus, who are persuaded that we live under a divine law, consider no compulsion to be so forcible as obedience to that law;

wherefore we consider that we ought not in any point to transgress the law.

And indeed, were our law (as you suppose) not truly divine, and if we wrongly think it divine, we should have no right even in that case to destroy our sense of religion.

But you deride our philosophy, as though we lived irrationally in it.

nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my forefathers to keep the law.

I am not so old, and void of manliness, but that my rational powers are youthful in defence of my religion.

I will not belie you, O law, my instructor! or forsake you, O beloved self-control!

I will not put you to shame, O philosopher Reason; or deny you, O honored priesthood, and science of the law.

For over the ungodly you shall tyrannize; but you shall not lord it over my thoughts about religion, either by your arguments, or through deeds.

Let not us who are children of Abraham be so evil advised as by giving way to make use of an unbecoming pretense;

for it were irrational, if having lived up to old age in all truth, and having scrupulously guarded our character for it, we should now turn back,

Thus speaking, the holy man departed, noble in his torments, and even to the agonies of death resisted in his reasoning for the sake of the law.

Ridiculous would it be were it not so; and I prove that reasoning has not only mastered pains, but that it is also superior to the pleasures, and withstands them.

You, father, have gloriously established our right government by your endurance; and making of much account our service past, prevented its destruction, and, by your deeds, have made credible the words of philosophy.

Now they having listened to these words of persuasion, and seeing the fearful instruments, not only were not afraid, but even answered the arguments of the tyrant, and through their good reasoning destroyed his power.

Why delay you, O tyrant? for we are readier to die than to transgress the injunctions of our fathers.

And we should be disgracing our fathers if we did not obey the law, and take knowledge for our guide.

O tyrant, counsellor of law-breaking, do not, hating us as you do, pity us more than we pity ourselves.

O most accursed tyrant, and enemy of heavenly justice, and cruel-hearted, I am no murderer, nor sacrilegious man, whom you thus ill-usest; but a defender of the Divine law.

For through all my torments I will convince you that the children of the Hebrews are alone unconquered in behalf of virtue.

How sweet is every form of death for the religion of our fathers! and he said to the tyrant,

A great favor you bestow upon us, O tyrant, by enabling us to manifest our adherence to the law by means of nobler sufferings.

For religious understanding, O tyrant, is unconquered.

For is not your inability to overrule our reasoning, and to compel us to eat the unclean, your destruction?

For the guards not of a tyrant but of a divine law are our defenders: through this we keep our reasoning unconquered.

But you shall groan according to your deserts for having slain without cause the champions of virtue.

If then, the seven kindred despised troubles even to death, it is confessed on all sides that righteous reasoning is absolute master over the passions.

O holy seven of harmonious kindred! for as the seven days of creation, about religion,

For they were both just and temperate, and manly, and high-minded, and fond of their kindred, and so fond of their mother that even to death they obeyed her by observing the law.

For it was truly a divine contest which was carried through by them.

Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

Neither 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.

“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For 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.

“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4

but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?

Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?

You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.

“Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.

By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’

“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand.

for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes.

Neither do people put new wine into old wine skins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.”

Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known.

What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.

Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.

But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ Hosea 6:6 you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.

You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” Psalm 78:2

For Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.

For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”

He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?

he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition.

You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’” Isaiah 29:13

That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Then the disciples came, and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?”

But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.

Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times!

Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said, “Yes.” When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?”