My other websites: Catholic, Prophets today, For Kids

Read Today’s Bible Verses following here:

Joshua 5

Rites at Gilgal.

1When all the kings of the Amorites to the west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they crossed over, their hearts melted and they were utterly dispirited because of the Israelites.

2^a On this occasion the LORD said to Joshua: Make flint knives and circumcise Israel for the second time.

3So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth.^*

4This was the reason for the circumcision: Of all the people who had come out of Egypt, every male of military age had died in the wilderness^b during the journey after they came out of Egypt.

5Though all the men who came out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness during the journey after the departure from Egypt were circumcised.

6Now the Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness, until all the warriors among the people that came forth from Egypt died off because they had not listened to the voice of the LORD. For the LORD swore^c that he would not let them see the land he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

7^d It was the children God raised up in their stead whom Joshua circumcised, for these were yet with foreskins, not having been circumcised on the journey.

8When the circumcision of the entire nation was complete, they remained in camp where they were, until they recovered.

9Then the LORD said to Joshua: Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.^e Therefore the place is called Gilgal^* to the present day.

10^f While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.^*

11On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day

12after they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.^g

Siege at Jericho.

13^* While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand.^h Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you one of us or one of our enemies?”

14He replied, “Neither. I am the commander^* of the army of the LORD: now I have come.” Then Joshua fell down to the ground in worship, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

15The commander of the army of the LORD replied to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy.”ⁱ And Joshua did so.

Joshua 6

Now Jericho was in a state of siege because of the presence of the Israelites. No one left or entered.

2And to Joshua the LORD said: I have delivered Jericho, its king, and its warriors into your power.

3^a Have all the soldiers circle the city, marching once around it. Do this for six days,

4with seven priests carrying ram’s horns ahead of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, and have the priests blow the horns.

5When they give a long blast on the ram’s horns and you hear the sound of the horn, all the people shall shout aloud. The wall of the city will collapse, and the people shall attack straight ahead.

6Summoning the priests, Joshua, son of Nun, said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant with seven of the priests carrying ram’s horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”

7And he ordered the people, “Proceed and surround the city, with the picked troops marching ahead of the ark of the LORD.”

8When Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests who carried the ram’s horns before the LORD marched and blew their horns, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.

9In front of the priests with the horns marched the picked troops; the rear guard followed the ark, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually as they marched.

10But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not shout or make any noise or outcry until I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you must shout.”

11So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going once around it, after which they returned to camp for the night.

12Early the next morning, Joshua had the priests take up the ark of the LORD.

13The seven priests bearing the ram’s horns marched in front of the ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Ahead of these marched the picked troops, while the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually.

14On this second day they again marched around the city once before returning to camp; and for six days in all they did the same.

15On the seventh day, beginning at daybreak, they marched around the city seven times in the same manner; on that day only did they march around the city seven times.

16The seventh time around, the priests blew the horns and Joshua said to the people, “Now shout, for the LORD has given you the city.

17^b The city and everything in it is under the ban. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are in the house with her are to live, because she hid the messengers we sent.

18^c But be careful not to covet or take anything that is under the ban;^* otherwise you will bring upon the camp of Israel this ban and the misery of it.

19All silver and gold, and the articles of bronze or iron, are holy to the LORD. They shall be put in the treasury of the LORD.”

The Fall of Jericho.

20As the horns blew, the people began to shout. When they heard the sound of the horn, they raised a tremendous shout. The wall collapsed,^* and the people attacked the city straight ahead and took it.^d

21They observed the ban by putting to the sword all living creatures^e in the city: men and women, young and old, as well as oxen, sheep and donkeys.

22^f To the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman with all her family, as you swore to her you would do.”

23The spies entered and brought out Rahab, with her father, mother, brothers, and all her family; her entire family they led forth and placed outside the camp of Israel.

24The city itself they burned with all that was in it;^g but the silver, gold, and articles of bronze and iron they placed in the treasury of the house of the LORD.

25^* Because Rahab the prostitute had hidden the messengers whom Joshua had sent to reconnoiter Jericho, Joshua let her live, along with her father’s house and all her family, who dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

26^h On that occasion Joshua imposed the oath: Cursed before the LORD be the man who attempts to rebuild this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn will he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son will he set up its gates.^*

27Thus the LORD was with Joshua so that his fame spread throughout the land.ⁱ

Joshua 7

Defeat at Ai.

1But the Israelites acted treacherously with regard to the ban; Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took goods that were under the ban,^a and the anger of the LORD flared up against the Israelites.

2^b Joshua next sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven and east of Bethel, with the order, “Go up and reconnoiter the land.” When they had explored Ai,

3they returned to Joshua and advised, “Do not send all the people up; if only about two or three thousand go up, they can attack and overcome Ai. You need not tire all the people: the enemy there are few.”

4About three thousand of the people made the attack, but they fled before the army at Ai,

5who killed some thirty-six of them. They pursued them from the city gate to the Shebarim, and defeated them on the descent, so that the confidence of the people melted away like water.

6Joshua, together with the elders of Israel, tore their garments and fell face down before the ark of the LORD until evening; and they threw dust on their heads.

7“Alas, Lord GOD,” Joshua prayed, “why did you ever allow this people to cross over the Jordan, delivering us into the power of the Amorites, that they might destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan.

8Please, Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back to its enemies?

9When the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will close in around us and efface our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”^c

10The LORD replied to Joshua: Stand up. Why are you lying there?

11^d Israel has sinned: they have transgressed the covenant^* which I enjoined on them. They have taken goods subject to the ban. They have stolen and lied, placing the goods in their baggage.

12If the Israelites cannot stand up to their enemies, but must turn their back to them, it is because they are under the ban. I will not continue to be with you unless you remove that which is banned from among you.

13Get up, sanctify the people.^e Tell them, “Sanctify yourselves before tomorrow, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: That which is banned is in your midst, Israel. You cannot stand up to your enemies until you remove it from among you.

14In the morning you must come forward by tribes. The tribe which the LORD designates shall come forward by clans; the clan which the LORD designates shall come forward by families; the family which the LORD designates shall come forward one by one.

15Whoever is designated as having incurred the ban shall be destroyed by fire, with all that is his, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and has committed a shameful crime in Israel.”^f

Achan’s Guilt and Punishment.

16Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was designated.^*

17Then he had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of Zerah was designated. He had the clan of Zerah^g come forward by families, and Zabdi was designated.

18Finally he had that family come forward one by one, and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was designated.

19Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and praise him by telling me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

20Achan answered Joshua, “I have indeed sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:

21Among the spoils, I saw a beautiful Babylonian mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight; I coveted them and I took them. They are now hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

22Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and there they were, hidden in the tent, with the silver underneath.

23They took them from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

24Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle, and the bar of gold, and with his sons and daughters, his ox, his donkey and his sheep, his tent, and all his possessions, and led them off to the Valley of Achor.

25Joshua said, “What misery have you caused us? May the LORD bring misery upon you today!”^h And all Israel stoned him to death. They burnt them with fire and they stoned them.

26Over Achan they piled a great heap of stones, which remains to the present day.ⁱ Then the LORD turned from his anger. That is why the place is called the Valley of Achor^* to this day.

Joshua 8

Capture of Ai.

1^a The LORD then said to Joshua: Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the army with you and prepare to attack Ai.^b I have delivered the king of Ai into your power, with his people, city, and land.

2Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king—except that you may take its spoil and livestock as plunder.^c Set an ambush behind the city.

3So Joshua and all the soldiers prepared to attack Ai. Picking out thirty thousand warriors,^* Joshua sent them off by night

4with these orders: “See that you ambush the city from the rear. Do not be very far from the city. All of you must be ready.

5The rest of the people and I will come up to the city, and when they make a sortie against us as they did the last time, we will flee from them.

6They will keep coming out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us as they did the last time.’ When we flee,

7then you rise from ambush and take possession of the city, which the LORD, your God, will deliver into your power.

8When you have taken the city, set it on fire in obedience to the LORD’s command. These are my orders to you.”^d

9Then Joshua sent them away. They went to the place of ambush, taking up their position to the west of Ai, toward Bethel. Joshua, however, spent that night with the army.

10Early the next morning Joshua mustered the army and went up to Ai at its head, with the elders of Israel.

11When all the troops he led were drawn up in position before the city, they pitched camp north of Ai, on the other side of the ravine.

12He took about five thousand warriors and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.

13Thus the people took up their stations, with the main body north of the city and the ambush west of it, and Joshua waited overnight in the valley.

14The king of Ai saw this, and he and all his army came out very early in the morning to engage Israel in battle at the place in front of the Arabah, not knowing that there was an ambush behind the city.

15Joshua and the main body of the Israelites fled toward the wilderness, pretending defeat,

16until the last of the soldiers in the city had been called out to pursue them. Since they were drawn away from the city, with everyone pursuing Joshua,

17not a soldier remained in Ai or Bethel. They abandoned the city, leaving it open, as they pursued Israel.

18Then the LORD directed Joshua: Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your power. Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city,

19and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose from their post, rushed in, captured the city, and immediately set it on fire.

20By the time the army of Ai looked back, the smoke from the city was going up to the heavens. Escape in any direction was impossible, because the Israelites retreating toward the wilderness now turned on their pursuers;

21for when Joshua and the main body of Israelites saw that the city had been taken by ambush and was going up in smoke, they struck back at the forces of Ai.

22Since those in the city came out to intercept them, Ai’s army was hemmed in by Israelites on both sides, who cut them down without any fugitives or survivors^e

23except the king, whom they took alive and brought to Joshua.

24When Israel finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open, who had pursued them into the wilderness, and all of them to the last man fell by the sword, then all Israel returned and put to the sword those inside the city.

25There fell that day a total of twelve thousand men and women, the entire population of Ai.

26^f Joshua kept the javelin in his hand stretched out until he had carried out the ban on all the inhabitants of Ai.

27However, the Israelites took for themselves as plunder the livestock and the spoil of that city, according to the command of the LORD issued to Joshua.

28Then Joshua destroyed Ai by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today.^g

29He had the king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening;^h then at sunset Joshua ordered the body removed from the tree and cast at the entrance of the city gate, where a great heap of stones was piled up over it, which remains to the present day.

Altar on Mount Ebal.

30^{* i} Later, on Mount Ebal, Joshua built to the LORD, the God of Israel, an altar

31of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been used,^j just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded the Israelites, as recorded in the book of the law. On this altar they sacrificed burnt offerings to the LORD and made communion sacrifices.

32There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed upon the stones a copy of the law written by Moses.

33And all Israel, resident alien and native alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD.^k Half of them were facing Mount Gerizim and half Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had first commanded for the blessing of the people of Israel.

34^l Then were read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book of the law.

35^m Every single word that Moses had commanded, Joshua read aloud to the entire assembly, including the women and children, and the resident aliens among them.

Joshua 9

Confederacy Against Israel.

1When the news reached all the kings west of the Jordan, in the mountain regions and in the Shephelah, and all along the coast of the Great Sea as far as the Lebanon: Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,^a

2they gathered together to launch a common attack against Joshua and Israel.

The Gibeonite Deception.

3On hearing what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, the inhabitants of Gibeon^b

4formed their own scheme. They chose provisions for a journey, making use of old sacks for their donkeys, and old wineskins, torn and mended.

5They wore old, patched sandals and shabby garments; and all the bread they took was dry and crumbly.

6Thus they journeyed to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, where they said to him and to the Israelites, “We have come from a far-off land; now, make a covenant with us.”^c

7But the Israelites replied to the Hivites,^* “You may be living in land that is ours. How, then, can we make a covenant with you?”

8But they answered Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

9They answered him, “Your servants have come from a far-off land, because of the fame of the LORD, your God. For we have heard reports of all that he did in Egypt^d

10and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan,^e Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

11So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land said to us, ‘Take along provisions for the journey and go to meet them. Say to them: “We are your servants; now make a covenant with us.”’

12This bread of ours was still warm when we brought it from home as provisions the day we left to come to you, but now it is dry and crumbly.

13Here are our wineskins, which were new when we filled them, but now they are torn. Look at our garments and sandals; they are worn out from the very long journey.”

14Then the Israelite leaders partook of their provisions, without inquiring of the LORD.^f

15So Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant to let them live,^g which the leaders of the community sealed with an oath.

Gibeonites Made Vassals.

16Three days after the covenant was made, the Israelites heard that these people were from nearby, and would be living in Israel.

17The third day on the road, the Israelites came to their cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim,

18but did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. When the entire community grumbled against the leaders,

19these all remonstrated with the community, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and so we cannot harm them.

20Let us therefore let them live, and so deal with them that no wrath fall upon us because of the oath we have sworn to them.”^h

21Thus the leaders said to them, “Let them live, and become hewers of wood and drawers of water^* for the entire community.” So the community did as the leaders advised them.ⁱ

22Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, “Why did you deceive us and say, ‘We live far off from you’?—You live among us!

23Now are you accursed: every one of you shall always be a slave, hewers of wood and drawers of water, for the house of my God.”

24They answered Joshua, “Your servants were fully informed of how the LORD, your God, commanded Moses his servant that you be given the entire land and that all its inhabitants be destroyed before you. Since, therefore, at your advance, we were in great fear for our lives, we acted as we did.^j

25And now that we are in your power, do with us what is good and right in your eyes.”

26^* Joshua did what he had decided: while he saved them from being killed by the Israelites,

27on that day he made them, as they still are, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the community and for the altar of the LORD, in the place the LORD would choose.

1 Peter 4:1-11

Christian Restraint.^*

1Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same attitude (for whoever suffers in the flesh has broken with sin),

2so as not to spend what remains of one’s life in the flesh on human desires, but on the will of God.

3For the time that has passed is sufficient for doing what the Gentiles like to do: living in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and wanton idolatry.^a

4They are surprised that you do not plunge into the same swamp of profligacy, and they vilify you;

5but they will give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.^b

6For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead^* that, though condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in the estimation of God.

Christian Charity.^*

7The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and sober for prayers.

8^c Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.^*

9Be hospitable to one another without complaining.^d

10As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.^e

11Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,^f to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.^*

• Sermons Rosary Prayers Catholic Answers

The complete Book of Joshua

THE BOOK OF JOSHUA

The Book of Joshua presents a narrative of the way Israel took possession of the land of Canaan, making it the land of Israel. This process is swift and inexorable, and is followed by an orderly division and disposition of the land among the twelve tribes, with a concluding ceremony of covenant renewal.

The theological message of the book is unmistakable. God has been faithful to the promise of the land. If Israel relies totally on the Lord for victory; if Israel is united as a people; if the law of herem is kept and no one grows rich from victory in war—then and only then will Israel possess the land.

The Israelites are led by Joshua, the successor of Moses, and the book is at pains to show not only how Joshua carries on the work of Moses but how the “conquest” of Canaan is continuous with the exodus from Egypt. This is seen in the repeated insistence that, as the Lord was with Moses, so he is with Joshua; and, especially, in the crossing of the Jordan River, which is patterned after the crossing of the Red Sea.

The book preserves older traditions of Israel’s settlement in the land, especially in the division of the land among the tribes. As with Deuteronomy and the whole Deuteronomistic History (see introduction to Deuteronomy), the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722/721 B.C. shows its influence throughout. As addressed to the needs of a late preexilic audience, then, the book should be read not so much as imparting information about how Israel took over the land of Canaan, many centuries before the composition of the book, as teaching a lesson about how Israel is to avoid losing the land.

Modern readers may be put off by the description of battles and their aftermath, the destruction of everyone and everything in the cities taken under the “ban” (herem). The ban was practiced in the ancient Near East, in Israel and elsewhere, but in Joshua the wholesale destruction of the Canaanites is an idealization of the deuteronomic idea that pagans are to be wiped out so they will not be an occasion for apostasy from the Lord (cf. Dt 7:1–6); note in particular the artificial, formalized description of destruction of towns in Jos 10:28–39. It should be remembered that by the time the book was written, the Canaanites were long gone. Progressive revelation throughout Israel’s history produced far more lofty ideals, as when the prophets see all the nations embracing faith in Yahweh, being joined to Israel, and living in peace with one another (Is 2:2–4; 19:23–25; 45:22–25; Zec 8:22–23), and the New Testament teaches us to love even our enemies (Mt 5:43–45).

A comparison of Joshua with the account of Israel’s early history found in the first chapter of the Book of Judges shows that Israel’s emergence as the dominant presence in the land was a slow and piecemeal affair, not achieved at one stroke and with great ease: the Book of Joshua, with its highly idealized depiction of the “conquest,” is a theologically programmatic cautionary tale about what the people are to do and not do in order to avoid the fate of the Northern Kingdom in losing the land.

The Book of Joshua may be divided as follows:

1. Conquest of Canaan (1:1–12:24)
2. Division of the Land (13:1–21:45)
3. Return of the Transjordan Tribes and Joshua’s Farewell (22:1–24:33)

The book of 1 Peter

THE FIRST LETTER OF PETER

This letter begins with an address by Peter to Christian communities located in five provinces of Asia Minor (1 Pt 1:1), including areas evangelized by Paul (Acts 16:6–7; 18:23). Christians there are encouraged to remain faithful to their standards of belief and conduct in spite of threats of persecution. Numerous allusions in the letter suggest that the churches addressed were largely of Gentile composition (1 Pt 1:14, 18; 2:9–10; 4:3–4), though considerable use is made of the Old Testament (1 Pt 1:24; 2:6–7, 9–10, 22; 3:10–12).

The contents following the address both inspire and admonish these “chosen sojourners” (1 Pt 1:1) who, in seeking to live as God’s people, feel an alienation from their previous religious roots and the society around them. Appeal is made to Christ’s resurrection and the future hope it provides (1 Pt 1:3–5) and to the experience of baptism as new birth (1 Pt 1:3, 23–25; 3:21). The suffering and death of Christ serve as both source of salvation and example (1 Pt 1:19; 2:21–25; 3:18). What Christians are in Christ, as a people who have received mercy and are to proclaim and live according to God’s call (1 Pt 2:9–10), is repeatedly spelled out for all sorts of situations in society (1 Pt 2:11–17), work (even as slaves, 1 Pt 2:18–20), the home (1 Pt 3:1–7), and general conduct (1 Pt 3:8–12; 4:1–11). But over all hangs the possibility of suffering as a Christian (1 Pt 3:13–17). In 1 Pt 4:12–19 persecution is described as already occurring, so that some have supposed the letter was addressed both to places where such a “trial by fire” was already present and to places where it might break out.

The letter constantly mingles moral exhortation (paraklēsis) with its catechetical summaries of mercies in Christ. Encouragement to fidelity in spite of suffering is based upon a vision of the meaning of Christian existence. The emphasis on baptism and allusions to various features of the baptismal liturgy suggest that the author has incorporated into his exposition numerous homiletic, credal, hymnic, and sacramental elements of the baptismal rite that had become traditional at an early date.

From Irenaeus in the late second century until modern times, Christian tradition regarded Peter the apostle as author of this document. Since he was martyred at Rome during the persecution of Nero between A.D. 64 and 67, it was supposed that the letter was written from Rome shortly before his death. This is supported by its reference to “Babylon” (1 Pt 5:13), a code name for Rome in the early church.

Some modern scholars, however, on the basis of a number of features that they consider incompatible with Petrine authenticity, regard the letter as the work of a later Christian writer. Such features include the cultivated Greek in which it is written, difficult to attribute to a Galilean fisherman, together with its use of the Greek Septuagint translation when citing the Old Testament; the similarity in both thought and expression to the Pauline literature; and the allusions to widespread persecution of Christians, which did not occur until at least the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81–96). In this view the letter would date from the end of the first century or even the beginning of the second, when there is evidence for persecution of Christians in Asia Minor (the letter of Pliny the Younger to Trajan, A.D. 111–12).

Other scholars believe, however, that these objections can be met by appeal to use of a secretary, Silvanus, mentioned in 1 Pt 5:12. Such secretaries often gave literary expression to the author’s thoughts in their own style and language. The persecutions may refer to local harassment rather than to systematic repression by the state. Hence there is nothing in the document incompatible with Petrine authorship in the 60s.

Still other scholars take a middle position. The many literary contacts with the Pauline literature, James, and 1 John suggest a common fund of traditional formulations rather than direct dependence upon Paul. Such liturgical and catechetical traditions must have been very ancient and in some cases of Palestinian origin.

Yet it is unlikely that Peter addressed a letter to the Gentile churches of Asia Minor while Paul was still alive. This suggests a period after the death of the two apostles, perhaps A.D. 70–90. The author would be a disciple of Peter in Rome, representing a Petrine group that served as a bridge between the Palestinian origins of Christianity and its flowering in the Gentile world. The problem addressed would not be official persecution but the difficulty of living the Christian life in a hostile, secular environment that espoused different values and subjected the Christian minority to ridicule and oppression.

The principal divisions of the First Letter of Peter are the following:

1. Address (1:1–2)
2. The Gift and Call of God in Baptism (1:3–2:10)
3. The Christian in a Hostile World (2:11–4:11)
4. Advice to the Persecuted (4:12–5:11)
5. Conclusion (5:12–14)

I. Address

It is in the nature of faith to recognize the reality of what is not yet seen and is the object of hope, and the saints of the Old Testament give striking example of that faith (Heb 11:1–40). The perseverance to which the author exhorts the readers is shown forth in the earthly life of Jesus. Despite the afflictions of his ministry and the supreme trial of his suffering and death, he remained confident of the triumph that God would bring him (Heb 12:1–3). The difficulties of human life have meaning when they are accepted as God’s discipline (Heb 12:4–13), and if Christians persevere in fidelity to the word in which they have believed, they are assured of possessing forever the unshakable kingdom of God (Heb 12:14–29).

The letter concludes with specific moral commandments (Heb 13:1–17), in the course of which the author recalls again his central theme of the sacrifice of Jesus and the courage needed to associate oneself with it in faith (Heb 13:9–16).

As early as the end of the second century, the church of Alexandria in Egypt accepted Hebrews as a letter of Paul, and that became the view commonly held in the East. Pauline authorship was contested in the West into the fourth century, but then accepted. In the sixteenth century, doubts about that position were again raised, and the modern consensus is that the letter was not written by Paul. There is, however, no widespread agreement on any of the other suggested authors, e.g., Barnabas, Apollos, or Prisc(ill)a and Aquila. The document itself has no statement about its author.

Among the reasons why Pauline authorship has been abandoned are the great difference of vocabulary and style between Hebrews and Paul’s letters, the alternation of doctrinal teaching with moral exhortation, the different manner of citing the Old Testament, and the resemblance between the thought of Hebrews and that of Alexandrian Judaism. The Greek of the letter is in many ways the best in the New Testament.

Since the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written about A.D. 96, most probably cites Hebrews, the upper limit for the date of composition is reasonably certain. While the letter’s references in the present tense to the Old Testament sacrificial worship do not necessarily show that temple worship was still going on, many older commentators and a growing number of recent ones favor the view that it was and that the author wrote before the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In that case, the argument of the letter is more easily explained as directed toward Jewish Christians rather than those of Gentile origin, and the persecutions they have suffered in the past (cf. Heb 10:32–34) may have been connected with the disturbances that preceded the expulsion of the Jews from Rome in A.D. 49 under the emperor Claudius. These were probably caused by disputes between Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not.

The principal divisions of the Letter to the Hebrews are the following:

1. Introduction (1:1–4)
2. The Son Higher than the Angels (1:5–2:18)
3. Jesus, Faithful and Compassionate High Priest (3:1–5:10)
4. Jesus’ Eternal Priesthood and Eternal Sacrifice (5:11–10:39)
5. Examples, Discipline, Disobedience (11:1–12:29)
6. Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings (13:1–25)