making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

A song of ascents, ²  by David. Look! How good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together! ³ 

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ¹  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ² 

And to all these ¹  virtues ²  add ³  love, which is the perfect bond. ⁴ 

Finally, all of you be harmonious, ¹  sympathetic, affectionate, compassionate, and humble.

Then I cut the second staff “Binders” in two in order to annul the covenant of brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another ¹  in accordance with Christ Jesus,

Grace and peace to you ¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, ¹  so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

“Your hands have shaped ¹  me and made me, but ²  now you destroy me completely. ³ 

and the two will become one flesh. ¹  So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one ¹  and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility,

And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?

And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹  they have begun to do this, then ²  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ³ 

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

So I ¹  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ²  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ³  calling one “Pleasantness” ⁴  and the other “Binders,” ⁵  and I tended the flock.

For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ.

and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is ¹  a sign of their ²  destruction, but of your salvation – a sign which ³  is from God.