Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Each is a proverb-like proclamation, without narrative. Four of the blessings also appear in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirror the blessings.³Blessed are the poor in spirit,    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.⁴Blessed are those who mourn,    for they will be comforted.⁵Blessed are the meek,    for they will inherit the earth.⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,    for they will be filled.⁷Blessed are the merciful,    for they will be shown mercy.⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,    for they will see God.⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,    for they will be called children of God.¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.¹¹Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.²⁰Looking at his disciples, he said:'Blessed are you who are poor,    for yours is the kingdom of God.²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,    for you will be satisfied.Blessed are you who weep now,    for you will laugh.²²Blessed are you when people hate you,    when they exclude you and insult you    and reject your name as evil,    because of the Son of Man.²⁴'But woe to you who are rich,    for you have already received your comfort.²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,    for you will go hungry.Woe to you who laugh now,    for you will mourn and weep.²⁶Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.Portals: Christianity BibleThese blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. 'Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'There are men who fear to call their souls their own, and if they did, they would deceive—themselves. At times such men baptize their cowardice in holy water, name it humility, and tremble. …They are not blessed. Their life is a creeping paralysis. Afraid to stand for their convictions, they end by having no convictions to stand to.Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit 'who come unto me,' for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (3 Nephi 12:3).And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled 'with the Holy Ghost' (3 Nephi 12:6).Blessed the soul that hath been raised to life through My quickening breath and hath gained admittance into My heavenly Kingdom. The Beatitudes are eight blessings recounted by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Each is a proverb-like proclamation, without narrative. Four of the blessings also appear in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirror the blessings. In the Vulgate, each of these blessings begins with the word beati, which translates to 'happy', 'rich', or 'blessed' (plural adjective). The corresponding word in the original Greek is μακάριοι (makarioi), with the same meanings. Thus 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' appears in Latin as beati pauperes spiritu. The Latin noun beātitūdō was coined by Cicero to describe a state of blessedness, and was later incorporated within the chapter headings written for Matthew 5 in various printed versions of the Vulgate. Subsequently, the word was anglicized to beatytudes in the Great Bible of 1540, and has, over time, taken on a preferred spelling of beatitudes. While opinions may vary as to exactly how many distinct statements into which the Beatitudes should be divided (ranging from eight to ten), most scholars consider them to be only eight. These eight of Matthew follow a simple pattern: Jesus names a group of people normally thought to be unfortunate and pronounces them blessed. The eight Beatitudes in Matthew:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0} The ninth beatitude (Matthew 5:11–12) refers to the bearing of reviling and is addressed to the disciples. R. T. France considers verses 11 and 12 to be based on Isaiah 51:7. The Beatitudes unique to Matthew are the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, and the peacemakers. The other four have similar entries in Luke, but are followed almost immediately by 'four woes'. The term 'poor in spirit' is unique to Matthew. While thematically similar the introduction of the phrase 'Poor in spirit' spiritualizes or ethicizes the poor in their predicament (in alignment with Isaiah 61) while the Lucan version focuses on their actual hardship, poverty, marginalization and rejection of the poor who will see eventual vindication. The four Beatitudes in Luke 6:20–22 are set within the Sermon on the Plain. Luke 6:23 ('Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.') appears to parallel the text in Matthew 5:11–12. The four woes that follow in Luke 6:24–26