⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹ Thus has the Lord of hosts spoken: Execute true judgment and show mercy and kindness and tender compassion, every man to his brother;

¹⁰ And oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the temporary resident or the poor, and let none of you devise or imagine or think evil against his brother in your heart.

¹¹ But they refused to listen and turned a rebellious and stubborn shoulder and made heavy and dull their ears that they might not hear.

¹² Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone or diamond point, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore there came great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

²⁵ And great crowds joined and accompanied Him about, coming from Galilee and Decapolis [the district of the ten cities east of the Sea of Galilee] and Jerusalem and Judea and from the other [the east] side of the Jordan.

5 Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.

² Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

³ Blessed (happy, ^[a]to be envied, and ^[b]spiritually prosperous—^[c]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

⁴ Blessed and enviably happy [with a ^[d]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!^(A)

⁵ Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, ^[e]spiritually prosperous—^[f]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!^(B)

⁶ Blessed and fortunate and happy and ^[g]spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God ^[h]enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be ^[i]completely satisfied!^(C)

⁷ Blessed (happy, ^[j]to be envied, and ^[k]spiritually prosperous—^[l]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!

⁸ Blessed (happy, ^[m]enviably fortunate, and ^[n]spiritually prosperous—possessing the ^[o]happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!^(D)

⁹ Blessed (enjoying ^[p]enviable happiness, ^[q]spiritually prosperous—^[r]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the makers and ^[s] maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God!

¹⁰ Blessed and happy and ^[t]enviably fortunate and ^[u]spiritually prosperous ^[v](in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

¹¹ Blessed (happy, ^[w]to be envied, and ^[x]spiritually prosperous—^[y]with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account.

¹² Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you.^(E)

¹³ You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.

²⁵ And then a certain lawyer arose to try (test, tempt) Him, saying, Teacher, what am I to do to inherit everlasting life [that is, to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?

²⁶ Jesus said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it?

²⁷ And he replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.^(A)

²⁸ And Jesus said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live [enjoy active, blessed, endless life in the kingdom of God].

²⁹ And he, ^[a]determined to acquit himself of reproach, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?