22Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take from the kernel of the exalted cedar, and I will establish it. I will tear off a tender twig from the top of its branches, and I will plant it on a mountain, lofty and exalted. 23On the sublime mountains of Israel, I will plant it. And it shall spring forth in buds and bear fruit, and it shall be a great cedar. And all the birds will live under it, and every bird will make its nest under the shadow of its branches. 24And all the trees of the regions will know that I, the Lord, have brought low the sublime tree, and have exalted the lowly tree, and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken and acted.”
2It is good to confess to the Lord and to sing psalms to your name, O Most High: 3to announce your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night, 4upon the ten strings, upon the psaltery, with a canticle, upon stringed instruments. 5For you, O Lord, have delighted me with your doings, and I will exult in the works of your hands. 6How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. 7A foolish man will not know these things, and a senseless one will not understand: 8when sinners will have risen up like grass, and when all those who work iniquity will have appeared, that they shall pass away, age after age. 9But you, O Lord, are the Most High for all eternity. 10For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies will perish, and all those who work iniquity will be dispersed. 11And my horn will be exalted like that of the single-horned beast, and my old age will be exalted in fruitful mercy. 12And my eye has looked down upon my enemies, and my ear will hear of the malignant rising up against me. 13The just one will flourish like the palm tree. He will be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon. 14Those planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of the house of our God. 15They will still be multiplied in a fruitful old age, and they will endure well, 16so that they may announce that the Lord our God is righteous and that there is no iniquity in him.
6Therefore, we are ever confident, knowing that, while we are in the body, we are on a pilgrimage in the Lord. 7For we walk by means of faith, and not by sight. 8So we are confident, and we have the good will to be on a pilgrimage in the body, so as to be present to the Lord. 9And thus we struggle, whether absent or present, to please him. 10For it is necessary for us to be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the proper things of the body, according to his behavior, whether it was good or evil.
26And he said: “The kingdom of God is like this: it is as if a man were to cast seed on the land. 27And he sleeps and he arises, night and day. And the seed germinates and grows, though he does not know it. 28For the earth bears fruit readily: first the plant, then the ear, next the full grain in the ear. 29And when the fruit has been produced, immediately he sends out the sickle, because the harvest has arrived.” 30And he said: “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or to what parable should we compare it? 31It is like a grain of mustard seed which, when it has been sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds which are in the earth. 32And when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the plants, and it produces great branches, so much so that the birds of the air are able to live under its shadow.” 33And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. 34But he did not speak to them without a parable. Yet separately, he explained all things to his disciples.