The Beatitudes Illustrated

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.[1]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 ★★★★★★?? (makarioi), with the same meanings.[a][3] Thus "Blessed are the poor in spirit" appears in Latin as beati pauperes spiritu.[4] The Latin noun be?tit?d? 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.[5] Subsequently, the word was anglicized to beatytudes in the Great Bible of 1540, [6] and has, over time, taken on a preferred spelling of beatitudes