Nehemiah 4 Cross References - BBE

¹ Now, Sanballat, hearing that we were building the wall, was very angry, and in his wrath made sport of the Jews. ² And in the hearing of his countrymen and the army of Samaria he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they make themselves strong? will they make offerings? will they get the work done in a day? will they make the stones which have been burned come again out of the dust? ³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Such is their building that if a fox goes up it, their stone wall will be broken down. ⁴ Give ear, O our God, for we are looked down on: let their words of shame be turned back on themselves, and let them be given up to wasting in a land where they are prisoners: ⁵ Let not their wrongdoing be covered or their sin washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders. ⁶ So we went on building the wall; and all the wall was joined together half-way up: for the people were working hard. ⁷ But when it came to the ears of Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the broken places were being made good, they were full of wrath; ⁸ And they made designs, all of them together, to come and make an attack on Jerusalem, causing trouble there. ⁹ But we made our prayer to God, and had men on watch against them day and night because of them. ¹⁰ And Judah said, The strength of the workmen is giving way, and there is much waste material; it is impossible for us to put up the wall. ¹¹ And those who were against us said, Without their knowledge and without their seeing us, we will come among them and put them to death, causing the work to come to a stop. ¹² And it came about that when the Jews who were living near them came, they said to us ten times, From all directions they are coming against us. ¹³ So in the lowest part of the space at the back of the walls, in the open places, I put the people by families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴ And after looking, I got up and said to the great ones and to the chiefs and to the rest of the people, Have no fear of them: keep in mind the Lord who is great and greatly to be feared, and take up arms for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses. ¹⁵ And when it came to the ears of those who were against us, that we had knowledge of their designs and that God had made their purpose come to nothing, we all went back to the wall, everyone to his work ¹⁶ And from that time, half of my servants were doing their part of the work, and half kept the spears and body-covers and the bows and the metal war-dresses; and the chiefs were at the back of the men of Judah. ¹⁷ Those who were building the wall and those who were moving material did their part, everyone working with one hand, with his spear in the other; ¹⁸ Every builder was working with his sword at his side. And by my side was a man for sounding the horn. ¹⁹ And I said to the great ones and the chiefs and the rest of the people, The work is great and widely spaced and we are far away from one another on the wall: ²⁰ Wherever you may be when the horn is sounded, come here to us; our God will be fighting for us. ²¹ So we went on with the work: and half of them had spears in their hands from the dawn of the morning till the stars were seen. ²² And at the same time I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant come inside Jerusalem for the night, so that at night they may keep watch for us, and go on working by day. ²³ So not one of us, I or my brothers or my servants or the watchmen who were with me, took off his clothing, everyone went armed to the water.

¹⁵ And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.

⁷ But your father has not kept faith with me, and ten times he has made changes in my payment; but God has kept him from doing me damage.

⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed.

⁹ Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you: ¹⁰ I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies. ¹¹ Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child. ¹² And you said, Truly, I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered. ¹³ Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau, ¹⁴ Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep, ¹⁵ Thirty camels with their young ones, forty cows, ten oxen, twenty asses, and ten young asses. ¹⁶ These he gave to his servants, every herd by itself, and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and let there be a space between one herd and another. ¹⁷ And he gave orders to the first, saying, When my brother Esau comes to you and says, Whose servant are you, and where are you going, and whose are these herds? ¹⁸ Then say to him, These are your servant Jacob's; they are an offering for my lord, for Esau; and he himself is coming after us. ¹⁹ And he gave the same orders to the second and the third and to all those who were with the herds, saying, This is what you are to say to Esau when you see him; ²⁰ And you are to say further, Jacob, your servant, is coming after us. For he said to himself, I will take away his wrath by the offering which I have sent on, and then I will come before him: it may be that I will have grace in his eyes.

²⁸ And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.

¹⁴ The Lord will make war for you, you have only to keep quiet.

²⁵ And made the wheels of their war-carriages stiff, so that they had hard work driving them: so the Egyptians said, Let us go in flight from before the face of Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.

⁹ And if you go to war in your land against any who do you wrong, then let the loud note of the horn be sounded; and the Lord your God will keep you in mind and give you salvation from those who are against you.

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.

⁹ Only, do not go against the Lord or go in fear of the people of the land, for they will be our food; their strength has been taken from them and the Lord is with us: have no fear of them.

²² Because all these men, having seen my glory and the signs which I have done in Egypt and in the waste land, still have put me to the test ten times, and have not given ear to my voice;

⁹ For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they took from the children of Israel the desire to go into the land which the Lord had given them.

²¹ See now, the Lord your God has put the land into your hands: go up and take it, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has said to you; have no fear and do not be troubled.

²⁹ Then I said to you, Have no fear of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

³⁰ The Lord your God who goes before you will be fighting for you, and will do such wonders as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

²² Have no fear of them, for the Lord your God will be fighting for you.

¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, strong in power and greatly to be feared, who has no respect for any man's position and takes no rewards:

³ Give ear, O Israel: today you are going forward to the fight; let your heart be strong; do not let uncontrolled fear overcome you because of those who are against you; ⁴ For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.

⁴ For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.

⁹ Have I not given you your orders? Take heart and be strong; have no fear and do not be troubled; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,

¹⁰ One man of you is able to put to flight a thousand; for it is the Lord your God who is fighting for you, as he has said to you.

¹¹ Give ear to the women laughing by the water-springs; there they will give again the story of the upright acts of the Lord, all the upright acts of his arm in Israel.

⁴⁸ Then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, with all his people; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and, cutting down branches of trees, took them and put them on his back. And he said to the people who were with him, Be quick and do as you have seen me do.

⁷ And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon. ⁸ And that year the children of Israel were crushed under their yoke; for eighteen years all the children of Israel on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead, were cruelly crushed down. ⁹ And the children of Ammon went over Jordan, to make war against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great trouble. ¹⁰ Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals. ¹¹ And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines ¹² And the Zidonians and Amalek and Midian crushing you down, and in answer to your cry did I not give you salvation from their hands? ¹³ But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer. ¹⁴ Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble. ¹⁵ And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day. ¹⁶ So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord's servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel. ¹⁷ Then the children of Ammon came together and put their army in position in Gilead. And the children of Israel came together and put their army in position in Mizpah. ¹⁸ And the people of Israel said to one another, Who will be the first to make an attack on the children of Ammon? We will make him head over all Gilead.

¹² Then Jephthah sent men to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you against me that you have come to make war against my land? ¹³ And the king of the children of Ammon said to the men sent by Jephthah, Because Israel, when he came up out of Egypt, took away my land, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and as far as Jordan: so now, give me back those lands quietly. ¹⁴ And Jephthah sent again to the king of the children of Ammon, ¹⁵ And said to him, This is the word of Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the children of Ammon; ¹⁶ But when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the waste land to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh; ¹⁷ Then Israel sent men to the king of Edom saying, Let me now go through your land; but the king of Edom did not give ear to them. And in the same way he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not; so Israel went on living in Kadesh. ¹⁸ Then he went on through the waste land and round the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon; they did not come inside the limit of Moab, for the Arnon was the limit of Moab. ¹⁹ And Israel sent men to Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let me now go through your land to my place. ²⁰ But Sihon would not give way and let Israel go through his land; and Sihon got together all his people, and put his army in position in Jahaz, and made war on Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hands of Israel, and they overcame them; so all the land of the Amorites, the people of that land, became Israel's. ²² All the limit of the Amorites was theirs, from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok and from the waste land even to Jordan. ²³ So now the Lord, the God of Israel, has taken away their land from the Amorites and given it to his people Israel; are you then to have it? ²⁴ Do you not keep the lands of those whom Chemosh your god sends out from before you? So we will keep all the lands of those whom the Lord our God sends out from before us. ²⁵ What! are you any better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever take up a cause against Israel or make war against them? ²⁶ While Israel was living in Heshbon and its daughter-towns and in Aroer and its daughter-towns and in all the towns which are by the side of the Arnon, for three hundred years, why did you not get them back at that time? ²⁷ So I have done no wrong against you, but you are doing wrong to me in fighting against me: may the Lord, who is Judge this day, be judge between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon. ²⁸ The king of the children of Ammon, however, did not give ear to the words which Jephthah sent to him. ²⁹ Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, and he went through Gilead and Manasseh, and came to Mizpeh of Gilead; and from Mizpeh of Gilead he went over to the children of Ammon. ³⁰ And Jephthah took an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give the children of Ammon into my hands, ³¹ Then whoever comes out from the door of my house, meeting me when I come back in peace from the children of Ammon, will be the Lord's and I will give him as a burned offering. ³² So Jephthah went over to the children of Ammon to make war on them; and the Lord gave them into his hands. ³³ And he made an attack on them from Aroer all the way to Minnith, overrunning twenty towns, as far as Abel-cheramim, and put great numbers to the sword. So the children of Ammon were crushed before the children of Israel. ³⁴ Then Jephthah came back to his house in Mizpah, and his daughter came out, meeting him on his way with music and with dances; she was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters. ³⁵ And when he saw her he was overcome with grief, and said, Ah! my daughter! I am crushed with sorrow, and it is you who are the chief cause of my trouble; for I have made an oath to the Lord and I may not take it back. ³⁶ And she said to him, My father, you have made an oath to the Lord; do then to me whatever you have said; for the Lord has sent a full reward on your haters, on the children of Ammon. ³⁷ Then she said to her father, Only do this for me: let me have two months to go away into the mountains with my friends, weeping for my sad fate. ³⁸ And he said, Go then. So he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends to the mountains, weeping for her sad fate. ³⁹ And at the end of two months she went back to her father, who did with her as he had said in his oath: and she had never been touched by a man. So it became a rule in Israel, ⁴⁰ For the women to go year by year sorrowing for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in every year.

²⁹ So Israel put men secretly all round Gibeah to make a surprise attack on it. ³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in fighting order against Gibeah as before. ³¹ And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, moving away from the town; and as before, at their first attack, they put to death about thirty men of Israel on the highways, of which one goes up to Beth-el and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country. ³² And the children of Benjamin said, They are giving way before us as at first. But the children of Israel said, Let us go in flight and get them away from the town, into the highways. ³³ So all the men of Israel got up and put themselves in fighting order at Baal-tamar: and those who had been waiting secretly to make a surprise attack came rushing out of their place on the west of Geba. ³⁴ And they came in front of Gibeah, ten thousand of the best men in all Israel, and the fighting became more violent; but the children of Benjamin were not conscious that evil was coming on them. ³⁵ Then the Lord sent sudden fear on Benjamin before Israel; and that day the children of Israel put to death twenty-five thousand, one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them swordsmen. ³⁶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were overcome: and the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, putting their faith in the watchers who were to make the surprise attack on Gibeah. ³⁷ And the watchers, rushing on Gibeah and overrunning it, put all the town to the sword without mercy. ³⁸ Now the sign fixed between the men of Israel and those making the surprise attack was that when they made a pillar of smoke go up from the town, ³⁹ The men of Israel were to make a turn about in the fight. And Benjamin had overcome and put to death about thirty of the men of Israel, and were saying, Certainly they are falling back before us as in the first fight. ⁴⁰ Then the sign went up out of the town in the pillar of smoke, and the Benjamites, turning back, saw all the town going up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹ And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them. ⁴² So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword. ⁴³ And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin came to their death, all strong men of war. ⁴⁵ And turning, they went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land: and on the highways five thousand of them were cut off by the men of Israel, who, pushing on hard after them to Geba, put to death two thousand more. ⁴⁶ So twenty-five thousand of the swordsmen of Benjamin came to their end that day, all strong men of war. ⁴⁷ But six hundred men, turning back, went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land, and were living on the rock of Rimmon for four months. ⁴⁸ And the men of Israel, turning again against the children of Benjamin, put to the sword without mercy all the towns and the cattle and everything there was, burning every town which came into their hands.

¹ Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. ² They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and put it by the side of Dagon.

² And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, I will make an agreement with you on this condition, that all your right eyes are put out; so that I may make it a cause of shame to all Israel.

¹¹ And they let the Philistine force see the two of them: and the Philistines said, Look! the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have taken cover. ¹² And the armed men of the force gave Jonathan and his servant their answer, saying, Come up here to us, and we will let you see something. Then Jonathan said to his servant, Come up after me: for the Lord has given them up into the hands of Israel.

²⁶ And David said to the men near him, What will be done to the man who overcomes this Philistine and takes away the shame from Israel? for who is this Philistine, a man without circumcision, that he has put shame on the armies of the living God?

⁴³ And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come out to me with sticks? And the Philistine put curses on David by all his gods. ⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, Come here to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

¹ Now after this, death came to the king of the children of Ammon, and Hanun, his son, became king in his place. ² And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father was a friend to me. So David sent his servants, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. ³ But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father by sending comforters to you? has he not sent his servants to go through the town and make secret observation of it, and overcome it? ⁴ So Hanun took David's servants, and after cutting off half the hair on their chins, and cutting off the skirts of their robes up to the middle, he sent them away. ⁵ When David had news of it, he sent men out with the purpose of meeting them on their way, for the men were greatly shamed: and the king said, Go to Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

¹² Take heart, and let us be strong for our people and for the towns of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.

³¹ And word came to David, saying, Ahithophel is among those who are joined to Absalom. And David said, O Lord, let the wisdom of Ahithophel be made foolish.

² And I will come up with him when he is tired and feeble, and make him full of fear: and all the people with him will go in flight; and I will make an attack on the king only:

¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.

¹⁰ Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands.

¹⁸ And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them living, and if they have come out for war, take them living.

²³ And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them.

¹⁴ And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸ And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction. ¹⁹ But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.

² And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldaeans and of the Edomites and of the Moabites and of the children of Ammon; sending them against Judah for its destruction, as he had said by his servants the prophets.

³ And because this house of God is dear to me, I give my private store of gold and silver to the house of my God, in addition to all I have got ready for the holy house;

¹⁴ But who am I and what is my people, that we have power to give so freely in this way? for all things come from you, and what we have given you is yours.

¹⁷ And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you. ¹⁸ O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the deepest thoughts of your people, and let their hearts be fixed and true to you;

¹⁸ Seventy thousand he put to the work of transport, eighty thousand to cutting stone in the mountains, and three thousand, six hundred as overseers to put the people to work.

¹² And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you. ¹³ But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back. ¹⁴ And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns. ¹⁵ And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶ And the children of Israel went in flight before Judah, and God gave them up into their hands. ¹⁷ And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword.

¹ Now after this, the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Meunim, made war against Jehoshaphat.

¹⁵ And he said, Give ear, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat: the Lord says to you, Have no fear and do not be troubled on account of this great army; for the fight is not yours but God's. ¹⁶ Go down against them tomorrow: see, they are coming up by the slope of Ziz; at the end of the valley, before the waste land of Jeruel, you will come face to face with them. ¹⁷ There will be no need for you to take up arms in this fight; put yourselves in position, and keep where you are, and you will see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: have no fear and do not be troubled: go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you.

⁶ He went out and made war against the Philistines, pulling down the walls of Gath and Jabneh and Ashdod, and building towns in the country round Ashdod and among the Philistines. ⁷ And God gave him help against the Philistines, and against the Arabians living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunim. ⁸ The Ammonites gave offerings to Uzziah: and news of him went out as far as the limit of Egypt; for he became very great in power.

³⁶ And Hezekiah and all the people were full of joy, because God had made the people ready: for the thing was done suddenly.

² And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come for the purpose of fighting against Jerusalem, ³ He took up with his rulers and men of war the question of stopping up the water-springs outside the town; and they gave him their support. ⁴ So they got together a great number of people, and had all the water-springs and the stream flowing through the land stopped up, saying, Why let the kings of Assyria come and have much water? ⁵ Then he took heart, building up the wall where it was broken down, and making its towers higher, and building another wall outside; and he made strong the Millo in the town of David, and got together a great store of all sorts of instruments of war. ⁶ And he put war chiefs over the people, and sent for them all to come together to him in the wide place at the doorway into the town, and to give them heart he said to them, ⁷ Be strong and take heart; have no fear, and do not be troubled on account of the king of Assyria and all the great army with him: for there is a greater with us.

⁷ Be strong and take heart; have no fear, and do not be troubled on account of the king of Assyria and all the great army with him: for there is a greater with us. ⁸ With him is an arm of flesh; but we have the Lord our God, helping us and fighting for us. And the people put their faith in what Hezekiah, king of Judah, said.

¹ Now news came to the haters of Judah and Benjamin that the people who had come back were building a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel; ² Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of families, and said to them, Let us take part in the building with you; for we are servants of your God, even as you are; and we have been making offerings to him from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who put us here. ³ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, You have no part with us in the building of a house for our God; we ourselves will do the work together for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus, king of Persia, has given us orders. ⁴ Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;

⁴ Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building; ⁵ And they gave payment to men who made designs against them and kept them from effecting their purpose, all through the time of Cyrus, king of Persia, till Darius became king.

⁵ And they gave payment to men who made designs against them and kept them from effecting their purpose, all through the time of Cyrus, king of Persia, till Darius became king. ⁶ And in the time of Ahasuerus, when he first became king, they put on record a statement against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. ⁷ And in the time of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his friends, sent a letter to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, writing it in the Aramaean writing and language. ⁸ Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe, sent a letter against Jerusalem, to Artaxerxes the king; ⁹ The letter was sent by Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe and their friends; the Dinaites and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,

⁹ The letter was sent by Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe and their friends; the Dinaites and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, ¹⁰ And the rest of the nations which the great and noble Osnappar took over and put in Samaria and the rest of the country over the river:

¹⁰ And the rest of the nations which the great and noble Osnappar took over and put in Samaria and the rest of the country over the river: ¹¹ This is a copy of the letter which they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your servants living across the river send these words: ¹² We give news to the king that the Jews who came from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are building up again that uncontrolled and evil town; the walls are complete and they are joining up the bases. ¹³ The king may be certain that when the building of this town and its walls is complete, they will give no tax or payment in goods or forced payments, and in the end it will be a cause of loss to the kings. ¹⁴ Now because we are responsible to the king, and it is not right for us to see the king's honour damaged, we have sent to give the king word of these things, ¹⁵ So that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: and you will see in the book of the records that this town has been uncontrolled, and a cause of trouble to kings and countries, and that there were outbursts against authority there in the past: for which reason the town was made waste. ¹⁶ We give you word, that if the building of this town and its walls is made complete, there will be an end of your power in the country across the river.

⁸ This is to give the king word that we went into the land of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is made of great stones, and has its walls supported with wood, and the work is going on with industry, and they are doing it well.

⁵ And said, O Lord, the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be feared, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws:

¹⁰ And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, hearing of it, were greatly troubled because a man had come to the help of the children of Israel.

¹⁹ But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, hearing of it, made sport of us, laughing at us and saying, What are you doing? will you go against the king?

¹ Now, Sanballat, hearing that we were building the wall, was very angry, and in his wrath made sport of the Jews.

¹⁰ And Judah said, The strength of the workmen is giving way, and there is much waste material; it is impossible for us to put up the wall. ¹¹ And those who were against us said, Without their knowledge and without their seeing us, we will come among them and put them to death, causing the work to come to a stop.

¹⁷ Those who were building the wall and those who were moving material did their part, everyone working with one hand, with his spear in the other; ¹⁸ Every builder was working with his sword at his side. And by my side was a man for sounding the horn.

²³ So not one of us, I or my brothers or my servants or the watchmen who were with me, took off his clothing, everyone went armed to the water.

¹⁵ But earlier rulers who were before me made the people responsible for their upkeep, and took from them bread and wine at the rate of forty shekels of silver; and even their servants were lords over the people: but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. ¹⁶ And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.

¹⁶ And I kept on with the work of this wall, and we got no land for ourselves: and all my servants were helping with the work.

¹ Now when word was given to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our haters, that I had done the building of the wall and that there were no more broken places in it though even then I had not put up the doors in the doorways;

¹⁵ So the wall was complete on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

² I made my brother Hanani, and Hananiah, the ruler of the tower, responsible for the government of Jerusalem: for he was a man of good faith, fearing God more than most.

¹ And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns. ² And the people gave a blessing to all the men who were freely offering to take up their places in Jerusalem.

²⁷ And when the time came for the wall of Jerusalem to be made holy, they sent for the Levites out of all their places to come to Jerusalem, to keep the feast with joy, and with praise and melody, with brass and corded instruments of music.

⁴³ And on that day they made great offerings and were glad; for God had made them glad with great joy; and the women and the children were glad with them: so that the joy of Jerusalem came to the ears of those who were far off.

²³ And in those days I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab: ²⁴ And their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples.

¹² Who makes the designs of the wise go wrong, so that they are unable to give effect to their purposes. ¹³ He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly.

³ Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.

²² A bright light comes out of the north; God's glory is greatly to be feared.

¹ Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish? ² The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying, ³ Let their chains be broken, and their cords taken from off us.

¹ For the chief music-maker. Of David. In the Lord put I my faith; how will you say to my soul, Go in flight like a bird to the mountain? ² See, the bows of the evil-doers are bent, they make ready their arrows on the cord, so that they may send them secretly against the upright in heart.

⁷ Some put their faith in carriages and some in horses; but we will be strong in the name of the Lord our God.

¹ Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; who is then a cause of fear to me? the Lord is the strength of my life; who is a danger to me?

¹⁰ The Lord undoes the designs of the nations; he makes the thoughts of the peoples without effect. ¹¹ The Lord's purpose is eternal, the designs of his heart go on through all the generations of man.

¹⁵ But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me. ¹⁶ Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.

¹³ You have made us to be looked down on by our neighbours, we are laughed at and shamed by those who are round about us. ¹⁴ Our name is a word of shame among the nations, a sign for the shaking of heads among the peoples.

¹¹ The Lord of armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower. Selah.

¹⁵ Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me.

¹ To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin.

⁹ Let your face be turned from my wrongdoing, and take away all my sins.

¹⁶ As for me, I will make my prayer to God, and he will be my saviour. ¹⁷ In the evening and in the morning and in the middle of the day I will make my prayer with sounds of grief; and my voice will come to his ears. ¹⁸ He has taken my soul away from the attack which was made against me, and given it peace; for great numbers were against me. ¹⁹ God will give thought to me; he who from early times is strong will send pain and trouble on them. Selah. Because they are unchanged, they have no fear of God. ²⁰ He has put out his hand against those who were at peace with him; he has not kept his agreement. ²¹ The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they were sharp swords. ²² Put your cares on the Lord, and he will be your support; he will not let the upright man be moved.

⁶ They come together, they are waiting in secret places, they take note of my steps, they are waiting for my soul.

⁵ You, O Lord God of armies, are the God of Israel; come now and give punishment to the nations; have no mercy on any workers of deceit. Selah. ⁶ They come back in the evening; they make a noise like a dog, and go round the town. ⁷ See, hate is dropping from their lips; curses are on their tongues: they say, Who gives attention to it? ⁸ But you are laughing at them, O Lord; you will make sport of all the nations. ⁹ O my strength, I will put my hope in you; because God is my strong tower. ¹⁰ The God of my mercy will go before me: God will let me see my desire effected on my haters. ¹¹ Put them not to death, for so my people will keep the memory of them: let them be sent in all directions by your power; make them low, O Lord our saviour. ¹² Because of the sin of their mouths and the word of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride; and for their curses and their deceit, ¹³ Put an end to them in your wrath, put an end to them, so that they may not be seen again; let them see that God is ruling in Jacob and to the ends of the earth. Selah.

⁵ You will give us an answer in righteousness by great acts of power, O God of our salvation; you who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off lands of the sea;

³ Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.

⁵ Come and see the works of God: he is to be feared in all he does to the children of men.

²⁷ Let their punishment be increased; let them not come into your righteousness. ²⁸ Let their names be taken from the book of the living, let them not be numbered with the upright.

¹⁰ And I said, It is a weight on my spirit; but I will keep in mind the years of the right hand of the Most High. ¹¹ I will keep in mind the works of Jah: I will keep the memory of your wonders in the past. ¹² I will give thought to all your work, while my mind goes over your acts of power. ¹³ Your way, O God, is holy: what god is so great as our God? ¹⁴ You are the God who does works of power: you have made your strength clear to the nations. ¹⁵ With your arm you have made your people free, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. ¹⁶ The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, they were in fear: even the deep was troubled. ¹⁷ The clouds sent out water; the skies gave out a sound; truly, your arrows went far and wide. ¹⁸ The voice of your thunder went rolling on; the world was flaming with the light of the storm; the earth was shaking. ¹⁹ Your way was in the sea, and your road in the great waters; there was no knowledge of your footsteps. ²⁰ You were guiding your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹² And give punishment seven times over into the breast of our neighbours for the bitter words which they have said against you, O Lord.

³ They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place. ⁴ They have said, Come, let us put an end to them as a nation; so that the name of Israel may go out of man's memory. ⁵ For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you: ⁶ The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; ⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; ⁸ Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. Selah. ⁹ Do to them what you did to the Midianites; what you did to Sisera and Jabin, at the stream of Kishon: ¹⁰ Who came to destruction at En-dor; their bodies became dust and waste. ¹¹ Make their chiefs like Oreb and Zeeb; and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna:

⁶ My eyes will be on those of good faith in the land, so that they may be living in my house; he who is walking in the right way will be my servant.

¹⁴ Let the Lord keep in mind the wrongdoing of his fathers; and may the sin of his mother have no forgiveness.

³ Your people give themselves gladly in the day of your power; like the dew of the morning on the holy mountains is the army of your young men.

⁵ All is well for the man who is kind and gives freely to others; he will make good his cause when he is judged.

³ Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for all men are looking down on us. ⁴ For long enough have men of pride made sport of our soul.

⁵ I keep in mind the early days of the past, giving thought to all your acts, even to the work of your hands.

³⁴ He makes sport of the men of pride, but he gives grace to the gentle-hearted.

³⁰ Wisdom and knowledge and wise suggestions are of no use against the Lord.

⁷ See, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty men of war are about it, of the army of Israel, ⁸ All of them armed with swords, trained in war; every man has his sword at his side, because of fear in the night.

⁹ Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth: ¹⁰ Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.

¹⁰ Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.

¹¹ Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, Please make use of the Aramaean language in talking to your servants, for we are used to it, and do not make use of the Jews' language in the hearing of the people on the wall. ¹² But the Rab-shakeh said, Is it to your master or to you that my master has sent me to say these words? has he not sent me to the men seated on the wall? for they are the people who will be short of food with you when the town is shut in.

¹⁰ Have no fear, for I am with you; do not be looking about in trouble, for I am your God; I will give you strength, yes, I will be your helper; yes, my true right hand will be your support. ¹¹ Truly, all those who are angry with you will be made low and put to shame: those desiring to do you wrong will come to nothing and never again be seen. ¹² You will make search for your haters but they will not be there; those who make war against you will be as nothing and will come to destruction. ¹³ For I, the Lord your God, have taken your right hand in mine, saying to you, Have no fear; I will be your helper. ¹⁴ Have no fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will be your helper, says the Lord, even he who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵ I, even I, am he who takes away your sins; and I will no longer keep your evil doings in mind.

²² I have put your evil doings out of my mind like a thick cloud, and your sins like a mist: come back to me; for I have taken up your cause.

²⁵ Who makes the signs of those who give word of the future come to nothing, so that those who have knowledge of secret arts go off their heads; turning the wise men back, and making their knowledge foolish:

¹¹ Because of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge.

¹² I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass? ¹³ And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one?

¹¹ Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them, ¹² He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name; ¹³ He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land?

¹ O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you, ² As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you; ³ While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past.

²³ But you, Lord, have knowledge of all the designs which they have made against my life; let not their evil-doing be covered or their sin be washed away from before your eyes: but let it be a cause of falling before you: so do to them in the time of your wrath.

¹⁰ For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing there is fear on every side: they say, Come, let us give witness against him; all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment.

²⁰ And all the mixed people and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the rest of Ashdod;

³⁷ Who is able to say a thing, and give effect to it, if it has not been ordered by the Lord? ³⁸ Do not evil and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

¹⁸ Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.

³ And say to the children of Ammon, Give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you said, Aha! against my holy place when it was made unclean, and against the land of Israel when it was made waste, and against the people of Judah when they were taken away as prisoners; ⁴ For this cause I will give you up to the children of the east for their heritage, and they will put their tent-circles in you and make their houses in you; they will take your fruit for their food and your milk for their drink. ⁵ And I will make Rabbah a place for housing camels, and the children of Ammon a resting-place for flocks: and you will be certain that I am the Lord. ⁶ For the Lord has said, Because you have made sounds of joy with your hands, stamping your feet, and have been glad, putting shame with all your soul on the land of Israel; ⁷ For this cause my hand has been stretched out against you, and I will give up your goods to be taken by the nations; I will have you cut off from the peoples and will put an end to you among the countries: I will give you up to destruction; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

¹⁸ Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made his army do hard work against Tyre, and the hair came off every head and every arm was rubbed smooth: but he and his army got no payment out of Tyre for the hard work which he had done against it.

³ And he said to me, Son of man, is it possible for these bones to come to life? And I made answer, and said, It is for you to say, O Lord. ⁴ And again he said to me, Be a prophet to these bones, and say to them, O you dry bones, give ear to the word of the Lord. ⁵ This is what the Lord has said to these bones: See, I will make breath come into you so that you may come to life; ⁶ And I will put muscles on you and make flesh come on you, and put skin over you, and breath into you, so that you may have life; and you will be certain that I am the Lord. ⁷ So I gave the word as I was ordered: and at my words there was a shaking of the earth, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ And looking I saw that there were muscles on them and flesh came up, and they were covered with skin: but there was no breath in them. ⁹ And he said to me, Be a prophet to the wind, be a prophet, son of man, and say to the wind, The Lord has said: Come from the four winds, O wind, breathing on these dead so that they may come to life. ¹⁰ And I gave the word at his orders, and breath came into them, and they came to life and got up on their feet, a very great army. ¹¹ Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are all the children of Israel: and see, they are saying, Our bones have become dry our hope is gone, we are cut off completely. ¹² For this cause be a prophet to them, and say, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am opening the resting-places of your dead, and I will make you come up out of your resting-places, O my people; and I will take you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And you will be certain that I am the Lord by my opening the resting-places of your dead and making you come up out of your resting-places, O my people.

²⁵ Have then the certain knowledge that from the going out of the word for the building again of Jerusalem till the coming of a prince, on whom the holy oil has been put, will be seven weeks: in sixty-two weeks its building will be complete, with square and earthwork.

¹⁴ I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.

⁸ Him who is seated in power I will have cut off from Ashdod, and him in whose hand is the rod from Ashkelon; and my hand will be turned against Ekron, and the rest of the Philistines will come to destruction, says the Lord God.

¹³ These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because in Gilead they had women with child cut open, so that they might make wider the limits of their land.

⁹ Give out the news in the great houses of Assyria and in the land of Egypt, and say, Come together on the mountains of Samaria, and see what great outcries are there, and what cruel acts are done in it.

² The Lord is a God who takes care of his honour and gives punishment for wrong; the Lord gives punishment and is angry; the Lord sends punishment on those who are against him, being angry with his haters. ³ The Lord is slow to get angry and great in power, and will not let the sinner go without punishment: the way of the Lord is in the wind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴ He says sharp words to the sea and makes it dry, drying up all the rivers: Bashan is feeble, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon is without strength. ⁵ The mountains are shaking because of him, and the hills flowing away; the earth is falling to bits before him, the world and all who are in it. ⁶ Who may keep his place before his wrath? and who may undergo the heat of his passion? his wrath is let loose like fire and the rocks are broken open by him. ⁷ The Lord is good, a strong place in the day of trouble; and he has knowledge of those who take him for their safe cover.

² O Lord, word of you has come to my ears; I have seen your work, O Lord; when the years come near make it clear; in wrath keep mercy in mind.

² These are the words of the Lord of armies: These people say, The time has not come for building the Lord's house.

⁵ Ashkelon will see it with fear, and Gaza, bent with pain; and Ekron, for her hope will be shamed: and the king will be cut off from Gaza, and Ashkelon will be unpeopled. ⁶ And a mixed people will be living in Ashdod, and I will have the pride of the Philistines cut off.

⁸ In that day the Lord will be a cover over the people of Jerusalem; and he who is feeble among them in that day will be as strong as David, and the family of David will be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

³ Then the Lord will go out and make war against those nations, as he did in the day of the fight.

¹⁶ See, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Be then as wise as snakes, and as gentle as doves.

²⁸ And have no fear of those who put to death the body, but are not able to put to death the soul. But have fear of him who has power to give soul and body to destruction in hell.

⁴¹ Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.

²⁹ And they made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and put a rod in his right hand, and they went down on their knees before him, and made sport of him, saying, Long life to the King of the Jews.

³⁴ It is as when a man who is in another country for a time, having gone away from his house, and given authority to his servants and to everyone his work, gives the porter an order to keep watch.

¹¹ But they were full of wrath, and were talking together about what they might do to Jesus. ¹² And it came about in those days that he went out to the mountain for prayer; and he was all night in prayer to God.

³⁶ But keep watch at all times with prayer, that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and take your place before the Son of man.

¹⁷ But so that it may not go farther among the people, let us put them in fear of punishment if they say anything in future in this name. ¹⁸ And they sent for them, and gave them orders not to make statements or give teaching in the name of Jesus.

²⁴ And hearing it, they all, with one mind, made prayer to God and said, O Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all things in them: ²⁵ Who has said, by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David your servant, Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish? ²⁶ The kings of the earth were lifted up, the rulers came together, against the Lord, and against his Christ: ²⁷ For, truly, in this town, against your holy servant, Jesus, who was marked out by you as Christ, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, came together, ²⁸ To do that which had been fixed before by your hand and your purpose. ²⁹ And now, Lord, take note of their cruel words, and give your servants power to be preachers of your word without fear, ³⁰ While your hand is stretched out to do works of mercy; so that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

¹⁷ But the high priest and those who were with him the Sadducees were full of envy,

³³ But when these words came to their ears, they were cut to the heart, and had a mind to put them to death.

¹² And when it was day, the Jews came together and put themselves under an oath that they would take no food or drink till they had put Paul to death.

¹² And when it was day, the Jews came together and put themselves under an oath that they would take no food or drink till they had put Paul to death. ¹³ And more than forty of them took this oath.

²¹ But do not give way to them, for more than forty of them are waiting for him, having taken an oath not to take food or drink till they have put him to death: and now they are ready, waiting for your order.

¹¹ Be not slow in your work, but be quick in spirit, as the Lord's servants;

²⁷ But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong;

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs: ²⁰ And again, The Lord has knowledge of the reasonings of the wise, that they are nothing.

¹² If others have a part in this right over you, have we not even more? But we did not make use of our right, so that we might put nothing in the way of the good news of Christ.

²⁰ My brothers, do not be children in mind: in evil be as little children, but in mind be of full growth.

¹⁰ But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

⁵⁸ For this cause, my dear brothers, be strong in purpose and unmoved, ever giving yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you are certain that your work is not without effect in the Lord.

⁹ For a great and important door there is open to me, and there are a number of people against me.

¹³ Be on the watch, unmoved in the faith, and be strong like men.

⁷ In the true word, in the power of God; with the arms of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

¹⁶ But praise be to God, who puts the same care for you into the heart of Titus. ¹⁷ For while he gladly gave ear to our request, he was interested enough to go to you from the impulse of his heart.

⁹ And let us not get tired of well-doing; for at the right time we will get in the grain, if we do not give way to weariness.

¹¹ Take up God's instruments of war, so that you may be able to keep your position against all the deceits of the Evil One. ¹² For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens. ¹³ For this reason take up all the arms of God, so that you may be able to be strong in the evil day, and, having done all, to keep your place. ¹⁴ Take your place, then, having your body clothed with the true word, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵ Be ready with the good news of peace as shoes on your feet; ¹⁶ And most of all, using faith as a cover to keep off all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. ¹⁷ And take salvation for your head-dress and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: ¹⁸ With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints, ¹⁹ And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news, ²⁰ For which I am a representative in chains, and that I may say without fear the things which it is right for me to say.

²⁸ Having no fear of those who are against you; which is a clear sign of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God;

¹³ For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure.

²⁹ And for this purpose I am working, using all my strength by the help of his power which is working in me strongly.

¹¹ And that you may take pride in being quiet and doing your business, working with your hands as we gave you orders;

² For you yourselves have the knowledge that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

³ Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus.

⁷ I have made a good fight, I have come to the end of my journey, I have kept the faith:

¹⁴ Alexander the copper-worker did me much wrong: the Lord will give him the reward of his works:

³⁶ And others were tested by being laughed at or by blows, and even with chains and prisons:

²⁰ For the order which said, If the mountain is touched even by a beast, the beast is to be stoned, seemed hard to them; ²¹ And the vision was so overpowering that even Moses said, I am shaking and full of fear.

²⁸ If then, we have a kingdom which will never be moved, let us have grace, so that we may give God such worship as is pleasing to him with fear and respect: ²⁹ For our God is an all-burning fire.

⁶ So that we say with a good heart, The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear: what is man able to do to me?

²¹ Make you full of every good work and ready to do all his desires, working in us whatever is pleasing in his eyes through Jesus Christ; and may the glory be given to him for ever and ever. So be it.

⁸ Be serious and keep watch; the Evil One, who is against you, goes about like a lion with open mouth in search of food;

¹² Be glad then, O heavens, and you who are in them. But there is trouble for the earth and the sea: because the Evil One has come down to you, being very angry, having the knowledge that he has but a short time. ¹³ And when the dragon saw that he was forced down to the earth, he made cruel attacks on the woman who gave birth to the male child.

¹⁷ And the dragon was angry with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her seed, who keep the orders of God, and the witness of Jesus: