1 Thessalonians 4 Cross References - BSB

¹ Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. ² For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. ⁸ Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit. ⁹ Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. ¹⁰ And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more ¹¹ and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. ¹² Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. ¹³ Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. ¹⁵ By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. ¹⁷ After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

⁹ Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

¹⁴ In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

² He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.

²⁷ For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

⁸ Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

¹ Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,

¹ Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

⁹ So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it.

¹ As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

¹ Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away.

¹¹ Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹ As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:

²⁰ But this is not the way you came to know Christ.

¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

²⁷ Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel,

¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

¹⁰ so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

⁶ Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,

¹¹ For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children— ¹² encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

¹² And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,

² For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁰ And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more ¹¹ and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. ¹² Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

³ We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.

¹ Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers,

¹ Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you.

¹⁰ For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” ¹¹ Yet we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives and accomplishing nothing but being busybodies. ¹² We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly to earn their own living.

²¹ I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.

¹³ I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate: ¹⁴ Keep this commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹ I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom:

⁹ I prefer to appeal on the basis of love. For I, Paul, am now aged, and a prisoner of Christ Jesus as well. ¹⁰ I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains.

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

¹⁶ And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

²² I urge you, brothers, to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have only written to you briefly.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities and continue to grow in them, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,

¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

²² and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.

¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.

²⁰ and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

²¹ To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law.

⁶ Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.

¹⁰ For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”

⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

¹⁰ Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

³⁵ For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

³⁴ Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

¹⁷ If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.

¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸ As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

²⁰ Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

²⁹ You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

³² And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

³⁰ It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

⁹ I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹³ “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

² But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

²¹ I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

³ But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. ⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵ For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

²⁶ to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.

⁶ And do this not only to please them while they are watching, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

⁵ Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

¹² Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God.

⁴ each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

¹⁸ Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹³ But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. ¹⁴ He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

³⁶ You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

¹⁶ See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.

⁴ Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

²¹ equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

² Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

¹⁷ The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁵ But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

⁵ David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.”

¹⁵ “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.

¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use? ²² What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? ²³ What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—

¹ Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

⁹ But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

⁷ Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us. ⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

²⁰ A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use. ²¹ So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.

⁷ Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

³² For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

³⁰ For the Gentiles of the world strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

²³ For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

³⁰ Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

²⁸ Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

³⁴ Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

³ For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

¹⁵ You shall not steal.

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹¹ You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.

¹³ You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.

¹⁴ If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

¹⁷ Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

⁷ If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.

¹³ You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light. ¹⁴ You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small. ¹⁵ You must maintain accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For everyone who behaves dishonestly in regard to these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

³⁵ Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

³ Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” ⁴ “You have not wronged us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.”

¹³ If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?

¹ O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.

¹² I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.

¹ Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.

¹¹ Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

¹⁴ “Worthless, worthless!” says the buyer, but on the way out, he gloats.

²³ Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.

²² Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, ²³ for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.

²⁴ He who robs his father or mother, saying, “It is not wrong,” is a companion to the man who destroys.

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

²³ Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them. ²⁴ Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.

⁷ For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

⁴ No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. ⁵ They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched. ⁶ Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.

⁶ if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁴ “Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.

¹³ Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.

⁹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Enough, O princes of Israel! Cease your violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing My people, declares the Lord GOD.’ ¹⁰ You must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure for both. ¹² The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina. ¹³ This is the contribution you are to offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley. ¹⁴ The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bath from each cor (a cor consists of ten baths or one homer, since ten baths are equivalent to a homer).

⁵ asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales. ⁶ Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”

² They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

¹ Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!

⁵ The LORD within her is righteous; He does no wrong. He applies His justice morning by morning; He does not fail at dawn, yet the unjust know no shame.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat others, honor your father and mother.’”

⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

⁴ For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers! ⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

²⁸ He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need.

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

⁴ Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁴⁴ For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.

² “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

⁷ To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁹ For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

⁴ For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

¹⁰ For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

³ For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.

¹³ But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. ¹⁴ To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, as well as holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ¹¹ Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. ¹² Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: ²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

¹⁰ Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.

⁷ And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.

¹⁹ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.”

³⁰ You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

⁹ Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

⁷ Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

¹⁶ Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”

⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land? ⁴ Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”

⁴¹ ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”

⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

¹⁰ But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

⁴⁰ In my judgment, however, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

⁶ And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

²¹ For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

²⁴ Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

⁸ Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.

⁸ Whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people.

¹ A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

¹³ But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

³⁴ No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁴ “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—

³⁴ A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ¹⁷ This is My command to you: Love one another.

³² The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

¹ Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, ² and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

¹ Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.

¹⁰ For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. ¹¹ No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”

¹ Continue in brotherly love.

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.

⁸ Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.

²⁰ You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well. ²⁴ As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life. ²⁶ I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

¹¹ This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. ¹⁶ By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. ¹⁹ And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:

²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

²¹ And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

¹ Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. ² In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.

⁸ I am not making a demand, but I am testing the sincerity of your love in comparison to the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And this is my opinion about what is helpful for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give, but even to have such a desire.

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.

⁴ because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints—

⁷ As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

¹ Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.

⁵ because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. ⁶ I pray that your partnership in the faith may become effective as you fully acknowledge every good thing that is ours in Christ. ⁷ I take great joy and encouragement in your love, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

¹ Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.

⁶ Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

²⁶ It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.

⁴² And the Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their portion at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

³ and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

³⁵ In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

⁴ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. ⁶ We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; ⁷ if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸ if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

¹¹ Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

²⁰ In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.

² for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.

¹³ At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention.

⁴ In this way they can train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited. ⁶ In the same way, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. ⁷ In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, ⁸ and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us. ⁹ Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not stealing from them, but showing all good faith, so that in every respect they will adorn the teaching about God our Savior.

¹⁴ And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet the pressing needs of others, so that they will not be unfruitful.

⁴ but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.

¹⁰ As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁵ Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler.

¹¹ He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables,

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹³ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

¹² What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

²⁰ We hope to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this generous gift. ²¹ For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

⁷ Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

⁵ Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

²² Abstain from every form of evil.

⁷ Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.

¹² Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

¹ Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives

¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

³⁵ All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

²⁸ You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

¹ You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead, ² for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

¹⁹ When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied. ²⁰ Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.

³³ The king was shaken and went up to the gate chamber and wept. And as he walked, he cried out, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

²¹ Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be counted as criminals.”

¹⁰ Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

²¹ saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

²⁵ But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. ²⁶ Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. ²⁷ I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

³² The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.

¹⁶ “Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not mourn or weep or let your tears flow. ¹⁷ Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.” ¹⁸ So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And the next morning I did as I had been commanded.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

² And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.

⁵² The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

⁵² Meanwhile, everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But Jesus said, “Stop weeping; she is not dead but asleep.” ⁵³ And they laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead.

¹¹ After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.” ¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.” ¹³ They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus.

²⁴ Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

⁶⁰ Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

² God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

³⁶ For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.

¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

¹ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.

¹ Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

⁶ After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.

⁸ We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

¹⁵ By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

⁴ “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”

⁸ Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

¹⁹ Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.

¹⁹ Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.

¹⁵ And a similar plague will strike the horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

³¹ And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith. ¹⁵ In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men. ²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.

¹³ And in keeping with what is written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.

¹³ so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.

¹³ Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

¹⁷ After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

¹⁴ Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones ¹⁵ to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

¹⁸ the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

¹ Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.

⁹ For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”

¹⁷ For I have been told by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’” ¹⁸ Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

²² but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”

³⁵ Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him.

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”

¹¹ Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹³ But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.

¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope. ¹⁴⁸ My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.

²⁵ “Yes,” he answered. When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?”

⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

¹⁴ knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.

¹⁹ After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

¹⁶ On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁸ When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.

²¹ He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout unto God with a voice of triumph.

⁵ God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD with the sound of the horn.

⁸ He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken. ⁹ And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

¹³ And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

¹¹ The LORD raises His voice in the presence of His army. Indeed, His camp is very large, for mighty are those who obey His command. For the Day of the LORD is great and very dreadful. Who can endure it?

⁷ What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁴ Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.

²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

³⁰ At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.

⁶⁴ “You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered. “But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

²³ But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.

⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

⁷ and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels

¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

⁹ But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

⁷ Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him—even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

¹⁰ On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

¹³ And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!”

⁵ The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

¹² I do not know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off when I leave you. Then when I go and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind.

¹⁶ “Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” “Do not send them,” Elisha replied.

¹¹ You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

¹⁵ As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.

¹⁵ But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah

²⁴ You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory.

¹⁰ So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹⁹ No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. ²⁰ Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease.

¹³ In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence.

⁶² “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.

²⁴ Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

⁹ After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.

⁵² in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

⁸ We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. ³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.

²³ I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed.

¹³ But in keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ “Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’ ¹⁷ For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

¹² And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.

⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵ And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” ⁶ And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

²² But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.

³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him. ⁴ They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.

¹ “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. ² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

²⁸ When these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

¹¹ Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.

¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

²⁴ And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

¹² Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.