1 Peter Cross References - MSB

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen 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. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, honor, and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not known Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, ¹¹ trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 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. ¹³ Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 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.” ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake. ²¹ Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God. ²² Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth through the Spirit so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and forever enduring word of God. ²⁴ For, “All flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, ²⁵ but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

³³ But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.

²⁷ Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

²⁶ I would have said that I would cut them to pieces and blot out their memory from mankind,

⁸ Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

¹¹ You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.

⁸ Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

²² If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ). ⁴² Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

³⁵ At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

⁵² and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one.

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” ¹⁶ Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language. ⁷ Astounded and amazed, they asked one another, “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

⁹ But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen,

⁴ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

⁶ After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. ⁷ And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit would not permit them.

² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

²³ After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

¹⁰ This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁶ Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. ¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. ¹⁸ When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia.

¹⁹ The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.

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.

² and all the brothers with me, To the churches of Galatia:

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.

¹⁹ Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

¹⁵ You know that everyone in the Province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹³ All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

¹ Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

¹¹ saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

⁶ For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷ Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

⁹ And I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and heirs from Judah; My elect will possess My mountains, and My servants will dwell there.

²² No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

¹ King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.

²⁵ Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.

²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

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.

²⁰ If the Lord had not cut short those days, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has cut them short.

²² For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

²⁷ And He will send out His angels to gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

⁷ Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?

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. ¹⁸ If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

²³ He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, took and put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

¹⁸ Known for ages to God are all His works.

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

⁵ Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

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.

¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

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.

³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

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— ²⁴ including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?

² God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel, saying,

⁵ In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, then it is no longer grace. Otherwise work is no longer work. ⁷ What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,

²⁸ Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs.

¹⁶ to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise indeed about what is good and innocent about what is evil.

²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—

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.

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 and by the Spirit of our God.

⁵ We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. Amen.

⁴ For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love ⁵ He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

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.

¹⁰ For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness,

⁹ And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

¹⁹ For when Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” ²¹ In the same way, he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle and all the vessels used in worship. ²² According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²² Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth through the Spirit so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

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.

² Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

¹ The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I alone, but also all who know the truth—

¹³ The children of your elect sister send you greetings. Amen.

² Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

⁶ Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

¹⁵ and said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying,

¹⁰ Then David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly and said: “May You be blessed, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. ¹¹ Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler over all. In Your hands are power and might to exalt and give strength to all. ¹³ Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks, and we praise Your glorious name.

²⁰ Then David said to the whole assembly, “Blessed be the LORD your God.” So the whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers. They bowed down and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.

¹³ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. ¹⁹ And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.

⁵ For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.

¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

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.

² So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

¹³ children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

³ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” ⁴ “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

²⁵ He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.

⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. 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 For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many! ¹⁶ Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! ¹⁸ So then, just as one trespass brought condemnation for all men, so also one act of righteousness brought justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Why would one hope for what he can already see?

¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

⁴ But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. 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.

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

³ and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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 And the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

¹³ as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. ⁶ This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to the end our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

¹⁸ Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and forever enduring word of God.

² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow,

²¹ And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves us also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

²⁹ If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

⁹ Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

⁴ because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

¹⁸ We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects Himself, and the evil one cannot touch him.

¹⁹ How great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have bestowed before the sons of men on those who take refuge in You!

⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

¹² Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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.’

¹⁷ And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.

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. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

¹¹ In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

¹⁴ who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

¹⁸ I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

⁵ the faith and love proceeding from the hope stored up for you in heaven, of which you have already heard in the word of truth, the gospel

¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁸ From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but to all who crave His appearing.

¹⁵ Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, knowing that to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

²⁷ But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

²⁵ But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

²³ The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey. ²⁴ Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.

²⁸ For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children— ¹⁸ to those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.

¹ A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever. ² As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.

⁸ to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.

¹⁷ But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.

⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

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.

¹¹ I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. ¹² While I was with them in the world, I protected and preserved by Your name those You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

¹⁵ I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.

³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is there to condemn us? For Christ, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁰ That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

²⁴ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,

¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

⁶ being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

³ and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you,

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.

¹⁴ Keep this commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which the blessed and only Sovereign One—the King of kings and Lord of lords—will bring about in His own time.

¹⁵ From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

¹² Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

²⁸ so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

¹³ Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

² Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

¹ Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep them from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

¹ At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD in whom my horn is exalted. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.

²⁷ If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’ ²⁸ I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.

¹⁴ that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

²⁰ Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

²⁸ My soul melts with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word.

⁷⁵ I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

² Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.” ³ With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation,

³ to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

³² Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion. ³³ For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.

¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

³⁷ He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

³³ I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”

²² strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

¹¹ Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

² I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

⁹ For it seems to me that God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession, like prisoners appointed for death. We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. ¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

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 We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.

¹⁷ For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.

¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in worse beatings, in more imprisonments, in frequent danger of death. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶ In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, ²⁷ in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²⁶ For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

⁶ And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering.

³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to the test, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

⁷ Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸ If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

⁹ The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.

⁹ Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, honor, and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not known Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.

³⁰ Therefore, the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.

¹⁰ Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹⁰ For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver. ¹¹ You led us into the net; You laid burdens on our backs. ¹² You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us into abundance.

¹³ Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding, ¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold. ¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

¹⁹ My fruit is better than gold, pure gold, and my harvest surpasses choice silver.

¹⁶ How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

³ A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.

¹⁴ or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.

¹⁰ See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

⁷ Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

³⁶ Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.

⁹ This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”

³ And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²¹ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

²³ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!’

²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’ ²¹ This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

⁴⁴ How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

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.

²⁰ But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

⁷ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

²⁹ No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

³ Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.

¹³ his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.

⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

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 ⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might, ¹⁰ on the day He comes to be glorified in His saints and regarded with wonder by all who have believed, including you who have believed our testimony. ¹¹ To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴ Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

¹² Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

² Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days.

⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁴ As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,

⁷ To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who are disobedient, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.

⁴ Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be burned up. ¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed, then, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness ¹² as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.

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 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

¹⁶ saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! ¹⁷ For in a single hour such fabulous wealth has been destroyed!” Every shipmaster, passenger, and sailor, and all who make their living from the sea, will stand at a distance

⁷ Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

⁹ How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?

¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

³⁷ Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.

¹⁵ If you love Me, keep My commandments.

²¹ Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

²⁴ Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

³⁴ Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

²² If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!

²² placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.

¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight.

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that if One died for all, therefore all died. ¹⁵ And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

⁴ was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.

⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.

¹³ And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

²⁴ Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Amen.

²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith,

¹ Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

²⁷ By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials

¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen?

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.

²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

⁴ if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,

⁴⁴ In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.

³ So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁷ I will shake all the nations, and they will come with all their treasures, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Hosts.

¹² And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD.

¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

²⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

⁴⁴ Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

³⁹ You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

⁵² “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.”

²² For Moses said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you. ²³ Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people.’ ²⁴ Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days.

⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

⁴³ All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

²⁷ The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. ²⁹ When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.

¹¹ Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

²³ So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

⁴⁰ God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

¹¹ trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

¹⁹ We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but holy men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? ² I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. ³ Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ⁴ In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. ⁵ They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed. ⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. ⁷ All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: ⁸ “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.” ⁹ Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast. ¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon You; from my mother’s womb You have been my God. ¹¹ Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. ¹² Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me. ¹⁸ They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. ¹⁹ But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. ²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of wild dogs. ²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me! ²² I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the assembly. ²³ You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All offspring of Israel, revere Him! ²⁴ For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help. ²⁵ My praise for You resounds in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You. ²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever! ²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him. ²⁸ For dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—even those unable to preserve their lives. ³⁰ Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation. ³¹ They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn—all that He has done.

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck. ² I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me. ³ I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay. ⁵ You know my folly, O God, and my guilt is not hidden from You. ⁶ May those who hope in You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of Hosts; may those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel. ⁷ For I have endured scorn for Your sake, and shame has covered my face. ⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons, ⁹ because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me. ¹⁰ I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach. ¹¹ I made sackcloth my clothing, and I was sport to them. ¹² Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of drunkards. ¹³ But my prayer to You, O LORD, is for a time of favor. In Your abundant loving devotion, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation. ¹⁴ Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters. ¹⁵ Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me. ¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving devotion is good; turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion. ¹⁷ Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly! ¹⁸ Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ransom me because of my foes. ¹⁹ You know my reproach, my shame and disgrace. All my adversaries are before You. ²⁰ Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one. ²¹ They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. ³¹ And this will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves. ³² The humble will see and rejoice. You who seek God, let your hearts be revived! ³³ For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people. ³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them. ³⁵ For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it. ³⁶ The descendants of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will settle in it.

¹ A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You. ² May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. ³ For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. ⁴ I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength. ⁵ I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care. ⁶ You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths. ⁷ Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah ⁸ You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape. ⁹ My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You. ¹⁰ Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah ¹¹ Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon? ¹² Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion? ¹³ But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You. ¹⁴ Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me? ¹⁵ From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair. ¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. ¹⁷ All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side. ¹⁸ You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

¹ A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ² The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” ³ Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth. ⁴ The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” ⁵ The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath. ⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.

⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

⁶ He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

¹³ Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. ¹⁴ Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—

¹ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ² He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. ⁴ Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. ⁵ But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. ⁶ We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people. ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 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. ¹¹ After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

³⁴ As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

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. ¹⁴ And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

²⁴ Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. ²⁵ Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. ²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.

¹⁸ Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹ “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.” ²⁰ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities— ²¹ and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’

⁷ Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.

⁹ On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things when he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.

²² But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: ²³ that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

⁹ You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

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

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, ¹⁹ in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison

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

¹⁰ So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

²⁰ And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

²³ If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD. ³ And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear, ⁴ but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips. ⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist. ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.

¹⁵ until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. ⁴ They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams. ⁵ One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD,’ another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and will take the name of Israel.”

¹ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

¹⁹ During the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he blessed the God of heaven

²² He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.

²⁸ But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these: ²⁹ As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen.

⁴⁷ The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”

²⁴ Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

¹ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, and it concerned a great conflict. And the understanding of the message was given to him in a vision.

⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing there, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. ⁶ One of them said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the fulfillment of these wonders?”

⁹ “Go on your way, Daniel,” he replied, “for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

¹³ But as for you, go on your way until the end. You will rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

²⁸ And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

⁷ Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.

¹⁰ Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

²⁷ All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

²⁶ The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

⁶ So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

²⁶ When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.

⁷ But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; ¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned. ¹² I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. ¹³ However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. ¹⁵ Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.

² Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

¹⁷ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸ Even on My menservants and maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

³³ Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people of Israel!

³¹ After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

²⁵ And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.

¹⁰ As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

¹⁷ For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of peace, who bring good news of good things!”

¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

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

⁶ in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

¹² I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,

¹⁰ His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

⁵ because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction—just as you know we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering.

⁹ Surely you recall, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

⁴ and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

² For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰ God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

²⁵ but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.

¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

⁴⁶ And the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

²⁹ So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

³ Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁷ “Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

¹⁷ Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.

³⁵ Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.

⁸ Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?

³⁰ It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

³⁴ But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare. ³⁵ For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth.

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.

⁴ For what was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. ⁵ Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you harmony with one another in Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring glory to God. ⁸ Now I tell you that Christ Jesus has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, ⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.” ¹⁰ Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” ¹¹ And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and extol Him, all you peoples.” ¹² And once more, Isaiah says: “The Root of Jesse will appear, One who will arise to rule over the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will put their hope.” ¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

⁶ So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of our hope of salvation.

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

⁵ But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

¹¹ For the saving grace of God has appeared to everyone. ¹² It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³ as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

³⁵ So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, honor, and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not known Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁵ But in your hearts sanctify the God Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,

⁸ Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

³⁰ Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

⁴ We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of 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.

² in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

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. ²⁰ But this is not the way you came to know Christ. ²¹ Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— ²² to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

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.

⁵ Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁷ When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

⁵ not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;

³ For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

² Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God. ³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

³ And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”

⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.

⁷⁴ deliverance from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

²⁴ including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?

¹ Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

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.

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,

¹⁵ so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹⁶ as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

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

²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

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.

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.

¹² Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

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.

¹¹ For the saving grace of God has appeared to everyone. ¹² It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³ as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 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.

⁸ This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent and profitable for the people.

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.

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

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

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.

¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you as evildoers may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ.

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴ Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 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,

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed, then, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness ¹² as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. ¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, as you anticipate these things, make every effort to be found at peace—spotless and blameless in His sight.

⁷ To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut (except Him who opens) and no one can open.

⁸ And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

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 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.

³ Can two walk together without agreeing where to go?

⁹ “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

¹⁵ For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

⁷ And now, may the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

¹⁹ who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.

¹² Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.

¹⁶ A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹⁹ Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.

⁹ For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

⁹ So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

⁷ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ And if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism, ³⁵ but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek. ¹¹ For God does not show favoritism.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁶ Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.

¹¹ Consider what this godly sorrow of yours has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

⁶ But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—those leaders added nothing to me.

¹⁴ ... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁹ And masters, do the same for your slaves. Give up your use of threats, because you know that your Master is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.

¹² Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

²⁵ But whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

¹ Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it.

¹³ All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

⁶ Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

⁷ No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God. ⁸ For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,

¹⁰ Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.

¹⁷ Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.

¹⁸ In the wilderness I said to their children: ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.

⁴ This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.

⁴ Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD. ⁵ Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁵¹ You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

³⁴ But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵ Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body and with your spirit, which belong to God.

²³ You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

⁴ who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

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

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.

⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, honor, and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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

⁵ Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.

²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

²⁸ This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁶ When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³² The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. ³³ In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.” ³⁴ “Tell me,” said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

²⁸ Therefore keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of the Lord and of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

⁷ Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹² He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify your consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” ²³ When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. ²⁴ He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

² He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has washed us from our sins by His blood,

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

⁹ And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased us for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

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.

¹ Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

²³ From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.

² But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.

²⁵ And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with our fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ ²⁶ When God raised up His Servant Jesus, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

²⁵ God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

²⁵ Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by my gospel and by the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—

⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

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

¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

⁹ and to illuminate for everyone the stewardship of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ.

¹¹ according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁶ the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to His saints.

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. ¹⁰ And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,

² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. ³ In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

² But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

²⁶ Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

² And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

⁵ But you know that Christ appeared to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

⁸ The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

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.

⁸ And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.

⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

³ Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. ⁴ When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish. ⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁷ But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

³⁴ For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

²² Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.

³¹ When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. ³² If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify the Son in Himself—and will glorify Him at once.

¹ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

¹ When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You.

²⁴ But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.

³² God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses. ³³ Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.

¹⁵ You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact.

¹⁰ then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

²⁴ but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. ¹³ And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

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

²⁰ which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

⁹ Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God our Savior and of the Lord Jesus Christ our hope,

⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

¹ Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God,

²⁵ Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

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.”

³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

¹⁷ This is My command to you: Love one another.

¹⁷ Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth.

¹⁹ For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth.

⁷ So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be anger and wrath.

¹⁶ Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

⁹ Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

¹ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you not to obey the truth? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.

⁵ But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.

⁷ You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?

³ and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

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

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,

⁸ Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who has given 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.

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.

³ As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines

⁵ The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.

² older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

¹⁴ Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the labor of love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify your consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.

¹ Continue in brotherly love.

¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?

⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

¹⁷ Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

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

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

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

¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

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

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 his brother 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 My 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.

¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen?

⁴ But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.

²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.

³ Behold, I will rebuke your descendants, and I will spread dung on your faces, the waste from your feasts, and you will be carried off with it.

³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

³ Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.

³ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

¹² For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

²⁶ Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

² For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.

⁵ You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—

⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.

⁴ My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field;

⁶ May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

¹⁰ But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹⁴ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

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

¹² But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.

²⁶ They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

⁸⁹ Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.

⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

¹⁸ For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁷ But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

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. ²² Jews demand a sign and Greeks search for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

¹ Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and to those who were near.

⁸ Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

³ In His own time He has made His word evident in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

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.

¹⁹ We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life.

³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.