1 Peter 2 Cross References - MSB

¹ Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. ² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow, ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. ⁴ As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” 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,” ⁸ and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed. ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ¹¹ Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. ¹² Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. ¹³ Therefore submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, ¹⁴ or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men. ¹⁶ Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. ¹⁷ Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. ¹⁸ Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. ¹⁹ For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. ²⁰ How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: 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.” ²⁵ For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

⁸ And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?” ⁹ And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

¹³ The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He binds them, they do not cry for help.

² Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

¹ Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

³ For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

³¹ Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;

³⁰ A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

¹ Do not envy wicked men or desire their company;

¹⁹ Do not fret over evildoers, and do not be envious of the wicked.

²⁰ In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.

²² So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

³¹ Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

⁵ You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁷ You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:

²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

⁵¹ Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹⁵ But Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to inspect.”

⁴² Or how can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”

¹ In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

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

¹² The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 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.

² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, ³ for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension and division among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?

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.

²⁰ Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

²⁰ For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarrels, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

²¹ envy, and murder; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.

²² to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.

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. ⁸ But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

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

¹¹ In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.

³ Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.

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.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

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.

¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

⁵ Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns with envy?

¹¹ Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother and judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.

⁹ Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!

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.

¹⁶ Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

²² “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

¹⁰ For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

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

⁴ Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.

⁵ And no lie was found in their mouths, for they are blameless.

⁵ Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?

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

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple. ⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous. ¹⁰ They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

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

³ So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷ They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

² “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.

³ “Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

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.

¹ Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,

²¹ In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

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.

¹² Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness.

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

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

¹⁰ Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

⁸ Who is this King of Glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

³ Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

¹⁷ How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age— ⁶ and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.

²² The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ²³ This is from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

¹⁴ And He will be a sanctuary—but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare. ¹⁵ Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be ensnared and captured.”

¹⁶ So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

¹ “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.

³ Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

²² “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

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.

⁴⁵ And just as you saw a stone being cut out of the mountain without human hands, and it shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, so the great God has told the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

⁹ See the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave on it an inscription, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.

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

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

¹⁸ “Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

¹⁰ Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ¹¹ This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹⁷ But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? ¹⁸ Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

³⁷ Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.

⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. ²⁶ And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

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

¹⁹ In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.

¹¹ This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ ¹² Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name given to men by which we must be saved.”

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!

⁴ When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

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.

¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

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,”

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:

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.

¹⁴ Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

²³ He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”

² May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.

⁶ But you will be called the priests of the LORD; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will feed on the wealth of nations, and you will boast in their riches.

²¹ “And I will select some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

² Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

¹¹ For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts.

²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

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

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.

⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. ²¹ In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

¹⁸ I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.

¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

¹⁵ in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

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.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name. ¹⁶ And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

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.

¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

⁶ who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

¹² The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.

¹⁰ You have made them to be kings and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

¹⁴ May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.

¹⁹ You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

¹¹ Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.

¹⁶ They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace. 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.

⁷ Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁴ Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

²¹ But first I will tell you what is inscribed in the Book of Truth. Yet no one has the courage to support me against these, except Michael your prince.

⁴ The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.

¹⁰ Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers with them sneered at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the Chosen One of God.”

³⁸ Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

¹⁶ “Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus.

³² Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works of the law. For they stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³ as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

¹¹ It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

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

²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone.

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

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

²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.

¹⁶ He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

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? ¹⁰ My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. ¹¹ His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. ¹² His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels. ¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh. ¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires. ¹⁵ His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. ¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

⁵ On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory, a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

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.

⁴⁴ Again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field. ⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one very precious pearl, he went away and sold all he had and bought it.

³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”

¹⁷ But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

⁴² They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁹ So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

²¹ But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

³¹ Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,

¹⁶ To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?

⁷ But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

¹⁰ And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

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.

¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

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,

⁸ and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.

¹⁶ But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

¹⁴ And He will be a sanctuary—but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.

¹⁴ And it will be said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, take every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,

²² What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?

²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,

⁹ For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

³ In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction will not sleep.

⁴ For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny God our only Master and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵ Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. ⁶ And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”

²⁰ Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

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.

¹⁵ Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.

² for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

¹⁸ And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments, ¹⁹ that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has promised.

³⁰ Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation.

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance!

¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.

⁵ that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance.

² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

² Open the gates so a righteous nation may enter—one that remains faithful.

⁸ “But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

¹⁶ I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

²⁰ The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. ²¹ The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

¹ But now listen, O Jacob My servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.

¹ Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. ² For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you. ³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

¹⁶ the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

⁷⁹ to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

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

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.

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.’

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Can you persuade me in such a short time to become a Christian?”

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

¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace, by which he has bestowed favor upon us in the Beloved One.

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

²¹ to Him be the glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ⁹ for the fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. ¹⁰ Test and prove what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

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.

¹³ He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

⁴ But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 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.

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

¹⁴ 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.

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.

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁹ And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God. ¹⁰ Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

²³ And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

²⁵ As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” ²⁶ and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

¹⁹ I ask instead, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says: “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation without understanding.”

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,

³⁰ For just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience,

²⁵ Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

¹³ I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.

¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

⁴ “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

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.”

²³ The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

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.

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.

¹⁹ I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.

⁵⁴ Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage.

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.

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

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

²³ But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

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.

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. ¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

²⁰ Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

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

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.

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: adultery, sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, ²¹ envy, and murder; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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

⁹ Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

²² Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

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

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 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

⁷ And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land. ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are brothers.

¹⁴ The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

³ What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

¹¹ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say every evil thing against you because of Me.

⁸ When the crowds saw this, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

²² Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

⁴⁴ They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

¹⁴ Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

⁵ We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, ⁶ and he even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.

¹³ Nor can they prove any of their charges against me.

⁷ When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, laying against Paul many serious charges that they could not prove.

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

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

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.”

²⁵ and so the secrets of his heart will be made known. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”

¹² And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the integrity and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

²¹ We are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

⁷ Now I pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed.

³ All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

²² to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

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,

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

¹² Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

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

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.

⁷ In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, incorruptibility, ⁸ and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.

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.”

¹⁸ Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

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.

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 ² when they see your pure and reverent demeanor.

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

¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Indeed, on their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. ¹⁵ Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler. ¹⁶ But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God in this matter.

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed, then, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness

¹¹ An evil man seeks only rebellion; a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

²¹ My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.

⁷ Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

¹⁷ Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him.

²⁵ So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

¹ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God. ² Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval. ⁴ For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. ⁶ This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work. ⁷ Therefore pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

¹ First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone— ² for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.

¹ Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,

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

⁸ Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings. ⁹ But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively.

³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval. ⁴ For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.

⁶ Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?

¹⁰ “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

⁵ The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all workers of iniquity.

⁴² The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth.

⁶ Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”

²² “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

² Five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

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.

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.

⁶ And do this not only to please them while they are watching, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷ Serve with good will, as to the Lord and not to men,

³ For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

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

⁸ and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.

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.

¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

¹² These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they will be destroyed.

¹⁰ These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively.

¹³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ “We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

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.

²² For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. Conversely, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.

¹ In the freedom with which Christ has set us free, stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.

¹³ For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

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

²⁴ because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. For it is the Lord Christ you are serving.

⁵ As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!

²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

¹¹ Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹⁸ and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:

¹² Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

³² You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.

³⁰ “I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

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.

¹⁰ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!

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

¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

² Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.

¹⁴ Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

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

⁷ Therefore pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

¹ All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.

¹ Continue in brotherly love.

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.

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility, being subject to one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know nothing of evil.

³² for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.

¹³ To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

³² The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.

²⁰ The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but the blameless in their walk are His delight.

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

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

⁵ Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of God. ²³ And whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. For it is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵ But whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

¹ All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited. ² Those who have believing masters should not show disrespect because they are brothers, but should serve them all the more, since those receiving their good service are beloved believers. Teach and encourage these principles. ³ If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,

⁹ Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not stealing from them, but showing all good faith, so that in every respect they will adorn the teaching about God our Savior.

² to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.

¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

²⁷ Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

¹⁹ Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

¹⁹ Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.

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.

⁸⁶ All Your commandments are faithful; I am persecuted without cause—help me!

¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say every evil thing against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

²¹ But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.

²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

⁵ Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

¹ Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.

¹² For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

²⁰ How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.” 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, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you as evildoers may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

⁴⁷ And if you greet only your friends, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

⁶⁷ Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him

⁶⁵ Then some of them began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers kept striking Him with the palms of their hands.

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

¹¹ To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

¹⁰ Test and prove what pleases the Lord.

¹⁹ For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”

¹³ Righteousness will go before Him to prepare the way for His steps.

³⁸ and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.

²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

²⁴ Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

³⁴ Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it.

²³ Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. ²⁵ What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?

²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”

¹⁵ I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.

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!”

¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

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.

³ explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

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.

¹ You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

² and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

³ so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.

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

¹² Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

¹⁰ In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

²⁰ He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.

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.”

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.

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,

¹ Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

⁶ Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.

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.

¹¹ They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

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.

⁴ “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered terribly in a dream today because of Him.”

²³ “Why?” asked the governor. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!” ²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”

⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are receiving what our actions deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴⁷ When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

⁴⁶ Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?

²¹ For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.

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.

¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

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

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹¹ God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation each day.

¹⁴ But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

⁵ Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.

¹² Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long. ¹³ But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth. ¹⁴ I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply.

¹³ before the LORD, for He is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.

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.

³⁹ And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” ⁴¹ In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, elders, and Pharisees mocked Him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him.

⁶⁰ So the high priest stood up before them and questioned Jesus, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?” ⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and made no reply. Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

²⁹ And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save Yourself!” ³¹ In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! ³² Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe Him!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him.

⁶⁴ They blindfolded Him and kept striking Him in the face and demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” ⁶⁵ And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.

⁹ Herod questioned Jesus at great length, but He gave no answer.

³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots. ³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers with them sneered at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the Chosen One of God.” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him and came up to offer Him sour wine. ³⁷ “If You are the King of the Jews,” they said, “save Yourself!” ³⁸ Above Him was posted an inscription written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “if You are the Christ,” he said, “Save Yourself and us!”

⁴⁶ Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And when He had said this, He breathed His last.

⁴⁸ The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?” ⁴⁹ “I do not have a demon,” Jesus replied, “but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.

⁹ and he went back into the Praetorium. “Where are You from?” he asked. But Jesus gave no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to crucify You and authority to release You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”

²⁹ And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness,

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

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.

¹ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

³¹ For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

⁵ But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

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.

⁵ All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment. And so you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

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.

³ Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

¹¹ Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.

³⁸ And it will be worn on Aaron’s forehead, so that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate with regard to all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be acceptable before the LORD.

²² The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

⁹ The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

²² No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

²² If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, ²³ you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁴ For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.

³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

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.

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.

²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took on our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

²⁶ So Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

¹⁵ And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

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.

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

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!

¹ Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.

³⁰ The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.

³⁵ but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

³⁹ We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,

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.

² Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?

⁷ For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

¹¹ So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹³ Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

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?

⁶ But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

⁹ for the fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

²⁰ If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:

³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

¹³ Make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

¹⁶ Confess your trespasses to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

¹ Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin. ² Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

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

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.

² down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

¹ A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

¹⁷⁶ I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.

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? ⁸ If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

¹¹ He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

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.

² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.

⁶ My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’

¹¹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

²³ I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

²⁴ My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.

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.

³⁶ When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

¹² What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, ⁶ comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus Christ, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,

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