Matthew 5 Cross References - MSB

¹ When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples came to Him, ² and He began to teach them, saying: ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 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. ¹³ You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. ¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ¹⁷ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 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. ¹⁹ So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ²¹ You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell. ²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. ²⁵ Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. ²⁷ You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ³¹ It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. ³³ Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. ³⁷ Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. ³⁸ You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; ⁴⁰ if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well; ⁴¹ and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. ⁴³ You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your friends, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.

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. ¹⁹ “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ And at once they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

²⁵ The large crowds that followed Him came from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

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; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus. ⁴ Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

² Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into the boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.

²⁹ Moving on from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on a mountain and sat down.

¹³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain and called for those He wanted, and they came to Him.

²⁰ Then they went into a house, and once again a crowd gathered, so that they could not even eat.

¹ Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.

¹³ When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

² A large crowd followed Him because they saw His signs He was performing on the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down with His disciples.

¹ After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

¹ A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

⁶ Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.

⁸ Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed. ⁹ Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.

³⁵ So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

²⁰ Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 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. ²³ Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way. ²⁴ But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. ²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way.

³⁵ Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

¹⁴ But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel,

⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

² Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

¹⁴ and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

¹² And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

¹⁹ His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

²³ but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.

²⁷ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

⁶ Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

¹² Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

¹ Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ² Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

¹⁸ The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

¹² O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

¹ Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.

¹ Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. ² Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.

¹ A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways!

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

³² Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

¹⁹ It is better to be lowly in spirit among the humble than to divide the spoil with the proud.

²³ A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.

¹⁸ Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

² Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God. ¹⁹ After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ ²⁰ Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes. ²² But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷ Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 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.

¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

⁶ Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.”

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.

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

¹ At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² Jesus invited a little child to stand among them. ³ “Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

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.

¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

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,

²⁸ But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

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

⁶ And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ⁷ “Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ⁸ Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” ⁹ Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.

¹⁰ But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.

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.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

⁹ Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁹ Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who do His commandments, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.

¹ For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. ² Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony. ³ My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long? ⁴ Turn, O LORD, and deliver my soul; save me because of Your loving devotion. ⁵ For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol? ⁶ I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. ⁷ My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes. ⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the LORD has heard my weeping. ⁹ The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? ² How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me? ³ Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death, ⁴ lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes rejoice when I fall. ⁵ But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation.

⁷ O LORD, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed. ⁸ To You, O LORD, I called, and I begged my Lord for mercy: ⁹ “What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness? ¹⁰ Hear me, O LORD, and have mercy; O LORD, be my helper.” ¹¹ You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

³ When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah ⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah ⁶ Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near. ⁷ You are my hiding place. You protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. ² He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

²⁹ But I am in pain and distress; let Your salvation protect me, O God. ³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.

³ The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, deliver my soul!” ⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. ⁶ The LORD preserves the simplehearted; I was helpless, and He saved me. ⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

⁵ Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. ⁶ He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.

¹ In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

⁸ He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.

¹⁹ O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.

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

¹⁴ I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.” ¹⁵ What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. ¹⁶ O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live. ¹⁷ Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. ¹⁸ For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. ¹⁹ The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

¹¹ So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee. ¹² “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?

¹⁸ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, 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 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,

⁹ They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.” ¹⁰ Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock. ¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him. ¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come, declares the LORD. Then your children will return from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷ So there is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children will return to their own land.

¹⁶ The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.

⁴ “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

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.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

³⁸ As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

⁵⁰ And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

²⁵ But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.

²⁰ Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. 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.

⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience. ⁷ And our hope for you is sure; If we are comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

⁹ And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. ¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

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

⁴ ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”

³ Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!

⁹ He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

¹³ His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

⁹ For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.

²² Surely those He blesses will inherit the land, but the cursed will be destroyed.

²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

³⁴ Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

³² The humble will see and rejoice. You who seek God, let your hearts be revived!

⁶ The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁴ For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation.

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.

¹⁹ The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²¹ Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.

³ Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.

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.

⁵ “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

¹³ For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

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

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

²⁵ He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.

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

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.

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.

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

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,

⁶ Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD. ⁷ You have filled my heart with more joy than when grain and new wine abound.

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

¹ For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. ² My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

¹ A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water. ² So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory.

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

⁴ Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.

² My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

⁹ For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.

¹ I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

⁶ On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.

¹⁷ The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

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.

⁹ to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill. ¹⁰ They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

¹ “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! ² Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods. 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.

¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

¹¹ so that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you may drink deeply and delight yourselves in her glorious abundance.

¹¹ Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. ¹² People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. ¹³ In that day the lovely young women—the young men as well—will faint from thirst.

⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

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.”

²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”

⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.” ⁵² At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. 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. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’

²⁶ To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

¹⁶ If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail, ¹⁷ if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless— ¹⁸ though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹ if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak, ²⁰ if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹ if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate, ²² then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.

²⁵ To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

²⁶ They are ever generous and quick to lend, and their children are a blessing.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who cares for the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble. ² The LORD will protect and preserve him; He will bless him in the land and refuse to surrender him to the will of his foes. ³ The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness. ⁴ I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against You.”

⁴ Light dawns in the darkness for the upright—for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous.

⁹ He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

¹⁷ A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.

²¹ He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who shows kindness to the poor.

¹⁷ Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

¹ The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.

⁶ Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? ⁷ Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk, ¹⁰ and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday. ¹¹ The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.

²⁷ Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”

⁶ Gomer again conceived and gave birth to a daughter, and the LORD said to Hosea, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them.

¹ “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

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.’”

¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed. ³⁵ That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother his trespasses from your heart.”

²⁵ And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.

³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

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.

¹ Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.

³² Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave us.

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 But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Jesus Christ might display all His patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains. ¹⁷ Indeed, when he arrived in Rome, he searched very diligently until he found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant Onesiphorus His mercy on that day. You know very well how much he ministered to me in Ephesus.

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.

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.

¹³ For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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.

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.

³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

¹⁷ I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You. ¹⁸ O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this desire forever in the intentions of the hearts of Your people, and direct their hearts toward You. ¹⁹ And give my son Solomon a whole heart to keep and carry out all Your commandments, decrees, and statutes, and to build Your palace for which I have made provision.”

²⁶ Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. ²⁷ I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

² He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart,

²⁶ to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.

⁶ Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

¹¹ He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.

²⁵ I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

²⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and unrighteousness. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well. ²⁷ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

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

¹² Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

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.

¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

⁴ They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

¹⁷ And David went out to meet them, saying, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free of violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.”

¹² Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days?

⁶ I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’ ⁷ But like mortals you will die, and like rulers you will fall.”

⁶ Too long have I dwelt among those who hate peace.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper. ⁷ May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.” ⁸ For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”

⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

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

³⁶ In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.

²⁶ The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁸ If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions. ² For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for God is able to make him stand. ⁵ One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶ He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord does not observe it. He who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For whoever serves Christ in these things is pleasing to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

⁶ Instead, one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers!

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.

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

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

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

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

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

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.

² I urge Euodia and Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.

¹³ Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as Christ forgave you.

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. ²³ But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. ²⁴ And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

¹⁹ So then, my beloved brothers, everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰ for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

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. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

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.”

¹² The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

³⁰ will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

²⁰ Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

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.

¹² But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. On account of My name they will deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors.

²⁰ Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.

⁴⁰ At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.

¹ And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

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.

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.

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. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

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

²⁸ without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God.

⁴ That is why we boast among God’s churches about your perseverance and faith in the face of all the persecution and affliction you are enduring. 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. ⁶ After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 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

¹² if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us;

¹¹ my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 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. ⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹³ Who can harm you if you are imitators of what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.”

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. 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.

¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

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.

¹¹ Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.

²² Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

⁵ You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”

¹⁸ On My account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.

²² You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

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!

³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

²⁹ And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

⁹ Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

³⁹ And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads

¹⁷ But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

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.

⁹ So be on your guard. For you will be delivered over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On My account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.

¹³ You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

¹⁷ And you will be hated by everyone because of My name.

²⁸ Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses.

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

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

³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

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 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.

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.

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.

³ Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.

¹ After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

¹² May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”

⁴ for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

¹³ Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.

² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those you killed!”

¹⁰ “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.” ¹¹ Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

²⁰ When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.

⁸ The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man who can ask the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

²⁶ And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, ²⁷ and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”

⁹ Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD. ²² Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

²⁶ But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

¹¹ By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.

¹¹ Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

¹⁸ The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

³⁰ “I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”

⁸ and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!

²¹ King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah found out about it, he fled in fear and went to Egypt. ²² Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor along with some other men. ²³ They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.

¹ “Be careful not to perform your acts of charity before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will Himself reward you openly. ⁵ And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

¹⁶ When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

⁴¹ Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

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

³⁴ When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. ³⁵ But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the tenants did the same to them. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’

³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. ³³ You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell? ³⁴ Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. ³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

²³ Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.

⁴⁷ Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you bear witness and consent to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ⁵⁰ As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.

³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

⁴¹ The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus.

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—

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

³ Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

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.

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.

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.

¹⁵ who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,

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

²⁶ He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

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

¹³ But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

¹³ And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings.

⁴⁹ For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. ⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

³⁴ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its savor, with what will it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, and it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 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.

²⁰ If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

⁴ “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” ⁵ Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. ⁶ And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

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

³⁵ John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.

¹² Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

³⁶ While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of light.” After Jesus had spoken these things, He went away and was hidden from them.

¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

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. ¹² For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. ¹⁴ So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

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

⁵ You are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness.

²⁰ This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height. ¹⁷ And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits, by the human measure the angel was using. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. ²² But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁵ Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there. ²⁶ And into the city will be brought the glory and honor of the nations. 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.

³⁷ Make seven lamps and set them up on the lampstand so that they illuminate the area in front of it.

² “Speak to Aaron and tell him: ‘When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.’”

²¹ Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand?

¹⁶ No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.

³³ No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a basket. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

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.

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.

¹ “Be careful not to perform your acts of charity before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

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

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

⁵ All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

⁹ And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

² So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

⁸ This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

³⁶ In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.

¹¹ And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for us to wake up from our slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 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. ¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

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!”

¹³ Because of the proof this ministry provides, the saints will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all the others.

²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

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.

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

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.

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.

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.

¹⁰ but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.

¹⁰ and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.

²⁵ In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even the ones that are inconspicuous cannot remain hidden.

¹⁸ Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,

⁷ In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, incorruptibility,

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.

⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

⁷ so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life. 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.

²⁴ And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.

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.

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

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

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

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.

⁵ And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. ⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: ⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

²¹ The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.

¹⁵ “Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him.

¹² In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.

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.

⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”

¹³ where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemies against this holy place and against the law.

¹³ “This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

³¹ Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

⁴ so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁴ For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.

¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God in Christ, so as to nullify the promise. 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. ¹⁹ Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator. ²⁰ A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one. ²¹ Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law. ²² But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe. ²³ Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. ²⁴ So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.

¹⁶ Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

³ Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, ⁴ because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’” ⁸ In the passage above He says, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). ⁹ Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹ Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.

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. ⁹⁰ Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures.

¹⁵² Long ago I learned from Your testimonies that You have established them forever.

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

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.

²⁶ Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

² So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found even in Israel such great faith.

¹⁵ Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

¹¹ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

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.

²⁸ Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

²⁰ “Because of your unbelief,” Jesus answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

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

¹⁸ Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

²³ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

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 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

³⁶ Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

² “Do you see all these things?” Jesus replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

¹² But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know 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.’

⁴⁵ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” ¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

²⁸ Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter.

¹¹ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

¹² Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek after a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

¹ Then Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.”

⁴¹ Indeed, if anyone gives you even a cup of water in My name because you are Christ’s, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

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

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or wife or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel

²³ “For truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and has no doubt in his heart but believes that it will happen, whatever he says will be done for him.

⁴³ Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury.

³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.

⁹ And truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁸ And while they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you who is eating with Me will betray Me.”

²⁵ Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

³⁰ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”

²⁴ Then He added, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.

³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

³⁵ Look, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God

³² Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

⁴³ And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

⁵¹ Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, from now on you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

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.

¹¹ Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.

¹⁹ So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.

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. ²⁵ Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

²⁶ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it is not because you saw these signs that you are looking for Me, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

³² Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in Me has eternal life.

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you.

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

⁵¹ Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

⁵⁸ “Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

¹ “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

⁷ So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

¹⁶ Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

²⁰ Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.” ²¹ After Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.”

³⁸ “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.

¹² Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to My Father.

²⁰ Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

²³ In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

¹⁸ Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

¹¹ They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. ¹² You will roll them up like a robe; they will be changed; but You remain the same, and Your years will never end.”

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

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

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.

³² See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

²⁶ ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

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.

⁶ Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.

¹²⁸ Therefore I admire all Your precepts and hate every false way.

³ Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.

⁸ But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Hosts. ⁹ “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ ⁶ then he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition.

²⁶ But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

¹⁶ Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You are foolish and blind! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? ²⁰ So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it. ²³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

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

¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.

⁴⁸ And He said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. For whoever is the least among all of you, he will be the greatest.”

⁴² Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

²⁴ A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest. ²⁵ So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them call themselves benefactors. ²⁶ But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

¹ In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach,

⁸ Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

¹ What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!

⁸ Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹⁰ All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” ¹¹ Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹² The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” 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.”

¹⁴ The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 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. 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.

¹⁷ Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you. ¹⁸ For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.

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. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed. ¹¹ For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children— ¹² encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

¹ Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. So you should do so all the more. ² For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

¹¹ Command and teach these things. 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.

³ If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching, ⁴ he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions,

⁸ and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us. ⁹ Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, ¹⁰ not stealing from them, but showing all good faith, so that in every respect they will adorn the teaching about God our Savior.

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.

¹⁰ Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

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

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵ In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

¹⁰ The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

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

⁵ And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.

² “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So observe and practice everything they tell you to observe. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

²³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

³⁹ “Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside as well?

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.

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus. ¹⁵ So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ ¹³ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

²⁴ Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷ They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”

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.

³⁰ What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 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,

² For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. ³ Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new!

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.

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.

⁵ And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: ⁶ Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

¹³ You shall not murder.

¹² Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death. ¹³ If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. ¹⁴ But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.

¹² You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

¹⁶ If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁷ Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁸ If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him. ²⁰ Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him, ²¹ or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

³⁰ If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness. ³¹ You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death. ³² Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ³³ Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”

¹⁷ You shall not murder.

¹⁸ You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

⁷ and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. ⁸ Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for. ⁹ So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

¹⁸ Then the woman said, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Seek counsel at Abel,’ and that is how disputes were settled.

⁵ Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. ⁶ So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

³¹ And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed. ³² The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

⁸ Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers. ⁹ For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow. ¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding?

²⁷ You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’

³³ Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’

³⁸ You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’

⁴³ You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’

⁵ but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶ “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?

⁴ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

⁸ “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.

¹¹ For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.

¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.

²⁷ The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.” ²⁸ Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”

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.

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the disgrace of the mother who bore you? ³¹ For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!” ³² “Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?” ³³ Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.

¹² “Listen now, son of Ahitub,” said Saul. “Here I am, my lord,” he replied. ¹³ And Saul asked him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him so that he could rise up against me to lie in wait, as he is doing today.” ¹⁴ Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house? ¹⁵ Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant knew nothing of this whole affair—not in part or in whole.” ¹⁶ But the king replied, “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!” ¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD. ¹⁸ So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep. ²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD. ²² Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day, and that he was sure to tell Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s house. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life is seeking mine as well. You will be safe with me.”

²⁰ As soon as David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

⁷ And as he yelled curses, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you worthless man of bloodshed!

⁴ So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

⁸ and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage. ⁶ And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.

⁴ if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,

¹ For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.

³ Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who are faithless without cause will be disgraced.

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

⁸ Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret—it can only bring harm.

¹⁰ For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

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.

⁶ A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

³ They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

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

⁶ A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.

¹¹ Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”

⁵² Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.

¹² This response made the king so furious with anger that he gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³ So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar, furious with rage, summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king,

¹⁹ At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual,

¹⁰ Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.

¹² But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.

¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

²³ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

³⁴ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;

⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

¹⁷ But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.

²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her children.”

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”

⁵ While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

⁸ If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life lame or crippled than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

³⁵ That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother his trespasses from your heart.”

¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

³³ You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

⁴¹ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, ⁴⁴ where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’ ⁴⁵ If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell, into the unquenchable fire, ⁴⁶ where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’ ⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell, ⁴⁸ where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’

⁵⁵ Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they did not find any.

¹ Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.

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

²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁰ “You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?”

⁴⁸ The Jews answered Him, “Are we not right to say that You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?”

⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.

²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

²⁰ that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you. ²¹ Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through all His holy prophets. 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.’

²⁷ They brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, where the high priest interrogated them.

³⁷ This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘The Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’

¹⁸ Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

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

¹⁰ nor the covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

²⁶ “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave us.

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.

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

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?

²⁰ O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is dead?

⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

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.

⁹ If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.

¹⁰ By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

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.

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

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.

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!”

¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I recall my failures.

²¹ Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” ²² And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

² “If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor ³ or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit— ⁴ once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, ⁵ or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt. ⁶ Then he must bring to the priest his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. ¹⁷ Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.

²² But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

⁴⁴ The king also said, “You know in your heart all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore the LORD will bring your evil back upon your head.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ¹¹ “What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. ¹² When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? ¹³ Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me—your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly. ¹⁴ I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. ¹⁶ Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! ¹⁷ Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

²⁰ Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.

⁶³ so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”

⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

²¹ “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. ²² Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. ²³ Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

⁴ Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

¹⁹ You are foolish and blind! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.”

⁸ So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

⁹ Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,

¹⁵ If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶ But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

²³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

⁵⁰ Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸ If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers!

²⁸ Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

⁸ Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

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. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

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.

⁷ Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. ⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and courteous.

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’” ⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.” ⁷ In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

¹³ Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, ¹⁵ 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶ He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.” ¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ ¹⁸ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’” ¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. ²⁰ You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp. ²² During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

³ But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴ Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept. ⁵ When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down. ⁷ Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down. ⁸ “What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered. ⁹ “I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.” ¹⁰ But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

¹⁷ Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!” ¹⁸ Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys ¹⁹ and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰ As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them. ²¹ Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good. ²² May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.” ²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him. ²⁴ She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant. ²⁵ My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent. ²⁶ Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you. ²⁸ Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live. ²⁹ And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling. ³⁰ When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel, ³¹ then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.” ³² Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! ³³ Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.” ³⁵ Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

⁶ Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger, ² if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth, ³ then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor. ⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. ⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

⁸ do not bring hastily to court. Otherwise, what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?

⁶ Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. 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.

⁵⁸ Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary while you are on your way to the magistrate. Otherwise, he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

³¹ Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.

² For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,

¹³ But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

¹⁷ For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.

³⁴ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.

⁴⁶ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

⁵⁹ I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

²⁶ And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

⁹ They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁰ If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.

¹⁸ You shall not commit adultery.

²² If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. ²³ If there is a virgin pledged in marriage to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, ²⁴ you must take both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s wife. So you must purge the evil from among you.

³² He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.

²¹ You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

⁷ and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” ⁸ But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. ⁹ No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” ¹⁰ Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. ¹¹ One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. ¹² She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴ she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁶ So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, ¹⁸ but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” ¹⁹ When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. ²³ The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

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

² One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.

¹ “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

⁹⁶ I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.

²⁵ Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.

²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

³⁹ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, ²⁹ because He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁸ But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. ¹⁵ Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁴ Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

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.

⁸ Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ lest you concede your vigor to others, and your years to one who is cruel; ¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich the house of a foreigner. ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent, ¹² and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! ¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my mentors. ¹⁴ I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”

²⁶ What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

¹² For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

³⁶ What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?

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?

⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

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.

²⁷ No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

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

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

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. 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.

²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

²¹ But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

²³ But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

⁶ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷ Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

¹³ Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

²⁰ The servant who had received the five talents came and presented five more. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more besides them.’

³¹ Then Jesus said to them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,

² It would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

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.”

²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble or to be hindered or weakened.

¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

¹¹ Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

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

¹ If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house. ² If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹ “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.

³ Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

⁷ “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

² Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired. ³ “What did Moses command you?” He replied. ⁴ They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.” ⁵ But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. ⁶ However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

¹⁴ Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ¹⁶ “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.

²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

⁸ Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart; but it was not this way from the beginning. ⁹ Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

⁵ But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. ⁶ However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” ¹⁰ When they were back inside the house, His disciples asked Jesus about this matter. ¹¹ So He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. ¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

³⁰ Suddenly two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with Jesus.

³⁵ And a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!”

¹⁸ Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and everyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³ So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.

¹⁰ To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. ¹¹ But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

⁷ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

¹² You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

² If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised. ³ And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge, ⁴ and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁵ But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, then none of the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. The LORD will absolve her because her father has prohibited her. ⁶ If a woman marries while under a vow or rash promise by which she has bound herself, ⁷ and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her on that day, then the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁸ But if her husband prohibits her when he hears of it, he nullifies the vow that binds her or the rash promise she has made, and the LORD will absolve her. ⁹ Every vow a widow or divorced woman pledges to fulfill is binding on her. ¹⁰ If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her and does not prohibit her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ¹² But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or pledges, shall stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will absolve her. ¹³ Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow or any sworn pledge to deny herself. ¹⁴ But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all the vows and pledges that bind her. He has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard about them. ¹⁵ But if he nullifies them after he hears of them, then he will bear her iniquity.” ¹⁶ These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.

¹¹ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

²¹ If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

²³ Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

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

¹¹ Make and fulfill your vows to the LORD your God; let all the neighboring lands bring tribute to Him who is to be feared.

⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow. ⁵ It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

¹⁵ Look to the mountains—the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows. For the wicked will never again march through you; they will be utterly cut off.

¹⁶ Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You are foolish and blind! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? ²⁰ So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.

²¹ If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin. ²³ Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

² It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

¹² Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall into hypocrisy.

⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

² Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

² The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

⁵ Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; He is holy!

¹⁴ “But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.

² I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the great holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

¹⁶ Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? ¹⁸ And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You are foolish and blind! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? ²⁰ So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.

²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

¹⁹ When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

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

⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

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

¹⁷ When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” when I really mean “No, no”? ¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you was not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” ²⁰ For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so in Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

³ But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, children, because you know the Father.

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.

²² If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows. ²³ But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life— ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe. ²⁶ If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. ²⁷ And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him.

¹⁹ you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.

²¹ You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

¹⁸ Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

¹⁰ Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’ ¹¹ See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. See and know that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life. ¹² May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you. ¹³ As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you. ¹⁴ Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? ¹⁵ May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”

³¹ then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.” ³² Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day! ³³ Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. ³⁴ Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” ¹⁰ David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

²⁴ Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when He departed from me to speak with you?”

¹⁰ They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

²⁹ If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him— ³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse— ³¹ if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

²² Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.

²⁹ Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”

⁶ I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

³⁰ Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him; let him be filled with reproach.

¹ Now, O daughter of troops, mobilize your troops; for a siege is laid against us! With a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.

²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.

⁶⁴ They blindfolded Him and kept striking Him in the face and demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?”

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸ If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

¹⁵ Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.

⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

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.

²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well.

³² Along the way they found a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.

²¹ Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.

²⁶ As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.

⁷ If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. ⁸ Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. ⁹ Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. ¹¹ For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land. ¹² If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. ¹³ And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. ¹⁴ You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹⁶ If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail, ¹⁷ if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless— ¹⁸ though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹ if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak, ²⁰ if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are gracious and giving.

²⁵ I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread. ²⁶ They are ever generous and quick to lend, and their children are a blessing.

⁵ It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice. ⁶ Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever. ⁷ He does not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. ⁸ His heart is assured; he does not fear, until he looks in triumph on his foes. ⁹ He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.

²⁷ Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act. ²⁸ Do not tell your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I will provide”—when you already have the means.

²⁴ One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor. ²⁵ A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

¹ Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. ² Divide your portion among seven, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may befall the land.

⁶ Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.

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.’

³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

⁴¹ But give as alms the things that are within you, and you will see that everything is clean for you.

¹² Then Jesus said to the man who had invited Him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

²⁰ Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each one should give what he decides in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰ Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For this ministry of service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanksgiving to God. ¹³ Because of the proof this ministry provides, the saints will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all the others. ¹⁴ And their prayers for you will express their affection for you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

¹⁷ Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in the living God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. ¹⁸ Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹ treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of eternal life.

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

²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

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?

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.

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner. ¹⁶ “Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

⁶ You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,

¹⁰ But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You? ²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.

¹⁹ honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”

³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

³¹ The second, like it, is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” ³² “Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, ³³ and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your soul and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any further.

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

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. ¹⁴ The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

⁴ If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. ⁵ If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it.

²² “Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”

⁹ But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the LORD, the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you intend to reduce to slavery the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But are you not also guilty before the LORD your God? ¹¹ Now therefore, listen to me and return the captives you took from your kinsmen, for the fierce anger of the LORD is upon you.” ¹² Then some of the leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those arriving from the war. ¹³ “You must not bring the captives here,” they said, “for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us from the LORD and to add to our sins and our guilt. For our guilt is great, and fierce anger is upon Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the leaders and all the assembly. ¹⁵ Then the men who were designated by name arose, took charge of the captives, and provided from the plunder clothing for the naked. They clothed them, gave them sandals and food and drink, anointed their wounds, and put all the feeble on donkeys. So they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

¹³ Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered. ¹⁴ I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.

²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. ²² For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

²⁷ But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

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.

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

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

²⁰ Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. ⁶ Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

³ Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?

⁹ The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

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

¹⁷ Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

¹ Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,

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.

¹ “Be careful not to perform your acts of charity before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

¹⁰ Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her children.”

¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

¹ Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.

¹³ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

² And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy.

⁷ And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”

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

¹² As you enter the home, greet its occupants.

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

⁴ Carry no purse or bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, begin by saying, ‘Peace to this house.’

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.

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

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.

²⁶ You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.

¹³ You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil. ² He had seven sons and three daughters, ³ and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.

³⁷ Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.

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

³⁶ Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

⁹ In fact, we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong, and our prayer is for your perfection.

¹ For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.

²⁸ We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus.

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

⁴ Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

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