Bible verses about "cooperation" | BBE

¹ And all the earth had one language and one tongue. ² And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place. ³ And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth. ⁴ And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

¹² But Moses' hands became tired; so they put a stone under him and he took his seat on it, Aaron and Hur supporting his hands, one on one side and one on the other; so his hands were kept up without falling till the sun went down.

³ And four men came to him with one on a bed who had no power of moving.

⁷ And he gave orders to the twelve, and sent them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits;

¹² Then they went back to Jerusalem from the mountain named Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. ¹³ And when they came in, they went up into the room where they were living; Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James. ¹⁴ And they all with one mind gave themselves up to prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹ Now certain men came down from Judaea, teaching the brothers and saying that without circumcision, after the rule of Moses, there is no salvation. ² And after Paul and Barnabas had had no little argument and discussion with them, the brothers made a decision to send Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them to the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem about this question. ³ So they, being sent on their way by the church, went through Phoenicia and Samaria, giving news of the salvation of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the brothers. ⁴ And when they came to Jerusalem, they had a meeting with the church and the Apostles and the rulers, and they gave an account of all the things which God had done through them. ⁵ But some of the Pharisees, who were of the faith, got up and said, It is necessary for these to have circumcision and to keep the law of Moses. ⁶ And the Apostles and the rulers of the church came together and gave thought to the question. ⁷ And when there had been much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, My brothers, you have knowledge that some time back it was God's pleasure that by my mouth the good news might be given to the Gentiles so that they might have faith. ⁸ And God, the searcher of hearts, was a witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit even as he did to us; ⁹ Making no division between them and us, but making clean their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Why then are you testing God, by putting on the neck of the disciples a yoke so hard that not even our fathers or we were strong enough for it? ¹¹ But we have faith that we will get salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they. ¹² And all the people were quiet while Barnabas and Paul gave an account of the signs and wonders which God had done among the Gentiles by them. ¹³ And when they had come to an end, James, answering, said, My brothers, give ear to me: ¹⁴ Symeon has given an account of how God was first pleased to take from among the Gentiles a people for himself. ¹⁵ And this is in agreement with the words of the prophets, as it is said, ¹⁶ After these things I will come back, and will put up the tent of David which has been broken down, building up again its broken parts and making it complete: ¹⁷ So that the rest of men may make search for the Lord, and all the Gentiles on whom my name is named, ¹⁸ Says the Lord, who has made these things clear from the earliest times. ¹⁹ For this reason my decision is, that we do not put trouble in the way of those who from among the Gentiles are turned to God; ²⁰ But that we give them orders to keep themselves from things offered to false gods, and from the evil desires of the body, and from the flesh of animals put to death in ways against the law, and from blood. ²¹ For Moses, from times long past, has his preachers in every town, reading his law in the Synagogues every Sabbath. ²² Then it seemed good to the Apostles and the rulers and all the church, to send men from among them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; Judas, named Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers: ²³ And they sent a letter by them, saying, The Apostles and the older brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, may joy be with you: ²⁴ Because we have knowledge that some who went from us have been troubling you with their words, putting your souls in doubt; to whom we gave no such order; ²⁵ It seemed good to us, having come to an agreement together, to send these men to you, with our well loved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶ Men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ And so we have sent Judas and Silas, who will say the same things to you themselves, by word of mouth. ²⁸ For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to put on you nothing more than these necessary things; ²⁹ To keep from things offered to false gods, and from blood, and from things put to death in ways which are against the law, and from the evil desires of the body; if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. May you be happy. ³⁰ So they, being sent away, came down to Antioch, and having got the people together, they gave them the letter. ³¹ And after reading it, they were glad of its comfort. ³² And Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, gave teaching to the brothers and made them strong in the faith. ³³ And when they had been there for some time, they were sent back in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. ³⁴ (OMITTED TEXT) ³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas kept on in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of God, with a number of others. ³⁶ And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and see the brothers in every town where we have given the word of God, and see how they are. ³⁷ And Barnabas had a desire to take with them John, named Mark. ³⁸ But Paul was of the opinion that it was not right to take with them one who had gone away from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone on with the work. ³⁹ And there was a sharp argument between them, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and went by ship to Cyprus; ⁴⁰ But Paul took Silas and went away with the blessing of the brothers. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, making the churches stronger in the faith.

²⁰ My prayer is not for them only, but for all who will have faith in me through their word; ²¹ May they all be one! Even as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us, so that all men may come to have faith that you sent me.

¹ Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle by the selection of God, given authority as a preacher of the good news, ² Of which God had given word before by his prophets in the holy Writings, ³ About his Son who, in the flesh, came from the family of David, ⁴ But was marked out as Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit through the coming to life again of the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ Through whom grace has been given to us, sending us out to make disciples to the faith among all nations, for his name: ⁶ Among whom you in the same way have been marked out to be disciples of Jesus Christ: ⁷ To all those who are in Rome, loved by God, marked out as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ First of all, I give praise to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because news of your faith has gone into all the world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whose servant I am in spirit in the good news of his Son, that you are at all times in my memory and in my prayers, ¹⁰ And that I am ever making prayers that God will give me a good journey to you. ¹¹ For I have a strong desire to see you, and to give you some grace of the spirit, so that you may be made strong; ¹² That is to say, that all of us may be comforted together by the faith which is in you and in me. ¹³ You may be certain, my brothers, that it has frequently been in my mind to come to you but till now I was kept from it, so that I might have some fruit from you in the same way as I have had it from the other nations. ¹⁴ I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning. ¹⁵ For which reason I have the desire, as far as I am able, to give the knowledge of the good news to you who are in Rome. ¹⁶ For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it there is the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is said in the holy Writings, The man who does righteousness will be living by his faith. ¹⁸ For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing; ¹⁹ Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them. ²⁰ For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing: ²¹ Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark. ²² Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, ²³ And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth. ²⁴ For this reason God gave them up to the evil desires of their hearts, working shame in their bodies with one another: ²⁵ Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it. ²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural: ²⁷ And in the same way the men gave up the natural use of the woman and were burning in their desire for one another, men doing shame with men, and getting in their bodies the right reward of their evil-doing. ²⁸ And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right; ²⁹ Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; ³⁰ Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, ³¹ Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy: ³² Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them.

⁸ It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work. ⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work. ¹⁰ And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper. ¹¹ So again, if two are sleeping together they are warm, but how may one be warm by himself? ¹² And two attacked by one would be safe, and three cords twisted together are not quickly broken.

⁴⁰ Let all things be done in the right and ordered way.

¹ A Song of the going up. Of David. See how good and how pleasing it is for brothers to be living together in harmony!

³ Taking care to keep the harmony of the Spirit in the yoke of peace.

⁶ So we went on building the wall; and all the wall was joined together half-way up: for the people were working hard.

³ Is it possible for two to go walking together, if not by agreement?

¹ If then there is any comfort in Christ, any help given by love, any uniting of hearts in the Spirit, any loving mercies and pity, ² Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind; ³ Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself; ⁴ Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others. ⁵ Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God; ⁷ But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men; ⁸ And being seen in form as a man, he took the lowest place, and let himself be put to death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ For this reason God has put him in the highest place and has given to him the name which is greater than every name; ¹⁰ So that at the name of Jesus every knee may be bent, of those in heaven and those on earth and those in the underworld, ¹¹ And that every tongue may give witness that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ¹² So then, my loved ones, as you have at all times done what I say, not only when I am present, but now much more when I am not with you, give yourselves to working out your salvation with fear in your hearts; ¹³ For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure. ¹⁴ Do all things without protests and arguments; ¹⁵ So that you may be holy and gentle, children of God without sin in a twisted and foolish generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, ¹⁶ Offering the word of life; so that I may have glory in you in the day of Christ, because my running was not for nothing and my work was not without effect. ¹⁷ And even if I am offered like a drink offering, giving myself for the cause and work of your faith, I am glad and have joy with you all: ¹⁸ And in the same way do you be glad and have a part in my joy. ¹⁹ But I am hoping in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you before long, so that I may be comforted when I have news of you. ²⁰ For I have no man of like mind who will truly have care for you. ²¹ For they all go after what is theirs, not after the things of Christ. ²² But his quality is clear to you; how, as a child is to its father, so he was a help to me in the work of the good news. ²³ Him then I am hoping to send as quickly as possible, when I am able to see how things will go for me: ²⁴ But I have faith in the Lord that I myself will come before long. ²⁵ But it seemed to me necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, who has taken part with me in the work and in the fight, and your servant, sent by you for help in my need; ²⁶ Because his heart was with you all, and he was greatly troubled because you had news that he was ill: ²⁷ For in fact he was ill almost to death: but God had mercy on him; and not only on him but on me, so that I might not have grief on grief. ²⁸ I have sent him, then, the more gladly, so that when you see him again, you may be happy and I may have the less sorrow. ²⁹ So take him to your hearts in the Lord with all joy, and give honour to such as he is: ³⁰ Because for the work of Christ he was near to death, putting his life in danger to make your care for me complete.