2 Corinthians Cross References - Goodspeed

¹ Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, and all God's people all over Greece; ² God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, and the God always ready to comfort! ⁴ He comforts me in all my trouble, so that I can comfort people who are in any trouble with the comfort with which I myself am comforted by God. ⁵ For if I have a liberal share of Christ's sufferings, through Christ I have a liberal share of comfort too. ⁶ If I am in trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation, and if I am comforted, it is for the sake of the comfort which you experience when you steadfastly endure such sufferings as I also have to bear. ⁷ My hopes for you are unshaken. For I know that just as surely as you share my sufferings, just so surely you will share my comfort. ⁸ For I do not want you, brothers, to misunderstand the distress that I experienced in Asia, for I was so utterly and unendurably crushed, that I actually despaired of life itself. ⁹ Why, I felt in my heart that the end must be death. That was to keep me from relying on myself instead of on God, who can even raise the dead. ¹⁰ So deadly was the peril from which he saved me, as he will save me again! It is on him that I have set my hope that he will save me again. ¹¹ You must help me by your prayers, so that many will give thanks to God on my behalf for the blessing granted me in answer to many prayers. ¹² For my boast is what my conscience tells me, that my relations to the world and still more to you have been marked by pure motives and godly sincerity, not by worldly shrewdness but by the favor of God. ¹³ For what I am writing to you is only what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand it fully, ¹⁴ as some of you have come to understand me, and that you will understand that you have a right to be proud of me, as I have of you, on the Day of our Lord Jesus. ¹⁵ It was because I was sure of this that I wanted to come to see you before going anywhere else, to give you a double pleasure; ¹⁶ I was going to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then to come back to you from Macedonia and have you see me off for Judea. ¹⁷ Was it vacillating of me to want to do that? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say "Yes" and "No" in the same breath? ¹⁸ As surely as God can be relied on, there has been no equivocation about our message to you. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Christ Jesus, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus, Timothy, and I, you have not found wavering between "Yes" and "No." With him it has always been "Yes," ²⁰ for to all the promises of God he supplies the "Yes" that confirms them. That is why we utter the "Amen" through him, when we give glory to God. ²¹ But it is God who guarantees us and you to Christ; he has anointed us ²² and put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts, as earnest-money. ²³ But upon my soul I call God to witness that it is simply to spare you that I have stayed away from Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we are the masters of you and your faith; we are working with you to make you happy, for in your faith you stand firm enough.

¹⁷ and a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, my Beloved! This is my Chosen."

¹¹ "Blessed are you when people abuse you, and persecute you, and falsely say everything bad of you, on my account. ¹² Be glad and exult over it, for you will be richly rewarded in heaven, for that is the way they persecuted the prophets who went before you!

³⁷ But your way of speaking must be 'Yes' or 'No.' Anything that goes beyond that comes from the evil one.

¹³ And do not subject us to temptation, But save us from the evil one.'

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" ¹⁷ Jesus answered, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for human nature has not disclosed this to you, but my Father in heaven!

⁵ As he spoke a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, my Beloved. He is my Chosen. Listen to him!"

⁸ But you must not let people call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And you must not call anyone on earth your father, for you have only one father, your heavenly Father. ¹⁰ And you must not let men call you master, for you have only one master, the Christ.

³⁵ Earth and sky will pass away but my words will never pass away.

⁴⁹ and begins to beat the other slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards,

⁶³ But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, "I charge you, on your oath, by the living God, tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God." ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, "It is true. But I tell you you will soon see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty and coming upon the clouds of the sky!"

⁴⁰ and saying, "You who would tear down the sanctuary, and build one in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

⁵⁴ And the captain and the men with him who were watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, were dreadfully frightened and said, "He surely must have been a son of God!"

¹ The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.

³⁵ The angel answered, "The holy Spirit will come over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason your child will be called holy, and the Son of God.

⁶⁸ "Blessings on the Lord, the God of Israel, Because he has turned his attention to his people, and brought about their deliverance, ⁶⁹ And he has produced a mighty Savior for us In the house of his servant David. ⁷⁰ "By the lips of his holy prophets he promised of old to do this— ⁷¹ To save us from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us, ⁷² Thus showing mercy to our forefathers, And keeping his sacred agreement, ⁷³ "And the oath that he swore to our forefather Abraham, ⁷⁴ That we should be delivered from the hands of our enemies,

¹⁴ "Glory to God in heaven and on earth! Peace to the men he favors!"

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Symeon, an upright, devout man, who was living in expectation of the comforting of Israel, and under the influence of the holy Spirit.

⁹ To some who were confident of their own uprightness, and thought nothing of others, he used this illustration:

²⁸ But it is you who have stood by me in my trials. ²⁹ So just as my Father has conferred a kingdom on me ³⁰ I confer on you the right to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and to sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel!

¹⁷ For while the Law was given through Moses, blessing and truth came to us through Jesus Christ.

³⁴ And I did see it, and I testify that he is the Son of God."

⁴⁹ Nathanael answered, "Master, you are the Son of God! You are king of Israel!"

⁵ Jesus answered, "I tell you, if a man does not owe his birth to water and spirit, he cannot get into the Kingdom of God.

¹⁶ For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that no one who believes in him should be lost, but that they should all have eternal life.

³⁴ For he whom God has sent speaks God's words, for God gives him his Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves his Son, and has put everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son possesses eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not experience life, but will remain under the anger of God.

²² For the Father passes judgment on no one, but he has committed the judgment entirely to the Son, ²³ so that all men may honor the Son just as much as they honor the Father. Whoever refuses to honor the Son refuses to honor the Father who sent him.

²⁷ You must not work for the food that perishes, but for that which lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for God the Father has authorized him to do so."

⁶⁹ and we believe and are satisfied that you are the Holy One of God."

²⁸ So Jesus, as he was teaching in the Temple, cried out, "You do know me and you do know where I come from, and I have not come of my own accord but someone who is very real, whom you do not know, has sent me.

¹⁵ You judge by material standards, but I am judging nobody.

²⁶ "Why do I even talk to you at all? I have a great deal to say about you and to condemn in you, yet he who sent me is truthful, and the things that I say to the world are things that I have learned from him."

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, "I tell you, I existed before Abraham was born!"

³⁰ The Father and I are one."

⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am Way and Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

¹⁶ And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you always.

¹⁸ I am not going to leave you friendless. I am coming back to you.

²⁶ but the Helper, the holy Spirit which the Father will send in my place, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

⁷ The Jews answered, "We have a law, and by our law he deserves death, for declaring himself to be a son of God."

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, "You must not cling to me, for I have not yet gone up to my Father, but go to my brothers and say to them that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

²⁸ Thomas answered him, "My Master and my God!"

³¹ But these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believing you may have life as his followers.

²⁵ You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the agreement that God made with your forefathers when he said to Abraham, 'Through your posterity all the families of the earth will be blessed.' ²⁶ It was to you that God first sent his servant after he had raised him from the dead, to bless you by making every one of you turn from his wickedness."

³⁶ As they went on along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Here is some water! What is there to prevent my being baptized?"

⁴ and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?"

²⁰ and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.

³⁸ about Jesus of Nazareth, and how God endowed him with the power of the holy Spirit, and he went about doing good and curing all who were in the power of the devil, because God was with him.

⁵ So Peter was kept in the jail, but the church was praying earnestly to God for him.

³² So we now bring you the good news ³³ that God has fulfilled to us, their children, the promise that he made to our forefathers, by raising Jesus to life, just as the Scripture says in the second psalm, You are my Son! Today I have become your Father!' ³⁴ Now as evidence that he has raised him from the dead, never again to return to decay, he said this: 'I will fulfil to you my sacred promises to David.' ³⁵ For in another psalm he says, 'You will not let your Holy One undergo decay.' ³⁶ Now David, after serving God's purposes in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his forefathers and did undergo decay, ³⁷ but he whom God raised to life did not undergo it. ³⁸ You must understand therefore, my brothers, that through him the forgiveness of your sins is announced to you, ³⁹ and that through union with him everyone who believes is cleared of every charge of which the Law of Moses could not clear you.

²² Then the apostles and elders with the whole church resolved to select representatives and send them with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. They were Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

¹ He went to Derbe and Lystra also. At Lystra there was a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewish Christian while his father was a Greek,

¹ After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³ and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers. ⁴ Every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue, and try to convince both Jews and Greeks. ⁵ By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

⁵ By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen." ⁷ So he moved to the house of a devout proselyte named Titius Justus, which was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized. ⁹ One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up, ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city." ¹¹ So he settled there for a year and a half, and taught them God's message. ¹² While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor.

²¹ After these events, Paul, under the Spirit's guidance, resolved to go to Jerusalem, and to revisit Macedonia and Greece on the way. "After I have gone there," he said, "I must see Rome also." ²² He sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed on for a while in Asia. ²³ Just at that time a great commotion arose about the Way. ²⁴ A silversmith named Demetrius was making large profits for his workmen by the manufacture of silver shrines of Artemis. ²⁵ He got the workmen in that and similar trades together, and said to them, "Men, you know that this business is the source of our prosperity, ²⁶ and you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and drawn away numbers of people, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. ²⁷ There is danger, therefore, not only that this business of ours will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be neglected and the magnificence of her whom all Asia and the world worship will be a thing of the past!" ²⁸ When they heard this, they became very angry, and cried, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" ²⁹ So the commotion spread all over the city, and by a common impulse the people rushed to the theater, dragging with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. ³⁰ Paul wanted to go before the people himself, but the disciples would not allow it. ³¹ Some of the religious authorities also, who were friends of his, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. ³² Meanwhile the people were shouting, some one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion, and most of them had no idea why they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd called upon Alexander, as the Jews had pushed him to the front, and he made a gesture with his hand and was going to speak in defense of them to the people. ³⁴ But when they saw that he was a Jew, a great shout went up from them all, and they cried for two hours, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" ³⁵ At last the recorder quieted the mob and said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell down from the sky?

⁵ But when our time was up, we left there and went on, and all of them with their wives and children escorted us out of the town. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed;

¹ Paul looked steadily at the council and said, "Brothers, I have done my duty to God with a perfectly clear conscience up to this very day."

¹⁶ Therefore I strive always to have a clear conscience before God and men.

²¹ That is why the Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me.

¹ Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart to declare God's good news, ² which he promised long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ about his Son, who was physically descended from David,

³ about his Son, who was physically descended from David, ⁴ and decisively declared Son of God in his holiness of spirit, by being raised from the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁴ and decisively declared Son of God in his holiness of spirit, by being raised from the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom we have received God's favor and been commissioned in his name to urge obedience and faith upon all the heathen,

⁷ to all those in Rome whom God loves, who are called to be his people; God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁹ As God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in spreading the good news of his Son, I never fail to mention you when I pray,

¹¹ For I long to see you, to convey to you some spiritual gift that will strengthen you; ¹² in other words, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by one another's faith.

¹¹ and he was afterward given the mark of circumcision as the stamp of God's acknowledgment of the uprightness based on faith that was his before he was circumcised, so that he should be the forefather of all who, without being circumcised, have faith and so are credited with uprightness,

¹⁷ as the Scripture says, "I have made you the father of many nations." The promise is guaranteed in the very sight of God in whom he had faith, who can bring the dead to life and call into being what does not exist. ¹⁸ Abraham, hoping against hope, had faith, and so became the father of many nations, in fulfilment of the Scripture, "So countless shall your descendants be." ¹⁹ His faith did not weaken, although he realized that his own body was worn out, for he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah was past bearing children. ²⁰ He did not incredulously question God's promise, but his faith gave him power and he praised God ²¹ in the full assurance that God was able to do what he had promised. ²² That was why it was credited to him as uprightness. ²³ It was not on his account alone that these words, "it was credited to him," were written, ²⁴ but also on ours, for it is to be credited also to us who have faith in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus, ²⁵ who was given up to death to make up for our offenses, and raised to life to make us upright.

² by whom we have been introduced through faith to the favor of God that we now enjoy, and let us glory in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ More than that, we ought to glory in our troubles, for we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance, character, and character, hope, ⁵ and hope will not disappoint us. For, through the holy Spirit that has been given us, God's love has flooded our hearts.

²³ For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is eternal life through union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁹ But you are not physical but spiritual, if God's Spirit has really taken possession of you; for unless a man has Christ's spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

¹⁴ For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. ¹⁵ It is not a consciousness of servitude that has been imparted to you, to fill you with fear again, but the consciousness of adoption as sons, which makes us cry, "Abba!" that is, Father. ¹⁶ The Spirit itself testifies with our spirits that we are God's children, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also; heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ, if we really share his sufferings in order to share his glory too. ¹⁸ For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us.

²³ More than that, we ourselves, though we have in the Spirit a foretaste of the future, groan to ourselves as we wait to be declared God's sons, through the redemption of our bodies.

²⁸ We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

¹ I am telling the truth as a Christian, it is no falsehood, for my conscience under the holy Spirit's influence bears me witness in it,

²⁰ That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid,

²⁵ For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in,

³⁶ For from him everything comes; through him everything exists; and in him everything ends! Glory to him forever! Amen.

⁵ May God, from whom steadfastness and encouragement come, give you such harmony with one another, in following the example of Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one accord and one voice. ⁷ Therefore, treat one another like brothers, in God's honor, just as Christ has treated you. ⁸ I hold that Christ has become an agent of circumcision to show God's truthfulness in carrying out the promises made to our forefathers, ⁹ and causing the heathen to praise God for his mercy; as the Scripture says, "I will give thanks to you for this among the heathen, And sing in honor of your name."

²⁶ For Macedonia and Greece have determined to make a contribution for the poor among God's people in Jerusalem.

²⁹ and I know that when I do come to see you, I will come with Christ's fullest blessing. ³⁰ I beg you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the love that the Spirit inspires, join me in most earnest prayer to God for me. ³¹ Pray that I may escape from those in Judea who are disobedient, and that the help I am taking to Jerusalem may be well received by God's people,

³¹ Pray that I may escape from those in Judea who are disobedient, and that the help I am taking to Jerusalem may be well received by God's people, ³² so that, if it is God's will, I may come with a glad heart to see you and enjoy a visit with you.

⁵ Remember me to my dear Epaenetus, who was the first man in Asia to turn to Christ.

¹⁸ Such men are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own base passions, and with their plausible and flattering talk they deceive simple-minded people. ¹⁹ Everyone has heard of your obedience, and I am very happy about you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and guileless about what is bad.

²¹ My fellow-worker, Timothy, wishes to be remembered to you, and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow-countrymen.

²⁵ To him who can make you strong by the good news I bring and the preaching about Jesus Christ, through the disclosure of the secret kept back for long ages but now revealed,

¹ Paul, by the will of God called as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and our brother Sosthenes, ² to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated by union with Christ Jesus, and called as God's people, like all those anywhere who call on the name of Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours; ³ God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁸ and at the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ he will insure your complete vindication. ⁹ God can be depended on, and it was he who called you to this fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

⁴ and my teaching and message were not put in plausible, philosophical language, but they were attended with convincing spiritual power, ⁵ so that your faith might rest, not on human philosophy, but on the power of God.

¹³ These disclosures we impart, not in the set phrases of human philosophy, but in words the Spirit teaches, giving spiritual truth a spiritual form.

⁵ What is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Just servants through whom you came to have faith, as the Lord gave each of us opportunity.

²¹ So no one should boast about men. For it all belongs to you— ²² Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it belongs to you. ²³ But you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

⁴ For while my conscience does not trouble me at all, that does not prove that I am innocent. It is the Lord who must examine me.

⁸ Are you satisfied already? Have you become rich already? Have you entered your kingdom without waiting for us? I wish you had entered it, so that we might share it with you!

¹⁰ We are made fools of, for the sake of Christ, while you are men of sense, through being united with him. We are weak, you are strong. You are distinguished, we are despised. ¹¹ To this day we have gone hungry, thirsty, and ill-clad; we have had rough usage, we have had no home, ¹² we have worked with our hands for a living. When people abuse us, we bless them, when they persecute us, we put up with it, ¹³ when they slander us, we try to conciliate them. We have come to be like the scum of the earth, the dregs of the world, and we are so now.

¹⁹ But I am coming very soon to see you, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not what these conceited people have to say, but what they can actually do.

²¹ Which will you have? Shall I come to you with a stick, or in a loving and gentle spirit?

⁵ I have handed the man over to Satan, for his physical destruction, in order that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.

⁸ So let us keep the festival, not with old yeast nor with the yeast of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth.

¹¹ Some of you used to be like that; but you have washed it all away, you have been consecrated, you have become upright, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

¹³ It is no superhuman temptation that you have had. And God can be depended on, not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to give you a way out of it, so that you can withstand it.

³² You must not be hindrances to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God either,

¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that you divide into sets, and in a measure I believe it.

³⁴ If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring down a judgment upon you. The details I will settle when I come.

¹⁶ For if you utter blessings in ecstatic speech, how is an ordinary man to say Amen to your thanksgiving? For he does not know what you are saying.

¹ Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the form in which I presented to you the good news I brought, which you accepted and have stood by,

¹⁰ But by God's favor I have become what I am, and the favor he showed me has not gone for nothing, but I have worked harder than any of them, although it was not really I but the favor God showed me.

³¹ By the very pride I take in you, brothers, through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord, I face death every day. ³² From the human point of view, what good is it to me that I have fought wild animals here in Ephesus? If the dead do not rise at all, "Let us eat and drink, for we will be dead tomorrow!"

⁵ I will come to you after passing through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia, ⁶ and I will probably stay some time with you, or even pass the winter, so that you may start me off for wherever I may be going. ⁷ For I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits it.

⁹ for I have a great and promising opportunity here, as well as many opponents. ¹⁰ If Timothy reaches you, put him at his ease among you, for he is devoted to the Lord's work, just as I am.

¹⁵ Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the family of Stephanas was the first to be converted in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people—

⁴ He comforts me in all my trouble, so that I can comfort people who are in any trouble with the comfort with which I myself am comforted by God. ⁵ For if I have a liberal share of Christ's sufferings, through Christ I have a liberal share of comfort too. ⁶ If I am in trouble, it is to bring you comfort and salvation, and if I am comforted, it is for the sake of the comfort which you experience when you steadfastly endure such sufferings as I also have to bear.

¹² For my boast is what my conscience tells me, that my relations to the world and still more to you have been marked by pure motives and godly sincerity, not by worldly shrewdness but by the favor of God.

¹⁴ as some of you have come to understand me, and that you will understand that you have a right to be proud of me, as I have of you, on the Day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁷ Was it vacillating of me to want to do that? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say "Yes" and "No" in the same breath? ¹⁸ As surely as God can be relied on, there has been no equivocation about our message to you.

¹⁸ As surely as God can be relied on, there has been no equivocation about our message to you. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Christ Jesus, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus, Timothy, and I, you have not found wavering between "Yes" and "No." With him it has always been "Yes," ²⁰ for to all the promises of God he supplies the "Yes" that confirms them. That is why we utter the "Amen" through him, when we give glory to God.

²³ But upon my soul I call God to witness that it is simply to spare you that I have stayed away from Corinth.

¹ For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. ² For if I hurt your feelings, who is there to cheer me up but the man whose feelings I hurt? ³ This is what I said in my letter, so that I might avoid coming and having my feelings hurt by the very people who might have been expected to make me happy, for I felt sure about you all, that what made me happy would make you all happy.

⁵ But if anyone has hurt anybody's feelings, it is not so much mine, as yours, or at least those of some of you, not to be too hard upon you all.

¹⁷ For I am no peddler of God's message, like most men, but like a man of sincerity, commissioned by God and in his presence, in union with Christ I utter his message.

⁵ Not that I am of myself qualified to claim anything as originating with me. My qualification is from God,

² I disown disgraceful, underhanded ways. I refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's message. It is by the open statement of the truth that I would commend myself to every human conscience in the sight of God.

⁵ For it is not myself but Christ Jesus that I am proclaiming as Lord; I am only a slave of yours for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, that is on the face of Christ. ⁷ But I have this treasure in a mere ear then jar, to show that its amazing power belongs to God and not to me.

⁷ But I have this treasure in a mere ear then jar, to show that its amazing power belongs to God and not to me. ⁸ I am hard pressed on every side, but never cut off: perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ routed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ never free from the danger of being put to death like Jesus, so that in my body the life of Jesus also may be seen.

¹⁰ never free from the danger of being put to death like Jesus, so that in my body the life of Jesus also may be seen. ¹¹ For every day I live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be visible in my mortal nature.

¹¹ For every day I live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be visible in my mortal nature. ¹² So it is death that operates in my case, but life that operates in yours. ¹³ In the same spirit of faith as his who said, "I believed, and so I spoke," I too believe, and so I speak, ¹⁴ sure that he who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise me also like Jesus, and bring me side by side with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For it is all for your benefit, in order that as God's favor reaches greater and greater numbers, it may result in more and more thanksgiving in praise of God.

¹⁵ For it is all for your benefit, in order that as God's favor reaches greater and greater numbers, it may result in more and more thanksgiving in praise of God. ¹⁶ So I never lose heart. Though my outer nature is wasting away, my inner is being renewed every day. ¹⁷ For this slight, momentary trouble is piling up for me an eternal blessedness beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ because I keep my eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

⁵ It is God himself who has prepared me for this change, and he has given me the Spirit as his guaranty.

⁷ (for I have to guide my steps by faith, not by what is seen)—

¹¹ It is with this knowledge of what the fear of the Lord means that I appeal to men. My true character is perfectly plain to God, and I hope to your consciences too. ¹² I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you cause to be proud of me, to use in answering men who pride themselves on external advantages and not on sincerity of heart.

¹ As God's fellow-worker, I appeal to you, too, not to accept the favor of God and then waste it.

⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted me by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming, but by the comfort you had given him, for he told me how you longed to see me, how sorry you were, and how you took my part, which made me happier still.

⁹ I am glad of it now; not because you had your feelings hurt, but because having them hurt led you to repent, for you took it as God meant you to do, so that you should not lose anything at all through me.

¹³ That is why I am so comforted. With all my own comfort, I was still more overjoyed at the gladness of Titus, for his mind has been set at rest by you all.

⁸ I do not mean this as a command. I only want to test the genuineness of your love by the devotion of others.

² for I know how willing you are to help in it; I boast of you for it to the people in Macedonia, telling them that Greece has been ready since last year, and your enthusiasm has been a stimulus to most of them.

¹¹ You will grow rich in every way, so that through me you can show perfect liberality that will make men thank God for it. ¹² For the rendering of this service does more than supply the wants of God's people; it results in a wealth of thanksgiving to God.

¹⁴ then they will long for you and pray for you, because of the extraordinary favor God has shown you.

² I beg you not to make me take as bold an attitude when I come, as I count on taking toward some people who suspect me of acting from worldly motives.

² I beg you not to make me take as bold an attitude when I come, as I count on taking toward some people who suspect me of acting from worldly motives.

² I beg you not to make me take as bold an attitude when I come, as I count on taking toward some people who suspect me of acting from worldly motives. ³ For though I do live an earthly life, I am not carrying on an earthly war,

³ For though I do live an earthly life, I am not carrying on an earthly war, ⁴ for the weapons I use are not earthly ones, but divinely strong for destroying fortresses.

⁶ and am prepared to punish any trace of disobedience when you have made your obedience perfectly clear. ⁷ You look at things externally. If anyone is sure he belongs to Christ, let him think again and understand that I belong to Christ just as much as he. ⁸ For suppose I do boast a little too much of my authority—which the Lord gave me to build you up, not to pull you down—I will not have to blush for it. ⁹ I do not want to seem to scare you with my letters. ¹⁰ For they say, "His letters are impressive and telling, but his personal appearance is insignificant and as a speaker he amounts to nothing." ¹¹ Such people had better understand that when I arrive and take action I will do just as I say I will in my letters when I am far away.

³ But I am afraid that just as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts will be led astray from their single-hearted fidelity to Christ.

¹⁰ By the truth of Christ that is in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced anywhere in Greece. ¹¹ And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

²³ If they are Christian workers—I am talking like a madman!—I am a better one! with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, vastly worse beatings, and in frequent danger of death. ²⁴ Five times I have been given one less than forty lashes, by the Jews. ²⁵ I have been beaten three times by the Romans, I have been stoned once, I have been shipwrecked three times, a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; ²⁶ with my frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the heathen, danger in the city, danger in the desert, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, ²⁷ through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, often without food, and exposed to cold. ²⁸ And besides everything else, the thing that burdens me every day is my anxiety about all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak without my being weak? Whose conscience is hurt without my being fired with indignation? ³⁰ If there must be boasting, I will boast of the things that show my weakness! ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is forever blessed, knows that I am telling the truth.

⁷ So to keep me from being too much elated a bitter physical affliction was sent to me, a very messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too much elated. ⁸ Three times I have prayed to the Lord about this, begging that it might leave me, ⁹ and he said to me, "My favor is enough for you, for only where there is weakness is perfect strength developed." So I am perfectly willing to boast of all my weakness, so that the strength of Christ may shelter me. ¹⁰ That is why I am pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties, when they are endured for Christ's sake, for it is when I am weak that I am strong.

¹⁵ And I will be glad to spend all I have and all I am for your sake. Are you going to love me the less for loving you so intensely?

¹⁵ And I will be glad to spend all I have and all I am for your sake. Are you going to love me the less for loving you so intensely? ¹⁶ But granting that I did not burden you myself, I was clever about it, you say, and took you in by a trick. ¹⁷ Yet did I make anything out of you by anybody that I sent to you? ¹⁸ I asked Titus to go and I sent his brother with him. Did Titus make anything out of you? Did not he and I act in the same spirit, and take the very same steps? ¹⁹ Have you been supposing all along that it is before you I have been defending myself? It is in the sight of God and as a follower of Christ that I have been speaking. But it is all to do you good, dear friends, ²⁰ for I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. I am afraid that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, bad feeling, rivalry, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder,

² Those who have kept on in their old sins and all the rest I have warned, and I warn them now while I am still away, as I did on my second visit, that if I come back I will spare nobody—

⁶ I hope you will see that I do not fail to stand it.

¹⁰ That is why I write this while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be harsh in my use of the authority the Lord has given me, for it was to build you up, not to pull you down.

¹ Paul, an apostle not from men nor sent by any man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead—

¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the good news about him to the heathen, immediately, instead of consulting with any human being,

²⁰ (In writing you this, I call God to witness that I am telling the truth!)

² It was in obedience to a revelation that I went. I laid before them the good news that I preach to the heathen, presenting it privately to the leaders, for fear my efforts might be or might have been futile.

¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and his line. It does not say, "and to your lines," in the plural, but in the singular, "and to your line," that is, Christ. ¹⁷ My point is this: An agreement already ratified by God cannot be annulled and its promise canceled by the Law, which arose four hundred and thirty years later. ¹⁸ If our inheritance rests on the Law, it has nothing to do with the promise. Yet it was as a promise that God bestowed it upon Abraham.

²² But the Scripture describes all mankind as the prisoners of sin, so that the promised blessing might on the ground of faith in Jesus Christ be given to those who have faith.

⁴ Every man ought to test his own work, and then whatever satisfaction he has will be with reference to himself, and not in comparison with someone else.

¹⁶ Peace and mercy be on all who will follow this rule, and on the true Israel of God.

¹ Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's people who are steadfast in Christ Jesus;

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

⁶ so that we might praise the splendid blessing which he has given us through his beloved Son.

¹² to win praise for his glory, by having been the first to believe in Christ. ¹³ You also have heard the message of the truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed in him, and through union with him you have been marked with the seal of the holy Spirit that was promised, ¹⁴ which is the advance installment of our inheritance, so that we may get full possession of it, and praise his glory for it.

¹⁷ The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation through the knowledge of himself,

⁷ to show the incomparable wealth of his mercy throughout the ages to come by his goodness to us through Christ Jesus.

⁸ To me, the very least of all his people, this favor has been given, of preaching to the heathen the inexhaustible wealth of the Christ, ⁹ and making clear how the secret purpose is to be worked out which has been hidden away for ages in God the creator of all things, ¹⁰ so that the many-sided wisdom of God may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,

¹³ So I ask that what I am having to suffer for your sake may not make me lose heart, for it does you honor.

³⁰ You must not offend God's holy Spirit, with which you have been marked for the Day of Redemption.

¹⁴ Stand your ground, then, with the belt of truth around your waist, and put on uprightness as your coat of mail,

¹⁴ Stand your ground, then, with the belt of truth around your waist, and put on uprightness as your coat of mail, ¹⁵ and on your feet put the readiness the good news of peace brings. ¹⁶ Besides all these, take faith for your shield, for with it you will be able to put out all the flaming missiles of the evil one,

¹⁸ Use every kind of prayer and entreaty, and at every opportunity pray in the Spirit. Be on the alert about it; devote yourselves constantly to prayer for all God's people ¹⁹ and for me, that when I open my lips I may be given a message, so that I may boldly make known the secret of the good news,

²³ God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give the brothers peace and love, with faith.

¹ Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the devoted adherents of Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the superintendents and assistants; ² God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁶ For I am certain that he who has begun the good work in you will finish it for the Day of Jesus Christ.

⁶ For I am certain that he who has begun the good work in you will finish it for the Day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ And I have a right to feel in this way about you all, because both when I am in prison and when I am defending and vindicating our right to preach the good news, I have you in my heart as all sharing that privilege with me. ⁸ For God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus himself.

¹⁰ so that you may have a sense of what is vital, and may be men of transparent character and blameless life, in preparation for the Day of Christ,

¹⁴ and so most of the Christian brothers have been exceedingly encouraged by my example to declare God's message without any fear of the consequences.

¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, all this will turn out for my highest welfare, ²⁰ for I eagerly and confidently hope that I shall never disgrace myself but that this time as always hitherto, living or dying, I shall do Christ credit by my unfailing courage.

²⁵ I am convinced of this, and so I know that I shall stay on and serve you all, to help you to develop and to be glad in your faith. ²⁶ So you will find in me fresh cause for Christian exultation, through having me with you again.

²⁶ So you will find in me fresh cause for Christian exultation, through having me with you again.

¹ So by whatever appeal there is in our relation to Christ, by whatever incentive there is in love, by whatever participation there is in the Spirit, whatever affection and sympathy,

¹¹ and everyone should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, and thus glorify God the Father.

¹⁶ offering men the message of life. Then I will have reason to boast of you on the Day of Christ, because my exertion and labor have not been wasted.

¹⁹ I hope, with the help of the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that I, too, may be cheered by having news about you. ²⁰ For I have no one like him who would take such a real interest in you. ²¹ For they are all looking out for their own interests, not for those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know his character, and how like a son helping his father he has worked like a slave with me in preaching the good news.

¹⁰ I want to know him in the power of resurrection, and to share his sufferings and even his death,

¹ So, my dear brothers whom I so long to see, my joy and pride, stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

¹ Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy, ² to the devoted and steadfast Christian brothers in Colossae; God our Father bless you and give you peace.

² to the devoted and steadfast Christian brothers in Colossae; God our Father bless you and give you peace.

²⁴ At present I am glad to be suffering in your interest, and I am making up in my own person what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the church, which is his body.

²⁷ to whom God has chosen to make known among the heathen how glorious this mystery of Christ in you, the promise of glorification, really is.

⁷ You must be rooted and built up in him and made strong in faith, just as you were taught to be, overflowing with it in your gratitude.

³ Pray for me too, that God may give me an opening for the message, and let me tell the secret of Christ on account of which I am kept in prison

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Thessalonian church in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; God bless you and give you peace.

³ for we can never forget before our God and Father your energetic faith, your loving service, and your unwavering expectation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, brothers whom God so loves, that he has chosen you,

⁷ so that you set an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Greece. ⁸ For the Lord's message has rung out from you not only over Macedonia and Greece, but the story of your belief in God has gone everywhere, so that we never need to mention it.

⁵ We never used flattery, as you know, or found pretexts for making money, as God is our witness.

¹⁰ You will testify, and God will, how pure and upright and irreproachable our relations were with you who believed.

¹⁸ For we resolved to come to see you—I, Paul, did so again and again—but Satan held us back. ¹⁹ For what hope or happiness shall we have or what prize to be proud of in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes, except you? ²⁰ You are our pride and our joy.

¹³ so that your hearts may be strong and faultlessly pure in the sight of our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus appears with all his saints!

¹⁸ Therefore, encourage one another with this truth.

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and strengthen one another, just as you are doing.

²³ May God himself, the giver of peace, consecrate you through and through. Spirit, soul, and body, may you be kept sound, and be found irreproachable when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

²⁵ Brothers, pray for us.

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Thessalonian church in union with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; ² God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁴ As a result, we ourselves speak of you with pride in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in the face of all the persecutions and troubles you are having to endure. ⁵ This is a proof of God's justice in judging, and it is to prove you worthy of the Kingdom of God, for the sake of which you are suffering, ⁶ since God considers it only just to repay with suffering those who are making you suffer ⁷ and to give rest to you who are suffering and to us, when our Lord Jesus appears from heaven, with his mighty angels

¹⁰ when on that Day he comes to be honored in his people, and wondered at in all who believe in him—because our testimony has been confirmed in you.

⁸ Then the embodiment of disobedience will make his appearance, and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and annihilate him by his appearance and arrival.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and kindly given us unfailing encouragement and a well-founded hope, ¹⁷ encourage you and strengthen you to do and say everything that is right.

¹⁷ encourage you and strengthen you to do and say everything that is right.

¹ Now, brothers, pray for us, that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and gloriously as it did among you,

³ But the Lord is to be relied on, and he will give you strength and protect you from the evil one.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by order of God our Savior and of Jesus Christ our hope,

⁵ The aim of your instruction must be love that springs from a pure heart and from a good conscience and from a sincere faith.

¹⁹ keeping hold of faith and a good conscience. For some people have let that go and have had their faith ruined, ²⁰ like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I turned over to Satan, to be taught not to blaspheme.

²⁰ like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I turned over to Satan, to be taught not to blaspheme.

¹⁰ It is for this that we toil and struggle, for we have fixed our hopes on the living God, the Savior of all men, especially those who believe.

¹ Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus in fulfilment of the promise of that life which is found in union with Christ Jesus,

¹⁰ For that reason I am ready to submit to anything for the sake of those whom God has chosen, so that they too may gain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and brings eternal glory.

¹² If we endure, we will reign with him! If we disown him, he will also disown us!

¹⁹ Yet God's solid foundation stands unshaken, bearing this inscription, "The Lord knows those who belong to him," and "Everyone who uses the name of the Lord must give up evil."

²⁴ and a slave of the Lord must not quarrel, but treat everyone kindly; he must be persuasive and unresentful, ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness; for God may possibly let them repent and acknowledge the truth, ²⁶ and they may yet return to their senses and escape from the toils of the devil, who has caught them to make them do his will.

¹⁷ But the Lord stood by me, and gave me strength, so that I might make a full presentation of the message and let all the heathen hear it. So I was saved from the jaws of the lion.

¹ Paul, a slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to arouse faith in those whom God has chosen, and the comprehension of religious truth,

⁷ In every way set them an example of good conduct yourself. Teach with sincerity and seriousness,

³ God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁶ and I pray that through coming to know every good thing about us as Christians they may effectually share your faith.

²² And get ready to entertain me too, for I hope that I shall be restored to you, in answer to your prayers.

¹¹ They will perish, but you continue! And they will all wear out like a coat,

¹² so that you may never grow careless, but may learn to follow the example of those who through their faith and endurance are the possessors of God's promises. ¹³ For when God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to make oath by, he did so by himself, ¹⁴ and said, "I will certainly bless you richly, and greatly increase your numbers." ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, he received what God had promised him. ¹⁶ For men make oath by something greater than themselves, and they accept an oath as settling finally any disagreement they may have. ¹⁷ Therefore, God in his desire to make it perfectly clear to those to whom he made his promise, that his purpose was unalterable, bound himself with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by these two unalterable things, which make it impossible for God to break his promise, we who have taken refuge with him may be greatly encouraged to seize upon the hope that is offered to us. ¹⁹ This hope is like an anchor for our souls. It reaches up secure and strong into the sanctuary behind the heavenly curtain,

⁶ But this man, whose ancestry is not connected with theirs, collected tithes from Abraham himself, and gave his blessing to the man who had received the promises from God.

¹⁰ since they have to do only with food and drink and various washings—material regulations in force only until the time for the new order. ¹¹ But when Christ came, as the high priest of the better system under which we live, he went once for all, through that greater, more perfect tent of worship not made by human hands nor a part of our material creation, into the sanctuary, ¹² taking with him no blood of goats and calves, but his own, and secured our permanent deliverance. ¹³ For if sprinkling ceremonially defiled persons with the blood of bulls and goats and with the ashes of a heifer purifies them physically, ¹⁴ how much more surely will the blood of the Christ, who with the eternal Spirit made himself an unblemished offering to God, purify our consciences from the old wrongdoing for the worship of the everliving God? ¹⁵ And this is why he is the negotiator of a new agreement, in order that as someone has died to deliver them from the offenses committed under the old agreement, those who have been offered it may receive the unending inheritance they have been promised.

¹³ All these people lived all their lives in faith, and died without receiving what had been promised; they only saw it far ahead and welcomed the sight of it, recognizing that they themselves were only foreigners and strangers here on earth.

¹⁹ For he believed that God was able to raise men even from the dead, and from the dead he did indeed, to speak figuratively, receive him back.

³⁹ Yet though they all gained God's approval by their faith, they none of them received what he had promised, ⁴⁰ for God had resolved upon something still better for us, that they might not reach the fulfilment of their hopes except with us.

¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness. ¹¹ Discipline is never pleasant at the time; it is painful; but to those who are trained by it, it afterward yields the peace of character. ¹² So tighten your loosening hold! Stiffen your wavering stand!

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same today that he was yesterday, and he will be so forever.

¹⁸ Pray for me, for I am sure I have a clear conscience, and I mean in every way to live an upright life.

²³ You must know that our brother Timothy has been released from prison. If he comes here soon, we will see you together.

² You must find the greatest joy, my brothers, in being involved in various trials, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith leads to steadfastness, ⁴ and steadfastness must have full play, so that you may be fully and perfectly developed without any defects.

¹² Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will be given the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

¹³ What wise, intelligent man is there among you? Let him show by his good life that what he does is done in the humility of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you cherish bitter feelings of jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus belie the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above. It is earthly, animal, demon-like. ¹⁶ For wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and every low action. ¹⁷ The wisdom that is from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, considerate, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, whole-hearted, straightforward. ¹⁸ The harvest uprightness yields must be sown in peace, by peacemakers.

⁶ But he gives all the greater blessing. As the Scripture says, "God opposes haughty persons, but he blesses humble-minded ones."

¹² Above all, my brothers, do not swear an oath, either by heaven or by the earth, or by anything else; let your "Yes" be a plain Yes, and your "No" a plain No, or you will fall under condemnation.

¹⁶ So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. An upright man can do a great deal by prayer when he tries. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months there was no rain in the land. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the heavens yielded rain and the earth produced crops.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has caused us to be born anew to a life of hope through Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead,

¹² It was disclosed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in dealing with these things, which have now been told you by those who through the holy Spirit sent from heaven brought you the good news; things into which angels long to look!

¹⁶ and keep your conscience clear, so that those who abuse your upright Christian conduct may be made ashamed of their slanders.

²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to it, now saves you also (not as the mere removing of physical stain, but as the craving for a conscience right with God)—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

³ and not as tyrannizing over those in your charge but proving models for the flock;

⁸ Be calm and watchful. Your opponent the devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, wanting to devour you. ⁹ Resist him and be strong in the faith, for you know that your brotherhood all over the world is having the same experience of suffering. ¹⁰ And God, the giver of all mercy, who through your union with Christ has called you to his eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while will himself make you perfect, steadfast, and strong.

¹⁷ For when he was so honored and glorified by God the Father and from the supreme glory there were borne to him such words as these: "This is my Son, my Beloved! He is my Chosen!"—

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue God-fearing people from trial and to punish wrongdoers while they are being kept for the Day of Judgment,

³ it is what we have seen and heard that we announce to you also, so that you may share our fellowship, for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,

²⁰ But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;

²⁴ Keep what you have heard from the beginning in your hearts; then you will always be in union with the Son and the Father. ²⁵ And what he himself has promised us is eternal life.

²⁷ You still retain in your hearts the anointing with the Spirit that you received from him, and you do not need to have anyone teach you. But just as that anointing of his teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, keep in union with him just as it has taught you to do.

¹⁹ From that we can be sure that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight, ²⁰ if they condemn us for anything, for God is greater than our consciences, and he knows all. ²¹ Dear friends, if our consciences do not condemn us, we approach God with confidence, ²² and we obtain from him whatever we ask for, because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.

⁹ If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; for the value of God's testimony lies in this, that he has testified to his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God possesses that testimony in his heart. Anyone who will not believe God has made him a liar, for he has refused to believe the testimony that God has borne to his Son. ¹¹ And that testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is found in his Son.

¹¹ And that testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is found in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever has not the Son has not life. ¹³ I have written this so that you who believe in the Son of God may know that you have eternal life.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us power to recognize him who is true; and we are in union with him who is true, through his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

⁴ It makes me exceedingly happy to find that some of your children are guided by truth, just as we have been commanded to be by the Father.

⁹ Anyone who goes too far and does not keep to the teaching of Christ has not God. It is the man who holds to the teaching who has both the Father and the Son.

⁶ he has made us a kingdom of priests for his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever. Amen.

⁸ "I am the Alpha and the Omega." says the Lord God, who is and was and is coming, the Almighty.

¹¹ say, "Write what you see in a roll and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. But he laid his right hand upon me, and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,

¹⁷ Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give him who is victorious some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble with a new name written on it which no one knows except the man who receives it.' ¹⁸ "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: " 'The Son of God, whose eyes blaze like fire, and whose feet are like bronze, speaks thus:

⁷ "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: " 'He who is holy and true, who carries the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open, speaks thus:

¹⁴ "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: " 'The Amen, the true and faithful witness, the origin of God's creation, speaks thus:

¹⁸ I advise you to buy of me gold that has been tested with fire, so that you may be rich, and white clothes to put on, to keep your shameful nakedness from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, to make you see.

³ "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we mark the slaves of our God on their foreheads."

¹² saying, "Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!"

⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only the men who did not have the mark of God's seal upon their foreheads.