1 Corinthians 10 Cross References - ISV

¹ Warnings about IdolatryNow I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors who left Egypt were under the cloud. They all went through the sea, ² and they all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah. ⁵ But God wasn’t pleased with most of those people, and so they were struck down in the wilderness.
⁶ Now their experiences serve as examples for us so that we won’t set our hearts on evil as they did. ⁷ Let’s stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.” ⁸ Let’s stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead. ⁹ Let’s stop putting the Lord to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained. ¹² Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing securely should watch out so he doesn’t fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.
¹⁴ And so, my dear friends, keep on running away from idolatry. ¹⁵ I am talking to sensible people. Apply what I am saying to yourselves. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless is our fellowship in the blood of the Messiah, isn’t it? The bread that we break is our fellowship in the body of the Messiah, isn’t it? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, because all of us eat from the same loaf.
¹⁸ Look at the Israelis from a human point of view. Those who eat the sacrifices share in what is on the altar, don’t they? ¹⁹ Am I suggesting that an offering made to idols means anything, or that an idol itself means anything? ²⁰ Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons, ²² or you’ll provoke the Lord to jealousy, won’t you? Are we stronger than he is?
²³ All to the Glory of GodEverything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up. ²⁴ No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor’s.
²⁵ Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it on the grounds of conscience, ²⁶ for “the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.” ²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no question on the grounds of conscience. ²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience. ²⁹ I mean, of course, his conscience, not yours. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I eat with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of what I am thankful for?
³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. ³² Don’t become a stumbling block to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don’t look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.

²¹ The LORD went in front of them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel both day and night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the camp of Israel, moved behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud remained there even in the darkness, illuminating the night, so that the one side did not come near the other all night.
²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the water to retreat by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. As the waters were divided, ²² the Israelis went into the middle of the sea on dry land, and the waters formed a wall for them on their right and on their left.

²⁹ But the Israelis walked through the middle of the sea on dry land, and the water stood like a wall for them on their right and on their left.

³⁴ The Glory of the LORD Fills the Completed TentThe cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tent.

¹⁵ The Fire Cloud over the TentOn the same morning that the tent was set up, a cloud covered the tent, that is, the Tent of Testimony, and in the evening fire appeared over the tent until morning. ¹⁶ It was so continuously—there was a cloud covering by day, and a fire cloud appeared at night. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud above the tent ascended, the Israelis would travel and encamp in the place where the cloud settled. ¹⁸ According to whatever the LORD said, the Israelis would travel. According to whatever the LORD said, they would camp as long as the cloud remained over the Tent of Meeting.
¹⁹ When the cloud over the tent remained for a longer time, the Israelis did what the LORD had instructed and didn’t travel. ²⁰ There were times when the cloud remained over the tent for a number of days. They camped in accordance with the LORD’s instructions and they traveled in accordance with LORD’S instructions. ²¹ There were times when the cloud remained from evening until morning, but when the cloud ascended in the morning, they would journey. Whether by day or by night, they would travel whenever the cloud ascended. ²² Whether for two days, a month, or for longer periods, whenever the cloud would remain above the tent, the Israelis would remain in camp, not traveling. But whenever it ascended, then they would travel.

¹⁴ they’ll also proclaim to the inhabitants of this land that they’ve heard you’re among this people, LORD, whom they’ve seen face to face, since your cloud stands guard over them. You’ve guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night.

⁸ They traveled from Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea to the wilderness. They were on the road three days in the wilderness of Etham, then rested in Marah.

³³ who walked ahead of you along the way to scout a place for you to pitch camp—by fire at night and cloud by day—to lead you on the way you should go.”

²³ because the LORD your God dried up the water of the Jordan River right in front of you, until you had crossed over, just as the LORD your God had done to the Reed Sea—which he had dried up in front of us until we had crossed it also.’

¹¹ You divided the sea in front of them, and they traveled through the midst of the sea on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths, as one throws a stone into turbulent waters. ¹² You led them during the day by a pillar of cloud, and by a pillar of fire at night to provide light for them on the path they took.

¹⁹ You, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not leave them in daylight, in order to provide light for them on the path they took. Nor did the pillar of fire abandon them at night, in order to provide light for them and lead them on the path they took.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land. Israel crossed the river on foot; let us rejoice in him.

¹⁶ The waters saw you, God; the waters saw you and writhed. Indeed, the depths of the sea quaked. ¹⁷ The clouds poured rain; the skies rumbled. Indeed, your lightning bolts flashed. ¹⁸ Your thunderous sound was in a whirlwind; your lightning lights up the world; the earth becomes agitated and quakes. ¹⁹ Your way was through the sea, and your path through mighty waters, but your footprints cannot be traced. ²⁰ You have led your people like a flock by the hands of Moses and Aaron.

¹³ He divided the sea so that they were able to cross; he caused the water to stand in a single location. ¹⁴ He led them with a cloud during the day, and during the night with light from the fire.

⁵³ He led them to safety so they would not fear. As for their enemies, the sea covered them.

³⁹ He spread out a cloud for a cover, and fire for light at night.

⁷ In Egypt, our ancestors neither comprehended your awesome deeds nor remembered your abundant gracious love. Instead, they rebelled beside the sea, the Reed Sea. ⁸ He delivered for the sake of his name, to make his power known. ⁹ He shouted at the Reed Sea and it dried up; and led them through the sea as though through a desert. ¹⁰ He delivered them from the power of their foe; redeeming them from the power of their enemy. ¹¹ The water overwhelmed their enemies, so that not one of them survived.

³ The sea saw this and fled, the Jordan River ran backwards, ⁴ the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs. ⁵ What happened to you, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you ran backwards?

¹³ To the one who split the Reed Sea in two for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁴ and made Israel pass through the middle of it, for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁵ and cast Pharaoh and his armies into the Reed Sea, for his gracious love is everlasting.

¹¹ And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in parched places, and they will strengthen your bones; and you’ll be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. ¹² And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; You’ll raise up the age-old foundations, and people will call you ‘Repairer of Broken Walls,’ ‘Restorer of Streets to Live In.’ ¹³ “If you keep your feet from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable; and if you honor it by not going your own ways and seeking your own pleasure or speaking merely idle words,

²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem.”

¹¹ Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them.

²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly will not spare you, either.

¹ Concerning Spiritual GiftsNow concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant.

³⁸ But if anyone ignores this, he should be ignored.

²⁹ And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.

²⁹ By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were drowned.

² The Vision of the Sea of GlassThen I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who had conquered the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass holding God’s harps in their hands. ³ They sang the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the lamb: “Your deeds are both spectacular and amazing, Lord God Almighty. Your ways are just and true, King of the nations.

³¹ When Israel saw the great force by which the LORD had acted against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed the LORD and Moses his servant.

²⁸ At this, they turned on him in fury and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from.”

³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into union with the Messiah Jesus were baptized into his death?

¹³ Is the Messiah divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? You weren’t baptized in Paul’s name, were you? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Oh yes, I also baptized the family of Stephanas. Beyond that, I’m not sure whether I baptized anyone else.)

²⁷ Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.

² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household, ³ because he is worthy of greater glory than Moses in the same way that the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

⁴ The LORD told Moses, “Listen very carefully! I’ll cause food to rain down for you from heaven, and the people are to go out and gather each day’s portion on that day. In this way I’ll test them to demonstrate whether or not they’ll live according to my instructions.

¹⁵ When the Israelis saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?”, because they did not know what it was.
Moses told them, “It’s the food that the LORD has given you to eat.

³⁵ The Israelis ate manna for 40 years until they came to a land where they could settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

³ He humbled you, causing you to be hungry, yet he fed you with manna that neither you nor your ancestors had known, in order to teach you that human beings are not to live by food alone—instead human beings are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁵ You gave them food from heaven for their hunger and water from the rock for their thirst. You directed them to enter and possess the land that you had promised to give them.

²⁰ “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, not withholding manna from them, and providing water to quench their thirst.

²³ Yet he commanded the skies above and the doors of the heavens to open, ²⁴ so that manna rained down on them for food and he sent them the grain of heaven. ²⁵ Mortal men ate the food of angels; he sent provision to them in abundance.

⁴⁰ Israel asked, and quail came; food from heaven satisfied them.

²² Jesus the Bread of LifeThe next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat had been there, and no other, and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with his disciples. Instead, his disciples had gone away by themselves. ²³ Other small boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
²⁵ When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
²⁶ Jesus replied to them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied. ²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.”
²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to perform God’s works?”
²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is God’s work: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
³² Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
³⁴ Then they told him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
³⁵ Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. ³⁶ I told you that you have seen me, yet you don’t believe. ³⁷ Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and I’ll never turn away the one who comes to me. ³⁸ I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ This is my Father’s will: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
⁴¹ Then the Jewish leaders began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
⁴² They kept saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, isn’t it, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him to life on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And all of them will be taught by God.’ Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned anything comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who comes from God. This one has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, the one who believes in me has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I’m the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he’ll live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
⁵² Then the Jewish leaders debated angrily with each other, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
⁵³ So Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him to life on the last day, ⁵⁵ because my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ The person who 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 the one who feeds on me will also live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not the kind that your ancestors ate. They died, but the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

¹² Then Joseph told him, “This is what your dream means: The three branches are three days.

²⁶ The seven healthy cows represent seven years, as do the seven healthy ears. The dreams are identical.

⁶ I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock and water will come out of it, so the people can drink.” Moses did this in front of the elders of Israel.

¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Lots of water gushed out, and both the community and their cattle were able to drink.

²¹ Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

¹⁵ He caused the rocks to split in the wilderness, and gave them water as from an abundant sea.

²⁰ It’s true that Moses struck the rock so that water flowed forth and torrents of water gushed out, but is he also able to give bread or to supply meat for his people?”

⁴¹ He opened a rock, and water gushed out flowing like a river in the desert.

²⁰ Wild animals, jackals, and owls will honor me because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wilderness to give drink to my people, my chosen ones,

²¹ They didn’t thirst when he led him through the desolate places. He made water gush from a rock for them; he split open the rock, and water gushed out.

⁴ Then you are to take a few strands, throw them in the fire, and incinerate them. A fire will proceed to the house of Israel from there.”
⁵ Jerusalem’s Desolation Predicted“This is what the Lord GOD says, ‘This is Jerusalem. I placed her in the center of nations, with many nations surrounding her.

³⁸ so that wherever people, wild animals, or birds of the sky live, he has placed them under your control, giving you dominion over them all—you’re that head of gold.

¹⁷ He said, ‘These four great animals are four kings who will rise to power from the earth.

³⁸ while the field is the world. The good seed are those who belong to the kingdom, while the weeds are those who belong to the evil one. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

²⁶ The Lord’s Supper
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it. This is my body.”
²⁷ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, ²⁸ because this is my blood of the new covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Please give me a drink,’ you would have been the one to ask him, and he would have given you living water.”

¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a well of water for him, springing up to eternal life.”

³⁷ Rivers of Living WaterOn the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!

²⁴ gave thanks for it, and broke it in pieces, saying, “This is my body that is for you. Keep doing this in memory of me.” ²⁵ He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me.”

²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery along with her children.

¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Messiah.

¹ The Law is a ReflectionFor the Law, being only a reflection of the blessings to come and not their substance, can never make perfect those who come near by the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year.

¹⁷ Concluding InvitationThe Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Let everyone who hears this say, “Come!”
Let everyone who is thirsty come!
Let anyone who wants the water of life take it as a gift!

¹¹ “How long will this people keep on spurning me and refusing to trust me, despite all the miracles that I’ve done among them?” the LORD asked Moses. ¹² “That’s why I’m going to attack them with pestilence and disinherit them. Instead, I’ll make you a great nation—even mightier than they are!”

²⁸ So tell them that as long as I live—consider this to be an oracle from the LORD—as certainly as you’ve spoken right into my ears, that’s how I’m going to treat you. ²⁹ Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—every single one of you who has been counted among you, according to your number from 20 years and above, who complained against me. ³⁰ You will certainly never enter the land about which I made an oath with my uplifted hand to settle you in it, except for Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua. ³¹ However, I’ll bring your little ones—the ones whom you claimed would become war victims—into the land so that they’ll know by experience the land that you’ve rejected.
³² “Now as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness ³³ and your children will wander throughout the wilderness for 40 years. They’ll bear the consequences of your idolatries until your bodies are entirely consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴ Just as you explored the land for 40 days, you’ll bear the consequences of your iniquities for 40 years—one year for each day—as you experience my hostility. ³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken. I will indeed do this to this evil congregation, who gathered together against me. They’ll be eliminated in this wilderness and will surely die.”

³⁷ and who produced an evil report about the land, died of pestilence in the LORD’s presence.

⁶⁴ But none of these men among these numbered by Moses and by Aaron the priest (that is, when they numbered the Israelis in the wilderness of Sinai) survived to enter the land, ⁶⁵ because the LORD had said about them, “They’ll certainly die in the wilderness. No man will survive from them except Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua.”

³⁴ Entrance is Denied“When the LORD heard your complaints, he became angry and declared, ³⁵ ‘I swear that not one man of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors,

¹⁵ Indeed, the hand of the LORD was against them to root them out from the camp until they were utterly destroyed.”
¹⁶ Israel Passes through Ammonite Territory“And so all the soldiers among the people died.

³² In spite of all of this, they kept on sinning and didn’t believe in his marvelous deeds. ³³ So he made their days end in futility, and their years with sudden terror. ³⁴ When he struck them, they sought him; they repented, and eagerly sought God.

¹ A prayer by Moses, the godly man
Life is Short Lord, you’ve been our refuge from generation to generation.

⁷ Indeed, we are consumed by your anger and terrified by your wrath. ⁸ You have set our iniquities before you, what we have concealed in the light of your presence.

¹¹ So in my anger I declared an oath: “They are not to enter my place of rest.”

²⁶ So he swore an oath concerning them— that he would cause them to die in the wilderness,

¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned and whose bodies fell dead in the wilderness?

⁵ Now I want to remind you, even though you are fully aware of these things, that the Lord who once saved his people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe.

⁴ Meanwhile, certain riff-raff among the people had an insatiable appetite for food. As a result, they wept and turned back, and the Israelis cried out, “If only somebody would feed us some meat!

³¹ Quails Come to the CampJust then, a wind burst forth from the LORD, who brought quails from the sea and spread them all around the camp, about a day’s journey in each direction, completely encircling the camp about two cubits deep on top of the ground! ³² The people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all through the next day, gathering quails. The one who gathered least gathered enough to fill ten omers, as they spread out all around the camp. ³³ But even as they were chewing the meat and before they had swallowed it, the LORD became very angry with the people and struck them with a disastrous plague. ³⁴ That’s why the place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, because they buried the people there who had an insatiable appetite for meat.

²⁷ He caused meat to rain on them like dust and winged birds as the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He caused these to fall in the middle of the camp and all around their tents. ²⁹ So they ate and were very satisfied, because he granted their desire. ³⁰ However, before they had fulfilled their desire, while their food was still in their mouths, ³¹ the anger of God flared against them, and he killed the strongest men and humbled Israel’s young men.

¹⁴ They were overwhelmed with craving in the wilderness, so God tested them in the wasteland. ¹⁵ God granted them their request, but sent leanness into their lives.

⁶ “I have destroyed nations— their fortifications are deserted. I have turned their main thoroughfares into wastelands where no one will travel. Their cities are desolate; as a result, not one man remains— no, not even a single resident. ⁷ I have said, ‘If only you would fear me, if only you would take my instructions to heart.’ Then their houses would not have been torn down. I have chastened them, but they were eager to corrupt everything they were doing.”
The Future Deliverance of Israel

¹⁴ Nevertheless, death ruled from the time of Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. He is a foreshadowing of the one who would come.

¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained.

¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fail by following their example of disobedience.

²⁴ For the Messiah did not go into a sanctuary made by human hands that is merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, to appear now in God’s presence on our behalf.

²¹ Baptism, which is symbolized by that water, now saves you also, not by removing dirt from the body, but by asking God for a clear conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah,

⁶ and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes, making them an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them;

⁷ Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities near them, which like them committed sexual sins and pursued homosexual activities, serve as an example of the punishment of eternal fire.

⁴ He took them from them and, using a tool, fashioned them into a molten calf. The people said, “This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

⁶ They got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up to play.
⁷ Moses Intercedes for IsraelThe LORD told Moses, “Go down immediately, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have behaved corruptly. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf. They have bowed down to it in worship, they have offered sacrifices to it, and they have said, ‘This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he told Moses, “The sound of war is coming from the camp.”

¹⁹ As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the base of the mountain.

¹² “Then the LORD told me, ‘Get going! Go down from here at once! Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have turned quickly from the way that I commanded them, and have cast an idol for their use.’

¹⁶ Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded. ¹⁷ So I grabbed the two tablets and then threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down in the LORD’s presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I did not eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in the sight of the LORD, thereby provoking him to anger. ¹⁹ I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the LORD also listened to me at that time. ²⁰ It was as had been the case with Aaron, the LORD was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time. ²¹ Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

¹⁹ They fashioned a calf at Horeb and worshipped a carved image. ²⁰ They exchanged their glory with the image of a grass-eating bull.

¹¹ But now I am writing to you to stop associating with any so-called brother if he is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunk, or a robber. You must even stop eating with someone like that.

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals,

⁷ But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry that when they eat food that has been offered to an idol, their conscience becomes contaminated because it is weak.

¹⁴ And so, my dear friends, keep on running away from idolatry.

²⁰ Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults. ²¹ In the Law it is written, “By means of foreign languages and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,” declares the Lord.
²² Foreign languages, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers.

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves away from idols.

¹ Worship of Baal of PeorWhile Israel remained encamped in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who also invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. So the people ate what they had sacrificed and then worshipped their gods. ³ The people joined the Baal-peor cult. As a result, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, ⁴ so the LORD told Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight for the LORD, so the LORD’s burning anger may be withdrawn from Israel.”
⁵ Then Moses ordered the judges of Israel, “Each one of you is to execute the men in his own tribe who joined the Baal-peor cult.”
⁶ That very moment, one of the Israelis arrived, bringing to his brothers one of the Midianite women, right in front of Moses and the entire community of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting! ⁷ When Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up from the middle of the community, grabbed a javelin in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israeli man inside his tent, and impaled the two of them—the Israeli man and the woman—right through both of them and into her abdomen. Then the plague infecting the Israelis was brought to a halt. Nevertheless, ⁹ 24,000 people died because of the plague.

²⁹ They had provoked anger by their deeds, so that a plague broke out against them.

¹⁸ Keep on running away from sexual immorality. Any other sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.

² The people quarreled with Moses: “Give us water to drink.”
Moses told them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the LORD?”

⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelis quarreled and tested the LORD by saying: “Is the LORD really among us or not?”

²⁰ God Promises Help as the Israelis Enter Canaan“Look, I’m sending an angel in front of you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I’ve prepared. ²¹ Be careful! Be sure to obey him. Don’t rebel against him, because he won’t forgive your transgression, since my Name is in him.

⁵ the people complained against the LORD and Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they asked. “There’s no food and water, and we’re tired of this worthless bread.”
⁶ In response, the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people to bite them. As a result, many people of Israel died.

¹⁶ Do What is Right“Don’t test the LORD your God like you did in Massah.

¹⁸ To test God was in their minds, when they demanded food to satisfy their cravings.

⁵⁶ But they tested the Most High God by rebelling against him, and they did not obey his statutes.

⁹ where your ancestors tested me. They tested me, even though they had seen my awesome deeds.

¹⁴ They were overwhelmed with craving in the wilderness, so God tested them in the wasteland.

⁸ do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me during the time of testing in the wilderness. ⁹ There your ancestors tested me, even though they had seen my actions ¹⁰ for 40 years. That is why I was indignant with that generation and said, ‘They are always going astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ ¹¹ So in my anger I swore a solemn oath that they would never enter my rest.”

²⁸ Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” ²⁹ How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know the one who said, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

²³ because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.

²⁴ Then the people complained against Moses: “What are we to drink?”

² The whole congregation of the Israelis complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³ The Israelis told them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by the cooking pots, when we ate bread until we were filled—because you brought us to this desert to kill this entire congregation with hunger.”
⁴ The LORD told Moses, “Listen very carefully! I’ll cause food to rain down for you from heaven, and the people are to go out and gather each day’s portion on that day. In this way I’ll test them to demonstrate whether or not they’ll live according to my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be double what they gather on other days.”
⁶ So Moses and Aaron addressed the entire congregation of the Israelis: “This evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaints against him. After all, who are we that you complain against us?” ⁸ Moses also said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to satisfy you, the LORD will hear your complaints directed against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us, but rather against the LORD.”
⁹ Then Moses instructed Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelis, ‘Come near into the LORD’s presence, because he has heard your complaints.’”

² The people quarreled with Moses: “Give us water to drink.”
Moses told them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the LORD?”
³ But the people were thirsty there for water, so they complained against Moses: “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

² All the Israelis complained against Moses and Aaron. Then the entire assembly responded, “We wish that we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness.

²⁷ “How long will this wicked assembly keep complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelis that they’ve been murmuring against me. ²⁸ So tell them that as long as I live—consider this to be an oracle from the LORD—as certainly as you’ve spoken right into my ears, that’s how I’m going to treat you. ²⁹ Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—every single one of you who has been counted among you, according to your number from 20 years and above, who complained against me. ³⁰ You will certainly never enter the land about which I made an oath with my uplifted hand to settle you in it, except for Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua.

⁴¹ The Israelis Continue to ComplainNevertheless, the very next day, the whole congregation of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, “You’ve killed the LORD’S people!”

⁴⁶ Then Moses told Aaron. “Take the censer, put fire on it from the altar, and burn some incense. Then walk quickly to the congregation and atone for them, because wrath has already come out from the LORD—the plague has begun.”
⁴⁷ So Aaron took the censer, just as Moses had spoken, and ran out to the center of the assembly, where a plague had begun among the people. He set the incense on fire and atoned for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the dead and the living and restrained the plague. ⁴⁹ Those who died due to the plague numbered 14,700, not counting those who died due to the matter with Korah.

¹⁶ As the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity, so he told the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Stay your hand!” So the angel of the LORD remained near the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁵ God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as he was about to do so, the LORD looked and withdrew the calamity by saying to the destroying angel, “Enough! Stop what you’re doing!”
So the angel of the LORD remained standing near the threshing floor that belonged to Ornan the Jebusite.

²¹ So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords.

²⁵ They murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to the voice of the LORD.

³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰ Just as weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes others to sin and those who practice lawlessness ⁴² and they will throw them into a blazing furnace. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

²³ Immediately the angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing

⁷ and to give us who are afflicted relief when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels ⁸ in blazing fire. He will take revenge on those who do not know God and on those who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

²⁸ By faith he established the Passover and the sprinkling of blood to keep the destroyer of the firstborn from touching the people.

¹⁶ These people are complainers and faultfinders, following their own desires. They say arrogant things and flatter people in order to take advantage of them.

¹ The Vision of the Seven Angels Pouring Out Their BowlsThen I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

²³ Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for him

¹¹ Live in the Light of the Messiah’s ReturnThis is necessary because you know the times—it’s already time for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we became believers.

⁴ For everything that was written long ago was written to instruct us, so that we might have hope through the endurance and encouragement that the Scriptures give us.

²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: The time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none,

¹⁰ Isn’t he really speaking for our benefit? Yes, this was written for our benefit, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

⁵ Let your gracious attitude be known to all people. The Lord is near:

²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another even more as you see the day of the Lord coming nearer.

³⁷ For “in a very little while the one who is coming will return— he will not delay;

¹⁸ Live in the MessiahLittle children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

¹⁸ Pride precedes destruction; an arrogant spirit appears before a fall.

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into disaster.

³³ But Peter told him, “Even if everyone else turns against you, I certainly won’t!”
³⁴ Jesus told him, “I tell you with certainty, before a rooster crows this very night, you will deny me three times.”

⁴⁰ When he went back to the disciples, he found them asleep. He told Peter, “So, you men couldn’t stay awake with me for one hour, could you? ⁴¹ All of you must stay awake and pray that you won’t be tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak.”

²⁰ That’s right! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you remain only because of faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid!

⁶ Fools for the Messiah’s SakeBrothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say. Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.
⁷ For who makes you superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? ⁸ You already have all you want! You have already become rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you!

² If anyone thinks he really knows something, he has not yet learned it as he ought to know it.

¹⁷ And so, dear friends, since you already know these things, continuously be on your guard not to be carried away by the deception of lawless people. Otherwise, you may fall from your secure position.

¹⁷ You say, “I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’t need anything.” Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see.

²⁰ Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it’s a small one. Let me escape there! It’s a small one, isn’t it? That way I’ll stay alive!”
²¹ “All right,” the angel replied to Lot, “I’ll agree with your request! I won’t overthrow the town that you mentioned.

¹⁷ I have said that I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

⁹ Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands.

⁵ Praise to the LORDYour gracious love, LORD, reaches to the heavens; your truth extends to the skies.

³³ But I will not cut off my gracious love from him, and I will not stop being faithful.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s trap. The trap has been broken, and we have escaped.

³ For evil’s scepter will not rest on the land that has been allotted to the righteous, and so the righteous will not direct themselves to do wrong.

⁵ Righteousness will be the sash around his loins, and faithfulness the belt around his waist.”

¹ Praise to the Victorious God LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for you have done marvelous things, plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth.

⁷ “This is what my Lord says— the LORD your Redeemer, O Israel, and his Holy One— to one despised by people, to those abhorred as a nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings see and arise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, the one who has chosen you.”

⁵ God’s Reply to JeremiahIndeed, if you run with others on foot, and they tire you out, how can you compete with horses? You are secure in a land at peace, but how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

¹¹ For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope.

²³ They are new every morning— great is your faithfulness!

¹⁷ Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you.

²⁰ I will make you my wife because of my faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.

²¹ because at that time there will be great suffering, the kind that hasn’t happened from the beginning of the world until now and certainly won’t ever happen again. ²² If those days hadn’t been limited, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be limited.
²³ “At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here’s the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’, don’t believe it, ²⁴ because false messiahs and false prophets will appear and display great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

⁴ and forgive us our sins, as we forgive everyone who sins against us. And never bring us into temptation.’”

²⁶ Besides all this, a wide chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from this side to you cannot do so, nor can they cross from your side to us.’

³¹ Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has asked permission to sift all of you like wheat, ³² but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail. When you have come back, you must strengthen your brothers.”

⁴⁶ He asked them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and keep on praying that you may not be tempted.”

²⁸ I give them eternal life, they’ll never be lost, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ What my Father has given me is more important than anything, and no one can snatch it from the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

⁴⁴ The rest were to follow, some on planks and others on various pieces of the ship. In this way everyone got to shore safely.

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good.
²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that the Son might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
³¹ Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s LoveWhat, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won’t he? ³³ Who will accuse God’s elect? It is God who justifies! ³⁴ Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.
³⁵ Who will separate us from the Messiah’s love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter.”
³⁷ In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

⁹ Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.
¹⁰ He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. Yes, he is the one on whom we have set our hope, and he will rescue us again,

²³ Are they the Messiah’s servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night. ²⁶ I have traveled extensively and have been endangered from rivers, robbers, my own people, and gentiles. I’ve also been in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea, from false brothers, ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I have a daily burden because of my anxiety about all the churches.

⁸ I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me, ⁹ but he has told me, “My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the Messiah’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹² For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realm. ¹³ For this reason, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to take a stand whenever evil comes. And when you have done everything you could, you will be able to stand firm.

²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will continue to be faithful.

³ But the Lord is faithful and will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

¹¹ This saying is trustworthy: In dying with the Messiah, true life we gain. ¹² Enduring, we with him will reign. Who him denies, he will disclaim. ¹³ Our faith may fail, his never wanes— That’s who he is, he cannot change!

¹⁸ The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will take me safely to his heavenly kingdom. Glory belongs to him forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁸ so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

²³ Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful.

³⁵ Women received their dead raised back to life. Other people were brutally tortured, but refused to be ransomed, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others endured taunts and floggings, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins. They were needy, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world wasn’t worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and from caves to holes in the ground.

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

¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ We consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance and have seen the purpose of the Lord—that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

⁵ Through faith you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of this era. ⁶ You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while, ⁷ so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.

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

⁸ Be clear-minded and alert. Your opponent, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him and be firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and to hold unrighteous people for punishment on the day of judgment,

⁹ If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested. For ten days you will undergo suffering. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the victor’s crown of life.

¹⁰ Because you have obeyed my command to endure, I will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming to the whole world to test those living on the earth.

¹¹ The Vision of the Coming of the MessiahThen I saw heaven standing open, and there was a white horse! Its rider is named Faithful and True. He administers justice and wages war righteously.

¹⁹ Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord.”

⁷ Let’s stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.”

²⁰ Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons,

¹⁷ Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

¹ Cleanse Yourselves in HolinessSince we have these promises, dear friends, let’s cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.

¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

¹⁵ I will be very glad to spend my money and myself for you. Do you love me less because I love you so much?

¹⁹ Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

¹ Closing ExhortationsTherefore, my dear brothers whom I long for, my joy and my victor’s crown, this is how you must stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

¹ GreetingsFrom: Paul, a prisoner of the Messiah Jesus, and Timothy our brother.
To: Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker,

¹¹ Live as God’s ServantsDear friends, I urge you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

⁸ All those who had become settled down and at home, living on the earth, will worship it, everyone whose name had not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the lamb that had been slaughtered since the foundation of the world.

⁸ But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁵ Outside are dogs, sorcerers, immoral people, murderers, idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

² “Listen to what I have to say, you wise men! Pay attention to me, you educated people! ³ Since the ear tests words like a palate tastes food,

¹⁰ We are fools for the Messiah’s sake, but you are wise in the Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

⁵ I say this to make you feel ashamed. Has it come to this, that there is not one person among you who is wise enough to settle disagreements between brothers?

¹ Concerning Food Offered to IdolsNow concerning food offered to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

¹³ Decide for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

²⁰ Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults.

²¹ Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good.

²² The Lord’s Supper
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to them, saying, “Take some. This is my body.” ²³ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ²⁴ He told them, “This is my blood of the covenant that is being poured out for many people. ²⁵ I tell all of you with certainty, I’ll never again drink the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁹ Then he took a loaf of bread, gave thanks, broke it in pieces, and handed it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Keep on doing this in memory of me.”
²⁰ He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood, which is being poured out for you.

⁴² Life among the BelieversThe believers continued to devote themselves to what the apostles were teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to times of prayer.

⁴⁶ United in purpose, they went to the Temple every day, ate at each other’s homes, and shared their food with glad and humble hearts.

⁷ Paul’s Farewell Visit to TroasOn the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul began to address the people. Since he intended to leave the next day, he went on speaking until midnight.

¹¹ Then he went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. He talked with them for a long time, until dawn, and then left.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—how the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ gave thanks for it, and broke it in pieces, saying, “This is my body that is for you. Keep doing this in memory of me.” ²⁵ He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup, ²⁹ because whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

¹³ For by one Spirit all of us—Jews and Greeks, slaves and free—were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit.

¹⁴ because we are the Messiah’s partners only if we hold on to our original confidence to the end.

³ What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

⁷ But if we keep living in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁵ In the same way, even though we are many people, we are one body in the Messiah and individual parts connected to each other.

³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.

²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons,

²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup,

¹² The Unity and Diversity of Spiritual GiftsFor just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, form a single body, so it is with the Messiah.

²⁷ Now you are the Messiah’s body and individual parts of it.

²⁶ You are God’s ChildrenFor all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiah Jesus. ²⁷ Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. ²⁸ Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female.

²² God has put everything under the Messiah’s feet and has made him the head of everything for the good of the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.

¹⁵ He rendered the Law inoperative, along with its commandments and regulations, thus creating in himself one new humanity from the two, thereby making peace, ¹⁶ and reconciling both groups to God in one body through the cross, on which he eliminated the hostility.

⁶ The gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit. Likewise, you were called to the one hope of your calling.

¹² to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah ¹³ until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah.

¹⁶ in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love.

²⁵ Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,” for we belong to one another.

¹⁹ He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it.

¹¹ In him there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free person. Instead, the Messiah is all and in all.

¹⁵ Let the peace of the Messiah also rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful.

³ “The presenter is then to bring a gift from the peace offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD. He is to remove the fat that covers the internal organs, all of the fat that is inside the internal organs, ⁴ the two kidneys with the fat on them by the loins, and the fatty mass that surrounds the liver and kidneys. ⁵ Then Aaron’s sons are to burn them on the altar, over the burnt offering that has been placed on the wood over the fire, as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

¹¹ Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as a food offering made by fire to the LORD.

⁶ Any male among the priests may eat it, provided that it is eaten at a sacred place as a most holy thing.

¹¹ Peace Offerings“This is the law concerning the sacrifice for peace offerings that are to be brought to the LORD: ¹² If someone brings it to demonstrate thanksgiving, then he is to present along with the thanksgiving offering unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers spread with olive oil, and cakes of mixed fine flour with olive oil. ¹³ Along with the cakes of unleavened bread, he is to bring his thanksgiving offering with his peace offerings. ¹⁴ He is to present one from each grain offering, a separate offering to the LORD. It will belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. ¹⁵ As to the meat contained in his peace offerings, it is to be eaten on the day it is offered. Nothing of it is to remain until morning.”
¹⁶ Voluntary Offerings“If his sacrifice accompanies a fulfilled vow or is a voluntary offering, it is to be eaten on the day the offeror brings the sacrifice. Anything left over is to be eaten the next day, ¹⁷ but whatever remains uneaten from the meat of the sacrifice by the third day is to be incinerated.

¹³ The custom of the priests with the people was that whenever a person offered a sacrifice, a servant of the priest would come with a three pronged fork in his hand while the meat was boiling, and ¹⁴ he would stick it into the boiler or pot, and take everything the fork brought up—that is, the priest would take it for himself. This is what they were supposed to do with all the Israelis who came there to Shiloh. ¹⁵ But even before they burned the fat, the servant of the priest would come and say to the person offering the sacrifice, “Give me meat to roast for the priest. He won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹⁶ If the man told him, “They must surely burn up the fat first, and then take for yourself whatever you desire,” the servant would say, “No, give it now, and if you don’t, I’ll take it by force!”

¹² They answered them: “Yes, he’s right there ahead of you. Hurry, for he came to town just today because there is a sacrifice for the people on the high place today. ¹³ When you come into town you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people don’t eat until he arrives, because he must bless the sacrifice and then after that those who are invited will eat. So go up right now because you can find him now.”

³ regarding his Son. He was a descendant of David with respect to his humanity

¹ The Example of AbrahamWhat, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor?

¹² He is also the ancestor of the circumcised—those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

³ for I could wish that I myself were condemned and cut off from the Messiah for the sake of my brothers, my own people, ⁴ who are Israelis. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To the Israelis belong the patriarchs, and from them, the Messiah descended, who is God over all, the one who is forever blessed. Amen.
⁶ Now it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all Israelis truly belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all of Abraham’s descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you.” ⁸ That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God’s children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants.

¹³ You know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who serve at the altar get their share of its offerings, don’t you?

¹⁸ Since many people boast in a fleshly way, I will do it, too. ¹⁹ You are wise, so you will gladly be tolerant of fools. ²⁰ You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face!
²¹ I am ashamed to admit it, but we have been too weak for that. Whatever anyone else dares to claim—I am talking like a fool—I can claim it, too. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelis? So am I. Are they among Abraham’s descendants? So am I.

¹⁶ Now may peace be on all those who live by this principle, and may mercy be on the Israel of God.

¹¹ All Believers are One in the MessiahSo then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth were called “the uncircumcised” by those who called themselves “the circumcised.” They underwent physical circumcision done by human hands. ¹² At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

³ For it is we who are the circumcision—we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh, ⁴ although I could have confidence in the flesh. If anyone thinks he can place confidence in the flesh, I have more reason to think so. ⁵ Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee.

²¹ They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I’ll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I’ll provoke them to anger.

¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him— they are reckoned by him as nothing and chaos.

²⁹ See, none of them exist, and their deeds are nothing. Their metal images are only wind and confusion.’”

²⁸ And God chose what is insignificant in the world, what is despised, what is nothing, in order to destroy what is something,

⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is significant, but God, who keeps everything growing, is the one who matters.

⁴ Now concerning eating food offered to idols: We know that no idol is real in this world and that there is only one God.

² If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing.

¹¹ Concern for the CorinthiansI have become a fool. You forced me to be one. Really, I should have been commended by you, for I am not in any way inferior to your “super-apostles,” even if I am nothing.

⁷ They are no longer to slaughter their sacrifices to the goat demons, with whom they have been committing prostitution. This will be a perpetual statute for you throughout your generations.

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons— not to the real God— gods whom they didn’t know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared.

¹⁵ Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters— whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, thereby polluting the land with blood. ³⁹ Therefore, they became unclean because of what they did; they have acted like whores by their evil deeds.

⁴ In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

²⁰ The rest of the people who survived these plagues did not repent from their evil actions or stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

³⁷ “He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge? ³⁸ Who ate the fat of their offerings and drank the wine that was their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your hiding place!’

²¹ where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, “How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him.”
But the people didn’t say a word.

¹¹ But as for you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill drink offerings for Destiny,

²⁴ God and Riches
“No one can serve two masters, because either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches!”

¹⁰ For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you, who know better, eating in an idol’s temple, he will be encouraged to eat what has been offered to idols, won’t he?

¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless is our fellowship in the blood of the Messiah, isn’t it? The bread that we break is our fellowship in the body of the Messiah, isn’t it?

¹⁵ What harmony exists between the Messiah and Beliar, or what do a believer and an unbeliever have in common? ¹⁶ What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: “I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ¹⁷ Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God—

²⁴ Indeed, the LORD your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God.”

¹⁵ For the LORD your God who is among you is a jealous God. He will turn his anger against you and destroy you from the surface of the land.”

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things.

¹⁹ So Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins.

⁴ He is wise in heart and strong in will— who can be stubborn against him and succeed?

⁹ Do you have strength like God? Can you create thunder with a sound like he can?”
¹⁰ Can You Save Yourself?“When you have adorned yourself with exalted majesty, clothed yourself with splendor and dignity, ¹¹ dispensed the fury of your anger, made sure that you have humbled every proud person, ¹² stared down and subdued every proud person, trampled the wicked right where they are, ¹³ buried them in the dust together, and sent them bound to that secret place, ¹⁴ then I will applaud you myself! I’ll admit that you can deliver yourself by your own efforts!”

⁵⁸ they angered him with their high places and with their carved images they made him jealous.

¹⁰ Whatever exists has been named already; people know what it means to be human— and a person cannot defeat one who is more powerful than he.

⁹ “Woe to the one who quarrels with his makers, a mere potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Woe to the one who says to the one forming him, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no human hands?’!

¹⁴ Can your heart stand up to this? Can your hands remain strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and will fulfill this.

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will deliver them in the Day of the LORD’s wrath; but the entire land will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will bring the inhabitants of the land to a sudden end.”

³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

¹⁵ For if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not destroy the person for whom the Messiah died by what you eat.

¹⁹ Therefore, let’s keep on pursuing those things that bring peace and that lead to building up one another.
²⁰ Do not destroy God’s action for the sake of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make another person stumble because of what you eat.

¹ Please Others, Not YourselvesNow we who are strong ought to be patient with the weaknesses of those who are not strong and must stop pleasing ourselves. ² Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building him up.

¹² Morality in Sexual MattersEverything is permissible for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not allow anything to control me.

⁹ But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block for those who are weak.

³ But the person who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and comfort. ⁴ The person who speaks in a foreign language builds himself up, but the person who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ Now I wish that all of you could speak in foreign languages, but especially that you could prophesy. The person who prophesies is more important than the person who speaks in a foreign language, unless he interprets it so that the church may be built up.

¹² In the same way, since you’re so desirous of spiritual gifts, you must keep on desiring them for building up the church.

¹⁷ It’s good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person.

²⁶ Maintain Order in the ChurchWhat, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, foreign language, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding.

²⁹ Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you.

¹¹ So then, encourage one another and build each other up, as you are doing.

⁴ and occupying themselves with myths and endless genealogies. These things promote controversies rather than God’s ongoing purpose, which involves faith.

¹⁹ Although I am free from everyone’s expectations, I have made myself a servant to all of them to win more people. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the Law I became like a man under the Law, in order to win those under the Law (although I myself am not under the Law). ²¹ To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God’s Law, but I’m subject to the Messiah’s law. ²² To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some of them. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel in order to have a share in its blessings.

³³ just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don’t look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.

⁵ and she is never rude; she never thinks just of herself or ever gets annoyed. She never is resentful;

¹⁴ Now I’m ready to visit you for a third time, and I will not bother you for help. I do not want your things, but rather you yourselves. Children should not have to support their parents, but parents their children.

⁴ Do not be concerned about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others. ⁵ Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus:

²¹ For all the others look after their own interests, not after those of Jesus the Messiah.

¹⁵ Again the voice came to him a second time, “You must stop calling unclean what God has made clean.”

⁵ Therefore, it is necessary for you to be acquiescent to the authorities, not only for the sake of God’s punishment, but also for the sake of your own conscience.

¹⁴ I know—and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus—that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean to a person who thinks it is unclean.

²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no question on the grounds of conscience. ²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience. ²⁹ I mean, of course, his conscience, not yours. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

¹⁵ Everything is clean to those who are clean, but nothing is clean to those who are corrupt and unbelieving. Indeed, their very way of thinking and their consciences have been corrupted.

⁵ And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me,

¹⁴ You see, heaven—even the highest heavens—belongs to the LORD, along with the earth and all that is in it,

¹¹ Who can take me to court and be reconciled to me? All of heaven is mine.

¹ A Davidic Psalm.
A Song for the King of Glory The earth and everything in it exists for the LORD— the world and those who live in it.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine along with everything in it.

²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience.

¹⁷ Advice for the WealthyTell those who are rich in this age not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, let them place their confidence in God, who lavishly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

²⁹ Later, Levi gave a large banquet at his home for Jesus. A large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes started complaining to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

⁷ Stay with the same family, eating and drinking whatever they provide, because the worker deserves his pay. Don’t move from house to house.
⁸ “Whenever you go into a town and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you,

²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate!

⁷ But all the people who saw this began to complain: “Jesus is going to be the guest of a notorious sinner!”

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter to stop associating with people who are sexually immoral— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, greedy, robbers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you to stop associating with any so-called brother if he is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunk, or a robber. You must even stop eating with someone like that.

²⁵ Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it on the grounds of conscience,

¹³ For what we are writing you is nothing more than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely,

² Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God’s word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

¹¹ The Messiah’s Love Controls UsTherefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people. We ourselves are perfectly known to God. I hope we are also really known to your consciences.

²⁹ Moses told him, “When I leave the city I’ll spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease and the hail won’t continue, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the LORD.

¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but he gave the earth to human beings.

⁵ “By my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth, mankind, and the animals that are on the face of the earth, and I give it to whomever I see fit. ⁶ Now I’ve given all these lands to my servant, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I’ve even given him the wild animals to serve him.

³¹ “So don’t ever worry by saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ ³² because it is the unbelievers who are eager for all those things. Surely your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them!

¹⁰ For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you, who know better, eating in an idol’s temple, he will be encouraged to eat what has been offered to idols, won’t he? ¹¹ In that case, the weak brother for whom the Messiah died is ruined by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak consciences, you are sinning against the Messiah. ¹³ Therefore, if food that I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from stumbling.

²⁶ for “the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”

¹⁵ For if your brother is being hurt by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not destroy the person for whom the Messiah died by what you eat. ¹⁶ Do not allow what seems good to you to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For God’s kingdom does not consist of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For the person who serves the Messiah in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. ¹⁹ Therefore, let’s keep on pursuing those things that bring peace and that lead to building up one another.
²⁰ Do not destroy God’s action for the sake of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make another person stumble because of what you eat. ²¹ The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that makes your brother stumble, upset, or weak.

⁹ But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block for those who are weak.

¹⁹ Although I am free from everyone’s expectations, I have made myself a servant to all of them to win more people.

³² Don’t become a stumbling block to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God,

²¹ We intend to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of people.

²² Keep away from every kind of evil.

⁶ The one who observes a special day, observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God.

³ They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

⁷ Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with all the works of your hand with which he blessed you.

¹² “Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city—for there is no territorial allotment for him as you have.

¹⁸ You’ll eat only in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he will choose—you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your cities. Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God in everything you undertake.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and found branches to make tents for themselves on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, and in the courts of God’s Temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ The entire assembly of those who had returned from exile erected tents and lived in them. Indeed, from the days of Nun’s son Joshua until that day the Israelis had not done so. Joy was everywhere, ¹⁸ and Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law of God day by day, from the first day through the last. They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly according to regulation.

⁵ “Talk to everyone in the land, as well as to the priests. Ask them, ‘When you were fasting and mourning during the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, were you really fasting for me? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, you’re eating and drinking for your own benefit, aren’t you?

⁴¹ So give what is inside to the poor, and then everything will be clean for you.

³⁴ and so his attention is divided.
An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, that is, about how she can please her husband.

¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether by speech or action, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people.

¹¹ Whoever speaks must speak God’s words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength that God supplies, so that in every way God may be glorified through Jesus, the Messiah. Glory and power belong to him forever and ever! Amen.

²⁸ Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’s church, which he acquired with his own blood.

¹⁶ Therefore, I always do my best to have a clear conscience before God and people.

¹³ Acting in LoveTherefore, let’s no longer criticize each other. Instead, make up your mind not to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

¹³ Therefore, if food that I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from stumbling.

²² You have homes in which to eat and drink, don’t you? Or do you despise God’s church and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

³ We are God’s ServantsWe do not put an obstacle in anyone’s way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry.

¹⁰ so that you may be able to choose what is best and be pure and blameless until the day when the Messiah returns,

⁵ For if a man does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?

¹⁵ in case I am delayed, so that you may know how to behave in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

¹⁴ in the hope that I can make my people jealous and save some of them.

² Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building him up. ³ For even the Messiah did not please himself. Instead, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”

²⁴ No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor’s.

²⁸ Besides everything else, I have a daily burden because of my anxiety about all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak without me being weak, too? Who is caused to stumble without me becoming indignant?

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah’s servant.