Galatians 1 Cross References - ISV

¹ Greetings from PaulFrom: Paul—an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ² and all the brothers who are with me.
To: The churches in Galatia.
³ May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours! ⁴ He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. ⁵ To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
⁶ There is No Other GospelI am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah and, instead, are following a different gospel, ⁷ not that another one really exists. To be sure, there are certain people who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel about the Messiah. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned! ⁹ What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned! 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.
¹¹ Jesus Himself Gave Paul His MessageFor I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin. ¹² For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah. ¹³ For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism—how I kept violently persecuting God’s church and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴ I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus.
¹⁸ Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Before God, what I’m writing to you is the truth.) ²¹ Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² But the churches of the Messiah that are in Judea did not yet know me personally. ²³ The only thing they kept hearing was this: “The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!” ²⁴ So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me.

¹⁸ Then Jesus approached them and told them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age.”

¹⁹ The Authority of the SonJesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, the Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing, What the Father does, the Son does likewise.

³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

²¹ Jesus told them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

¹⁶ “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the voice of David about Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus, ¹⁷ because he was one of our number and was appointed to share in this ministry.” ¹⁸ (Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹ This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, “The Field of Blood”.) ²⁰ “For in the Book of Psalms it is written, ‘Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,’ and, ‘Let someone else take over his office,’ ²¹ who was one of the men associated with us all the time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, ²² beginning when he was baptized by John until the day he was taken up from us. Therefore, someone like this must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”
²³ So they nominated two men—Joseph called Barsabbas, who also was called Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen ²⁵ to serve in this office of apostle, from which Judas left to go to his own place.”
²⁶ So they drew lots for them, and when the lot fell on Matthias, he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.

²⁴ But God raised him up and put an end to suffering of death, since it was impossible for him to be held by it, ²⁵ since David says about him, ‘I always keep my eyes on the Lord, for he is at my right hand so that I cannot be shaken. ²⁶ That is why my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices, yes, even my body still rests securely in hope. ²⁷ For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or allow your Holy One to experience decay. ²⁸ You have made the ways of life known to me, and you will fill me with gladness in your presence.’
²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and that his tomb is among us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him with an oath to put one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah: ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.’ ³² “It was this very Jesus whom God raised—and we’re all witnesses of that.

¹⁵ and you killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses to that.

⁶ Now get up, go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

¹⁵ But the Lord told him, “Go, because he’s my chosen instrument to carry my name to unbelievers, to their kings, and to the descendants of Israel. ¹⁶ since I’m going to show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them.” ³ Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go. ⁴ After they had been sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.

¹⁰ “Then I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’
“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are destined to do.’

¹⁴ “Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear his own voice, ¹⁵ because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.’
¹⁷ “Then I returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem at once, because the people won’t accept your testimony about me.’
¹⁹ “I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you. ²⁰ Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there, approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.’
²¹ “Then he told me, ‘Go, because I’ll send you far away to the gentiles.’”

¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, because I’ve appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you to be my servant and witness of what you’ve seen and of what I’ll show you. ¹⁷ I’ll continue to rescue you from your people and from the gentiles to whom I’m sending you. ¹⁸ You will help them understand and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹ Greetings from PaulFrom: Paul, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s gospel,

⁴ and was declared by the resurrection from the dead to be the powerful Son of God according to the spirit of holiness—Jesus the Messiah, our Lord. ⁵ Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

²⁴ but also for us. Our faith will be regarded in the same way, if we believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was sentenced to death because of our sins and raised to life to justify us.

⁹ If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

⁹ For this reason the Messiah died and returned to life, so that he might become the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹ Paul Greets the Church in CorinthFrom: Paul, called to be an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and from our brother Sosthenes.

¹ Paul Greets the Church in CorinthFrom: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.
To: God’s church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia.

¹ Ministers of the New CovenantAre we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? ² You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. ³ You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah’s letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

¹¹ Jesus Himself Gave Paul His MessageFor I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin. ¹² For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it was revealed to me by Jesus the Messiah.

¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus.

¹⁹ and the unlimited greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰ which he brought about in the Messiah when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm.

⁸ To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

¹¹ that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
¹² I thank the Messiah Jesus, our Lord, who gives me strength, that he has considered me faithful and has appointed me to his service. ¹³ In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief, ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord overflowed toward me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah Jesus.

¹ GreetingsFrom: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God’s will in keeping with the promise of life that is in the Messiah Jesus.

³ At the right time he revealed his message through the proclamation that was entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.

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

²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.

⁵ and from Jesus the Messiah, the witness, the faithful one, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

¹⁸ the living one. I was dead—but look!—I am alive forever and ever! I have the keys of Death and Hades.

⁸ The Letter to the Church in Smyrna“To the messenger of the church in Smyrna, write:
‘The first and the last, who was dead and became alive, says this:

³¹ So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace. As it continued to be built up and to live in the fear of the Lord, it kept increasing in numbers through the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

⁴¹ He went through Syria and Cilicia and strengthened the churches.

⁵ So the churches continued to be strengthened in the faith and to increase in numbers every day.
⁶ Paul Has a VisionBecause they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia, Paul and Timothy went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

²³ After spending some time there, he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

¹ Concerning the Collection for the SaintsNow concerning the collection for the saints, you should follow the directions I gave to the churches in Galatia.

²² But you know his proven worth—how like a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.

²¹ Final GreetingGreet every saint who is in union with the Messiah Jesus. The brothers who are with me send their greetings to you.

⁷ To: Everyone in Rome, loved by God and called to be holy.
May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
⁸ Paul’s Prayer and Desire to Visit RomeFirst of all, I thank my God through Jesus the Messiah for all of you, because the news about your faith is being reported throughout the world. ⁹ For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel about his Son, is my witness how constantly I mention you ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times, asking that somehow by God’s will I may at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For I am longing to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles. ¹⁴ Both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish people, I am a debtor. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to proclaim the gospel to you who live in Rome, too.

³ May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!

² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

² To: The holy and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah.
May grace and peace from God our Father be yours!

¹ GreetingsFrom: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
To: The church of the Thessalonians in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus the Messiah, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

⁸ I delight to do your will, my God. Your Law is part of my inner being.”

¹⁷ A New UniverseTake notice! I’m about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things won’t be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

⁹ Therefore, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

²⁸ That’s the way it is with the Son of Man. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”

²⁸ because this is my blood of the new covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.

⁴² He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot go away unless I drink it, let your will be done.”

⁴⁵ because even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”

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.”

⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”

³⁰ I can do nothing on my own accord. I judge according to what I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

³⁸ I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.

¹¹ “I’m the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

¹⁷ This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it back again. ¹⁸ No one is taking it from me; I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This is what my Father has commanded me.”

³¹ Now is the time for the judgment of this world to begin. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out.

³⁰ I won’t talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. ³¹ But I’m doing what the Father has commanded me, to let the world know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us leave this place.”

¹⁸ The World’s Hatred“If the world hates you, you should realize that it hated me before you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.

⁷ To: Everyone in Rome, loved by God and called to be holy.
May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

²⁵ He was sentenced to death because of our sins and raised to life to justify us.

³ For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the form of humanity, he condemned sin by being incarnate,

²⁷ and the one who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God’s will.

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?

² Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.

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 I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

¹⁴ But may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!

² May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!
³ The Many Blessings of SalvationBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He has blessed us in the Messiah with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm,

¹¹ In the Messiah we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do,

² that you once practiced as you lived according to the ways of this present world and according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now active in those who are disobedient.

² Live lovingly, just as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice, a fragrant aroma to God.

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.

²⁰ Glory belongs to our God and Father forever and ever! Amen.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father and our Lord Jesus provide a way for us to visit you.

¹³ Then your hearts will be strong, blameless, and holy in the presence of God, who is our Father, when our Lord Jesus appears with all his saints.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus, the Messiah himself, and may God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

⁶ He gave himself as a ransom for everyone, the testimony at the proper time.

¹⁴ He gave himself for us to set us free from every wrong and to cleanse us so that we could be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good deeds.

⁵ Jesus is the Source of Our SalvationFor he did not put the coming world we are talking about under the control of angels.

⁵ who have tasted the goodness of God’s word and the powers of the coming age,

¹⁴ how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!

⁴ for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
⁵ The Messiah Offered One SacrificeFor this reason, the Scriptures say, when the Messiah was about to come into the world: “You did not want sacrifices and offerings, but you prepared a body for me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sin offerings you never took delight. ⁷ Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, O God’ In the volume of the scroll this is written about me.” ⁸ In this passage he says, “You never wanted or took delight in sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings,” which are offered according to the Law. ⁹ Then he says, “See, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By God’s will we have been sanctified once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah.

⁴ You adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility with God? So whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.

²⁴ “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the tree, so that we might die to those sins and live righteously. “By his wounds you have been healed.”

¹⁸ For the Messiah also suffered for sins once for all, an innocent person for the guilty, so that he could bring you to God. He was put to death in a mortal body but was brought to life by the Spirit,

² It is he who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world’s.

¹⁵ Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father’s love is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that is in the world—the desire for fleshly gratification, the desire for possessions, and worldly arrogance—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world and its desires are fading away, but the person who does God’s will remains forever.

¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: the Messiah gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.

⁴ because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. ⁵ Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

¹⁹ We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one. ²⁰ We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God. We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah, who is the true God and eternal life.

⁹ They sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered. With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

⁹ The Vision of Tribulation SaintsAfter these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

¹³ And so, our God, we are giving you thanks, and we are praising your wonderful name!

¹³ Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. Amen and amen!

¹⁹ And blessed be his glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

¹⁵ Therefore, you in the east, give glory to the LORD! You in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD God of Israel!

¹² Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

¹³ And never bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

²⁰ teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age.”

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people who enjoy his favor!”

³⁶ For all things are from him, by him, and for him. Glory belongs to him forever! Amen.

²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus the Messiah, be glory forever! Amen.

¹² so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah might live for his praise and glory.

¹⁷ Now to the King Eternal—the immortal, invisible, and only God—be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

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.

²¹ equip you with everything good to do his will, accomplishing in us what pleases him through Jesus, the Messiah. To him be glory forever and ever! Amen.

¹¹ Power belongs to him forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁸ Instead, continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah. Glory belongs to him both now and on that eternal day! Amen.

²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and for all eternity! Amen.

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the 24 elders bow down and worship in front of the one who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever. They throw their victor’s crowns in front of the throne and say, ¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, because you created all things; they came into existence and were created because of your will.”

¹² They sang with a loud voice, “Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise!”

¹² saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the time for him to judge has arrived. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

¹³ But they quickly forgot his deeds and did not wait for his counsel.

¹³ A Rebuke of Hypocritical WorshipThen the Lord said: “Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

¹² Heavens, be appalled at this, be shocked, be utterly devastated,” declares the LORD. ¹³ “Indeed, my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

⁶ He was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went around to the villages and continued teaching.

³⁰ The man answered them, “This is an amazing thing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he healed my eyes.

¹¹ We certainly believe that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that we are saved, just as they are.”

² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God’s glory.

³ For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God’s means to attain righteousness.

¹⁵ You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah, but not many fathers. For in the Messiah Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

⁴ For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen.

¹ Believers are Approved by GodYou foolish Galatians! Who put you under a spell? Was not Jesus the Messiah clearly portrayed before your very eyes as having been crucified? ² I want to learn only one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the actions of the Law or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? Having started out with the Spirit, are you now ending up with the flesh? ⁴ Did you suffer so much for nothing? (If it really was for nothing!) ⁵ Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actions of the Law or because you believe what you heard?

⁹ But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again? ¹⁰ You are observing days, months, seasons, and years. ¹¹ I am afraid for you! I don’t want my work for you to have been wasted!
¹² Paul’s Concern for the GalatiansI beg you, brothers, to become like me, since I became like you. You did not do anything wrong to me. ¹³ You know that it was because I was ill that I brought you the gospel the first time. ¹⁴ Even though my condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. On the contrary, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, or as if I were the Messiah Jesus. ¹⁵ What, then, happened to your positive attitude? For I testify that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

⁴ Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

⁷ You were running the race beautifully. Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth? ⁸ Such influence does not come from the one who calls you.

¹⁴ With this purpose in mind, he called you through our proclamation of the gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

³ A Warning against False TeachersWhen I was on my way to Macedonia, I urged you to stay in Ephesus so that you could instruct certain people to stop teaching false doctrine

¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord overflowed toward me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah Jesus.

⁹ He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own accomplishments, but according to his own purpose and the grace that was given to us in the Messiah Jesus before time began.

¹ Remain Committed to the Messiah JesusAs for you, my child, be strong by the grace that is in the Messiah Jesus.

¹⁵ Instead, be holy in every aspect of your life, just as the one who called you is holy.

³ We are Called to Holy LivingHis divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.

²¹ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.
Amen.

²⁶ How long will this go on? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy from the deceit that is in their hearts?

²⁴ because false messiahs and false prophets will appear and display great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

¹⁰ and said, “You’re full of every form of deception and trickery, you son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right! You’ll never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord, will you?

¹ Controversy about the LawThen some men came down from Judea and started to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses, you can’t be saved.” ² Paul and Barnabas had quite a dispute and argument with them. So Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question. ³ They were sent on their way by the church, and as they were going through Phoenicia and Samaria they told of the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them. ⁵ But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses.”

²⁴ We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

³⁰ Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them.

¹⁷ Final WarningNow I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and sinful enticements that oppose the teaching you have learned. Stay away from them, ¹⁸ because such people are not serving the Messiah our Lord, but their own desires. By their smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

¹⁷ At least we are not commercializing God’s word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah’s name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

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.

¹³ Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah.

⁴ However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.

¹⁷ These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God’s judgment, whoever he is.

¹² I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!

¹² These people who want to impress others by their external appearance are trying to force you to be circumcised, simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of the Messiah. ¹³ Why, not even those who are circumcised obey the Law! They simply want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your external appearance.

¹⁷ Let no one make any more trouble for me, because I carry the scars of Jesus on my own body.

¹ A Prophecy about the FutureNow the Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons, ² and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron. 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.

¹⁸ They have abandoned the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place, and so they destroy the faith of others.

⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and their faith is a counterfeit. ⁹ But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those two men, their stupidity will be plain to everyone.

³ For the time will come when people will not tolerate healthy doctrine, but with itching ears will surround themselves with teachers who cater to their people’s own desires. ⁴ They will refuse to listen to the truth and will turn to myths.

¹⁰ Guard What is TrueFor there are many people who are rebellious, especially those who are converts from Judaism. They speak utter nonsense and deceive people. ¹¹ They must be silenced, because they are the kind of people who ruin whole families by teaching what they should not teach in order to make money in a shameful way.

¹ Warning against False TeachersNow there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. ³ In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not delayed.

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. ¹⁹ They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

²⁶ I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

¹ Test What People SayDear friends, stop believing every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

⁷ Reject False TeachersFor many deceivers have gone out into the world. They refuse to acknowledge Jesus the Messiah as having become human. Any such person is a deceiver and an antichrist.

¹⁰ If anyone comes to you but does not present his teachings, do not receive him into your house or even welcome him,

⁴ For some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. They were written about long ago as being deserving of this condemnation because they are ungodly. They turn the grace of our God into uncontrollable lust and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus the Messiah.

² ‘I know what you’ve been doing, your toil, and your endurance. I also know that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not, and have found them to be false.

⁶ But this is to your credit: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

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. ¹⁵ You also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and who teaches and leads my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

⁹ The huge dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, along with its angels.

¹⁴ It deceives those living on earth with the signs that it is allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, telling them to make an image for the beast who was wounded by a sword and yet lived.

²⁰ The beast was captured, along with the false prophet who had performed signs on its behalf. By these signs the false prophet had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped its image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

³ He threw him into the bottomless pit, locked it, and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were over. After that, he must be set free for a little while.

²⁵ he said, “Canaan is cursed! He will be the lowest of slaves to his relatives.”

¹⁵ “‘Cursed is the one who makes a sculptured or cast image—a detestable thing to the LORD, the work of a craftsman—and sets it up secretly.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁶ “Cursed is the one who treats his father and mother with dishonor.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁷ “‘Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁸ “‘Cursed is the one who misleads a blind person on the road.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁹ “‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁰ “Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father’s wife, because he has disgraced his father.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²¹ “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with any animal.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²² “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his sister, the daughter of his father or mother.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²³ “‘Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his mother-in-law.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁴ “‘Cursed is one who strikes his neighbor secretly.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁵ “‘Cursed is one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’ ²⁶ “‘Cursed is the one who doesn’t uphold the words of this Law and observe them.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’”

²³ Now therefore you are under a curse. Some of you will always be slaves, wood cutters, and water carriers for the house of my God.”

¹⁹ Now let your majesty listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed in the LORD’s presence, because they have driven me out today from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD by saying, ‘Go serve other gods.’

²⁵ So I rebuked them, cursed them, struck some of their men, tore out their hair, and made them take this oath in the name of God: “You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

⁷¹ Then he began to invoke a divine curse and to swear with an oath, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”

¹⁴ They went to the high priests and elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to taste any food before we have killed Paul.

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,

³ For this reason I want you to be aware that no one who is speaking by God’s Spirit can say, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

²² If anyone doesn’t love the Lord, let him be condemned! May our Lord come!

¹³ Such people are false apostles, dishonest workers who are masquerading as apostles of the Messiah. ¹⁴ And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

⁹ What we have told you in the past I am now telling you again: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that person be condemned!

¹⁰ No One is Justified by the LawCertainly all who depend on the actions of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who does not obey everything that is written in the Book of the Law!”

¹³ The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, “A curse on everyone who is hung on a tree!”

¹⁹ with faith and a good conscience. By ignoring their consciences, some people have destroyed their faith like a wrecked ship. ²⁰ These include Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan so that they may learn not to blaspheme.

¹⁰ Have nothing to do with a divisive person after you have warned him once or twice.

¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they cannot get enough of sin. They seduce unsteady souls and have had their hearts expertly trained in greed. They are doomed to a curse.

¹⁸ Concluding WarningI warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy in this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will strike him with the plagues that are written in this book. ¹⁹ If anyone takes away any words from the book of this prophecy, God will take away his portion of the tree of life and the holy city that are described in this book.

² Do not add or subtract a thing to what I’m commanding you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God.

³² Now as to everything I’m commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don’t add to or subtract from it.”

⁶ Don’t add to his words, or he will rebuke you, and you will be shown to be a liar.

¹⁷ Final WarningNow I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and sinful enticements that oppose the teaching you have learned. Stay away from them,

¹⁷ When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say “Yes” and “No” at the same time?

¹ Final WarningsThis will be the third time I am coming to you. “Every accusation must be verified by two or three witnesses.” ² I have already warned those who sinned previously and all the rest. Although I am absent now, I am warning them as I did on my second visit: If I come back, I will not spare you,

¹ Warning against PrideSo then, my brothers, keep on rejoicing in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you; indeed, it is for your safety.

⁴ Keep on rejoicing in the Lord at all times. I will say it again: Keep on rejoicing!

⁷ Now, Doeg the Edomite, one of Saul’s officials, was there that day, detained in the LORD’s presence. He was the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance.

¹⁴ If this is reported to the governor, we’ll personally persuade him to keep you out of trouble.”

¹⁹ But Peter and John answered them, “You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, ²⁰ for we cannot stop talking about what we’ve seen and heard.”

²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men!

²⁰ The Death of HerodNow Herod had been in a violent quarrel with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him as a group. After they had won over Blastus, who oversaw security for the king’s sleeping quarters, they asked for a peace agreement because their country depended on the king’s country for food.

⁸ but wrath and fury for those who in their selfish pride refuse to believe the truth and practice wickedness instead.

²⁹ No, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, brought about by the Spirit, not by a written law. That person’s praise will come from God, not from people.

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.

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.

⁹ So whether we are at home or away from home, our goal is to be pleasing to him. ¹⁰ For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless.
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.

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.

⁶ Do not do this only while you’re being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God’s will.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched in order to please them, but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

⁴ Rather, because we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak as we do, not trying to please people but God, who tests our motives.

⁹ No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God’s seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

¹⁶ on that day when God, through Jesus the Messiah, will judge people’s secrets according to my gospel.

⁹ But as it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
¹⁰ But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.

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,

¹ The Resurrection of the MessiahNow I’m making known to you, brothers, the gospel that I proclaimed to you, which you accepted, on which you have taken your stand, ² and by which you are also being saved if you hold firmly to the message I proclaimed to you—unless, of course, your faith was worthless.
³ For I passed on to you the most important points that I received: The Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

¹ Greetings from PaulFrom: Paul—an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—

³ and how this secret was made known to me through a revelation, just as I wrote about briefly in the past. ⁴ By reading this, you will be able to grasp my understanding of the secret about the Messiah, ⁵ which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret: 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.
⁷ I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power. ⁸ To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

¹⁰ But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.

¹ Paul’s ThornI must boast, although it does not do any good. Let’s talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time,

¹ The Church is ScatteredNow Saul heartily approved of putting Stephen to death. That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except for the apostles was scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.

³ But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.

¹ Saul Becomes a BelieverMeanwhile, still spewing death threats against the Lord’s disciples, Saul went to the high priest. ² He asked him for letters to take with him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He is here with authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call on your name.”

²¹ Everyone who heard him was astonished and said, “This is the man who harassed those who were calling on Jesus’ name in Jerusalem, isn’t it? Didn’t he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?”

²⁶ When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all were afraid of him because they wouldn’t believe he was a disciple.

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I also received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, and I was going there to tie up those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁴ All the Jews know how I lived from the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.

⁹ Indeed, I myself thought it my duty to take extreme measures against the name of Jesus from Nazareth. ¹⁰ That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the high priests and locked many of the saints in prison. And when I cast my vote against them, they were put to death. ¹¹ I would even punish them frequently in every synagogue and try to make them blaspheme. Raging furiously against them, I would hunt them down even in distant cities.

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God’s church.

⁶ As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.

¹³ In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief,

¹² “I will denounce your righteousness and your works, for your collections of idols will not benefit you.

¹⁴ Instead, they followed their rebellious hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

² “When they say to you, ‘Where can we go?’, say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Those destined for death, to death will go; those destined for the sword, to the sword will go; and those destined for captivity, to captivity will go.

² “Why do your disciples disregard the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands when they eat.”
³ But he answered them, “Why do you also disregard the commandment of God because of your tradition?

⁶ does not have to honor his father.’ Because of your tradition, then, you have disregarded the authority of God’s word.

³ (The Pharisees—and indeed all the Jewish people—don’t eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders. ⁴ They don’t eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.) ⁵ So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unclean hands.”
⁶ He told them, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁷ Their worship of me is worthless, because they teach human rules as doctrines.’
⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
⁹ Then he told them, “You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition! ¹⁰ Because Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother, “Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,”’ (that is, an offering to God) ¹² ‘you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.’ ¹³ You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that.”

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.

⁵ They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.

⁹ Indeed, I myself thought it my duty to take extreme measures against the name of Jesus from Nazareth.

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. ⁶ As for my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. As far as righteousness in the Law is concerned, I was blameless.

⁸ See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to the Messiah,

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

⁷ The LORD Keeps His Covenant“It wasn’t because you were more numerous than other people of the earth that the LORD committed himself to you and chose you. In fact, you were the least numerous of all the peoples. ⁸ But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

²² Indeed, the LORD won’t abandon His people for the sake of His great name, for the LORD desires to make you a people for himself.

⁴ Nevertheless, the LORD God of Israel chose me from my entire ancestral household to be king over Israel forever, since he had chosen Judah as Commander-in-Chief. In my ancestor Judah’s household, from my father’s household, and from among my father’s sons it pleased him to make me king over all of Israel.
⁵ “Now out of all of my sons (since the LORD has given me many of them), he has selected my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD, ruling over Israel.

¹ The Servant of the LORD “Listen to me, you coastlands! Pay attention, you people from far away! The LORD called me from the womb; while I was still in my mother’s body, he pronounced my name.

⁵ “And now, says the LORD, who formed you from the womb as his servant to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him— and I am honored in the LORD’s sight and my God has been my help—

⁵ “I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

²⁶ Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you.

¹⁵ because he will be great in the Lord’s presence. He will never drink wine or any strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring many of Israel’s descendants back to the Lord their God.

²¹ Jesus Praises the Father
At that moment, the Holy Spirit made Jesus extremely joyful, so Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from wise and intelligent people and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you.

¹⁵ But the Lord told him, “Go, because he’s my chosen instrument to carry my name to unbelievers, to their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them.”

¹⁴ “Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear his own voice, ¹⁵ because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

⁵ Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

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.

²⁴ including us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but from the gentiles as well?

⁹ Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom.

¹⁰ But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace shown to me was not wasted. Instead, I worked harder than all the others—not I, of course, but God’s grace that was with me.

⁶ There is No Other GospelI am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of the Messiah and, instead, are following a different gospel,

⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus the Messiah, according to the pleasure of his will,

⁹ when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah

¹¹ in keeping with the eternal purpose that God carried out through the Messiah Jesus our Lord,

¹³ At all times we are obligated to thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you to be the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through faith in the truth. ¹⁴ With this purpose in mind, he called you through our proclamation of the gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

¹⁰ After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you by the Messiah Jesus to his eternal glory, will restore you, establish you, strengthen you, and support you.

⁹ the one who told his mother and father, ‘I don’t know them,’ and who would neither acknowledge his brothers nor know his own children. For they kept your word and guarded your covenant.

¹⁷ Then Jesus told him, “How blessed you are, Simon son of Jonah, since flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, though my Father in heaven has.

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.”

²³ Then he told all of them, “If anyone wants to come with me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross every day, and follow me continuously, ²⁴ because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. ²⁵ What profit will a person have if he gains the whole world, but destroys himself or is lost?

⁵⁹ He told another man, “Follow me.”
But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
⁶⁰ But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
⁶¹ Still another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to those at home.”
⁶² Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

²¹ “Then he told me, ‘Go, because I’ll send you far away to the gentiles.’”

¹⁷ I’ll continue to rescue you from your people and from the gentiles to whom I’m sending you. ¹⁸ You will help them understand and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan’s control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
¹⁹ “And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. ²⁰ Instead, I first told the people in Damascus and Jerusalem, then all the people in Judea—and after that the gentiles—to repent, turn to God, and perform deeds that are consistent with such repentance.

¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles. ¹⁴ Both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish people, I am a debtor.

¹³ I am speaking to you gentiles. Because I am an apostle to the gentiles, I magnify my ministry

¹⁶ to be a minister of the Messiah Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering brought by gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
¹⁷ Therefore, in the Messiah Jesus I have the right to boast about my work for God. ¹⁸ For I am bold enough to tell you only about what the Messiah has accomplished through me in bringing gentiles to obedience. By my words and actions, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of the Messiah from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum.

⁹ But as it is written, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”
¹⁰ But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
¹¹ Is there anyone who can understand his own thoughts except his own inner spirit? In the same way, no one can know the thoughts of God except God’s Spirit. ¹² Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God. ¹³ We don’t speak about these things with words taught us by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.

⁵⁰ Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus the Messiah.

¹⁶ So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don’t think of him that way anymore.

¹ How Paul Was Accepted by the Apostles in JerusalemThen fourteen years later, I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me.

⁶ Now those who were reputed to be important added nothing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God pays no attention to outward appearances.) ⁷ In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised. ⁸ For the one who worked through Peter by making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me by sending me to the gentiles. ⁹ So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.

¹⁷ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah fully. ¹⁸ Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced by God having called you, the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints,

¹ Paul’s Ministry to the GentilesFor this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of the Messiah Jesus for the sake of you gentiles.

⁵ which in previous generations was not made known to human beings as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This is that secret: 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.
⁷ I have become a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power. ⁸ To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah ⁹ and help everyone see how this secret that has been at work was hidden for ages by God, who created all things. ¹⁰ He did this so that now, through the church, the wisdom of God in all its variety might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm

²⁵ I became its servant as God commissioned me to work for you, so that I may complete my ministry of the word of God. ²⁶ This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints, ²⁷ to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles—which is the Messiah in you, our glorious hope.

¹⁶ as they try to keep us from telling the gentiles how they can be saved. As a result, they are constantly adding to the number of sins they have committed. However, wrath has overtaken them at last!

⁷ For this reason I was appointed to be an announcer, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the gentiles. (I am telling you the truth. I am not lying.)

¹¹ For the sake of this gospel I was appointed to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gentiles.

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children have flesh and blood, he himself also shared the same things, so that by his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the devil)

²⁰ He immediately started to preach about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This is the Son of God.”
²¹ Everyone who heard him was astonished and said, “This is the man who harassed those who were calling on Jesus’ name in Jerusalem, isn’t it? Didn’t he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?” ²² But Saul grew more and more persuasive, and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Messiah.
²³ After several days had gone by, the Jewish leaders plotted to murder Saul, ²⁴ but their plot became known to him. They were even watching the gates day and night to murder him, ²⁵ but his disciples took him one night and let him down through the city wall by lowering him in a basket.

³² In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me, ³³ but I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.

¹⁸ Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.

²² But Saul grew more and more persuasive, and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Messiah.
²³ After several days had gone by, the Jewish leaders plotted to murder Saul,

²⁶ When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all were afraid of him because they wouldn’t believe he was a disciple. ²⁷ Barnabas, however, introduced Saul to the apostles, telling them how on the road Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how courageously he had spoken in the name of Jesus in Damascus. ²⁸ So he freely circulated among them in Jerusalem, speaking courageously in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He kept talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were bent on murdering him.

¹⁷ “Then I returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem at once, because the people won’t accept your testimony about me.’

³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

⁴⁶ The True Family of Jesus
While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

⁵⁵ This is the builder’s son, isn’t it? His mother is named Mary, isn’t she? His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, aren’t they?

¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananaean,

³ This is the builder, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, isn’t it? His sisters are here with us, aren’t they?” And they were offended by him.

¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James (the son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the Zealot),

¹³ When they came into the city, these men went to the upstairs room where they had been staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁷ He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, “Tell this to James and the brothers.” Then he left and went somewhere else.

⁵ We have the right to take a believing wife with us like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas, don’t we?

¹ GreetingsFrom: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.
To: The twelve tribes in the Dispersion.
Greetings.

¹ GreetingsFrom: Jude, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, and yet a brother of James.
To: Those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept safe by Jesus, the Messiah.

¹ Paul’s Concern for the Jewish PeopleI am telling the truth because I belong to the Messiah—I am not lying, and my conscience confirms it by means of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁰ As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, my boasting will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

⁹ But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen.

³⁰ When the brothers found out about the plot, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

²⁵ Then Barnabas left for Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he found him, he brought him to Antioch, and for a whole year they were guests of the church and taught many people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

¹ Barnabas and Saul Travel to CyprusNow Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who grew up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch.

²³ They wrote this letter for them to deliver: “From: The apostles and the elders, your brothersTo: Their gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings.

¹⁸ Paul’s Return Trip to AntiochAfter staying there for quite a while longer, Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut in Cenchrea, since he was under a vow.

³ We came in sight of Cyprus, and leaving it on our left, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

³⁹ Paul replied, “I’m a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. Please let me speak to the people.”

³⁴ After reading the letter, the governor asked which province Paul was from. On learning that he was from Cilicia,

⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who are in prison with me and are prominent among the apostles. They belonged to the Messiah before I did.

³⁰ It is because of God that you are in union with the Messiah Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

¹ Greetings from Paul and TimothyFrom: Paul and Timothy, servants of the Messiah Jesus.
To: All the holy ones in Philippi, along with their overseers and ministers, who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

¹⁴ For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in union with the Messiah Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from the people of your own country as they did from those Jews

¹ GreetingsFrom: Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
To: The church of the Thessalonians in union with God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

⁷ So the word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem continued to grow rapidly. Even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

²⁰ He immediately started to preach about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This is the Son of God.”

⁸ and finally he was seen by me, as though I were born abnormally late.
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God’s church. ¹⁰ But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace shown to me was not wasted. Instead, I worked harder than all the others—not I, of course, but God’s grace that was with me.

¹³ In the past I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief, ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord overflowed toward me, along with the faith and love that are in the Messiah Jesus. ¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying that deserves complete acceptance: To this world Messiah came, sinful people to reclaim. I am the worst of them. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the worst sinner, the Messiah Jesus might demonstrate all of his patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.

²³ No Satanic plan against Jacob nor divination against Israel can ever prevail. When the time is right, it is to be asked about Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God accomplished?’

⁸ When the crowds saw this, they became frightened and glorified God for giving such authority to humans.

¹⁶ Fear gripped everyone, and they began to praise God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said, and “God has helped his people.”

¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you that there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and has been found.’”

¹⁸ When they heard this, they calmed down, and praised God by saying, “So God has given repentance that leads to life even to gentiles.”

¹⁹ After greeting them, Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the gentiles through his ministry. ²⁰ When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law.

¹³ Because your service in giving proves your love, you will be glorifying God as you obey what your confession of the Messiah’s gospel demands, since you are generous in sharing with them and with everyone else.

³ Paul’s Prayer for the ColossiansWe give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, praying always for you, ⁴ because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints,

¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be regarded with wonder on that day by all who have believed—including you, because you believed our testimony.

¹² That way the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by him, according to the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus, the Messiah.