Luke 11 Cross References - MSB

¹ One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” ² So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ³ Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you goes to his friend at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶ because a friend has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. ⁹ So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” ¹⁴ One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed, ¹⁵ but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.” ¹⁶ And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall. ¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure. ²² But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder. ²³ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. ²⁴ When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.” ²⁷ As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!” ²⁸ But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” ²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It seeks a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. ³⁰ For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation. ³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. ³³ No one lights a lamp and puts it in a cellar or under a basket. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light. ³⁴ The eye is the lamp of the body. So when your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵ Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ So if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, you will be radiant, as though a lamp were shining on you.” ³⁷ As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to dine with him; so He went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ But the Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. ³⁹ “Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰ You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside as well? ⁴¹ But give as alms the things that are within you, and you will see that everything is clean for you. ⁴² Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. ⁴³ Woe to you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.” ⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.” ⁴⁶ “Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load. ⁴⁷ Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you bear witness and consent to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ⁵⁰ As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation. ⁵² Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” ⁵³ As Jesus said these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for Him and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, so that they might accuse Him.

¹⁷ You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

¹⁴ May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

¹² In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.

¹⁸ One day as Jesus was praying in private and the disciples were with Him, He questioned them: “Who do the crowds say I am?”

²⁸ About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took with Him Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray.

³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him. ⁴⁰ When He came to the place, He told them, “Pray that you will not enter into temptation.” ⁴¹ And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” ⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. ⁴⁴ And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. ⁴⁵ When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. ²⁷ And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

² You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

²⁰ But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,

³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.

²³ You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow.

⁴³ then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

¹⁹ And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

⁶ and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can stand against You.

⁴ The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; may Your glory cover all the earth.

¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. ¹⁹ And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.

²⁰ Bless the LORD, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; may Your glory cover all the earth.

² Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.

² In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. ³ And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ⁴ Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war. ⁵ Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

² Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”

¹⁶ Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

²³ I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.

²⁸ But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:

⁴⁴ In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.

¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever—yes, forever and ever.’

²⁷ Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.’

² Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

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

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

⁶ But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly. ⁷ And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. ⁹ So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ ¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

³² Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.

⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ ¹⁰ But if you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into the streets and declare, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to us, we wipe off as a testimony against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near to you.’

⁷ To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁰ To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

² To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows, ¹³ so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

¹ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁶ And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

⁴ Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’” ¹⁷ So the Israelites did this. Some gathered more, and some less. ¹⁸ When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat. ¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one may keep any of it until morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Every morning each one gathered as much as was needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food—two omers per person—and all the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses.

⁸ Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about the things of itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.” ²⁸ Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” ³⁰ So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

³⁴ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers.

³⁶ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

¹¹ For the sake of Your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.

¹⁸ Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.

¹ Of David. A Maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. ² Blessed is the man whose iniquity the LORD does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah ⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

⁷ The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul.

³ If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? ⁴ But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.

²⁵ I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more. ²⁶ Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.”

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

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

⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

¹³ The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” He asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not enter into temptation.”

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

¹³ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

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

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

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

¹⁸ And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

¹ Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: ² “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Then she will stop wearing me out with her perpetual requests.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. ⁷ Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? ⁸ I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

¹⁰ But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

⁶ So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.

²⁵ After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

¹⁷ From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.” ²³ But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said. ²⁶ But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” ²⁸ “O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

³⁰ Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

¹ For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,

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

⁴ One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple.

⁸ My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O LORD, I will seek.

⁴ I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.

¹⁰ Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

³ Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ⁴ Seek out the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.

⁵ In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free.

¹ On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him. ² I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him. ³ I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?” ⁴ I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.

⁶ I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him, but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.

¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.

⁶ Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

¹² Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

³ Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

³ So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

⁴ For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live! ⁵ Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. ⁶ Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.

⁷ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ And if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

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

²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

³⁷ And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep watch!”

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

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” ⁴⁸ “How do You know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” ⁴⁹ “Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

²³ In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God. ⁵ Now send men to Joppa to call for Simon who is called Peter. ⁶ He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

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

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

²² and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.

¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

²⁴ But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you.

²² In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.

⁸ Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”

⁵⁴ The waters flowed over my head, and I thought I was going to die. ⁵⁵ I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit. ⁵⁶ You heard my plea: “Do not ignore my cry for relief.” ⁵⁷ You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not be afraid.” ⁵⁸ You defend my cause, O Lord; You redeem my life.

² saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. ³ For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me. ⁴ At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ ⁵ The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head. ⁶ To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God! ⁷ As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple. ⁸ Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

¹ Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:

³ And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

¹¹ See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. He is full of compassion and mercy.

¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

⁹ Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

⁶ But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house.

¹⁹ Behold, I am giving you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

¹⁰ They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. ⁶ And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

²¹ When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

¹⁴ What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, ¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

⁵ Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

²³ If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.

³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. ⁴ They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.

²⁸ And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

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

¹⁴ For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³² For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

¹¹ So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

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

³⁰ But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ ‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. ³² But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’” ³⁹ He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! ¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot discover how to carry it out.

³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

⁹ For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! ¹⁰ Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

³ For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

³² As they were leaving, a demon-possessed man who was mute was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon had been driven out, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!” ³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”

²² Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that the blind and mute man could both speak and see. ²³ The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” ²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”

³² Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him. ³³ So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it. ³⁷ The people were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”

²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.” ²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. ³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

²² And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.” ²³ So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷ Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. ²⁸ Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter. ²⁹ But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is subject to eternal judgment.” ³⁰ Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

¹⁸ If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? After all, you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

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

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

⁵² “Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.

²⁰ Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?”

³⁸ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹ Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

¹ Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. ² But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’ ³ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times. ⁴ A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

¹¹ Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, testing Him by demanding from Him a sign from heaven. ¹² Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek after a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

³⁰ So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do?

²² Jews demand a sign and Greeks search for wisdom,

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So all the Israelites went home, ¹⁷ but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.

¹⁶ So the Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands. ¹⁷ Then Abijah and his people struck them with a mighty blow, and 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain.

²⁰ They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring. ²¹ Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

² “So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. ³ Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

⁴ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts?

²⁵ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

²³ So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷ Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

²⁵ He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.

²³ Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

¹⁰ “Get behind Me, Satan!” Jesus declared. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

³¹ Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. ³² Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come. ³³ Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

¹⁵ but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”

⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸ but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

⁶ Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

⁴⁹ “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”

³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

²² His master replied, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

¹⁹ “This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to us, we wipe off as a testimony against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near to you.’

²⁵ Now I know that none of you among whom I have preached the kingdom of God will see my face again.

²³ So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. ²⁴ Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. ²⁵ They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to our fathers through Isaiah the prophet: ²⁶ ‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” ²⁷ For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’ ²⁸ Be advised, therefore, that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

⁵ All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment. And so you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

²⁹ Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

²⁷ Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

¹ In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

²⁴ Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? ²⁵ Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.

¹² Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

¹ Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.” ² Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress? ³ “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained. ⁴ For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come.

¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

⁸ The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

⁴ You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

¹ Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole world, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. And after that, he must be released for a brief period of time.

³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

⁴⁰ For whoever is not against you is for you.

⁵⁰ “Do not stop him,” Jesus replied, “for whoever is not against us is for us.”

¹⁵ I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! ¹⁶ So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!

³⁷ then behold, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You are going to save Israel by my hand, as You have said.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. When Gideon arose the next morning, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ And that night God did so. Only the fleece was dry, and dew covered the ground.

⁷ “Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

² “Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

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

¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

¹ The wilderness and the land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. ² It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

⁷ The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

¹⁷ The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. ¹⁸ I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs. ¹⁹ I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,

³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.

²² “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

²⁰ But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck. ²¹ “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

⁸ And he said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. ⁹ Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. ¹¹ But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

⁴³ When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”

¹⁰ And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd had come running, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You mute and deaf spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.”

² in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

⁸ Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

¹⁷ After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, the LORD sent prophets to bring the people back to Him and to testify against them; but they would not listen. ²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD. ²² Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”

³ The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.

¹¹ But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me. ¹² So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, ¹⁰ and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. ¹¹ For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, ¹² in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.

¹⁰ Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. ¹¹ Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord. ¹² These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they will be destroyed. ¹³ They will receive the wages is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. ¹⁴ Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. ¹⁵ They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. ¹⁷ These men are springs without water and clouds driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is forever reserved for them. ¹⁸ With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

⁸ Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings. ⁹ But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively. ¹¹ Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion. ¹² These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

⁶ and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”

⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”

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

¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”

⁴ It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age— ⁶ and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame. ⁷ For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God. ⁸ But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

²⁶ If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

²⁰ If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. ²² Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

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

²⁸ The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

⁴⁸ For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.

²⁹ Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

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

¹ Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. ² Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart. ³ They do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. ⁴ You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. ⁵ Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! ⁶ Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments.

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

¹⁷ Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. ¹⁸ If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ ²⁴ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

⁴⁸ But Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” ⁴⁹ Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

⁴⁷ I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because its foundation was on the rock.

²¹ But He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and carry it out.”

¹⁷ If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls. ²² Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. ²³ For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴ and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, ²² and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded. ²⁴ Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

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

³ “But come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! ⁴ Whom are you mocking? At whom do you snarl and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of deceit,

⁷ But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

³⁸ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹ Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

³⁴ Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

⁴¹ “O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

¹⁶ And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.

⁵⁰ As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,

¹ In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²⁵ Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.

¹⁸ On account of this, the Jews demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”

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

⁵¹ You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

¹⁷ Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.

¹⁰ And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

² “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.” ³ This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey. ⁴ On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” ⁵ And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. ⁶ When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. ⁸ Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.” ¹⁰ When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

⁴⁶ And He told them, “This is what is written: And thus it is necessary that the Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. ² She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind. ³ And Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built, ⁵ the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the service and attire of his attendants and cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he presented at the house of the LORD, it took her breath away. ⁶ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and wisdom is true. ⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity have far exceeded the report I heard. ⁸ How blessed are your men! How blessed are these servants of yours who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰ Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was such an abundance of spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ¹¹ (The fleet of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir also brought from Ophir a great cargo of almug wood and precious stones. ¹² The king made the almug wood into steps for the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood been brought in, nor has such been seen to this day.) ¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired—whatever she asked—besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned to her own country, along with her servants.

¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to test him with difficult questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was on her mind.

⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

²² and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

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

²⁷ The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,

⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

² “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.” ³ Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

⁵ And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.

⁹ Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

²¹ Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand? ²² For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.

¹⁶ No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light. ¹⁷ For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light.

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.

¹⁵ so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹⁶ as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

¹¹ And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” ¹⁶ “Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. ¹⁹ And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria. ²⁰ When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.

¹² So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.

²² A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.

¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.

¹⁹ Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD?

¹⁸ They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

²¹ “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

²² The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

¹² so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven their sins.’”

²² greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.

¹⁸ ‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?’ And do you not remember?

⁴⁶ With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

¹¹ Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness fell over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

⁸ as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.” ⁹ And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them. ¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

¹² And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the integrity and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

³ I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ.

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

⁵ Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of God.

²⁵ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

⁸ How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception? ⁹ The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?

⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law, they are under a curse.”

³⁹ Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?” ⁴¹ “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” ²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” ²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

⁹ But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

¹⁸ With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.

¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation. ⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me. ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I discern more than the elders, for I obey Your precepts. ¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word. ¹⁰² I have not departed from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me. ¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth! ¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

⁵ let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel

¹ My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you, ² if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding, ³ if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, ⁴ if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity, ⁸ to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints. ⁹ Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity—every good path. ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul. ¹¹ Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you,

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. ¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

²³ For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,

²⁷ The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

¹⁶ I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

³ So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

¹¹ He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

⁵² Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

²⁴ He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you who hear. ²⁵ For whoever has will be given more. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to the Lord.

¹⁵ From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.

¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.

¹ One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.

¹⁹ Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law, to win those under the law. ²¹ To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. ²² To the weak I became like one who is weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.” ³ Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

² And seeing some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed—they found fault. ³ Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. ⁴ And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining. ⁵ So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unwashed hands.”

²⁵ Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing.

⁵ Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

² And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.

²⁰ So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God. ²¹ He was diligent in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandments, in order to seek his God. And so he prospered.

¹³ They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.

²⁵ When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.

¹² There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

²⁵ The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

²⁷ Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

³ Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

³³ Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. ³⁵ The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

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

²⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and unrighteousness. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

¹³ When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.”

¹⁵ So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

⁶ Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.

² The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?

²¹ You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to God. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart. ²³ For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”

¹⁴ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!

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

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

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

⁷ Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

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

¹⁵ He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.

⁴ I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn. ⁵ Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

⁸ Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise? ⁹ He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?

²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.

¹ This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?

²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

²⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

³⁶ You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

⁸ Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs. ⁹ Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give generously to him, and do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand.

¹⁶ Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him. ¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words; let my declaration ring in your ears. ¹⁸ Behold, now that I have prepared my case, I know that I will be vindicated. ¹⁹ Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die. ²⁰ Only grant these two things to me, so that I need not hide from You:

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

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

³¹ Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

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

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

⁷ Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk, ¹⁰ and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday. ¹¹ The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

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

⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

¹ “Be careful not to perform your acts of charity before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will Himself reward you openly.

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

¹¹ The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.

³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

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

⁹ I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when you fail, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

²² On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

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

³⁶ In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity. ³⁷ At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room. ³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent to him, urging, “Come to them without delay.” ³⁹ So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God. ³² Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea. He will speak to you when he arrives.’

²⁹ So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

¹⁷ After several years, then, I returned to Jerusalem to bring alms to my people and to present offerings.

¹⁴ I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Do not allow what you consider good, then, to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For whoever serves Christ in these things is pleasing to God and approved by men.

⁷ But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. ⁸ I am not making a demand, but I am testing the sincerity of your love in comparison to the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

¹² For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

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

²⁸ He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need.

⁴ For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected, ⁵ because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the labor of love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.

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

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

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?

¹⁶ By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷ If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

³⁰ Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. ³¹ If a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he must add a fifth to its value. ³² Every tenth animal from the herd or flock that passes under the shepherd’s rod will be holy to the LORD. ³³ He must not inspect whether it is good or bad, and he shall not make any substitution. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute shall become holy; they cannot be redeemed.’”

¹² And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good?

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

⁵ As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything. ⁶ And the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things consecrated to the LORD their God, and they laid them in large heaps. ⁷ In the third month they began building up the heaps, and they finished in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and his officials came and viewed the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel. ⁹ Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites about the heaps, ¹⁰ and Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring their contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people; this great abundance is what is left over.”

³⁷ Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.

³ To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.

¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.

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

² For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.” ³ “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. ⁴ You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high. ⁵ Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

² “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. ³ Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ ⁵ For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, ⁶ if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. ⁸ But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’?

²¹ This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

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

⁶ “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’

¹⁷ You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He delights,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.

¹³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

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

²⁷ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.

¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.

¹¹ For the saving grace of God has appeared to everyone. ¹² It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen?

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

⁶ They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷ the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.

³⁸ In His teaching Jesus also said to them, “Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces, ³⁹ and to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.

⁷ When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, He told them a parable: ⁸ “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited. ⁹ Then the host who invited both of you will come and tell you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ And in humiliation, you will have to take the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of those at the table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

⁴⁶ “Beware of the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes, and they love the greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.

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

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³ If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit here under footstool,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁹ I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction.

¹⁶ Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

⁹ For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.

⁸ The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God!

²⁷ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

³ Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.”

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

¹⁰ To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.

⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.

¹⁰ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words, ¹¹ for this is what Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’” ¹² And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. ¹³ But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”

³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:

⁴⁶ “Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.

⁵² Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.

⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?

⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?”

¹ Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

⁶ Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

² “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So observe and practice everything they tell you to observe. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.”

¹³ For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

²⁹ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. ³³ You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

⁵¹ You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

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

²² Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said.

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

⁸ They will be made to stumble, their own tongues turned against them. All who see will shake their heads.

¹⁹ Yet you may ask, ‘Why shouldn’t the son bear the iniquity of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing all My statutes, he will surely live.

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

³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to the test, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

¹⁰ My brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

² for gaining wisdom and discipline, for comprehending words of insight, ³ and for receiving instruction in wise living and in righteousness, justice, and equity. ⁴ To impart prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the young, ⁵ let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel ⁶ by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

¹ Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice? ² On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand. ³ Beside the gates to the city, at the entrances she cries out: ⁴ “To you, O men, I call out, and my cry is to the sons of men. ⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding. ⁶ Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right. ⁷ For my mouth will speak the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips. ⁸ All the words of my mouth are righteous; none are crooked or perverse. ⁹ They are all plain to the discerning, and upright to those who find knowledge. ¹⁰ Receive my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. ¹¹ For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her. ¹² I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹ Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars. ² She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. ³ She has sent out her maidservants; she calls out from the heights of the city.

⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and relatives and friends and brothers, and some of you will be put to death. ¹⁷ And you will be hated by everyone because of My name.

⁴⁷ and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

² They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.

³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

¹ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest ² and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

¹ About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

⁴ I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as the high priest and the whole Council can testify about me. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to apprehend these people and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

²⁰ And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval to his death and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

³⁰ It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

¹¹ And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

³³ Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

⁴ and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.

¹² For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

²¹ For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’

⁵⁶ For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.

²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her. ²¹ Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again. ²² And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again. ²³ The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.” ²⁴ And there was found in her the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.

⁸ Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

²⁸ Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.

¹ In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:

³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

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

⁷ For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.” ⁴⁶ “Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.

³⁹ But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” ⁴⁰ “I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”

⁴⁷ “Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law, they are under a curse.” ⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus by night and who himself was one of them, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?” ⁵² “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.”

²⁴ So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. There is one thing I do know: I was blind, but now I see!” ²⁶ “What did He do to you?” they asked. “How did He open your eyes?” ²⁷ He replied, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” ²⁸ Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.” ³⁰ “That is remarkable indeed!” the man said. “You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will. ³² Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, He could do no such thing.” ³⁴ They replied, “You were born in utter sin, and you are instructing us?” And they threw him out.

¹⁷ But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must strictly warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

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

¹² Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.

¹² Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

¹⁸ Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

¹⁰ For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.”

²⁰ So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor.

²⁷ Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him.

⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

³² Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them, ³³ the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

⁵ All day long they twist my words; all their thoughts are on my demise. ⁶ They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.

¹⁸ But Jesus knew their evil intent and said, “You hypocrites, why are you testing Me?

² In order to accuse Jesus, they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath.

¹³ Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch Jesus in His words.