Romans Cross References - VIN

¹ Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who became a physical descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶ And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 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. ⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. ⁹ God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you ¹⁰ in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For I am longing to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, ¹² that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have some harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. ¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in the gospel God's righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous will live by faith." ¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. ¹⁹ For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but their thinking became nonsense, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen. ²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. ²⁸ And since they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a base mind, to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and hatred. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents. ³¹ They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless. ³² Though they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

²⁴ But I have said to you, You shall surely possess their land; and, I, I am giving it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey; I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations. ²⁵ And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal or with the bird or with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean. ²⁶ and you shall be holy to Me, for I, the LORD, am holy; and I have set you apart from the nations to become Mine.

⁹ Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the LORD's tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ "He brought you and all the other Levites near. But now you demand to be priests.

⁸ At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

¹³ The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants from generation to generation, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name as long as they live.

¹ Hearken, ye Coastlands, unto me, And give ear ye peoples afar off,—the LORD, called me, from my birth, From my nativity, made he mention of my name;

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

¹⁵ He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all the creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: ¹¹ Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because the servant knows not what his master does. But I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

²⁰ "Remember the word I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours also.

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him: "Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to uphold my Name before the Gentiles and their kings, and the people of Israel.

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them." ³ So after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. ⁴ Being sent out in this way by the holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

⁹ Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas

²⁴ But I consider my life of no value to myself, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

⁴⁰ Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Aramaic:

⁷ "I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me: 'Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?'

¹³ came to me. He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' At that moment I could see him. ¹⁴ Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from His mouth. ¹⁵ You will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.

²¹ Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

¹ Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.

¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁶ ‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 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 a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

²³ This night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood by me

⁵ Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

⁹ God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you

¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.

¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry:

¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an acceptable offering to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

²⁹ I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

¹⁸ For such as these are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

²⁵ Now to Him who is able to strengthen you by my gospel and by the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery concealed for ages past,

¹ Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

¹ Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work for the Lord?

¹⁶ Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I transact this voluntarily, I have a reward: but if involuntarily, an administration is entrusted to me. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.

⁸ And last of all he appeared to me also, as to one untimely born. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and am not sufficient to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

⁵ I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

¹¹ I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not in the least inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

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

¹⁰ Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. ¹¹ Now I want you to know, brothers, that the Gospel preached by me is not according to man; ¹² I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased ¹⁶ To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood: ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem, to those who were apostles before me; but I went away into Arabia, and then returned to Damascus.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

¹³ In him, you also have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having also believed, you were sealed in him with the promised Holy Spirit,

⁵ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. ⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.

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,

¹ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

⁶ as to zeal persecuting the church, as to the righteousness of the Law blameless. ⁷ But whatever was gain to me, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²⁵ I became its servant by the commission God gave me to fully proclaim to you the word of God,

² Rather, in spite of having already suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, we made bold in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God, in the face of strong opposition.

¹³ But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord; because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth: ¹⁴ He called you to this through our gospel, that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

¹¹ that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. ¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.

¹⁵ It is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersof whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience, as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

⁷ To this I was appointed a herald and an apostle — I am telling the truth, I am not lying — a teacher of Gentiles in faith and truth.

¹¹ For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth which leads to godliness,

⁴ No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.

²⁶ We need such a high priest {— } one who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.

¹ Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

¹ Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place. And he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

⁶ And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants the things which must soon take place."

⁹ But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

⁷⁰ as He spoke through His holy prophets, those of ages past,

²⁶ Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and enter his glory?" ²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things in all the scriptures, concerning himself.

⁴³ All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

⁶ Even now, it is because of my hope in the promise given by God to our ancestors that I stand here on my trial--

² Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law has been revealed, being witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets,

²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all the nations to the obedience that comes from faith—

² Which rests in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the beginning of time;

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise your head and you will bruise his heel.

¹² When your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will go out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ¹⁴ "'I will be his father. He will be my son. When he does wrong I will correct him just as parents correct children. ¹⁵ But my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before my face. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before you; your throne shall be established forever." '"

⁷ I will tell of the decree. The LORD said to me, "You are my son. Today I have become your father.

³⁶ His offspring will endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷ It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." Selah.

⁶ For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name 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 David's throne and over his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

⁵ "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: the LORD our righteousness.

¹⁵ In those days and at that time I'll cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he will uphold justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: the LORD our righteousness.” ¹⁷ For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never be without a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel,

²⁶ then I might reject the descendants of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I'll restore their fortunes, and I'll have compassion on them.'"

¹¹ "At that time I will restore David's fallen tent, restoring its torn places. I will restore its ruins, rebuilding it as it was long ago,

¹ A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

⁶ Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife;

¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

²⁰ But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you shall give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “Behold! The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

¹⁷ and lo! a voice from heaven said,"This is my son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased."

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²³ And all the people were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

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.”

⁴² "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "David's," they said. ⁴³ He said to them, How is it then that David through the Spirit calls him Lord? For he said, ⁴⁴ 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet" '? ⁴⁵ If David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?"

⁶³ But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."

⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

³¹ And now, you shall be with child and give birth to a son, and you shall give him the name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

³⁵ The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,

⁴ Among others Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem, the town of David, in Judea--because he belonged to the family and house of David-- ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to him in marriage and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her Child to be born.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

³⁴ I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

²⁵ Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

⁴² Doesn't the Scripture say that the Messiah is from David's family and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"

³⁰ I and the Father are one."

³⁶ then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?

²⁸ And Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God.

³¹ But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing, you may have life in his name.

³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne.

¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.

³⁶ And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

²⁰ and at once he began to preach in their synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

²² After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’ ²³ From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

² For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

²⁹ For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 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?

⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.

⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

⁴ But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

¹³ He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

¹⁰ and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

¹⁶ By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, according to my gospel,

³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

⁸ He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

²³ And this is his commandment: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus the Messiah, and to love one another as he commanded us.

² By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world.

⁹ This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁵ If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His child.

⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son. ¹¹ And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

⁷ For many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

¹⁸ To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.

³¹ And he took the Twelve aside and said to them, "See! we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. ³³ and the third day he shall rise again.

¹⁸ Then the Jews asked him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?" ¹⁹ Jesus answering, said to them, Destroy this temple, and I will rear it again in three days. ²⁰ The Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and are you going to raise it in three days?" ²¹ (But, by the temple, he meant his body.)

²⁴ But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.

³² God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.

¹⁵ You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact.

¹⁰ then let this be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ ¹² Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesuswhom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

³³ He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have become Your Father.’ ³⁴ In fact, God raised Him from the dead never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings I promised to David.’ ³⁵ Further, it is stated elsewhere, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay’.

³¹ For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

³ concerning His Son, who became a physical descendant of David,

⁴ For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.

¹⁹ and the unlimited greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰ which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. ²² And he subordinated all things under his feet, and appointed him head over all things for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.

⁵ So too Christ did not take for himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but he who said to him, "Thou art my Son, to-day I have become thy Father," ⁶ As he also says in another place, You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹¹ trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

²¹ for prophecy never came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

¹⁰ And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, Do not do that: I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren, who hold to the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

¹¹ For from the east to the west, My name shall be great among the nations, and everywhere incense shall be offered to My name; and a pure food offering; for My name shall be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

¹⁴ "Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows it, but instead sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I am a great king," says the LORD of hosts, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

¹⁶ Out of the fullness of his undeserved kindness he gives us one blessing after another.

²⁵ to take this place of service as an apostle which Judas left to go where he belonged."

⁷ So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

¹⁴ Simeon has related how God first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for his name.

²⁹ Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.

¹⁵ But I have written to you more boldly on some points, so as to remind you again because of the grace that has been given to me by God, ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an acceptable offering to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

² Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ who has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁴ The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, ⁶ And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete.

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased ¹⁶ To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood:

⁸ For God, who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the Jews, was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles. ⁹ Peter, and John, who were esteemed to be pillars, perceived the favour that was bestowed on me, they admitted me and Barnabas into fellowship, and agreed, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

⁶ to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of his glory.

² Surely you have heard about the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³ that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. ⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. ⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power. ⁸ Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to make plain to everyone the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;

⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God; that you should declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.

²⁴ us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you to the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

¹¹ In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

⁶ that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of God.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds.

¹² We comforted and encouraged you, urging you to live in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

¹⁴ He called you to this through our gospel, that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the eternal times.

¹ Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your minds on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God; that you should declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,

¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall;

¹⁴ These will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those called and chosen and faithful with him.

¹² About Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD will dwell in safety by him. He covers him all day long. He dwells between his shoulders.”

⁵ Save with Your right hand and answer me, that Your beloved may be delivered.

¹ I have come into my garden, my sister, [my] bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends. Drink, yea. Drink abundantly, O beloved.

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

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,

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

²³ They wrote by their hand the following: “The apostles and the elders and the brothers, to the Gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings.

⁶ And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁵ As He says in Hosea: “I will call them My people who are not My people, and I will call her My beloved who is not My beloved,”

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: ³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge, ⁶ because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷ Therefore, you don't lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus the Messiah to be revealed. ⁸ He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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 made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I am content in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

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

³ 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,

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

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

²³ Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹³ I can do anything through him who gives me strength.

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

²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [be] with your spirit. Amen.

² to the consecrated and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: grace and peace to you from God our Father.

¹² Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to this; and be thankful.

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.

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 make a way for us to come 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 as to strengthen your hearts and make them blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. [Amen.]

⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus, the Messiah himself, and may God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and work.

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

² To Timothy, my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

² Moreover, those who have believing masters should be respectful to them, because they are fellow believers. In fact, they must serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers and dear to them. These are the things you must teach and exhort.

² to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

²² The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

⁴ To Titus, my true child in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

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

²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling with his blood: may grace and peace be yours in abundance.

¹⁵ But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

² May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! ³ His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

¹ Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

³ Grace, mercy, peace from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

¹ Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are beloved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: ² May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance!

⁴ John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the sevenfold Spirit before His throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

¹ To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

⁸ And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These are the words of him who is the first and the last, who was dead, and came to life;

¹² To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.

²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

⁷ To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens, no one will shut; and what He shuts, no one will open.

¹⁴ To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.

²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

¹ Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

²⁸ One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the entire Roman world. (This happened under Claudius.)

¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

¹⁹ Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.

⁴ I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever: Amen.

²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

³ I thank my God every time I remember you;

¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

⁸ For the Lord’s message sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith toward God [also] spread everywhere [else], so that we do not have to say anything [about you]. ⁹ For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

²³ Now as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I'll also instruct you in the way that is good and right.

¹⁹ "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.

¹ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

¹ Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never despair.

²³ But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

²⁶ When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

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

²¹ After these things had happened, Paul purposed in spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”

¹⁴ I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

¹ I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience testifies for me in the Holy Spirit

¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What then shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

²³ I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, no man in the regions of Achaia shall stop me from this boasting. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who should be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.

²⁰ I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie.

¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers ¹⁷ and asking 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. ¹⁸ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and the unlimited greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength,

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶ I pray that out of the riches of His glory, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ May have strength to see with all the saints how wide and long and high and deep it is, ¹⁹ and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever: Amen.

¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

⁴ in all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy,

⁸ God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and profound insight, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ; ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

²² But you know that he has proved his worth, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

²⁸ We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I labor, striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.

² We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers,

⁵ For, as you know, we never used flattery nor a pretext for greed God is witness ⁶ or to seek glory from men (whether from you or from others) —as apostles of Christ we could have been ‘heavy’, ⁷ But we were gentle among you, like a mother nursing her little children. ⁸ We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us. ⁹ Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and exertion, because working night and day, so as not to burden any of you, we proclaimed the Gospel of God to you. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed.

¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking from your faith.

¹⁷ Pray continually!

³ I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience, as without ceasing I remember you night and day in my prayers. ⁴ I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers;

⁹ If we accept human testimony, God's testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God and because he has testified about his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son. ¹¹ And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

²¹ But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you again if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

¹⁴ When he would not be dissuaded, we fell silent and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹ When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Augustan Regiment. ² We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. ³ The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends and be cared for. ⁴ And from there we put out to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. ⁷ We sailed slowly for many days and had problems arriving off Cnidus. The wind did not allow us to hold our course. So we sailed to the downwind part of Crete near Salmone. ⁸ After we had moved along the coast with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea. ⁹ By now much time had passed, and the voyage had already become dangerous because it was after the Fast. So Paul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage will be filled with disaster and great loss, not only to ship and cargo, but to our own lives as well.” ¹¹ But contrary to Paul’s advice, the centurion was persuaded by the pilot and the owner of the ship. ¹² Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, if somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest. ¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete. ¹⁴ But it was not long before a violent wind (called a northeaster) swept down from the island. ¹⁵ Well the ship was caught and could not head into the wind, so we gave up and were driven along. ¹⁶ Passing to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to secure the lifeboat. ¹⁷ After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along. ¹⁸ So violently were we tossed about by the storm, that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard, ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved. ²¹ After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have averted this disaster and loss. ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because you will not experience any loss of life, but only of the ship. ²³ This night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on some island.” ²⁷ On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea. About midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. ²⁸ After taking soundings, they found the depth to be twenty fathoms. A little later they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms.

²² That is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. ²³ But now that there are no further opportunities for me in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to visit you, ²⁴ I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through, and to be helped by you on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

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. ³¹ Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, ³² so that by God's will I may come to you with joy, and together with you be refreshed.

¹⁹ But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only what these arrogant people are saying, but what power they have.

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

¹⁸ For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us.

¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking from your faith. ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus make a way for us to come to you;

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

¹⁹ I strongly urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you sooner.

¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

³⁰ And now you have gone because you longed after your father's house. Why have you stolen my gods?

³⁹ And the spirit of the king longed to go forth to Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, since he was dead.

¹⁵ David grew homesick. He said: "I wish someone would bring me a drink of water from the well by the gate at Bethlehem!"

²⁰ They rose early in the morning, and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, so you will be established! Believe his prophets, so you will prosper.”

¹⁵ They on arrival prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, "Give me also this power, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

⁵ So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶ And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

²³ But now that there are no further opportunities for me in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to visit you,

³² so that by God's will I may come to you with joy, and together with you be refreshed.

¹ Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴ There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all men. ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.

²¹ Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us,

¹⁴ And in their prayers, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.

⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now trying to be made complete by the flesh? ⁴ Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? ⁵ Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actions of the law or because you believe what you heard?

⁸ This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.” ⁹ What does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 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, ¹² in order to fit his people for the work of service, for building the body of Christ,

⁸ God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

²⁶ For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.

¹ Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

² We sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

¹³ so as to strengthen your hearts and make them blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. [Amen.]

¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and work.

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

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those devoted to them.

¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

¹² Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.

¹² Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

¹⁷ Therefore, beloved, since you already know these things, be on your guard not to be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure standing. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts;

²⁴ I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through, and to be helped by you on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.

¹ 1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. ² For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved? ³ I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be saddened by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would share my joy.

⁴ Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride in you; I am filled with encouragement; in all our troubles my joy overflows. ⁵ For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turnconflicts on the outside and fears within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced all the more.

¹³ On account of this, we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were even more delighted by the joy of Titus. For his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

¹⁷ Brothers, although we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in heart), our desire to see you face to face was even more intense. ¹⁸ For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us. ¹⁹ For what is our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Is it not even you? ²⁰ Indeed, you are our glory and our joy.

⁷ So, brothers, through all of our distress and persecution, we were encouraged over you because of your faith, ⁸ for now I can really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹ How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we have in God's presence because of you? ¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking from your faith.

⁴ Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.

⁴ I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.

³ Because it gave me great joy when some brothers came and testified to the truth about you, how you are walking in Truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

³ Beloved, although I made every effort to write you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

⁶ In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the entire world with fruit.

³⁶ Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.

²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

¹⁶ It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my Name.

²⁷ When they arrived, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

¹² The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

⁶ Then Paul and his companions passed through Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Message in the province of Asia. ⁷ And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.

¹⁹ After Paul greeted them he reported in detail what God had done among the nations through his ministry.

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

¹⁸ I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ In this way, I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

²² That is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. ²³ But now that there are no further opportunities for me in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to visit you, ²⁴ I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through, and to be helped by you on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. ²⁵ Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints there. ²⁶ For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings. ²⁸ Therefore, when I have completed this, and have made certain they have received this fruit, I will come visit you on my way to Spain.

¹ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.

¹ Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

⁸ We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

¹⁵ And in this confidence I intended to come to you first, that you might benefit twice; ¹⁶ I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

¹³ But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has apportioned to us, a field that reaches even to you. ¹⁴ For we do not stretch ourselves out too far, as if we had not come to you, for we came even to you with the gospel of Christ; ¹⁵ So, we will not go beyond our proper limits by boasting of work [already] done by others, but we hope that, as your faith increases, our field of service among you will [also] greatly expand. ¹⁶ so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast of work already done in another man's territory.

¹⁷ Not that I am seeking a gift, but I am looking for the fruit that may be credited to your account.

⁸ For the Lord’s message sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith toward God [also] spread everywhere [else], so that we do not have to say anything [about you]. ⁹ For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God ¹⁰ and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

¹³ And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴ For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the very things they suffered from the Jews,

¹³ Now then, brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who have ‘fallen asleep’, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way.

¹⁷ But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

²² "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?

⁵ You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart!

⁸ And a highway will be there, and it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.

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.

²¹ At that time, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and 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. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

² The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.

⁴ When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

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

¹² Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

⁸ Be in debt to no man — apart from the debt of love one to another. He who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled 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 the 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. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

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.

¹⁶ Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I transact this voluntarily, I have a reward: but if involuntarily, an administration is entrusted to me. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it. 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 (though I myself am not 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 weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means I might save some of them. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

¹¹ If, then, I do not know the meaning of someone’s language, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.

¹⁶ If you thank God with the spirit, how shall he who fills the place of the ordinary man say Amen to your thanksgiving? For he does not know what you are saying.

²³ So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴ But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all,

¹² We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.

¹⁹ For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise.

¹⁵ Be strictly careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise. ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because these days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

¹⁰ Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

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

¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

¹⁸ And the LORD said to my father David, Because it was in your heart to build a house to My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I: send me.

³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”

⁸ She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial.

³⁴ "My food," replied Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me, and to complete his work.

¹³ Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with everybody.

²⁰ In this way, I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

¹⁷ For if I transact this voluntarily, I have a reward: but if involuntarily, an administration is entrusted to me.

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

⁹ I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Look, I will not seal my lips, LORD, you know. ¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart. I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation. I have not concealed Your grace and Your truth from the great assembly.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure. ¹⁶ I will come in to tell the mighty deeds of Sovereign LORD. I will make known your righteousness, yours only.

² the LORD will send out your mighty scepter from Zion; rule in the midst of your enemies.

⁴⁶ I also will speak of your testimonies before kings and will not be put to shame.

¹ Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

²⁹ Is not my word like fire? says the LORD and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

³⁸ For whoever 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.”

²⁶ If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, "Where is this man going that we shall not find him? Will he go to the Jews who are scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;

¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes of hearing; and hearing, through the word of Christ.

¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 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 the 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. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

² For I decided to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

⁴ My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

¹² If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.

²⁴ But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all, ²⁵ and the secrets of his heart will be revealed. So he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is truly among you!”

² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

¹² Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord,

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. ¹⁵ For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are the aroma of death to death; and to the other the aroma of life to life. And who is equal to such a calling?

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.

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

⁴ The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,

⁷ which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ.

⁵ springing from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of God.

⁵ because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction—just as you know we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord. In spite of a great deal of suffering, you welcomed the word with the joy that the Holy Spirit produces.

¹³ And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

¹¹ that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

⁸ So do not be ashamed to testify of our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

¹² This is why I am suffering as I am, but I am not ashamed of it, for I know whom I have trusted and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have intrusted to him for that Day.

¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorous, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain;

¹² For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹⁶ But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear this name.

⁴ Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

³ What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

³⁰ What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

¹¹ And it is clear that no one is justified before God by the Law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christthe righteousness that comes from God and is by faith,

³⁸ But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul is not well pleased with him."

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek 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.

⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he is not aware of, and he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.

¹⁹ And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”

²⁴ Some days later, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him talk about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ And as he reasoned about righteousness, self control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid, and answered: Go away for now. When I have a convenient time I will call for you.

¹⁹ For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a base mind, to do what ought not to be done.

³² Though they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

³ So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them ¹⁶ This will come to pass on that day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel. ¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God ¹⁸ if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the Law; 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 say that one should not commit 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?

¹⁵ because the Law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

⁶ For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

¹³ Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

¹⁰ and with all the deception of wickedness for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

¹ Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, ² through the pretensions of liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron,

¹ For the conclusion. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaimeth the work of his hands. ² Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they display knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵ which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course. ⁶ It rises from one end of the heavens. It circles around to the other. Nothing is hidden from its heat.

²⁶ "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? The being that brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name created all these! Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger. ¹¹ Tell this to them: "The gods who didn't make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens." ¹² He who made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom; also stretched out the heavens by his understanding. ¹³ He speaks, and the water in the sky produces a storm. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash with the rain. He brings wind out of his storehouses.

⁹ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

¹⁶ "In the past he let all nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

²³ For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. ²⁵ Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ ²⁹ "Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill. ³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

²⁰ For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So they are without excuse.

³³ And he planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD the everlasting God.

¹⁹ and lest having looked up to the sky, and having seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, you should go astray and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has distributed to all the nations under heaven.

²⁷ The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say, Destroy them.

²⁶ if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and I was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity for the judges; for I would have denied the God above.

³ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

⁶ By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. ⁷ He gathered the waters of the ocean into a heap; he put the deeps into storehouses. ⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world stand in awe of Him. ⁹ For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.

² Before the mountains were born and you brought forth the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

⁵ He laid the earth on its foundations; it shall not be shaken forever.

³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; let the LORD rejoice in His works!

⁹⁰ Your faithfulness is throughout all generations. You established the earth, and it stands.

¹³ For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.

⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word; ⁹ Ye mountains, and all hills, fruit trees, and all cedars; ¹⁰ wild animals and all livestock; small creatures and flying birds; ¹¹ Ye kings of the earth, and all nations; ye princes, and all judges of the earth; ¹² young men and maidens, old men and children,

⁶ For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁴ "Trust in the LORD forever, for Jah, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

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

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.

¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

²⁹ "Being then the offspring of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, a device made by man's design or skill.

¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”

¹ You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁶ who alone has immortality, residing in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see; to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

²⁷ By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

⁵ the LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

²¹ the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.

²⁹ and you will grope at noonday, as the blind man gropes in darkness. And you will not prosper in your ways. And you will only be oppressed and robbed always and there will be none to save you.

¹⁵ They rejected the LORD's statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness {— } and became meaningless themselves {— } as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do.

²³ He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me, and he who orders his way; I will show him the salvation of God."

¹² "Therefore I gave them over to their stubborn hearts. They walked in their own counsel.

⁹ All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

²⁹ Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes."

⁹ All who make idols are nothing. The things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They are shamefully ignorant. ¹⁰ Who shapes a god and casts a useless and good for nothing idol. ¹¹ He and his kind will be put to shame. Craftsmen are merely men. Let them all come together and take their stand for they will be brought down to terror and infamy. ¹² The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals. He shapes an idol with hammers; he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength. He drinks no water and grows faint. ¹³ The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a red chalk marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with a compass. He shapes it in the form of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cut down cedars, or cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. ¹⁵ It is man's fuel for burning so he takes some to warm himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it. Yes he makes an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire. ¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image; he falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me! for you are my god. ¹⁸ They know not, they understand not; for their eyes are daubed over, that they cannot see; their hearts, that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one stops to think. No one has enough knowledge or understanding to say: "I burned half of the wood in the fire. I also baked bread over its coals. I roasted meat and ate it. Now I am making the rest of the wood into a disgusting thing and bowing to a block of wood." ²⁰ He feeds on ashes; a deceived mind misleads him. And he cannot save himself, and he cannot say, "Is this not an illusion in my right hand?"

² For look! darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the LORD will rise on you, and his glory will appear over you.

⁵ the LORD says: "What bad thing (injustice) did your fathers find in me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless (lead astray) themselves.

³ For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. ⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move. ⁵ "They are like scarecrows in cucumber fields. They cannot speak. They must be carried, for they cannot walk! Do not fear them! For they can do no harm and they can do no good." ⁶ There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. ⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. ⁸ But they are one and all senseless and foolish; the teaching of vanities is a stock.

¹⁴ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false. There is no life in them. ¹⁵ They're worthless, a work of mockery, and when the time of punishment comes, they'll perish.

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and will say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, even vanity and things in which there is no profit.

⁸ "She did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

¹⁵ He takes up all of them with the hook; he catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.

¹⁵ But one of them, when he saw that he was cured, came back, praising God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ He fell on his face at Jesus feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Jesus said, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"

¹⁹ And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.

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 a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

⁹ so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and testify to it in the Lord: You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

⁷ He said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters."

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.”

¹⁴ As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.

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

¹⁰ For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.'

⁸ How can you say, "We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?" But, look, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. ⁹ The wise men will be put to shame. They'll be dismayed and taken captive. Look, they have rejected the word of the LORD! So what kind of wisdom do they have?

¹⁴ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false. There is no life in them.

²³ But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

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 the 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.”

¹⁵ Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the middle of the fire, ¹⁶ that you not deal corruptly, and make for yourselves a graven image, a likeness of any figure, the form of a male or female, ¹⁷ any animal on earth, any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ any creeping thing on the ground, or any fish in the sea.

⁸ "'Do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

²⁰ Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.

⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see. ⁶ they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; ⁷ They have hands but they cannot feel: They have feet, but they cannot walk: nor can they utter a sound with their throat. ⁸ Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, Work of the hands of man. ¹⁶ They have a mouth, but cannot speak: eyes they have, but they cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but they do not hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁸ To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?

¹³ The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a red chalk marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with a compass. He shapes it in the form of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

¹¹ Has a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit.

¹⁰ So I went in and looked, and saw every form of creeping things, abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall.

²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.

² You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

³ For you have spent enough time in the past doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

²⁰ The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

²² You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable.

¹¹ But my people would not listen to my voice; and Israel would none of me. ¹² "Therefore I gave them over to their stubborn hearts. They walked in their own counsel.

¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone! ¹⁸ Their drink is sour; they are continually fornicating; her rulers dearly love shame.

¹⁴ Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

⁴² But God turned, and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

¹⁶ "In the past he let all nations to walk in their own ways.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. ²⁸ And since they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a base mind, to do what ought not to be done.

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires, ¹³ “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,

¹⁰ and with all the deception of wickedness for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason, God will send them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie, ¹² and so that all may be condemned who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in wickedness.

²⁰ In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay; some for noble purposes, and some for ignoble. ²¹ If anyone cleanses himself from what is ignoble, he will be a vessel for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. ²² Flee the lusts of youth; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

¹⁹ Blessed be to his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

¹ A praise psalm by David. I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. ² Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.

²⁰ He feeds on ashes; a deceived mind misleads him. And he cannot save himself, and he cannot say, "Is this not an illusion in my right hand?"

²⁵ "This is your fate, the portion I've measured out for you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

⁴ Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, after which their ancestors walked!

¹⁸ What does an image profit, for its maker has carved it; a molten image, and a teacher of lies? For does the maker trust in his work on it, to make dumb idols?

²⁴ No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

³⁷ Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;

⁸ Then he said, "Now draw some out, and take it to the manager of the feast." They did so;

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

⁹ For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God

⁴ Treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God;

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world.

⁵ They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."

²² You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable. ²³ “‘You shall not lie with any animal to defile yourself with it. No woman may give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion. ²⁴ "'Do not defile yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. ²⁵ The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants. ²⁶ "'Live by my standards, and obey my rules. Neither you nor any foreigner should ever do any of these disgusting things. ²⁷ (for all these abominations have the men of the land done, that were before you, and the land became defiled); ²⁸ »‘If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out as it has vomited out the people who were there before you.

¹⁷ "None of the daughters of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute. ¹⁸ You must not bring the hire of a prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.

²² As they were enjoying themselves the wicked men of the city surrounded the house, beating on the door; they said to the owner of the house, the old man, Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have sex with him!

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁹ Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.

¹² For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

⁵ not in the passion of lust like the heathen, who do not know God;

¹⁰ for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

⁷ So also, in a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah, and their surrounding towns, which had abandoned themselves to sexual immorality and [sexually] perverted behavior, serve as an example [of people] who [will] suffer the punishment of never ending fire.

¹⁰ But these speak abusively against whatever they do not understand, while whatever they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals—by these things they are ruined.

¹³ And a man who lies with a male as one lies with a woman, both of them have done a detestable thing; they shall certainly be put to death; their blood shall be on them.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.

¹⁴ "They say to God: 'Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.' ¹⁵ "Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what do we gain if we pray to him?

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

²⁹ Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

¹² And you say, How I have hated discipline, And my heart has spurned correction!" ¹³ I did not obey my teachers and did not listen to my instructors.

¹⁶ Is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom? He has no sense!

²² “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

³⁰ They're called reject silver, because the LORD has rejected them.

⁶ "You live in the middle of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to know me," says the LORD.

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to Me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

²³ For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

³² Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."

²¹ Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but their thinking became nonsense, and their foolish heart was darkened.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

⁷ because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

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. ⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 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.

⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,

⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in youunless, indeed, you fail the test? ⁶ I trust that you will realize that we have not failed the test. ⁷ Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed.

⁴ Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.

⁸ Taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth—men of depraved mind, disqualified as regards the faith—

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their actions they disown Him; they are detestable, disobedient, and useless for anything good.

⁸ Hence, although in Christ I would feel quite free to order you to do your duty,

⁵ But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,

⁷ All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.

²⁸ A perverse man stirs up strife, and a gossip separates close friends.

²⁰ For lack of wood a fire goes out; without gossip, a quarrel dies down.

¹⁰ As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

²⁰ For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you what I wish you to be, and you may not find me what you wish me to be; I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

³⁵ When the ark went forward, Moses said, “Rise up, the LORD, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!”

¹⁰ But for the one who hates him, he will repay him by destroying him. He will not delay dealing with someone who hates him.

¹⁸ "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen or obey his father or his mother when they chastise him, ¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. ²⁰ "They shall say to the elders of his city: This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious! He will not obey us! He is a glutton and a drunkard. ²¹ All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.

¹⁶ Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother! And all the people shall say, Amen!

¹¹ The king of Israel answered, Tell him, 'Don't let him who puts on his armour brag like he who takes it off'.

² Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath is on you from before the LORD.

¹⁹ You say to yourself that you have struck Edom; and your heart lifts you up to boast. Now stay at home. Why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?'"

³ For the wicked one boasts about his own desire; he blesses the greedy and despises the LORD.

⁶ those who put confidence in their wealth and boast about their great riches?

¹ For the music director. A maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul. And he said to him, "David has come to the house of Ahimelech." Why do you boast about evil, O mighty man? The loyal love of God endures ⌊continually⌋.

¹⁵ The haters of the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.

⁴ They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.

⁷ Let all who serve an image be ashamed, those who boast about idols. Worship him, all you gods.

⁸ O LORD our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, and an avenger of their evil deeds.

³⁹ Thus they defiled themselves by their deeds, And they prostituted themselves by their actions."

³⁶ "But he who sins against me wrongs himself. All who hate me love death."

²³ The north wind brings rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry look.

¹⁷ The eye that mocks his father, and rejects obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley pick it out, and the young eagles eat it.

⁷ In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.

⁴ For God said: ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

¹⁶ "You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

⁷ the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its deeds are evil.

²³ He who hates me, hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

³⁶ Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God

²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

¹⁵ So, we will not go beyond our proper limits by boasting of work [already] done by others, but we hope that, as your faith increases, our field of service among you will [also] greatly expand.

⁴ Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁵ So also the tongue is a small member and makes great boasts. Behold, how great a forest is set on fire by a little spark!

¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

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

¹⁶ These men are grumblers and complainers, living according to their own evil desires; they talk big, flattering people to gain advantage.

¹⁴ So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. What you impose on me I will bear." So the king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house. ¹⁶ And at that time Hezekiah had the gold from the doors of the Lord's house, and from the door-pillars plated by him, cut off and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷ The king of Assyria sent his commander-in-chief (Tartan), his quartermaster, and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman's Field. ¹⁸ And they called to the king, and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder went out to them. ¹⁹ Rabshakeh told them, "Tell Hezekiah right now, 'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: "Why are you so confident? ²⁰ "You say you have counsel and [military] strength for war. These are only words. To whom are you looking for support that you rebel against me? ²¹ Now, behold, you trust on the staff of this bruised reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. ²² And if ye say to me, We rely upon the LORD our God: is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? ²³ And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them. ²⁴ How can you refuse even one official from the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ²⁵ Furthermore, Have I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. ²⁶ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said to the chief commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we are understanding, but you must not speak Judean with us in the ears of the people who are on the wall." ²⁷ And Rab-shakeh said to them, Is it to thy master and to thee that my master sent me to speak these words? Is it not to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? ²⁸ Then Rabshakeh stood up and cried out loud, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria has to say. ²⁹ Thus saith the king, Let not Ezekias deceive you; for he cannot deliver you out of his hand. ³⁰ Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, the LORD will surely deliver us and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ³¹ Don't listen to Hezekiah.' For the king of Assyria says, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern; ³² Until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees, olive oil, and honey, that you may live and not die! You must not listen to Hezekiah, for he has misled you by saying, "the LORD will deliver us!" ³³ Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? For did they rescue Samaria from my hand? ³⁵ Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my control, so that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from me?"'" ³⁶ But the people remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, saying, Do not answer him. ³⁷ Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

² A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For they have no understanding (discernment). Their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

⁸ The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken and its witnesses are despised. No one is respected.

¹⁶ “Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.

²⁰ For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but their thinking became nonsense, and their foolish heart was darkened.

¹¹ there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

¹⁸ If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and have cast in your lot with adulterers.

³ They gladdened kings with their wickedness, and princes with their lies.

¹⁰ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹ They were delighted to hear this, and they promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to hand Him over.

⁴⁸ So you witness that you approve of the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

¹ And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

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

¹ You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ² And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³ So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴ Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

²¹ What fruit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death.