# verses

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while Paul claimed in his own defense, "Neither against the Jewish Law nor against the Temple courts nor against Caesar, have I committed any wrong."


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Festus, wishing to gain favor with the Jews, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried for this before me?"


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Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's bar, where I ought to be tried. I have not harmed any Jews in anything, as you very well know.


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If I am in the wrong and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not ask not to die. But if there is nothing in the accusations of these men, no one has the power to give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar."


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Then Festus, after talking with his council, answered, "You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go."


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When some days had passed, Agrippa the King and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.


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As they were spending a good many days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the King. "There is a man here," he said, "who was left a prisoner by Felix,


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against whom when I was in Jerusalem the high priests and the elders of the Jews had much to say, asking to have him condemned.


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I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any person for punishment before the accused has his accusers face to face and has opportunity for defense against the charge.


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"So they came along down here and, without making any delay, on the very next day I took my seat on the judge's bench and ordered the man to be brought in.


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but they had some disputes with him about their own religion and concerning a certain Jesus who had died and whom Paul affirmed to be alive.


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Being at a loss about a question of this kind, I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on the charges.


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But when Paul appealed to be kept for the examination of the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar."


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Agrippa said to Festus, "I should like to hear the man myself." "To-morrow," he replied, "you shall hear him."


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So on the next day Agrippa came and Bernice with much display, and they entered the auditorium with the military tribunes and the principal men of the city, and at Festus' command Paul was led in.


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Festus said, "King Agrippa and all present here with us, you see this man against whom all the multitude of the Jews pleaded with me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.


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But I understood that he had done nothing worthy of death, and when he himself had appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.


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Concerning him I have nothing certain to write to my Lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, that after an examination I may have something to write.


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AGRIPPA said to Paul, "You are at liberty to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:


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"In regard to all of the things of which I am accused by Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am to make my defense to-day before you,


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since you are especially expert in all Jewish customs and questions. Therefore I pray you to hear me patiently.


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"My life from boyhood, which was from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, all Jews know.


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They knew me from long ago, if they were willing to testify, and that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.


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to which our twelve tribes devotedly serving God night and day hope to attain. For this hope I am accused by the Jews, O King.


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And I did it in Jerusalem and many holy men I shut up in prison, getting authority from the high priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.


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In all the synagogues and often I punished them and compelled them to say profane words. Being excessively mad against them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.


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about midday, on the road, I saw, O King, a light above the brightness of the sun shining from heaven around me and my companions.


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We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, <i>'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.'</i>


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<i>But rise and stand on your feet: for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you a servant and a witness of the times you have seen me and of the times I shall appear to you.</i>


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<i>to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are made holy by faith in me.'</i>


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but first to the people in Damascus and then to the people of Jerusalem and through all the land of Judaea and to the Gentiles, I proclaimed that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds suitable for a change of heart.


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But obtaining help from God I have continued until this day witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would be,


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that the Christ would suffer and that he first, by rising from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles."


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While Paul was thus defending himself, Festus said loudly, "You are raving, Paul. Much learning is driving you insane."


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The King knows about this, and to him I speak with perfect frankness, for I am persuaded that not one of these things has escaped his attention, for this has not been done in a corner.


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Paul said, "I would to God that whether with little or with much, not only you, but all who hear me this day, would become such as I am \'97 except for these chains."


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and after withdrawing they said to one another, "This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains."


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WHEN it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they committed Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of an imperial battalion.


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Going on board a ship of Adramyttium which was about to sail to the places along the coast of Asia we put to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.


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On the next day we reached Sidon, where Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to see his friends and enjoy their attentions.


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By slow sailing for many days we with difficulty arrived off Cnidus. Then the wind being against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone


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and with difficulty got past it and came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.


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When much time had passed and sailing was now dangerous because it was already after the Fast, Paul addressed them.


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"Men," he said, "I see that the voyage is going to be rough and with much loss not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives."


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and as the harbor was not convenient to winter in, the majority adopted the purpose of sailing away on the chance of being able to reach Phoenix and winter there. Phoenix is a harbor of Crete facing the southwest and the northwest.


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When the south wind blew softly, thinking that they had secured their purpose, they weighed anchor and coasted along Crete.


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When the ship was caught and unable to keep her head to the wind, we gave up and let her drive before it.


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Running under the lee of an island called Cauda, we contrived with difficulty to secure the small boat.


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When we had got it in, we used ropes to undergird the ship. Fearing that we might get stranded on the Syrtis, they lowered the sail and so drifted.


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When for many days neither sun nor stars appeared and no small tempest lay on us, at last all hope of our being saved was being taken away.


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After they had long gone without food, Paul stood up in the midst of them and said, "Men, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed away from Crete and met this rough experience and loss.


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But now I beg you to have courage, for there will be no loss of life of any of you, but only of the ship.


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and said, 'Never fear, Paul! You must stand before Caesar. And now God has granted to you all the men who are sailing with you.'


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When the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven through the Adriatic, about midnight the sailors surmised that land was getting near.


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Sounding they found twenty fathoms, and after a little they sounded again and found fifteen fathoms.


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Then fearing that they might run into rocky places, they cast out four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.


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The sailors were intent on escaping from the ship and lowered the small boat into the sea under the pretense of laying out anchors from the bow,


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but Paul said to the Centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."


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Until day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take food. He said, "To-day is the fourteenth day that you have been on the watch fasting, not taking anything.


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Therefore, I beg you, take some food. For this is for your safety. Not a hair of the head of any one of you is going to perish."


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When day came they did not recognize the land, but they observed a bay with a beach. Into this they planned to run the ship if they could.


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So abandoning the anchors they left them in the sea; at the same time loosening the bands of the steering oars and raising the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.


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But falling into a place where there were cross-currents they ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was breaking up under the violence of the sea.


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The soldiers' advice was to kill the prisoners for fear that some one of them might swim out and escape.


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But the Centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them back from their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to shore,


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and the rest to follow, some on boards and some on things from the ship. And so all got safe to land.


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The foreign people showed us uncommon kindness. For they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because of the rain that was falling and the cold.


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Paul had collected a bundle of sticks and laid it on the fire, when a snake came out of the heat and fastened on his hand.


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When the foreigners saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "Certainly this man is a murderer, whom, although he has escaped the sea, Justice does not permit to live."


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They kept watching to see him swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after watching a long time and seeing nothing amiss happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.


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In the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the Governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He welcomed us and for three days hospitably entertained us.


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It happened that the father of Publius was lying ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him.


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After three months we sailed in a ship that had wintered in the island. She was from Alexandria and her figure-head was the Twin Brothers.


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From there we came around and got to Rhegium. After one day there, a south wind sprang up and we came on the second day to Puteoli.


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From there the brethren, when they got news of us, came to meet us as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns. On seeing them Paul thanked God and took courage.


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After three days he invited the leading men among the Jews, and when they had assembled, he said to them, "Brethren, although I had done nothing against our people or our ancestral customs, I was delivered up as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.


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They, after investigating my case, wished to set me free because I had done nothing deserving of death.


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But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I have any charge to bring against my own nation.


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For this reason I have invited you to see me and talk with me; because it is for the sake of the hope of Israel that I have this chain around me."


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They said to him, "We on our part have received no letters about you from Judaea nor has any one of the brethren come and reported or spoken anything evil of you.


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We think it well to hear from you what your views are; for as to this sect we know that it is everywhere spoken against."


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They appointed a day for him and many came to him at his lodging. He explained to them, testifying to the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from early morning until evening.


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They dispersed, disagreeing with one another, after Paul had said one word, "Well said the Holy Spirit through Isaiah, the prophet, to your fathers,


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'Go to this people and say, You will hear plainly but you will not understand, and you will see plainly but you will not perceive.


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For the heart of this people has grown fat and with their ears they are hard of hearing and their eyes they have shut, so that they may never see with their eyes nor hear with their ears nor understand with their heart and repent, so that I may heal them.'


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Therefore be it known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen."


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proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all freedom of speech, unhindered.


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concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord (who became one of the descendants of David according to the flesh,


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and was with power proved to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead);


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through whom we obtained grace and apostleship to promote obedience of faith for the sake of his name,


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to all who are in Rome, beloved by God, called to be holy: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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First of all I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is spoken of through all the world.


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For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of his Son, is my witness how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers


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For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift of grace in order that you may be strengthened,


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I am not willing that you should be ignorant, brethren, that often I have purposed to come to you <n>though until now I have been hindered</n>, in order that I might have some fruit among you as among the other Gentiles.


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For I am not ashamed of the good news. It is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.


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For a righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, as it is written, "He who is righteous by faith shall live."


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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and wickedness of men who hold the truth but practice unrighteousness.


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For God's invisible qualities \'97 his everlasting power and deity \'97 are, since the creation of the world, clearly seen, being known from what he has made. So they are without any excuse.


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For although they knew God they did not glorify him as God and did not give him thanks, but fell into futile speculations and their stupid hearts were darkened.


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and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into images of mortal man, and of birds and beasts and reptiles.


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Therefore God gave them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to uncleanness, to dishonor their bodies mutually.


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They changed the truth of God into a lie, and reverenced and paid worship to the creature rather than to the Creator \'97 who is blessed forever, Amen!


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Therefore God gave them over to disgraceful passions. For their females changed the natural use for one contrary to nature,


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and their males, leaving the natural use of the female, burned in their lust for one another, males with males practicing indecency and receiving in themselves the deserved penalty of their error.


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And as they did not think fit to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them over to an abandoned mind, to do the things that are shameful,


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filled with all injustice, wickedness, greed, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, fraud, malignant craftiness, whisperers,


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slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,


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They know the just judgment of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, yet they not only do them themselves, but are pleased with those who practice them.


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THEREFORE you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge. For in judging another you condemn yourself. For you, the judge, practice the same things.


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Do you think, O man, you who judge those who practice such things while you do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?


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Or do you despise the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God is calling you to a change of heart?


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Are you with a hard and unrepentant heart treasuring for yourself wrath for the day of wrath and for the revelation of the just judgment of God?


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To those who by constancy in good work seek for glory and honor and immortality he will award life eternal.


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But to those of a partisan spirit who do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and hot anger.


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Distress and crushing calamity will fall upon every human soul that works evil, upon the Jew first and also upon the Greek.


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But glory and honor and peace will come to every one who works good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.


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As many as have sinned without a law will perish without a law, and as many as have sinned under law will be judged by law


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(for it is not the hearers of law who are righteous before God, but the doers of law are pronounced righteous;


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for when Gentiles who have no law do by nature what the Law enjoins, these, although they have no law, are a law to themselves;


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they show the requirements of the Law written in their hearts, since their conscience corroborates it and their thoughts argue in mutual accusation or in self-defense),


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and know his will and are a judge of things that differ, because you have been taught out of the Law


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an instructor of the unwise, a teacher of the simple, because you have the form of knowledge and of truth in the Law \'97


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You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?


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Circumcision has value if you obey the Law. But if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.


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If an uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be credited for circumcision?


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And the natural uncircumcision if it keeps the Law will judge you who with a written code and circumcision are still a law-breaker.


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For it is not he who is one outwardly that is a Jew, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.


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But he who is one secretly is a Jew, and circumcision is of the heart and in the spirit, not in the letter. His praise is not from men, but from God.


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Never. Let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, "That thou mayest be proved right in thy words and triumph when thou art judged."


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But if our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous when he inflicts his wrath? <n>I am speaking humanly.</n>


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But if the truth of God has become more abundant to his glory through my lie, why am I still condemned as a sinner?


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We are not going to say, as some people slanderously affirm that we say, "Let us do evil that good may come," are we? The condemnation of such people is just.


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What then? Have we an advantage? Not at all. We have already brought the charge against both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin,


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All have turned away; together they have become worthless; there is none who does what is useful, not even one.


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Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they deceive; the poison of asps is under their lips.


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We know that all that the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be shut and all the world may come under the condemnation of God.


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Therefore by works of the Law no human being will be pronounced righteous before him. For through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.


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But now, apart from law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, confirmed by the Law and the Prophets \'97


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a righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ for all believers. For there is no difference.


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whom God has set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith, for the manifestation of his righteousness, because of the passing over of previous sins in the forbearance of God \'97


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for a manifestation at the present time of his righteousness, that he may himself be righteous and may accept as righteous him who has faith in Jesus.


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if God is one and will pronounce the circumcision righteous by faith and the uncircumcision righteous through faith.


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For if Abraham was pronounced righteous because of works, he had something to boast of. But he had nothing before God;


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but to him who does not work, but believes in him who calls the unrighteous man righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.


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Just so David speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works,


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Does this blessedness come to the circumcision, or also to the uncircumcision? For we say, "Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness."


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How was it credited, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.


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And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of faith that he had in uncircumcision, so that he should be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, and righteousness should be credited to them;


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and the father of the circumcised, that is, of those who are not only circumcised, but who walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while uncircumcised.


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It was not through the Law that the promise came to Abraham or to his descendants that he should be the heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith.


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Therefore all depends on faith, that it may be of grace, and thus the promise be sure for all his descendants, not only those who are of the Law, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us


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<n>as it is written, "I have made thee a father of many nations"</n>, in the view of the God whom he believed, who makes alive the dead and calls things that are not as if they were.


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Abraham, when hope was past, believed in hope so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said to him, "So shall your descendants be";


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and without being weakened in faith he recognized his own body as dead, when he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb.


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Still he did not hesitate through want of faith in the promise of God, but was strong in faith, thus giving glory to God,


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but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited if we believe in him who raised up from the dead Jesus our Lord,


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who was delivered up on account of our sins and was raised again that we might be accounted righteous.


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SO then, since we have been accounted righteous by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Through him we obtained entrance into this grace in which we stand and exult in hope of the glory of God.


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and hope does not disappoint, for the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit granted to us.


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Much more then, now that we have been pronounced righteous through his blood, shall we be saved from wrath by him.


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For if while enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.


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And not only so, but we exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained the reconciliation.


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Therefore as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death entered, and so death spread to all men, since all sinned \'97


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for down to the time of the Law sin was in the world, and yet sin is not charged where there is no law;


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but death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned like Adam, who is the type of him who was coming.


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But the gracious gift is not like the fall. For if by the fall of the one the many sinned, much more did the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abound to the many.


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And the free gift was not like the sentence that came through one who sinned; for the sentence came from one fall for condemnation, but the free gift was that men should be called righteous in spite of many falls.


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For if by the fall of one man death reigned through that one, much more those who receive the abounding grace and the free gift of righteousness will reign in life through one, that is, through Jesus Christ.


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As then through one fall sentence came upon all men and they were condemned; so through one righteous act the free gift came to all men so that they are pronounced righteous and live.


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For as by the disobedience of the one man the many were set down as sinners, so by the obedience of the one the many will be set down as righteous.


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But law came in alongside that the fall might be greater; but where sin became greater grace became greater still,


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in order that as sin reigned in death grace might reign through righteousness and issue in life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.


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Are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?


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We were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.


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For if we have grown into union with him by the likeness of his death, surely we shall be united with him by the likeness of his resurrection.


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For we know this, that our old-time humanity was crucified with him, in order that the sinful body might be made powerless, that we might no longer be slaves of sin.


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For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.


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and do not yield your members to sin as the instruments of wickedness; but present yourselves to God as men once dead, but now living, and yield your members to God as the instruments of righteousness.


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Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as servants intending obedience, you are the servants of the one you obey, whether of sin, resulting in death, or of obedience, resulting in righteousness?


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Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to the type of teaching in which you were instructed.


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I am speaking humanly on account of the weakness of your human nature. As you did present your members as servants to impurity and to lawlessness to do lawlessness, so now you have presented your members as servants to righteousness for holy living.


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What fruit did you have then? Fruit of which you are now ashamed; for the end of those things is death.


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But now freed from sin and having become servants of God you have your fruit in holy living and its outcome, life eternal.


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For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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ARE you ignorant, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know law, that the Law rules over a person while he is living?


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For a married woman is by law bound to her husband while he is living. But if the husband dies, she is freed from the law of her husband.


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Therefore while her husband is living she is called an adulteress if she becomes another man's. But if her husband dies she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress when she becomes another man's.


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So, my brethren, you were made dead to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might become wedded to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.


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For when we were in the flesh the sinful passions that arise through the Law were active in our members, so that we bore fruit to death.


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But now the Law has been made inoperative on us, since we have died to that by which we were held, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter.


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What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Never. But I should not have come to know sin except through the Law. I should not have known lust if the Law had not said, "Thou shalt not lust."


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Sin, taking occasion through the commandment, worked in me every lust. For apart from the Law sin is dead.


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Did then what is good become death to me? Never. But sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me through the good, in order that it might become beyond measure sinful.


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For what I am doing I do not understand. For not what I choose is what I practice, but what I hate, this I do.


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but I see another law in my members, warring with the law of my mind and leading me captive under the law of sin which is in my members.


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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I myself with my mind serve the Law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin.


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For, what was impossible for the Law, because it was weak through the flesh \'97 God, sending his own Son in the form of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned the sin that is in the flesh,


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so that the righteousness required by the Law might be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.


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For those who are living according to the flesh have their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are living according to the spirit have their minds on the things of the spirit.


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Therefore fleshly mindedness is hostile to God; for it is not subject to the Law of God, nor can it be.


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But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any one has not the Spirit of Christ, that man is not his.


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If Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.


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If the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead gives life even to your mortal bodies, through his indwelling Spirit in you.


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for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.


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For you did not receive a spirit of bondage leading again to fear, but you received a spirit of sonship, in which we cry, Abba, Father.


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And if children, we are also heirs \'97 heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him.


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For I estimate that the sufferings of this present time amount to nothing in comparison with the glory that is to be revealed for us.


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For the creation was made subject to folly not willingly, but for the sake of him who subjected it, in hope,


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because the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of decay into the glorious freedom of the children of God.


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And not the creation alone, but we ourselves also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves in expectation of the sonship, the liberation of our bodies.


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For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope, for what any one sees, why does he hope for?


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Thus also the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes for us with sighs beyond words.


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And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy according to the will of God.


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We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.


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For those whom he foreknew he also predetermined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.


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And those whom he predetermined he also called, and those whom he called he also pronounced righteous, and those whom he pronounced righteous he also glorified.


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He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him graciously give us all things?


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Who is there to condemn? Christ Jesus died, or rather was raised, and he is on the right hand of God interceding for us.


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Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall trial or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?


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<n>As it is written, "For thy sake we are killed all the day. We are counted as sheep for slaughter."</n>


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For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor archangels, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,


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nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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I AM speaking the truth in Christ; I am saying nothing false; my conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit


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For I could wish myself to be accursed and cast away from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,


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who are Israelites, whose is the sonship and the glory and the covenants and the reception of the law and the worship and the promises;


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whose are the fathers and from whom by physical descent the Christ came. God who is over all be blessed through the ages! Amen.


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nor because they are descendants of Abraham are they all children; but "through Isaac shall your descendants be named."


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That is, not the physical descendants are children, but the children of the promise are counted for descendants.


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For the wording of the promise was, "At this time next year I will come and Sarah shall have a son."


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though the same man was father of both children and they were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad, in order that the purpose of God according to his choice might stand, not according to their works, but according to his call,


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For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."


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For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up in order to show my power upon you and to have my name proclaimed in all the earth."


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But who are you, O man, who are answering back to God? Does the thing that is moulded say to the moulder, "Why have you made me so?"


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Has not the potter the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?


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What if God, choosing to exhibit his wrath and to make known what he can do, bore in long patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction,


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and in order to make known the richness of his glory upon the vessels of mercy which he had prepared for glory


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As also he says in Hosea, "Those who are not my people I will call my people, and her who has not been beloved I will call beloved,


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and in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God."


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Isaiah cried aloud regarding Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel is as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved.


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Even as Isaiah predicted, "Unless the Lord of armies had left us some descendants, we should have become like Sodom and should have been made to resemble Gomorrah."


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What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained righteousness, the righteousness of faith,


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Why? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled over that stumbling stone,


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as it is written, "See, I am laying in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock to trip over, but he who has faith in him will never be put to shame."


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For, ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God's righteousness.


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But the righteousness of faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who shall ascend into heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down \'97 "


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But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" \'97 that is, the word of faith which we are proclaiming,


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that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.


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For with the heart a man believes and becomes righteous, and with the mouth he confesses and attains salvation.


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For there is no difference between Jew and Greek. For there is the same Lord of all, rich toward all who call upon him.


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How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without some one to proclaim him?


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How shall they proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"


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But I say, it cannot be true that they have not heard, can it? On the contrary, "Their sound has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world."


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I say, it cannot be that Israel did not know, can it? First Moses says, "I will excite you to jealousy by what is not a nation and by a foolish nation I will provoke you to anger."


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And Isaiah makes bold to say, "I was found by those who were not seeking me: I became manifest to those who were not inquiring for me."


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But to Israel he says, "All day long I stretched forth my hands to a people who disobey and answer back."


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I SAY then, can it be that God has repudiated his people? Never. For I am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.


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God has not repudiated his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story of Elijah, how he prays to God against Israel?


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"Lord, they have killed thy prophets: they have demolished thy altars, and I only am left and they are seeking my life."


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But what was the divine response? "I have left to myself seven thousand men who have not knelt to Baal."


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What then? Israel has not found what it is seeking, but the chosen have found it. And the rest have been made dull,


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as it is written, "God gave them a stupid spirit, eyes not for seeing and ears not for hearing until this day."


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I say, then, have they stumbled just in order that they may fall? Never. But by their fall salvation comes to the Gentiles so as to arouse the emulation of the Jews.


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If their fall is the riches of the world and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration be!


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if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their welcome back be but life from the dead?


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If the first fruit was holy, so will the mass be; and if the root was holy, so will be the branches.


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If some of the branches were broken off and you, who are a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a sharer in the root and rich sap of the olive,


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do not exult over the branches. Even though you exult, it is not you who are supporting the root, but the root is supporting you.


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Certainly, for lack of faith they were broken off, and you are standing by faith. Do not be proud, but be afraid.


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See the kindness and the rigor of God, toward those who fell rigor, but toward you God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness, else you too will be cut off.


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For God is able to graft them back. For if you were cut from your natural stock, a wild olive tree, and were grafted, contrary to nature, into a good olive tree, how much more will the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree!


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I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, that you may not be self-conceited, because stupidity in a measure has come upon Israel until the full number of Gentiles comes in,


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and thus all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "From Zion will come the deliverer. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.


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According to the good news they are enemies for your sake, but according to the promise they are beloved for their fathers' sake.


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O the depth of the wealth both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, how untraceable his ways!


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I BEG you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, pleasing to God \'97 your rational worship.


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Do not follow the fashions of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds so as to recognize what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.


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Through the grace given to me I say to every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought, but to think so as to become wise, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.


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Having gifts differing according to the grace given to us, if it is prophecy, let us use it according to the proportion of our faith;


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Let the exhorter use his gift in exhorting. Let him who gives do it in simplicity. Let him who manages do it earnestly. Let him who helps the needy do it cheerfully.


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Be in harmony with one another. Do not be thinking of high things, but be content with humble things. Do not become conceited.


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Do not revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord."


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But, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."


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LET every person be obedient to the superior authorities. For there is no authority except from God and the actual authorities have been appointed by God.


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So he who resists the authority opposes the arrangement of God. Those who resist will bring on themselves condemnation.


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For rulers are not a terror to good deeds, but to bad. Do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from it.


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For he is a servant of God to promote your good. But if you are doing evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword to no purpose. For he is God's servant to inflict his wrath on him who practices evil.


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Pay to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.


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For the commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not commit murder," "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not covet," and any other that there may be, are summed up in this: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."


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Live thus because you know this crisis, for it is already time for you to awake from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we became believers.


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The night is far spent, the day draws near. Let us put away the deeds of darkness, let us put on the weapons of light.


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Let us live becomingly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in sensuality and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy.


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The man who eats is not to despise the one who does not eat, and he who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats. For God has accepted him.


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Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and stand he will, for God is able to make him stand.


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One man esteems one day above another, another man esteems every day. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.


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He who regards the day regards it to the Lord and he who eats eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat abstains for the Lord and gives thanks to God.


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If we live we live for the Lord and if we die we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord's.


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For to this end Christ died and lived again, in order that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.


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But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you treat your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.


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For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend to me and every tongue shall confess to God."


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Therefore let us no longer judge one another, but let us rather decide not to put a stumbling block in a brother's way, or anything to trip him up.


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I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is defiling in itself. But to one who thinks anything to be defiling it is defiling.


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If because of your food your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking in love. Do not with your food destroy him for whom Christ died.


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For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.


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Do not for the sake of food break down the work of God. All things are pure, but anything is evil to the man who eats it with a feeling of doing wrong.


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The faith that you have, have to yourself before God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself for what he allows himself.


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He who has doubts and still eats stands condemned, because he is not acting from faith. But whatever does not spring from faith is sin.


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For Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, "The reproaches of those who were reproaching thee fell on me."


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All that was written of old was written for our instruction, in order that by patience and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope.


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May the God of patience and encouragement grant to you to have harmony with one another, in the manner of Christ Jesus,


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For I say that Christ became a servant of circumcision for the sake of God's truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the fathers


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and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, "For this will I confess thee among the Gentiles and sing to thy name."


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And again Isaiah says, "There will be a root of Jesse, and one who rises to rule Gentiles: in him Gentiles will hope."


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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit!


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I am persuaded, my brethren \'97 yes, I myself \'97 regarding you, that you are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to instruct one another.


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But I have written rather boldly to you, partly to remind you, because of the grace given to me from God,


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that I may be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, in priestly service of the good news of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.


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For I will not venture to speak except of what Christ has done through me to promote obedience of Gentiles, by word and deed,


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through the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ,


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being ambitious to tell the good news where Christ has not been named, so that I might not build on any other man's foundation,


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but as it is written, "They who have had no message of him shall see and they who have not heard shall understand."


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But now having no more territory in these regions and having for many years had a strong desire to come to you


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while making a journey to Spain, I hope to see you as I pass through and to be furthered on my journey by you, after first partially satisfying my desire of being with you.


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For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the holy in Jerusalem.


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They have been pleased to do this and indeed they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared their things of the spirit, they owe them sacred service in things of the body.


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So after completing this and sealing to them this fruit, I shall come away and pass by you to Spain.


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I beg you, brethren, for the sake of our Lord Jesus and the love of the Spirit to join me in wrestling in prayer to God on my behalf,


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that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judaea and that my service in Jerusalem may be pleasing to the holy,


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that you may receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the holy, and help her in any matter in which she may need you. For she has been a provider for many, myself included.


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who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not I alone give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.


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Give my greetings also to the church in their house. Give my greetings to Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first-fruit of Asia for Christ.


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Give my greetings to Andronicus and Junias, men of my race and my companions in prison, who are eminent among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.


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Give my greetings to Apelles, that tested man in Christ. Give my greetings to the household of Aristobulus.


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Give my greetings to Herodion, who is of my race. Give my greetings to those of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.


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Give my greetings to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, those workers in the Lord. Give my greetings to Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.


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Give my greetings to Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the holy with them.


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Give my greetings to one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send their greetings to you.


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I beg you, brethren, to keep your eye on those who are making divisions and occasions for sin contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and to shun them.


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For such persons are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own stomachs, and by their smooth and pleasing talk they mislead the hearts of the innocent.


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For your obedience has come to the knowledge of all men. Therefore I rejoice over you, but I wish you to be wise regarding what is good, and simple in regard to what is evil.


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Timothy, my fellow worker, sends his greeting, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, who are of my race.


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Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, sends his greetings. Erastus the city treasurer sends his greetings, and so does Quartus the brother.


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To him who is able to make you strong according to the good news which I bear, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, and according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret through ages,


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but now made manifest through the prophetic Scriptures by the command of the eternal God, to promote obedience to the faith made known to all the Gentiles \'97


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to the Church of God in Corinth, made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:


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God is faithful, and it is by him that you have been called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.


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I beg you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, all to say the same thing and not to have divisions among you, but to be united in the same mind and in the same opinion.


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For it has been told me regarding you, brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.


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I mean that each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," "I belong to Apollos," "I belong to Cephas," or, "I belong to Christ."


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For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the good news \'97 not in wisdom of words, that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of meaning.


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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.


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For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I will bring to nought the prudence of the prudent."


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Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?


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For when in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased to save through the foolishness of our proclamation those who believe.


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


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Consider your own call, brethren, that not many wise, humanly speaking, not many powerful, not many high-born have been called.


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But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong,


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and God has chosen the low-born things and the things of no account, the things that are not, to defeat the things that are,


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By God's act you are in Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God and righteousness and holiness and deliverance,


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AND I in coming to you, brethren, did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.


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and my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but with spiritual and powerful proof,


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We do speak wisdom among the mature, but a wisdom not of this world nor of the defeated rulers of this world.


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But we speak a wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the world began for our glory.


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None of the rulers of this world knew it, for if they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.


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But as it is written, "What eye has not seen and what ear has not heard and what has not entered human mind, God has prepared for those who love him."


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To us God has revealed this by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.


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For who of men knows what pertains to a man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Just so no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.


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But we did not receive the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we know the gracious gifts of God.


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And these we speak of, not in words taught by man's wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual things in spiritual words.


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But the animal man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually understood.


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I fed you with milk, not solid food. For you were not able to take it. Nor are you yet able, for you are still fleshly.


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What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you were led to faith, as the Lord granted to each of us.


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According to the grace of God granted to me, as a wise master-builder I have laid a foundation and another is building on it. But let each be careful how he builds on it.


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every one's work will become manifest. For the day will show it, because it will be revealed in fire and the fire will test each one's work, of what quality it is.


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If any one's work burns up he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but as through fire.


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If any one mars the temple of God, God will mar him, for the temple of God is holy, and you are the temple.


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Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you thinks himself wise in this world, let him become a fool in order to become wise.


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For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness,"


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Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come \'97 all are yours


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But it is of very slight importance to me to be judged by you or any human court. I do not even pass judgment on myself.


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For I am not conscious of any wrong, but I am not proved by that to be faultless. The Lord is my judge.


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So do not judge anything before the time, before the Lord comes. He will throw light on the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the purposes of hearts. Then each one will have his praise from God.


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All this, brethren, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your sake, that you may learn the maxim, "Nothing beyond what is written," and may not be puffed up in partisanship for one against the other.


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For who gives you superiority? What have you that you did not receive? Why are you boasting as if you had not received it?


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You are already fully satisfied. You have already become rich. You have become kings without us. Would that you had become kings so that we might be kings with you!


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For it seems to me that God has set us apostles out last of all as men doomed to death, that we may be a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.


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We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you have glory, but we are despised.


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when slandered we entreat. We have come to be, as it were, the sweepings of the world, the riffraff of all things up to now.


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For if you have ten thousand teachers in Christ, still you have not many fathers. For I was your father in Christ Jesus through the good news.


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For this very purpose I have sent to you Timothy, who is my loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ \'97 how I teach everywhere in every church.


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But I shall come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will find out, not the talk of these puffed-up ones, but their power.


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IT is generally reported that there is unchastity among you, and such unchastity as is not even among the Gentiles, so that a man has his father's wife!


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And you are puffed up with pride and have not rather grieved and taken steps to expel from among you the doer of this deed!


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For I, absent in body, but present in spirit, have already as if I were present judged the man who has acted thus.


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When you assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit was also present with the power of our Lord Jesus,


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I decided to deliver over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.


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Cleanse out the old yeast that you may be new dough, free from yeast, as indeed you are. For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.


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


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certainly not meaning the unchaste of this world, or the covetous or extortionate or idolaters, since in that case you would have to leave the world.


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But now I write to you not to associate with any one who is called a brother, if he is unchaste or covetous or idolatrous or abusive or drunken or extortionate \'97 not even to eat with such a one.


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DOES any one of you, if he has a grievance against another, dare to bring the case before the unrighteous and not before the holy?


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Do you not know that the holy are going to judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you unfit for the most trivial cases?


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If then you have affairs of this life, do you ask men who in the view of the church count for nothing to sit as judges?


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I say this to your shame. Is it true that there is among you no one wise enough to judge between a man and his brother,


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Now this is an utter failure on your part that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?


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Do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit the kingdom of God? Make no mistake, neither the unchaste, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who practice unnatural vices,


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nor thieves, nor the avaricious, nor drunkards, nor the abusive, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.


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And such some of you were. But you have washed yourselves; but you have been made holy; but you have been pronounced righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.


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All things are lawful for me, but not everything is beneficial. All things are lawful, but I will not be overpowered by anything.


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Food of all kinds is for the stomach and the stomach for foods. But God will end the function of one and the other. The body is not for unchastity, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.


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Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!


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Do you not know that he who unites himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For God says, "The two shall become one flesh."


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Shun unchastity. Every other sin that a man does is apart from the body, but the unchaste sins against his own body.


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Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?


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WITH reference to the matters you wrote of: It is an excellent thing for a man not to touch a woman.


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But because of the prevailing unchastity, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.


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The wife has not power over her own body, but her husband has. In the same way the husband has not power over his own body, but his wife has.


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Do not deprive one another, unless by agreement for a time, that you may have freedom for prayer, and again come together. You must not let Satan tempt you through your lack of self-control.


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I wish that every one were just as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one in one way and one in another.


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To the married I command \'97 yet not I, but the Lord \'97 that the wife is not to leave her husband


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<n>if she leaves him let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband</n> and the husband is not to put away his wife.


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To the rest I say \'97 not the Lord: If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is pleased to live with him, let him not put her away.


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And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he is pleased to live with her, let her not put him away.


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For the unbelieving husband has been made holy by the wife and the unbelieving wife has been made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be impure, but now they are holy.


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But if the unbelieving one actually leaves, let him leave. The brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases; but God has called you to peace.


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For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?


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But, as the Lord has allotted to each, let each go on living as when God called him. So I prescribe in all the churches.


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Was any one already circumcised when called? Let him not efface it. Was any one called when uncircumcised? Let him not become circumcised.


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Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is all.


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Were you called when a slave? Let it not trouble you. On the contrary, even if you can become free, take it in preference.


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For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman. Just so the free man, when called, is the slave of Christ.


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In regard to unmarried women I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who through the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.


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I think then that this is an excellent thing on account of the present distress \'97 that it is an excellent thing for a person to be unmarried.


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Have you been bound to a wife? Seek not release. Have you been freed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.


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But even if you marry, you have not sinned. Even if a maiden marries, she has not sinned. But such will have trouble in the flesh, and I would spare you.


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But this I say, brethren: The time is shortened. For what remains let those who have wives be as if they had none,


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and those who weep as if they wept not, and those who rejoice as if they rejoiced not, and those who buy as if they possessed nothing,


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and those who use the world as if not overusing it. For the present order of this world is passing away.


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I wish you to be free from worry. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord \'97 how be may please the Lord.


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and his interest is divided. So the unmarried woman or the maiden is anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about the things of the world \'97 how she may please her husband.


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This I say for your benefit, not to throw a noose over you, but to promote decorum and constant devotion to the Lord without distraction.


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If any one thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin, if she is ripe for marriage and there is need, let him do what he will. He does not sin. Let them marry.


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He who stands firm in his heart, having no necessity, and has power over his own will and has decided in his heart to keep his virgin, will do well.


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A woman is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband falls asleep, she is free to marry whom she will, though only in the Lord.


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NOW as to things that have been sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.


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Regarding the eating of things that have been sacrificed to idols, then, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.


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still to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things and we for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him.


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But all have not this knowledge. Some, having been accustomed to idols up to the present time, eat the food as a sacrifice to an idol, and their conscience being weak is stained.


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For if any one sees you who have knowledge reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of that weak one be emboldened to eat things that have been sacrificed to idols?


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Therefore if food makes my brother stumble I will not eat meat while the world stands, for fear of making my brother stumble.


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AM I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?


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If to others I am not an apostle, certainly I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.


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Have we not the right to take about with us a sister as wife, as the rest of the apostles do and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?


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Who ever serves as a soldier and supplies his own pay and rations? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Who keeps a flock and does not drink any of the milk of the flock?


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For in the Law of Moses it is written, "You shall not muzzle an ox when he is treading out grain." Is God thinking of the oxen?


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or does he say this wholly for our sakes? For our sakes; for it was written because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of having a share.


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If others share this right over you, do not we still more? But we have not used this right. No, we endure all things in order not to cause any hindrance to the good news of Christ.


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Do you not know that those who do the work of the Temple eat the things that come from the Temple, and those who minister at the altar share with the altar?


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So the Lord has directed that those who proclaim the good news shall have their living from the good news.


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But I have used none of these rights and I am not writing this in order that it may be done in my case. For it would be better for me to die \'97 No one shall make my boast an empty one!


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For although I tell the good news I have nothing to boast of. For a necessity is laid upon me. Alas for me if I do not tell the good news!


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If I do it voluntarily I have a reward, but if reluctantly, I have been charged with a responsibility.


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What then is my reward? That in telling the good news I make the good news free, and do not take full advantage of my rights in the good news.


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I became to the Jews a Jew, to gain the Jews; to those under law as under law, though not myself under law, to gain those who are under law.


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To those without law, I became as without law, though not without the law of God and under the law of Christ, to gain those who are without law.


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To the weak I became weak to gain the weak. To all men I became all things in order by all means to save some.


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Every one who contends in the games practices self-restraint in all things. They do it to win a fading crown, but we for an unfading one.


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On the contrary, I maul and master my body so that I may not, after preaching to others, become myself unable to stand the test.


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I DO not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea


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and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.


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These things happened as warnings for us, that we may not be eager for evil things as they were eager.


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Be not idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance."


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These things happened to those people as warnings and they were written for the instruction of us to whom the closing events of the ages have come.


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No trial has taken you but what belongs to human nature. God is faithful and he will not let you be tried beyond your power, but will make, with the trial, a way of escape so that you can endure it.


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The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a fellowship in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a fellowship in the body of Christ?


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Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat of the sacrifice partakers of the altar?


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But I say that what they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I would not have you become partakers with demons.


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You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.


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All things are lawful, but not all are beneficial. All things are lawful, but not all build up character.


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If any one of the unbelievers invites you and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no questions of conscience.


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But if any one says to you, "This is meat that has been sacrificed," do not eat, for the sake of him who mentioned it and for conscience' sake \'97


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conscience, I say, not yours, but the other man's. For why is my liberty judged by the conscience of another?


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as I also in all things accommodate myself to all men, not seeking my own interest but that of the many, in order that they may be saved.


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I praise you because you remember me in all things and hold firmly the traditions as I passed them on to you.


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I wish you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.


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But every woman praying or prophesying bareheaded dishonors her head. For it is one and the same as if she had her head shaved.


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For if a woman is not covered, then let her cut off her hair. But if it is a shame to a woman to cut off her hair or to shave, let her veil herself.


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For a man has no need to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man.


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but that if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? Because the hair is given to her for a covering.


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In giving the following directions I do not praise you, because you do not assemble for the better, but for the worse.


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For, in the first place, I hear that when you assemble as a church there are parties among you, and to some extent I believe it.


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Have you not homes to eat and drink in? Or do you mean to show contempt for the church of God and put to shame those who have no homes? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? For this I do not praise you.


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For I received from the Lord that which I passed on to you that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread,


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and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, <i>"This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me."</i>


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In like manner he took also the cup after supper, saying, <i>"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in memory of me."</i>


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Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.


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For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks condemnation to himself, if he does not honor the Lord's body.


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But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.


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If any one is hungry, let him eat at home, that your assembling may not bring condemnation on you. The other matters I will arrange when I come.


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For you know that when you were Gentiles you were led away after the dumb idols just as might happen.


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Therefore I inform you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except in the Holy Spirit.


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To one are given, through the Spirit, words of wisdom, to another words of knowledge by the same Spirit,


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to another works of power, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another varieties of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues.


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One and the same Spirit produces all of these gifts, distributing to each one individually as he will.


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For as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ.


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For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all made to drink of one Spirit.


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If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand I am not of the body," it is not for that reason not of the body.


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And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye I am not of the body," it is not for that reason not of the body.


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If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?


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And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," or the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."


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and those that we deem the less honorable parts of the body we surround with greater honor and our uncomely parts have additional dignity,


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while our comely parts have no need. But God has organized the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacks,


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that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have a common concern for one another.


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And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if a member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.


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God placed some in the church first as apostles, secondly as prophets, thirdly as teachers, then miracle-workers, then those with gifts of healing, helpers, administrators, speakers of different kinds of tongues.


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IF I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.


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And if I have the power of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.


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And if I distribute all that I have to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.


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does not behave unbecomingly, does not seek her own interest, is not irritable, does not count up her wrongs,


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Love never fails; but if there are prophetic powers, they will become useless; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will become useless.


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When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. Since I have become a man, I have no use for childish things.


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For as yet we are looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then face to face. As yet I know in part, but then I shall know fully, as I have been fully known.


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For he who speaks with a tongue speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands, and he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.


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I wish you all to speak with tongues, but I wish more to have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may receive upbuilding.


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Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what benefit will I be to you unless I speak to you in a revelation or in knowledge or in prophecy or in teaching.


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Inanimate things that give a sound, such as the flute or harp, \'97 unless they give a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is being played on flute or harp?


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And so you, if you do not give by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is said? For you will be talking into the air.


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If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a barbarian to him who is speaking, and he will be a barbarian to me.


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And so you, since you are eager for spiritual gifts, seek to abound in what will build up the church.


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What then? I will pray with the spirit and with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and with the understanding.


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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.


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But in church I would rather speak five words with my understanding so as to instruct others, than to speak ten thousand words in a tongue.


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In the Law it is written, "By men of strange speech and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and not even thus will they listen to me, says the Lord."


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So then tongues are for a sign not to believers, but to unbelievers, and prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for believers.


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If therefore the whole church assembles and all speak with tongues and ordinary men or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are insane?


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But if all prophesy and any unbeliever or ordinary man comes in, he is convinced by all, he is judged by all,


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the secrets of his heart become manifest, and so falling on his face he worships God, declaring that God is really among you.


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What then, brethren? When you assemble each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for the upbuilding of character.


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If any one speaks with a tongue, let it be two, or at the most three, at a time and in turn and let one interpret.


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If there is no interpreter, let the man keep silent in church and let him speak to himself and to God.


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let the women be silent in your assemblies. For it is not allowed to them to speak; but let them be in subjection as also the Law says.


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If they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.


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If any one thinks himself a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that what I am writing to you is the command of the Lord.


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LET me recall to your minds, brethren, the good news which I announced to you and which you accepted, in which also you stand,


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through which also you are being saved, if you hold fast the message that I announced to you, unless your faith was thoughtless.


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For among the first things I passed on to you what I had received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,


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then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom the most are still living, but some have fallen asleep,


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


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But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not without result, but I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.


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But if Christ is proclaimed \'97 that he has been raised from the dead \'97 how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?


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If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is an empty thing and your faith is an empty thing.


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And we are found false witnesses of God because we testified regarding God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise if the dead are not raised.


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Then will be the end when he delivers up the kingship to God his Father, when he has defeated every archangel and authority and power.


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For "he subjected all things under his feet." But when it says, "all things have been subjected," it is plain that it means all things except God who subjected all things to him.


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But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.


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Then what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why are they then baptized for them?


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If, humanly speaking, I fought wild beasts at Ephesus, what is my gain? If the dead do not rise, "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."


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And what you sow is not the body that will come, but a mere grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.


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All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another flesh of birds, and another flesh of fishes.


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There are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial is of one kind and the glory of the terrestrial is of another.


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There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in glory.


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It is sown an animal body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is an animal body there is also a spiritual body.


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Just as it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal," the last Adam became a lifegiving spirit.


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As is the earthly man such are also those who are earthly, and as is the heavenly man such are also those who are heavenly.


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But I say this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor will decay inherit imperishability.


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in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet-call. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be transformed.


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For this perishable must clothe itself with imperishability, and this mortal must clothe itself with immortality.


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When this perishable has clothed itself with imperishability and this mortal has clothed itself with immortality, then will come to pass the word that is written, "Death has been swallowed up in victory.


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So then, my beloved brethren, be firm, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; since you know that your labor is not fruitless in the Lord.


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REGARDING the collection for the holy, as I arranged for the churches of Galatia, you must do the same.


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On the first day of the week let each of you lay up at home something according as he may be prospering, in order that no collections may be going on when I come.


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When I come, whatever persons you may approve, I will send with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem.


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and perhaps I shall make some stay with you or pass the winter with you, so that you may send me forward wherever I may be going.


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I do not wish to see you now merely in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.


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If Timothy comes, see to it that he becomes free from fear in his relations to you. For he is doing the Lord's work, just as I am.


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So let no one think him of no account. Send him forward in peace on his journey to me, for I am expecting him with the brethren.


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As to Apollos our brother, I urged him strongly to go to you with the brethren. But it was not at all his will to go now, but he will come when it is convenient.


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I beg you, brethren \'97 you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruit of Achaia and they have devoted themselves to serving the holy \'97


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I rejoice in the arrival of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they made up for my lack of you.


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The churches of Asia send you their greetings. Aquila and Prisca with the church in their house greet you heartily in the Lord.


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PAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy the brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth with all the holy that are in all Achaia:


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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of loving kindness and the God of all encouragement,


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who encourages us in every distress so that we may be able to encourage those who are in every distress by the encouragement by which we ourselves have been encouraged by God.


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Because as the sufferings of Christ are abundant in our case, so through Christ our encouragement is abundant.


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But if we are in distress, it is for your encouragement and salvation. If we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement which is effective in the endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.


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Our hope is strong regarding you, since we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings so you are of the encouragement.


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For we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, regarding the distress that came on us in Asia \'97 that we were exceedingly weighed down, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.


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Indeed we have the sentence of death within ourselves, that our trust may not rest on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.


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He delivered us from such a death and will deliver, and we have hope in him that he will go on delivering,


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while you help by your prayers for us, so that from many persons thanksgiving may arise for the gift granted to us through the prayers of many for us.


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For this is what we boast of, the witness of our conscience that in holiness, and sincerity before God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have lived in the world and especially toward you.


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For we are not writing to you anything but what you read and acknowledge and I hope you will acknowledge to the end,


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as you have partly acknowledged it about us, that we are your ground of boasting and you are ours on the day of our Lord Jesus.


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by my visiting you on the way to Macedonia and again coming back from Macedonia to you and being sped by you on my way toward Juda.


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When I was intending this, did I show fickleness? Or do I plan what I plan according to the flesh, so that I may say yes, yes, and no, no?


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For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was proclaimed among you by us \'97 myself and Silvanus and Timothy \'97 was not yes and no, but in him was yes.


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For all the promises of God, however many, have their yes in him. Therefore also through him is the Amen to the glory of God through us.


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Not that we are lords over your faith, but fellow workers sharing your joy, for you are standing firm in the faith.


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I am writing this very thing so that I may not come and have grief from those who ought to make me glad, for I am confident in regard to all of you that my joy is yours.


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For out of great distress and pain of heart I am writing with many tears, not that you may be grieved, but that you may know the love that I have beyond measure for you.


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But if any one has caused grief, he has grieved not me, but to some extent \'97 not to be too severe \'97 all of you.


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so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and encourage him, that such a one may not be swallowed up in excessive grief.


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Because for this purpose I am writing, that I may know your tested character, whether you are obedient in everything.


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To whomever you forgive anything I also forgive it, and what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it was for your sake in the sight of Christ,


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I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother, but bidding them farewell I came away to Macedonia.


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Thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ and spreads through us the sweet odor of the knowledge of him in every place.


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To the latter an odor from death to death, to the former an odor from life to life. And who is competent for this?


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For we are not, like the most, adulterating the message of God for gain, but in sincerity, as from God, in the presence of God, we speak in Christ.


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ARE we beginning again to recommend ourselves? Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?


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evidently a letter of Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets, but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.


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Not that of ourselves we are fit to reason out anything as from ourselves, but our fitness is from God,


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who has fitted us to be servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.


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If the service that brought death, engraved in letters on stones, came in glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face \'97 that fading glory \'97


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For if the service that brought condemnation was glory, much more will the service that brings righteousness surpass in glory.


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For what was made so glorious is in a way no longer glorious compared with the glory that surpasses it.


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and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel might not see when the vanishing glory ended;


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but their thinking was dulled. For to this day the same veil remains unlifted when the old covenant is read; because it is done away only in Christ.


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And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same likeness from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.


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but we have renounced shameful secret things, not living in craftiness nor adulterating God's message, but by the openness of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.


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in whom the god of this world has blinded the thinking of the unbelieving so that the light of the glorious good news of Christ, who is the image of God, may not shine in.


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For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.


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Because it is the God who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts bringing the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.


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always bearing about in our bodies the death of Jesus that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our bodies.


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For we, though living, are always delivered up to death for Jesus' sake, that also the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.


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Having the same spirit of faith, as it is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we too believe and therefore speak,


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knowing that he who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and place us in his presence with you.


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For all things are for your sake, that grace abounding through many may overflow in thanksgiving to the glory of God.


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Therefore we are not downhearted, but even if our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.


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For our momentary and light distress is working out for us a far surpassing and eternal weight of glory


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while we contemplate not the things that are seen, but the things unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things unseen are eternal.


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FOR we know that if this tent, our earthly home, is thrown down, we have a building of God, a home not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.


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For while we are in this tent we sigh being burdened, not that we wish to be unclothed, but to put on the other, that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life.


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So being always of good courage and knowing that while living at home in the body we are living in a foreign land away from the Lord \'97


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I say we are of good courage and wish rather to live in the land foreign to the body and be at home with the Lord.


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Therefore also we are ambitious to be pleasing to him, whether at home with him or in this foreign land.


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For we must all appear as we truly are before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive the award for what he has done with his body, according to his actions, whether good or bad.


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Knowing, therefore, the fear of the Lord, we are persuading men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope that it is also plain to your consciences.


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We are not recommending ourselves again to you, but giving occasion to you for boasting on our behalf, that you may have it to use against those who boast of appearances and not of heart.


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and he died for all that the living may no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.


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So we, from now on, know no man according to the flesh. Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.


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So if any one is in Christ he is a new creature. The old things have passed away, they have become new.


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And all things are from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given to us the service of reconciliation \'97


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to proclaim that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting against men their sins, and that he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.


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So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing to you through us. We pray you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God.


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For he says, "At a favorable time I heard you and on a day of salvation I helped you." Now is a particularly favorable time, now is a day of salvation.


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but in everything we commend ourselves as God's servants in great patience, in distresses, in necessities, in hardships,


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with purity, with knowledge, with long-suffering, with kindness, with the Holy Spirit, with sincere love,


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with the message of truth, with the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left,


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as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet owning all things.


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Do not be yoked up, like unmatched animals, with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness,


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What agreement has the Temple of God with idols? For we are the Temple of the living God, as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.


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Therefore come out from the midst of them and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch an unclean thing, and I will receive you


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and will be a Father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord, the Ruler of all."


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HAVING then these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every defilement of flesh or spirit, in reverence for God making our holiness complete.


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Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one; we have injured no one; we have taken advantage of no one.


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I am not saying this to condemn you, for I have already said that you have such a place in our hearts that we are ready to die with you or to live with you.


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Great is my frankness in speaking to you; great is my boasting of you; I am filled with encouragement, running over with joy at every distress of ours.


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For since we came to Macedonia our flesh has had no rest, but we have been distressed in every way, conflicts without, fears within.


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and not by his coming only, but also by the encouragement by which he was encouraged about you. He told us of your longing for me, your lamentation, your zeal in my behalf, so that I rejoice the more.


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For if I grieved you in my letter I do not regret it, though I did regret it, seeing that that letter grieved you even for a time,


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but I am glad now, not that you were grieved, but that your grief led to a change of heart. You were grieved as God approves so that you should in nothing suffer loss from us.


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For such grief as God approves works a change of heart leading to salvation and is never to be regretted. But the grief of the world results in death.


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Notice this very grieving as God approves, how great earnestness resulted from it in your case, what effort to defend yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what just punishment! In everything you showed yourselves blameless in the matter.


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So although I wrote to you, I did it not for the sake of him who did the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that your earnestness for us might be made plain to you before God.


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On this account we have been encouraged. In addition to this encouragement of ours, we rejoiced very much more over the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all,


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for if I have made any boast regarding you I have not been put to shame, but as we spoke everything in truth to you so our boasting over Titus turned out the truth.


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And his affections go out more strongly to you when he remembers the obedience of you all, how with reverence and trembling you received him.


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that in a great trial of distress their abundant joy and their deep poverty have abounded in the wealth of their liberality.


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and this not as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us through the will of God.


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But as you excel in every way, in faith and speech and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love you learned from us, be sure to excel in this grace also.


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I speak not by way of command, but testing the genuineness of your love by the earnestness of others.


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For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor, that you by his poverty might become rich.


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In this I give my opinion, for this is advantageous for you, since a year ago you were first to begin not only the doing but the wanting to do anything.


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But now complete the doing, that as there was a readiness in willing so there may be a completion according to your means.


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For if there is first the readiness, a gift is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he has not.


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but by equality at the present time your abundance may supply their need so that their abundance may come at your need \'97 that there may be equality,


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With him we are sending the brother whose praise for service to the good news has spread through all the churches,


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and not only that, but he was appointed by the churches as our fellow traveler in this gracious errand carried out by us to the glory of the Lord himself and by our own eager desire.


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for we are providing arrangements honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.


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We are sending along with them also our brother whose earnestness we have tested many times in many ways, and who is now especially earnest because of his great confidence in you.


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If any one asks about Titus, he is my intimate friend and fellow worker for you. If it is our brethren, they are the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.


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For I know your readiness and I am boasting about you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal has stimulated the most of them.


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I am sending the brethren that our boasting about you may not be proved in this matter an empty boast, so that you may be ready as I have said,


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and if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to say you, may not be made ashamed of this confidence.


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So I think it necessary to urge the brethren to go on in advance to you and prepare before-hand your promised gift, that it may be ready as a gift and not as if extorted.


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Remember this, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.


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Let each give as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly nor of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.


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God is able to make every blessing abound for you so that having in everything always all that you need, you may abound in every good work,


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He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and make abundant your seed and will increase the fruits of your righteousness.


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You will be enriched in everything so that you will have all liberality which through our agency causes thanksgiving to God.


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For the performance of this sacred service not only supplies the needs of the holy, but also overflows to God in many thanksgivings.


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By the proof afforded by this service men are led to glorify God for your fidelity to your profession of faith in the good news of Christ, and for the liberality of your contributions toward them and toward all.


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In their prayers in your behalf they pour out their longing love for you because of the surpassing grace of God that is upon you.


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I MYSELF, Paul, beg you by the gentleness and sweet reasonableness of Christ \'97 I who "to your face am humble when among you, but when absent am bold toward you" \'97


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I pray that I may not when present have to be bold with the confidence with which I expect to show my courage against some who think of us as living according to the flesh.


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for the weapons of our warfare are not weapons of the flesh, but powerful under God for the destruction of fortresses.


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We overthrow reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought into obedience to Christ


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Look at what is right before your eyes. If any one is confident that he belongs to Christ, let him again consider this regarding himself, that just as he belongs to Christ so also do we.


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For if I boast somewhat excessively of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for pulling you down, I shall not be ashamed.


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Because, "His letters," they say, "are mighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speaking amounts to nothing."


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Let such a person consider this, that what we are in words by letters when absent such we will be in deeds when present.


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We do not venture to class ourselves or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But they, measuring themselves among themselves and comparing themselves with themselves, do not understand.


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We will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the measuring rod which God assigned to us, and that reaches as far as you.


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For we are not stretching ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to reach you with the good news of Christ.


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We are not boasting beyond measure in the labors of others, but we have hope that as your faith grows we may have larger influence among you according to our measure and beyond,


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so that we may tell the good news to the regions lying beyond you and not boast of things already done in some other man's territory.


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For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God, for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.


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But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be led away from sincerity and purity toward Christ.


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For if some newcomer proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or if you receive a different kind of spirit which you did not receive, or a different good news which you did not welcome, you bear with him finely.


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If I am an ordinary man in speaking, still I am not in knowledge, but in everything we made that altogether clear to you.


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Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed to you the good news of God without pay?


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and when I was with you and in need I was not a burden to any one, for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied my need. In every way I kept myself from being a burden to you, and shall keep myself so.


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But what I am doing I shall do so as to cut away all ground of attack from those who wish ground, and that in what they boast of they may be found just like us.


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So it is no great thing if his servants too disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their deeds.


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I say again, let no one think me foolish. But, even if so, receive me as foolish, that I too may boast a little.


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What I am saying I am not saying by the Lord's command, but as it were in foolishness, in this confident boasting.


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You bear it if any one enslaves you, if any one devours you, if any one takes possession of you, if any one exalts himself, if any one strikes you in the face.


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I say it with shame as if we had been weak. But in whatever any one is bold <n>I say it foolishly</n> I too am bold.


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Are they servants of Christ? <n>I speak as if I were out of my mind</n> I superlatively \'97 in labors beyond measure, in prisons beyond measure, in floggings excessively, in deaths often.


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three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was ship-wrecked, a night and day I have been in the deep;


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in journeys often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own race, in perils from Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the open country, in perils on the sea, in perils among false brethren;


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in toil and labor, in many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.


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I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago \'97 whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not; God knows \'97 such a man caught up to the third heaven.


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that he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to speak.


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Even if I choose to boast I shall not be foolish, for I shall speak the truth. But I guard myself that no one may think of me beyond what he sees me to be, or hears from me,


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and because of the surpassing nature of the revelations. For this reason, that I should not be puffed up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to torment me, so that I should not be puffed up.


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But he has said to me, <i>"My grace is sufficient for you; for power is made perfect in weakness."</i> Most gladly then will I boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may abide upon me.


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Therefore I rejoice in weaknesses, in rough treatment, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.


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I have become foolish; you made me. For I ought to have been recommended by you. For in nothing have I been inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am nothing.


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The signs of an apostle were performed among you in all patience by miracles and wonders and deeds of power.


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What is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the churches except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong.


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Now this third time I am ready to come to you, and I shall not be a burden to you. For I am not seeking yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up money for the parents, but the parents for the children.


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And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you too much, am I loved the less?


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I begged Titus to go, and I sent along with him the brother. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit and walk in the same steps?


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Are you thinking all this while that we are defending ourselves to you? We are speaking before God in Christ. All this, beloved, is to build you up.


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For I am afraid that when I come I shall not find you such as I wish, and I myself may not be found by you such as you wish. I am afraid that there may be strife, jealousy, anger, rivalry, slanders, whisperings, conceit, disorders.


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I am afraid that when I come again my God may humble me in your presence, and that I shall grieve over many of those who have been long sinning and have not repented of the impurity and unchastity and sensuality which they have practiced.


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THIS third time I am coming to you. "By the evidence of two witnesses, or three, every matter shall be proved."


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Those who have been long sinning and all the rest I have forewarned and now forewarn, when I was present with you the second time and now when absent, that if I come again I shall not spare;


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since you are eager to have a test of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you.


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He was crucified in weakness, but he is living by the power of God. And we are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God for you.


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Test yourselves whether you are in the faith, put yourselves to the proof. Are you not conscious that Jesus Christ is in you? He is, unless you cannot stand the test.


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I pray to God that you may do nothing evil, not in order that we may seem to stand the test, but in order that you may do the right, though we should seem unable to stand the test.


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For this reason I am writing this while absent, so that when present I may not act with severity in the use of the authority which the Lord gave me for building you up, not for pulling you down.


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Now, brethren, farewell. Be fully equipped; take courage; be of one mind; live in peace; then the God of love and peace will be with you.


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


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PAUL an apostle \'97 not from men or through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead \'97


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who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present wicked world according to the will of our God and Father!


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I am astonished that you are so quickly changing over from him who called you by the grace of Christ to a different kind of good news,


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though it is not another good news. But there are some who are perplexing you and wishing to pervert the good news of Christ.


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But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should bring you any good news different from what we did bring you, let him be accursed!


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As I said before, I say now again, if any one brings you good news different from what you have received, let him be accursed!


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Am I now trying to please men or God? If I were still trying to please men I should not be Christ's servant.


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For neither did I receive it from man nor was I taught it through man, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ.


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You have heard of my former life in Judaism, that I furiously persecuted the church of God and made havoc of it,


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and I went further in Judaism than many of my own age and race, being intensely zealous for the traditions of my forefathers.


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was pleased to reveal his Son in me that I might tell the good news of him among the Gentiles, immediately I did not consult with flesh and blood,


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nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and came back to Damascus.


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Only they had heard that "he who used to persecute us is now telling the good news of the faith of which he once made havoc,"


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I went up by revelation, and I stated to them the good news which I proclaim among the Gentiles. But I did this privately before those who were most esteemed, that I might not be running, or have run, to no Purpose.


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though it was suggested on account of false brethren who had been brought in, who had crept in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.


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But we did not yield in subjection to them even for an hour, that the truth of the good news might continue with you.


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But from those who were esteemed to be something \'97 whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God does not regard the social standing of a man \'97 those who were most esteemed did not impart to me anything additional.


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But, on the contrary, seeing that I was entrusted with the good news for the uncircumcision as Peter was for the circumcision,


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for he who had worked in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcision had worked in me for the Gentiles,


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recognizing the grace given to me, James, Cephas, and John, who were regarded as pillars, gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision.


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For before certain persons came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.


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And the rest of the Jews practiced the same hypocrisy with him, so that even Barnabas was led off with them in their hypocrisy.


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But when I saw that they were not walking straight according to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you who are a Jew are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"


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knowing that a man is not declared righteous because of works of law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, we also have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be declared righteous because of faith in Christ, and not because of works of law, for because of works of law no human being will be declared righteous.


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If while seeking to be declared righteous in Christ we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Never.


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I have been crucified with Christ. I am living, yet no longer I, but Christ is living in me. The life that I am now living in flesh I am living by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.


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I do not make nothing of the grace of God, for if righteousness is through law, then Christ died for nothing.


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O THOUGHTLESS Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was pictured crucified?


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Only this I wish to learn from you: Was it because of works of law that you received the Spirit, or because of hearing with faith?


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He who supplies to you the Spirit and works miracles among you, is he doing it because of works of law or because of hearing with faith,


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For the Scripture, foreseeing that God would declare the Gentiles righteous because of faith, announced the good news in advance to Abraham, "In you all the Gentiles will be blessed."


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For all who are of the works of law are under a curse, for it is written, "Cursed is every one who does not abide by all the precepts of the book of the Law and do them."


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But that by law no one is declared righteous before God is plain, because, "He who is righteous by faith shall live."


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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for our sake, for it is written, "Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree,"


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in order that the blessing of Abraham might in Jesus Christ come on the Gentiles, that they might receive through faith the promise of the Spirit.


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Brethren, I am speaking humanly, a ratified covenant, although but a man's, no one can set aside or add to.


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But the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "and to offsprings," as meaning many, but as if meaning one, "and to your offspring," who is Christ.


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I mean this, a covenant ratified by God, the Law that came four hundred and thirty years afterward does not annul, so as to defeat the promise.


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For if the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise. But God granted it to Abraham by promise.


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Why then was the Law? It was added later to make transgressions, until the Offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator.


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Is the Law then against the promises of God? Never! For if a law had been given which could give life, then really righteousness would have come by law.


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But the Scripture has shut up all under sin that the promise based on faith in Jesus Christ may be given to those who have faith.


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I SAY that as long as the heir is under age he differs in nothing from a slave, though he be owner of all.


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But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how are you turning back to the weak and beggarly elementary lessons to which you wish to be slaves again?


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And you did not despise or spurn what was a trial to you in my bodily condition, but welcomed me as you would an angel of God, as you would Christ Jesus.


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Where now is the blessing you pronounced on me? For I bear you witness that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.


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They are paying court to you, but not honorably. No, they wish to shut you out, so that you may pay court to them.


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For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one born of the slave girl and one born of the free wife.


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But he who was born of the slave girl was born according to the flesh, while he who was born of the free wife was born by promise.


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This is an allegory. For these women are the two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. This is Hagar.


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Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She represents the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery along with her children.


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For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who feel no birth pangs! For many are the children of the desolate \'97 more than those of her who has a husband."


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But just as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now.


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But what says the Scripture? "Cast out the slave girl and her son. For the son of the slave girl shall not inherit along with the son of the free wife."


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STAND firm, therefore, in the freedom with which Christ set us free, and do not wear any yoke of slavery.


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I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to carry out the whole Law.


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You have put an end to Christ's work for you, you who are declared righteous by law; you have fallen away from grace.


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For in Christ Jesus neither has circumcision any value nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.


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I am persuaded in regard to you in the Lord that you will have no other mind. He who is troubling you must bear his condemnation, whoever he may be.


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But I, brethren, if I am still proclaiming circumcision, why am I persecuted? Then the offensiveness of the cross has been done away.


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For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not let your freedom be an opportunity for the flesh, but in love be servants to one another.


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For the flesh has passions contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit contrary to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do whatever you wish.


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envyings, drinking bouts, revelries, and the like. Of these I tell you beforehand, as I have already told you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.


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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, slowness to anger, kindness, benevolence, faithfulness,


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BRETHREN, if a man is surprised in some sin, you who are spiritual are to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each looking out for himself to avoid being tempted.


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Let each one test his own work and then he will have his reason for boasting in himself alone and not in another.


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For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap decay; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap life eternal.


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Let us not grow discouraged in doing what is noble, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow faint.


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So then as we have opportunity let us work for the good of all men, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.


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All who wish to make a fair show in the flesh are trying to compel you to receive circumcision, but only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.


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For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the Law, but they wish you to be circumcised in order to boast in your flesh.


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But let me never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me and I to the world.


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PAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the Holy who are at Ephesus, faithful in Christ Jesus:


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


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even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and spotless before him in love.


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He predestined us to recognition as sons to himself through Jesus Christ according to the kindness of his will,


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in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the wealth of his loving kindness


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for the government of the fullness of the ages, to bring to unity all things in Christ, both things in the heavens and things on the earth.


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In him we were predestined according to the plan of him who works in all things according to the purpose of his will,


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and we were made God's heritage in order that we might bring praise to his glory \'97 we who first have fixed our hope on Christ.


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In him you also, after hearing the message of the truth, the good news of your salvation, and putting your faith in him, were sealed by the promised Holy Spirit,


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which is the pledge of our inheritance in anticipation of the full redemption of God's own people to the praise of his glory.


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that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father most glorious, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of himself,


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enlightening the eyes of your heart, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the glorious wealth of his inheritance in the holy,


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and what the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the inworking of his vast might,


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which he put forth in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his own right hand in the heavenly heights,


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far above every archangel and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this world but also in the world to come.


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in which you once walked, following the ways of this age of the world, led by the Ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.


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Among these we all lived once in the passions of our flesh and of our thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest.


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even when we were dead in misdeeds, made us alive along with Christ \'97 by grace we have been saved \'97


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that he might show in the ages to come the surpassing richness of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.


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For we are his work, formed in Christ Jesus for good works in which God had prepared beforehand to have us live.


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Therefore remember that once you were Gentiles in the flesh and were called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands,


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and that you were then apart from Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.


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For he is our peace. He has made both Jew and Gentile one and has broken down the dividing wall, the enmity.


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In his own flesh he has ended the force of the law of commandments in ordinances in order to make the two, in himself, into one new man, thus making peace,


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And he came and brought the good news of peace to you who were far and peace to those who were near.


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So then you are no longer strangers and resident aliens, but fellow citizens with the holy and members of the household of God,


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a mystery which was not disclosed in other generations to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,


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namely, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news,


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of which I became a servant according to the free grace of God which was given me by the inworking of his power.


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To me, the least of all the holy, has this grace been given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unsearchable riches of Christ


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and to show what is the working of the mystery which has been hidden for ages in God, who created all things


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in order to disclose now to the archangels and powers in the heavenly heights, through the church, the varied wisdom of God,


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So I beg you not to lose heart because of the distresses that come on me for your sake. They are a high honor to you.


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that he may grant to you according to his glorious wealth to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man,


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may be able with all the holy to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth \'97


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yes, to know the love of Christ, which yet surpasses knowledge, and may be filled with all the fullness of God.


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I, THE prisoner of the Lord, beg you, then, to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called,


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There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called with one hope that belongs to your calling,


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And he "gave" to some to be apostles, some prophets, some tellers of the good news, some shepherds and teachers,


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until we all attain oneness in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, and the maturity of manhood and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.


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Then we shall be no longer children tossed and borne about by every wind of teaching through the trickery of men and craftiness in the devices of deceit,


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from whom the whole body framed together and strengthened by what every joint supplies vigorously, in the measure of each, makes growth in building itself up in love.


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This then I say and solemnly protest in the Lord: that you are no longer to live as the Gentiles live in vacancy of mind,


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having their understanding darkened, aliens from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, and because of the hardness of their hearts.


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Lost to any sense of shame they have abandoned themselves to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.


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that you should put away the old man who belonged to your former way of life and was perishing in deluding passions,


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Therefore put aside lying and speak truth every one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another.


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He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, working with his own hands something good, so as to have something to share with any one in need.


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Let no vile word come out of your mouth, but, if anything, a good word for needed upbuilding of character to give grace to those who hear.


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Let all bitterness and anger and wrath and clamor and abusive language be put away from you with every kind of malice.


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and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God yielding a fragrant odor.


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Unchastity or any kind of impurity or greediness must not be mentioned among you, as befits holy people;


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nor should there be indecent and foolish talk or jesting, which are unbecoming, but rather thanksgiving.


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For you know well that no unchaste or impure person, no greedy person \'97 who is an idolater \'97 has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.


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Let no one deceive you with empty words; for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience.


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speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing the harp heartily to the Lord,


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because a man is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body.


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that he might present to himself the church glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and faultless.


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Thus ought men to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself,


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for no one ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,


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"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.


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And you, fathers, do not irritate your children, but bring them up in the education and admonition of the Lord.


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Slaves, obey those who according to the flesh are your masters, with reverence and awe in singleness of your hearts as to Christ,


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not with eye service as pleasers of men, but as Christ's slaves, doing the will of God in a whole-souled way,


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knowing that whatever good thing each one does that he will be rewarded for by the Lord, whether he be slave or free.


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And you, masters, do the same by them, avoiding threats, knowing that the Master both of them and of you is in the heavens, and there is no partiality for rank with him.


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Put on the complete armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the cunning arts of the Devil.


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For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the arch-angels, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly heights.


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Therefore take the complete armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and, after going through everything, to stand.


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In every event take up the shield of faith by which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Evil One,


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Pray at all times in the Spirit with all manner of prayer and entreaty; be awake to this with all intentness and with prayer for all the holy


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and in my behalf, that words may be given to me when I open my month to make known with fearlessness the mystery of the good news,


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That you also may know my situation, what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord,


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whom I am sending to you for this very purpose, will tell you everything, so that you may know the news of me and he may encourage your hearts.


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PAUL and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the Holy in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with Bishops and Deacons:


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being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun the good work in you will carry it on to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.


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So it is right for me to think of you all, because you have me in your hearts, and in my chains and in my defense and in establishing the good news you are all sharers in my privilege.


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so that you may discriminate between the things that differ, that you may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,


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I wish you to know, brethren, that my affairs have turned out rather to the furtherance of the good news,


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so that my chains have become well known as for Christ to the whole Praetorian Guard and to all the rest,


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and the most of the brethren in the Lord, made confident by my chains, are unusually brave in speaking the message fearlessly.


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What then? Still in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.


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For I know that this will make for my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,


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according to my earnest expectation and hope that I may be put to shame in nothing, but with all courage, as always, so now Christ may be honored in my body, whether by my life or by my death.


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I am under pressure both ways, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for it is far better,


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And this I confidently know, that I shall stay and stay near you all for your advancement and joy of faith,


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that your exultation in Christ Jesus may overflow on my account, because of my presence again with you.


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Only exercise your citizenship in a manner worthy of the good news of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or in absence hear news of you, I may know that you are standing in one spirit, with one mind wrestling in the faith of the good news


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and not frightened in anything by your adversaries, which for them is a sign of ruin, but for you of salvation, and that from God;


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because it has been graciously allowed you not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake,


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IF there is any encouragement in Christ, any persuasive power in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any sympathies and compassions,


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doing nothing in a partisan or vainglorious way, but each modestly regarding the others as of more account than himself.


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who, though he was in the form of God, did not think that equality with God was something to be grasped,


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and when found in the condition of a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to death \'97 death on the cross.


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Therefore, God has highly exalted him and has graciously given him the name which is above every name,


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that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of beings in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth,


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So then, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with reverence and awe.


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that you may be blameless and pure, children of God, spotless in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world,


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holding forth the message of life, so that on the day of Christ I can boast that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.


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But if I am poured out as a libation on your sacrificial offering of faith, I rejoice and share the joy of you all.


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But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I may be cheered by knowing about you.


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But you know how he has been tested and how like a child with a father he has served with me in spreading the good news.


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I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my needs,


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Indeed he was sick and near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not on him alone, but also on me, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.


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because for the work of Christ he was near to death, hazarding his life to complete the service you were not here to do for me.


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TO conclude, my brethren: rejoice in the Lord. To repeat to you the same things is not tiresome to me and it is safe for you.


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For we are the circumcision, we who worship in the Spirit of God and exult in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,


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though I have ground for confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has ground for confidence in the flesh, I have more \'97


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circumcised the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the Law a Pharisee,


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Yes, I count all to be loss because of the surpassing worth of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ


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and be found in him, not having my own righteousness that was from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God and rests on faith,


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that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in death,


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Not that I have already obtained it or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.


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Brethren, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and stretching forward to what is in front


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Let us all who are full grown think in this way. If in anything you think differently, even that God will reveal to you,


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For many are living as I used often to tell you and now say even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.


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Their end is ruin, their God is their stomach, their glory is in their shame, they think earthly thoughts.


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For the state of which we are citizens is in the heavens and from there we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.


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He will transform the body we have in our low estate into the likeness of the body he has in glory by the power by which he can subject all things to himself.


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Yes, I ask you, true yokefellow, help them, since they struggled in spreading the good news along with me and Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.


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Do not worry, but in everything by prayer and entreaty with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.


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And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.


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To conclude, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovable, whatever is highly spoken of \'97 if there is any virtue or any praise \'97 think of that.


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What you learned and accepted and heard and saw in me \'97 practice that. And the God of peace will be with you.


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I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length your thoughtfulness for me had revived. You were thoughtful for me all along, but lacked opportunity.


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Not that I am speaking because of want; for I have learned how to be content in whatever circumstances I am.


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I know how to live humbly and I know how to enjoy abundance. In each and every situation I have been initiated into the secret both of being well fed and of going hungry, both of having abundance and of bearing want.


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You Philippians know that at the beginning of the good news, when I came away from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only,


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I have enough of everything and more than enough. I am fully supplied since receiving from Epaphroditus the things from you, a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.


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to the holy and faithful brethren in Christ in Colossae: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father!


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because of the hope laid up for us in heaven. Of this you have already heard in the true message of the good news


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which has come to you. Just as in all the world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also it is among you since the day that you heard and learned of the grace of God in truth.


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So you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ in your behalf,


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For this reason we also, from the day we heard it, never cease praying for you and asking that you may have full knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight,


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and that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. May you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.


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May you be strengthened with all strength according to his glorious power, so as to have all patience and endurance.


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May you joyfully give thanks to the Father who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy in light.


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for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible, whether thrones or lordships or archangels or powers \'97 all things have been created through him and for him,


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And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he may be first in all things,


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and to reconcile all things to himself through him, making peace through the blood of his cross \'97 all things, I say, whether on earth or in heaven.


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And you who were once alienated and enemies in your minds, living in wicked works, he has reconciled


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if you remain in the faith, firm and steadfast, never moving from the hope of the good news which you have heard and which has been proclaimed in all the creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a servant.


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Now I rejoice in what I suffer for your sake, and in my turn am filling up in my flesh what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, that is, the church.


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I became a servant of the church according to the commission from God given to me for you, to deliver fully God's message,


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to whom God willed to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.


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And we are announcing him, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom in order that we may present every man complete in Christ.


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FOR I wish you to know how I am wrestling for you and for those in Laodicea and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh,


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that your hearts may be encouraged and that joined together in love you may reach all the wealth of the full assurance of insight into the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.


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For even though I am absent in the flesh, yet in the spirit I am with you, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.


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rooted and built up in him, growing strong in the faith as you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving.


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Beware that no one carries you away captive by his philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary teachings of the world and not according to Christ.


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In him you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by hands, by laying aside your fleshly body in the circumcision of Christ.


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You were buried with him in baptism and raised again through faith in the inworking of God who raised him from the dead.


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You who were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh God has made alive with him, and has forgiven us all our sins.


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He erased the writing that was against us in the rules, the writing that was opposed to us. He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to his cross.


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He despoiled the archangels and authorities and fearlessly made an example of them when he triumphed over them on the cross.


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Let no one then judge you in the matter of food or drink or in regard to a festival or new moon or Sabbath.


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Let no one as umpire defraud you of your prize, if he delights in excessive humility and ceremonial worship of the angels, searching into his own visions, emptily puffed up by his fleshly mind


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and not holding to the Head, from whom the whole body, supplied and held together by joints and bands, grows as God gives it growth.


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If you died with Christ to the elementary teachings of the world, why do you, as if still living in the world, have such rules as,


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These rules follow the commandments and teachings of men. They have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed ceremonial and excessive humility and severity to the body, but have no value against the indulgence of the flesh.


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IF then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.


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Treat the members of your earthly bodies as dead \'97 dead to unchastity, impurity, passion, evil desire, and avarice, which is idolatry.


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But now you also must put away all wrath, anger, malice, abusive language. Vile talk must not be in your mouths.


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and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed into knowledge in the image of its Creator.


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Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Christ is all and in all.


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Put on, then, as the chosen of God, holy and beloved, sympathies, compassions, kindness, humility, gentleness, slowness to anger,


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bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any one has a grievance against any. Just as the Lord forgave you, so must you forgive.


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Let the peace of Christ be umpire in your hearts. For this you were called into one body. And be thankful.


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The message of Christ must dwell in you richly, as you teach in all wisdom and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and sing with grace in your hearts to God.


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And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.


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Slaves, obey in everything your masters in the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, because you reverence the Lord.


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for you know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. You are slaves to the Lord Christ.


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Pray along with us and for us that God may open for us a door for the message, so that I may tell the mystery of Christ for the sake of which I am in chains \'97


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Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful worker and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you everything about me.


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I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know my situation and that he may encourage your hearts.


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And with him I am sending Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you all about affairs here.


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Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends his greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas <n>you have received letters about him; if he comes, welcome him</n>,


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and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of those who are circumcised are my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.


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Epaphras, the servant of Christ Jesus, who is one of you, sends his greetings to you. He always wrestles in prayer on your behalf that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.


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I bear witness to the burden that he carries for you and for those in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.


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When this letter has been read among you, have it read in the church of the Laodiceans, and you are to read the letter that will come from Laodicea.


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PAUL and Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.


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unceasingly remembering your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before God our Father.


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and that our good news came to you not in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in great assurance, just as you know we acted among you for your benefit.


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You became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the message in great affliction with joy which the Holy Spirit gave,


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For the message of the Lord sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone abroad, so that there is no need for us to speak a word.


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For the people themselves are telling about us, what a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God


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and to wait for his Son from heaven \'97 his Son Jesus whom he raised from the dead and who is saving us from the coming wrath.


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but after we had suffered and been roughly treated, as you know, in Philippi, we made bold in our God to speak to you the good news of God with great wrestling.


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but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, not as if we were pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.


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Nor did we ever fall into flattering talk, as you know, nor use any pretext for self-enrichment \'97 God is witness \'97


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nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or others, although we could have claimed the dignity of Christ's apostles.


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Yearning over you so, we would gladly have imparted to you not only God's good news but our own lives as well, because you had become dear to us.


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For you remember, brethren, our toil and labor as we worked night and day so as not to burden any one of you while we proclaimed to you the good news of God.


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You are witnesses \'97 and God is witness \'97 how purely and justly and blamelessly we acted toward you who believe.


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You know that just like a father toward his own children we encouraged each one of you, and warned and conjured you


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For this reason we unceasingly give thanks to God that when you received from us the report of the message of God you accepted it not as the message of men, but, as it truly is, the message of God, which also is doing its work in you who believe.


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For you became imitators, brethren, of the churches of God that are in Judaea in Christ Jesus, because you too suffered the same things from your fellow countrymen that they did from the Jews,


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who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out and do not please God and are enemies to all men,


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trying to prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. All this goes always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's fiercest wrath has overtaken them.


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But we, brethren, when bereft of you for a little while, out of sight not out of mind, endeavored more earnestly to see your faces, with great longing.


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For what is our hope or joy or crown to boast of before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?


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and sent Timothy, our brother and God's servant in the good news of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,


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that no one might be disturbed in these trials. For you yourselves know that we are destined to this.


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For when we were with you we told you in advance, "We shall soon have trouble." And so it came to pass, as you know.


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Therefore, when I could no longer endure the anxiety, I sent to know about your faith for fear that the tempter had tempted you and our labor had gone for nothing.


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But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always keep us well in mind and long to see us, just as we long to see you,


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while we pray beyond measure night and day that we may see your faces and make good whatever lacks there may be in your faith?


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The Lord make you to abound and overflow in love toward one another and toward all men, just as we do toward you,


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that your hearts may be made firm and you may be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.


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TO conclude, brethren, we beg of you and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live to please God, and are living, you will excel still more.


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to have no one trespass or take advantage of his brother in this matter; for the Lord is the punisher of all such, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.


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Regarding brotherly love you have no need for me to write to you. For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,


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and you do the same to all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still further


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and to be ambitious to lead a quiet life and to mind each his own business and to work with your hands, as we instructed you.


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We do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, regarding those who are sleeping, that you may not sorrow as the rest of men who have no hope.


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For since, as we believe, Jesus died and rose, so too God will through Jesus bring with him those who have fallen asleep.


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This we tell you by the word of the Lord: We, the living, who have been left until the coming of the Lord, will not have the start of those who have fallen asleep.


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For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with God's trumpet-call, and first the dead in Christ will rise.


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Then we, the living, who are left, will be caught up along with them into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall forever be with the Lord.


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When they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction is upon them, like the pangs upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.


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But let us who are of the day be sober. Let us put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.


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For God has not destined us to wrath, but to the winning of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,


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We beg you, brethren, to regard those who are laboring among you and who preside over you in the Lord and give you counsel,


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We urge you, brethren, to warn the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all.


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Take care that no one repays evil with evil, but always seek eagerly what is good in dealing with one another and with every one.


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May the God of peace himself make you completely holy, and may your spirits and souls and bodies be kept faultless and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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PAUL and Silvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:


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We ought always to thank God for you, brethren, as is fitting, since your faith is growing greatly and the love of each and all of you toward one another is increasing,


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so that we ourselves glory in you among the churches of God because of your endurance and faith in all of your persecutions and in the distresses you are bearing.


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This is a proof of God's righteous judgment. It is to make you worthy of God's kingdom, on behalf of which you are suffering,


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and to repay to you, who are being troubled, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels.


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With flaming fire he will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.


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They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction and be sent away from the face of the Lord and from his glorious power,


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when he comes to be glorified among his holy ones and to be wondered at on that day among all believers \'97 for our testimony to you was believed.


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To this end we are always praying for you that our God will make you worthy of the call, and will by his power bring to completion every one of your kind purposes and works of faith,


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that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.


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WITH regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to meet him, I beg you, brethren,


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not to be quickly unsettled in mind nor excited by either a revelation or by a message or a letter supposed to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is close at hand.


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Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will not come until the Apostasy has first come and the Man of Lawlessness has been revealed \'97 the Son of Perdition,


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who opposes and exalts himself above everything called God and every object of worship, so that he enters the Temple of God and seats himself there, declaring that he himself is God.


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For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only there is just now one who is restraining it until he passes out of the way.


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And then the Lawless One will be revealed. But the Lord Jesus will sweep him away with the breath of his mouth and will make him powerless by the splendor of his coming.


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and in every kind of wicked deception of those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.


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We ought always to thank God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through the Spirit's making you holy and your own faith in the truth.


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To this he called you through the good news that we brought, so that you may share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Now then, brethren, stand firm and hold fast the teachings that you have been taught whether by our words or by our letter.


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May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal encouragement and good hope through grace,


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IN conclusion, brethren, pray for us, that the Lord's message may run and be glorified, as among you,


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We charge you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to stand aloof from every brother who is living in a disorderly way and not according to the teaching that you received from us.


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nor did we eat bread with any one without paying, but with labor and toil night and day we worked in order not to burden any one of you.


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Not that we have not the authority, but in order to give you ourselves as an example for you to imitate.


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For when we were with you we gave you this command, "If any one will not work, neither is he to eat."


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For we hear that some among you are leading disorderly lives, busy about nothing and yet busybodies.


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If any one does not obey our words in this letter, mark that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.


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


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As I begged you to stay in Ephesus when I was leaving for Macedonia, that you might charge some not to teach new and strange doctrines


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nor give attention to myths and endless genealogies, which promote disputes rather than God's plan in the faith, so I beg you now.


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wishing to be teachers of the Law, but not understanding either what they are saying or what the things are that they are so positive about.


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But we know this: that law is not laid down for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the insubordinate, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,


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for the unchaste, for those who practice unnatural vices, for slave-dealers, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to wholesome teaching


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I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength, because he thought me faithful and put me into his service,


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though before that I spoke profanely and was a persecutor and insolent in outrages. But I received mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.


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The saying is trust-worthy and deserving of full acceptance that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," of whom I am the foremost.


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But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might show all of his long-suffering for an example for those who are to believe in him and gain life eternal.


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To the King of the ages, the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory for the ages of the ages! Amen.


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This command I lay down for you, my child Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies that came in advance regarding you, in order that armed with them you may wage the noble war,


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holding to faith and a good conscience, which some have cast aside and thus made shipwreck of their faith.


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Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to speak profanely.


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I BEG, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings be made in behalf of all men,


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in behalf of kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and sobriety.


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To this I was appointed a herald and an apostle \'97 I am telling the truth, I am not lying \'97 a teacher of Gentiles in faith and truth.


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I wish, then, that the men offer prayer in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath or debate.


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Also that the women adorn themselves in becoming dress modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothes,


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But they will be saved through child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.


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A bishop, then, should be above reproach, true to one woman, temperate, self-controlled, dignified, hospitable, with a gift for teaching,


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But if any one does not know how to preside over his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?


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He must not be a new convert, for fear he may be blinded by pride and fall into the condemnation of the Devil.


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He must have a good reputation with outsiders so as not to fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil.


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Deacons, in the same way, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not eager for base gain,


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They must first be tested, and then let them fill the office of deacon if there is nothing against them.


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Those who have filled the office of deacon well win for themselves a high standing and great boldness in the faith in Christ Jesus.


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but so that if I am delayed you may know how people should conduct themselves in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.


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Confessedly great is the mystery of godliness: "Who was manifested in flesh, declared righteous in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."


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THE Spirit says distinctly that in later times some will desert from the faith, giving attention to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons,


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forbidding marriage, and insisting on abstinence from certain kinds of food which God made to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who are faithful and know the truth.


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In teaching this to the brethren you will be a noble servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and of the excellent teaching which you have followed.


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Bodily exercise is useful to a small degree, but godliness is useful for everything. "It has the promise of the present life and of the life that is to come."


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For to this end we are laboring and wrestling, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.


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Let no one look down on you because you are young, but be an example to believers in speech, in the life you lead, in love, in faith, in purity.


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Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.


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Be thoughtful about yourself and your teaching. Persevere in this; for in doing so you will save yourself and those who hear you.


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If any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to act piously toward their own family and to repay what they owe to their parents and grandparents. For this is pleasing in the sight of God.


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A real widow who is left alone has set her hope on God and devotes herself to prayers and supplications night and day.


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If any one does not provide for his own, and especially those of his own household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.


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A widow is to be put on the list if she has reached the age of not less than sixty years, if she has been true to one husband,


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has a reputation for good deeds, has brought up children, has entertained strangers, has washed the feet of the holy, has ministered to people in distress, has been active in every good work.


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At the same time they learn to be idle, going around from house to house, and not only idle, but gossips, and busybodies, saying what they should not.


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I would, therefore, have the younger widows marry, bear children, keep house, give no occasion to our enemies for slander.


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If any woman who is a believer has widows, she must provide for them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may provide for those who are really widows.


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The elders who preside well should be thought worthy of double salary, especially those who labor in speaking and teaching.


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For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is treading out the grain," and <i>the workman deserves his wages.</i>


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I charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels to observe these directions without prejudice, doing nothing through partiality.


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Do not lay hands of ordination upon any one hastily. Have no share in the sins of other men. Keep yourself pure.


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Do not keep on being a water-drinker, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and because of your frequent ailments.


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Some men's sins are conspicuous and go on before to condemnation, but the sins of some men follow after them.


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ALL who are slaves under the yoke must regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be profanely slandered.


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Those who have believing masters must not despise them because they are brothers, but rather work as slaves for them because those who are benefited by their good work are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.


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If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree to wholesome words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to religious teaching,


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he is conceited, knowing nothing, but morbidly fond of disputes and controversies from which come envy, strife, abusive language, wicked suspicions,


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and wranglings of men of depraved minds who are destitute of the truth. They think of religion as a source of gain.


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But those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and injurious passions which plunge men into destruction and ruin.


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For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some men grasping for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs.


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But you, O man of God, must shun this. Pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.


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Play the grand hard game of the faith. Lay hold on life eternal, to which you have been called and have made the noble confession before many witnesses.


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I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all, and Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate made the noble confession,


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to keep the commandment stainless and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,


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which in due time he will show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,


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who alone has immortality, who dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and power eternal! Amen.


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Command those who are rich in this world not to be haughty nor to fix their hope on uncertain wealth, but on God who provides all things richly for our enjoyment.


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treasuring up for themselves a good fund for the future, that they may lay hold on the life that is real.


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O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from profane and empty talk and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge."


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PAUL, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,


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


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I thank God whom, I serve, following in the steps of my forefathers, with a pure conscience, while I constantly mention you in my prayers night and day,


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I remember the sincere faith that is in you, which lived first in your grandmother Lois and then in your mother Eunice, and I am confident that it lives in you also.


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For this reason let me remind you to kindle anew the gift of God that is in you by the laying on of my hands.


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Do not be ashamed to testify for our Lord or for me his prisoner, but join in suffering hardships for the good news as God gives power.


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It is he who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our deeds but according to his own purpose and grace, given to us in Christ Jesus ages ago


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but now manifested by the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has defeated death and brought to light life and immortality by the good news.


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and for this reason I am suffering these things. But I am not ashamed, for I know in whom I have put my faith, and am confident that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.


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The Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, for he often cheered me and was not ashamed of my chain;


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The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day! And in how many ways he served me in Ephesus you know better still.


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and the things you heard from me, which came through many witnesses, you must commit to trustworthy men who will be able to teach others also.


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No one while serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of life, for the soldier must please him who enlisted him.


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And if any one enters an athletic contest, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.


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In telling it I am suffering hardships even to chains, as if I were an evildoer, but God's message is not chained.


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For this reason I am enduring all for the sake of the chosen, that they may gain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.


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Remind them of these things, charging them before God not to engage in controversy to no profit, but to the ruin of the hearers.


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Be earnest in presenting yourself to God as a tested man, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, rightly handling the message of truth.


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They have gone astray as to the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they are overthrowing the faith of some.


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However, God's solid foundation stands, with this inscription, "The Lord knows his own," and, "Let every one who names the Lord's name turn from wickedness."


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In a great house there are not only utensils of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware, and some are for honorable and others for dishonorable uses.


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If any one keeps himself pure from these errors, he will be ready for honorable use, holy, fit for the master's service, prepared for every good work.


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But flee the passions of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, in the company of those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.


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and the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be courteous to all, skillful in teaching, forbearing,


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instructing opponents with gentleness, for God may give them a change of heart which will lead them to knowledge of the truth,


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and they may return to soberness and escape the snare of the Devil when captured by the Lord's servant to do the Lord's will.


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for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, haughty, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane,


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For of this class are those who make their way into houses and take captive weak women loaded with sins, led by varying passions,


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Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men oppose the truth, depraved in mind, proved to be worthless as regards the faith.


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But they will go no further, for their folly will be manifest to all as that of Jannes and Jambres became.


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But you have kept track of my teaching, my course of life, my purpose, my faith, my slowness to anger, my love, my patience,


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my persecutions, my sufferings \'97 what happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, what persecutions I underwent. But the Lord delivered me out of all of them.


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and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which can give you wisdom to gain salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.


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All Scripture is divinely inspired and is useful for teaching, for proof, for correction of error, for education in righteousness,


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I CHARGE you before God and Christ Jesus, who will soon judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:


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proclaim the message, be at it in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, encourage, with all patience in teaching.


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For there will be a time when they will not endure wholesome teaching, but following their own fancies and wishing to have their ears tickled, they will get a crowd of teachers.


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But you must be calm in all circumstances, suffer hardships, do the work of a bringer of the good news, carry out fully all the duties of your office.


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Now the crown of righteousness is awaiting me. The Lord the righteous judge will give it to me on that day, and not only to me but to all those who have loved his appearing.


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For Demas deserted me because he loved the present world and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.


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When you come, bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, and particularly the parchments.


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Alexander the coppersmith showed much ill will toward me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.


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But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the proclamation might be fully published and all the Gentiles might hear it, and I was saved from the mouth of the lion.


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The Lord will rescue me from every wicked attack and will keep me safe for his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for the ages of the ages! Amen.


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Try to come before winter. Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren send their greetings to you.


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PAUL, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to promote the faith of God's chosen and their knowledge of the truths of religion,


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but in due time made known as his message through the proclamation with which I was entrusted by the commission of God our Savior,


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


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For this reason I left you in Crete: to arrange the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,


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wherever there is a man of irreproachable character, true to one woman, with believing children who are not charged with dissolute conduct and not unruly.


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For a bishop, as God's steward, must be above reproach, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not given to blows, not eager for base gain,


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holding to the trustworthy message which is according to the teaching, so that he may be able also to encourage others by wholesome teaching and to refute opposers.


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For there are many insubordinate persons, foolish talkers and deceivers, especially those who are of the circumcision,


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who ought to be silenced, for they are upsetting whole house-holds, teaching what they should not, merely for the sake of base gain.


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One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, base brutes, lazy gluttons."


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not giving attention to Jewish myths and rules laid down by men who are turning away from the truth.


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To the pure all things are pure; but to the polluted and unbelieving nothing is pure. Even their minds and consciences are polluted.


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They profess to know God, but by their deeds they disown him. They are detestable, disobedient, and worthless for any good work.


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Tell the older men to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in patience.


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Tell the older women, in the same way, to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is noble,


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self-controlled, pure, home-workers, kind, submissive to their own husbands, that God's message may not be slandered.


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and wholesome talk that is above censure, that our opponents may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say about us.


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Tell slaves to be submissive to their own masters in all things and to try to please them, not answering back,


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not pilfering, but showing all kindly fidelity, so as to make the teaching about God our Savior seem beautiful in all respects.


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teaching us to renounce all irreligion and worldly passions and to live soberly, justly and piously in this present world,


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waiting for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and of our Savior Christ Jesus,


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who gave himself for us to redeem us from all sin and purify us as his own people earnest in honorable work.


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REMIND them to be submissive to ruling authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,


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For we ourselves were once thoughtless, disobedient, astray, enslaved to passions and various pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.


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"not because of works that we had done in righteousness, but out of his own mercy he saved us through the bath of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit


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That is a trustworthy saying. I wish you to insist on these things so that those who have put their faith in God may give earnest attention to honorable work. These things are honorable and also useful to men.


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But avoid foolish disputes and genealogies and strife and quarrels about the Law; for they are unprofitable and futile.


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When I send Artemas to you or Tychicus, try to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to pass the winter there.


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Do your best in helping Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollos forward on their journey so that they may lack nothing.


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Our people too must learn to give attention to honorable work, so as to be able to meet pressing needs, that they may not be fruitless.


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All who are with me send you their greetings. Give our greetings to those who love us in the faith. Grace be with all of you.


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and to Apphia, our sister, and to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the Church that meets at your house:


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I pray that your fellowship in the faith may become effective in the knowledge of all the good there is in us in our relation to Christ.


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For I have had great joy and encouragement in your love, because the hearts of the holy have been refreshed by you, brother.


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I should like to have him for my own, to serve me in my chains for the good news, as your representative,


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but without your consent I am unwilling to do anything, so that your goodness may not be of necessity but of free will.


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Perhaps it was for this that he was separated from you for a time, that you might have him back for ever,


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no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.


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I, Paul, write it with my own hand. I will pay it \'97 not to mention to you that you owe me your own self besides.


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At the same time I want you to prepare a lodging for me, for I hope that through your prayers I shall be given back to you.


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but at the end of these days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the world,


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who is the reflection of his glory and the expression of his nature and sustains all things by his word of power, and who, when he had made purification from sins, took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,


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For to which of the angels did he ever say, "Thou art my son; I have to-day become thy Father"? and again, "I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son"?


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And again when he brings his first-born into the world of men he says, "And let all the angels of God bow down to him."


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But regarding the Son he says, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Thy royal scepter is a scepter of justice.


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Thou lovest righteousness and hatest lawlessness, therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness beyond thy companions."


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And, "Thou, in the beginning, O Lord, didst found the earth, and the heavens are works of thy hands.


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To which of the angels did he ever say, "Sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool"?


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Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth for service in behalf of those who are to inherit salvation?


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FOR this reason we should give special attention to the things that we have heard, so as not to drift away from them.


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For if the message spoken through angels was sure and every violation and disobedience received merited punishment,


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how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the beginning was spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,


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while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and many kinds of miracles and impartation of the Holy Spirit according to his will?


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But somewhere one says, "What is man that thou rememberest him? Or the son of man that thou carest for him?


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All things thou hast put under his feet." When he put all things under him he left nothing that was not put under him. We do not yet see all things put under him,


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but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death that by the grace of God he might taste of death for every man, now crowned with glory and honor.


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For it was fitting that he through whom are all things and for whom are all things, when leading many sons to glory, should make the great Leader of their salvation perfect through sufferings.


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For he who makes holy and they who are made holy are all of one. For this cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,


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saying, "I will tell thy name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to thee,"


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Since then the children share in blood and flesh, he himself in the same way shared in them, in order that through death he might defeat him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil,


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And for that reason he had to be made like his brethren in everything, so as to be a compassionate and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.


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THEREFORE, holy brethren, sharers in a heavenly call, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus,


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For he has been thought worthy of more glory than Moses, just as he who has built a house has more honor than the house.


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Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant for a testimony to the things that were to be spoken,


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but Christ as a Son over his own house. We are his house if we hold firmly to the end our confidence and the hope of which we boast.


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Therefore I was much displeased with that generation and said, 'They always go astray in their hearts and they do not know my paths.'


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See to it, brethren, that there shall not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart ready to forsake the living God,


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but encourage one another daily while it is called "to-day," that no one may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.


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When it is said, "To-day if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they made me angry" \'97


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With whom was he much displeased for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?


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LET us, then, be afraid that, though the promise of entering his rest is still left, some one of you may seem to have missed it.


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For we have received the good news just as they did, but the message that was heard did not benefit them, since it did not meet with faith in the hearers.


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For we who have faith are entering into the rest, as he said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter into my rest,' " although his works had been finished since the creation of the world.


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For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day thus, "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,"


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Since, then, it remains for some to enter into it, and those who first received the good news did not enter because of lack of faith \'97


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again he indicates a day, "to-day," saying in David so long after, as has been already quoted, "To-day if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."


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Let us endeavor then to enter into that rest so that no one shall fall, after that example of lack of faith.


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For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart.


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There is not a creature invisible to him, but all things are naked and defenseless before the eyes of him to whom we must account.


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Since, then, we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.


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For we have not a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, for he has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.


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Therefore let us come with confidence to the throne of grace and receive compassion and find grace for timely help.


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FOR every high priest taken from among men is appointed in behalf of men in things relating to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.


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He is able to sympathize with the ignorant and the erring, since he himself is beset with weaknesses.


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For this reason he must bring an offering for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people.


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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,"


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Christ, in the days of his flesh, offered prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death, with strong outcries and tears, and was heard and saved from his terrors.


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Regarding Melchizedek we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.


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For when, considering the time, you ought to be teachers you need to have some one teach you again the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk and not solid food.


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But solid food is for adults who through practice have their senses exercised in distinguishing good and bad.


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THEREFORE let us leave elementary teaching about Christ and hasten on to what is advanced, not laying again a foundation \'97 change of heart from dead works, faith in God,


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the teaching about baptisms, the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.


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For it is impossible for those who have been once for all enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become sharers in the Holy Spirit


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and then have fallen away, to have again a change of heart, since they are crucifying for themselves afresh the Son of God and putting him to open shame.


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For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it and bears plants useful to those for whom it is farmed shares in God's blessing;


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but if it bears thorns and thistles it is judged worthless and is near to being cursed. In the end it will be burnt over.


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But we are persuaded of better things regarding you, beloved, things that belong with salvation, though we thus speak.


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For God is not so unjust as to forget your work and the love that you have shown to his name as you have served and are still serving the holy.


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But we desire to have each one of you show to the end the same earnestness for the fulfillment of our hope,


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that you may not be dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises.


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For God, when making the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, swore by himself,


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In this case God being abundantly willing to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable purpose of his will gave the surety of an oath,


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that by two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to be false, we might have strong encouragement, we who have fled to lay hold on the hope that lies before us.


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We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, and it enters into the tent within the curtain


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where Jesus, our forerunner, has entered in our behalf, becoming forever a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.


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FOR, this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham when he was returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him,


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and to whom Abraham gave a tenth of all <n>first, by the translation of his name, "King of Righteousness," and then king of Salem, which means "King of Peace"</n>,


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without father, without mother, without ancestors, without either birthday or end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest permanently.


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But see how great this man was, since Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of his choicest spoils.


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And even those of the sons of Levi who attain the priesthood have command according to the Law to take a tenth from the people, their own brethren, although these have sprung from the loins of Abraham.


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But he who had no genealogy from these took a tenth from Abraham and pronounced a blessing on him who had the promises.


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If, then, perfection had been through the Levitical priesthood, \'97 for on the basis of that the people received the Law \'97 what need was there for another kind of priest to arise and not be called of the order of Aaron?


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For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever had anything to do with the altar.


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For it is plain that our Lord has arisen from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.


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And this is yet more abundantly evident if after the order of Melchizedek there arises a priest of a different kind


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who has become such, not according to the law of a commandment made for the flesh, but according to the power of unending life.


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for the Law brought nothing to perfection \'97 and there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God.


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for those men have become priests without an oath, but he with an oath from him who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: thou art a priest forever" \'97


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And so he is able to save perfectly those who come to God through him, since he is forever living to intercede for them.


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For such was the High Priest that we needed, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.


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He has not the daily need, like the other priests, first to offer sacrifices for his own sins and then for those of the people. This latter he did once for all when he offered himself.


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For the Law makes high priests of men who have infirmities, but the word of the oath, which comes after the Law, makes High Priest of a Son who is perfected forever.


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THE chief point of what I have been saying is this: we have such a High Priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in the heavens,


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Now every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Whence it is necessary for this one to have something to offer.


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If he were upon the earth he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law.


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They minister as an example and shadow of the things in heaven, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the Tent. "See," it was said, "that you make everything according to the model shown you on the mountain."


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But now Christ has obtained a ministry as much more excellent as the covenant of which he is mediator is better and based upon better promises.


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But finding fault with it he says, "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah a new covenant,


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not in the manner of the covenant which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not abide by my covenant and I ceased to care for them, says the Lord.


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This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts and I will be their God and they will be my people.


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They shall not teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother saying, 'Know the Lord'; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them,


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In saying "new" he has pronounced the first covenant old. But what grows old and decadent is near to disappearance.


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For a Tent was erected, in the first part of which were the lampstand and the table and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.


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It had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant all covered with gold. In this was a golden jar with the manna and Aaron's rod that sprouted and the tablets of the covenant.


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Above it were cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of propitiation. Regarding these things it is not now possible to speak in detail.


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But these things being thus arranged, the priests go constantly into the first part of the Tent, performing their services,


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but into the second part the High Priest alone goes once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins ignorantly committed by the people.


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The Holy Spirit shows this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been made plain while the first Tent is standing.


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That is a symbol, for the time being, in accordance with which gifts and sacrifices are offered, though they cannot make the worshiper perfect in his conscience,


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since they consist only of foods and drinks and various baths \'97 rules respecting the flesh, imposed until the time of reformation.


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But when Christ came as High Priest of the good things that have come, he entered once for all through the greater and more perfect Tent not made by hands \'97 that is, not of this creation \'97


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and not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, into the holy place, and thereby found eternal redemption.


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For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the defiled, makes them holy as regards purity of their flesh,


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how much more will the blood of Christ, who through an eternal Spirit offered himself an unblemished sacrifice to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works for the service of the living God.


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For this reason he is the mediator of a better covenant that, a death having taken place for redemption from sins under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance promised to them.


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When all the commands of the Law had been spoken by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled it on the book and on all the people,


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Almost everything is cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.


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It was necessary, then, that the copies of the things in heaven should be cleansed with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.


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For Christ did not enter into a holy place made by hands, a copy of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God in our behalf.


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Nor was it to offer himself often, as the High Priest enters into the holy place every year with blood not his own;


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then he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now, once for all, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to do away with sin by his sacrifice.


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so Christ was once for all offered to bear the sins of many and will appear the second time, apart from sin, to those who are looking for him, and bring them salvation.


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FOR the Law with a shadow of the good things that are coming, but not the very likeness of the things, cannot, by the same sacrifices which they offer constantly every year, ever make perfect those who come,


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since would they not have ceased offering them? Because the worshipers, once for all cleansed, would have had no consciousness of sins.


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Therefore on coming into the world he says, "Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire: a body thou hast prepared for me.


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Then I said, 'Here I have come \'97 in the roll of the book it is written of me \'97 to do thy will, O God.' "


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He first says, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings thou dost not desire nor delight in," such as are offered according to the Law,


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and then he says, "Here I have come to do thy will." He takes away the first to establish the second.


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Every priest stands daily doing service and offering many times the same sacrifices, although they never can take away sins.


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But this Priest after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, took his seat at the right hand of God,


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"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and on their minds I will write them," he adds,


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let us come with true hearts in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies bathed in pure water.


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not neglecting to assemble yourselves, as some do, but encouraging one another, and so much the more, as you see the day drawing near.


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For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no longer any sacrifice for sins,


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Of how much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy who has trampled on the Son of God, who has thought the blood of the covenant, by which it was made holy, an unholy thing, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?


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For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."


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Remember the early days in which, after being enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings,


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at one time made a public spectacle by reproaches and distresses, at another time making common cause with those who were thus treated.


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For you even suffered with the prisoners and accepted the plundering of your property with joy, knowing that you had a better and enduring possession.


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But we are not of those who shrink back and perish, but of those who have faith and will win their souls.


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By faith we understand that the worlds came into order at the word of God, so that what is now seen did not come out of things that are visible.


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By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, for which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God testifying to his gifts, and by it, though dead, he still speaks.


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By faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he was not found because God had taken him. For before being taken he had this testimony that he had pleased God.


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But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must have faith that he exists and that he becomes the rewarder of those who seek him.


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By faith Noah, after receiving a divine warning regarding things as yet unseen, reverently built an ark for the saving of his household. Thus he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness of faith.


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By faith Abraham when called obeyed and came out into the place which he was to obtain for an inheritance. He came out not knowing where he was coming.


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By faith he made his home in the promised land as in a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.


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By faith Sarah received power to conceive a child even when past the natural time of life, since she thought him trustworthy who had given the promise.


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And so from just one man, already dead in that respect, there sprang descendants "as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand on the seashore innumerable."


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These all died in faith, not having obtained the promised blessings, but they saw them and greeted them afar and confessed that they were strangers and foreigners in the land.


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And if they had been thinking of that land from which they came they would have had opportunity to return.


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But now they desire a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them \'97 of being called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.


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By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises began offering his only son


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regarding whom it had been said, "Those only whose descent is through Isaac shall be called your descendants."


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He reasoned that God was able to raise him even from the dead, and figuratively he did win him back from the dead.


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By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff.


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By faith Joseph, when at his end, mentioned the departure of the children of Israel and gave orders regarding his own bones.


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By faith Moses at his birth was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they did not fear the king's command.


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and he thought the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking to the final reward.


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By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; for he endured as if seeing him who is unseen.


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By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer might not touch their first-born.


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By faith they crossed the Red Sea as on dry land; but the Egyptians when they tried to do so were drowned.


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By faith Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who had refused to believe; because she had welcomed the spies with peace.


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And what shall I say further? Time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David and Samuel and the prophets;


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who through faith struggled against kingdoms and subdued them, did deeds of righteousness, obtained promised blessings, shut the mouths of lions,


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quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness grew strong, became mighty in war, turned back armies of foreigners.


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Women received back their dead by a resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to pay for liberation, in order to gain a better resurrection.


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They were stoned, afflicted, sawn in two, murdered with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, distressed, maltreated.


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The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and in holes in the earth.


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All these won God's approval by their faith. Yet they did not obtain the fulfillment of the promise.


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In reference to us God had something better in view, that they without us should not reach perfection.


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THEREFORE, surrounded as we are by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that lies before us,


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looking to Jesus the beginner and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured a cross, thinking little of the shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.


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Think of him who endured such hostile speaking of sinners against him, that you may not grow weary and despondent in heart.


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and you have forgotten the encouragement which reasons with you as with sons, "My son, do not think slightingly of the discipline of the Lord and be not faint-hearted when reproved by him:


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It is for discipline that you are enduring. God is laying it upon you as upon sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?


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Besides, we had fathers of our flesh who disciplined us and we used to reverence them. Shall we not much more be submissive to the Father of our spirits and live?


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For they for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may share his holiness.


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All discipline for the time being seems not joyous but grievous, but afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have passed through its training.


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and make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame limb may not be put out of joint but rather cured.


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Be on your guard that no one shall fail of the grace of God, that no bitter root shall sprout up and trouble you and through it many be stained,


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For you know that afterward when he wished to inherit the blessing he was rejected, for he found no place for a change in his father's mind though he sought it earnestly with tears.


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For you have not come to something that may be touched, ablaze with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest


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and the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which those who heard begged not to have spoken of them.


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But you have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, to tens of thousands of angels,


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to the festal assembly and congregation of first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,


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and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which tells something better than the blood of Abel.


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Beware of rejecting him who is speaking. For if those did not escape who rejected him who taught the divine will on earth, much less shall we if we reject him who speaks from heaven.


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His voice then shook the earth, but now he has announced, "Yet once for all I shall shake not only the earth but also heaven."


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And this expression "yet once for all" shows the removal of the things shaken, as of things that have been made, that the unshaken things may remain.


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So then, since we are receiving an unshaken kingdom, let us have grace by which we may worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.


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Keep in mind the prisoners, as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are suffering hardships, since you yourselves are also in the body.


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Let marriage be held in honor by all and let the bed be undefiled; for unchaste persons and adulterers God will judge.


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Let your lives be free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. For he has said, "I will not fail you nor will I forsake you."


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Remember your leaders, those who have spoken to you God's message, think how they ended their lives and imitate their faith.


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Do not be carried away with all sorts of foreign teachings. It is well to have the heart strengthened by grace, not by special kinds of food. Those who live in that way are not profited.


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For the bodies of the animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the High Priest are burned outside the camp.


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Through him then let us offer to God always the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that make confession in his name.


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Obey your leaders and yield to their authority; for they watch over your souls as those who must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with sighing. That would be unprofitable for you.


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Pray for us: for we are confident that we have a good conscience, wishing to live nobly in every way.


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May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of an eternal covenant,


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equip you with every good thing for doing his will, doing in you what is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for the ages of the ages. Amen.


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I wish you to know that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty. With him, if he comes soon, I will see you.


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Give my greetings to all your leaders and all the holy. Those who are from Italy send their greetings to you.


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JAMES, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Tribes which are scattered in foreign lands: Greeting.


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If any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him ask it from God, who gives to all freely without reproaching, and it will be given to him.


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But he must ask in faith with never a doubt. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.


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and let the rich brother glory in his lowly station, for he will pass away like a flower of the grass.


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For the sun rises with scorching heat and dries up the grass, and the flower of it falls and the beauty of its face perishes. So shall the rich man wither in his pursuits.


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Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has been tested he will gain the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.


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No one must say when tempted, "My temptation comes from God." For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he tempts no one.


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Then when passion has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.


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every good gift and every perfect boon is from above; it descends from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shadow caused by turning.


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Of his own will he made us his children through the message of truth, so that we might be a sort of first fruits of his creatures.


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I wish you to know this, my beloved brethren: Every man must be quick to hear, but slow to speak, slow to anger.


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So lay aside all that is vile and all that remains of malice, and receive with gentleness the implanted message which can save your souls.


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For if one is a hearer of the message and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.


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But he who looks earnestly into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do so, and becomes not a forgetful hearer but a doer of work \'97 that man will be blessed in what he does.


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If any one thinks himself religious while he does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, that man's religion is worthless.


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Pure and stainless religion in the sight of God the Father is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep one's self unspotted from the world.


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For if there comes into your assembly a man with gold rings and in fine clothes, and there comes in a poor man in soiled clothes,


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and you look up to the man who is wearing the fine clothes and say, "Take this good seat," and say to the poor man, "Stand there," or "Sit under my footstool,"


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are you not making distinctions in your own minds and have you not become judges with wicked thoughts?


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Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?


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If you keep the royal law according to the Scripture, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," you do well.


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For he who said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," said also, "Thou shalt not commit murder." If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a law-breaker.


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Of what use is it, my brethren, for any one to say that he has faith, if he has not works? Can faith save him?


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and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and fed," but you do not give them what the body needs, what is the good of it?


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But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works."


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You have faith that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons have that faith, and they shudder.


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Was not Abraham, our father, pronounced righteous because of works when he laid Isaac his son on the altar?


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and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham had faith in God and it was credited to him for righteousness" and he was called "God's friend."


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In the same way was not Rahab, the prostitute, pronounced righteous because of works when she had received the messengers and sent them out by a different road?


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DO not, many of you, become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we will receive severer judgment.


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For in many ways we all stumble. If any one never stumbles in his talk, he is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body.


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See the ships; great as they are and driven by violent winds, they are turned about by a very small rudder wherever the desire of the helmsman chooses.


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Just so the tongue is a small member, but boasts of great things. Think how small a fire may be and yet how vast the forest that it may set ablaze.


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And the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. The tongue stands among our members as that which spots the whole body and sets on fire the wheel of nature and is itself set on fire by Gehenna.


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For every kind of wild beasts and birds and reptiles and animals from the sea is tamed and has been tamed by human kind,


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Who is wise and intelligent among you? Let him show out of the noble life that he lives his works in wise gentleness.


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But if you have bitter jealousy and party-spirit in your hearts, do not boast and falsely contradict the truth.


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But the wisdom from on high is first pure, then peaceable, fair-minded, easily persuaded, full of compassion and good fruits, impartial, sincere.


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WHENCE come wars and whence come strifes among you? Is it not from your pleasures which carry on war in your members?


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You long for something and do not have it. You murder and envy and cannot obtain it. You battle and war. You do not have, because of your not asking.


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You adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be a friend to the world stands as an enemy of God.


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Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the Spirit which he made dwell in us long enviously?


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But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."


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Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.


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Be sorrowful and mourn and lament. Let your laughter be turned into grief and your gladness into gloom.


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Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.


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One is the Lawgiver and Judge \'97 he who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you, to judge your neighbor?


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Come, now, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to such a city and spend a year and do business and make money,"


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though you do not know what your life will be like on the morrow. For you are a vapor that appears for a little while and then disappears.


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your gold and silver are rusted over and the rust on them will be an evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.


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You have laid up treasures in the last days. See, the wages of the laborers who reaped your fields, fraudulently kept back by you, call aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have come into the ears of the Lord of armies.


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You have lived luxuriously in the land and have given yourselves up to pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.


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Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient over it until he receives the early and the late rains.


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Do not fret at one another, brethren, and then you will not be judged. The Judge is standing before your doors.


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Take, brethren, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of patience in suffering evil.


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We call them blessed because they endured. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord's dealings with him, that the Lord is very tender and compassionate.


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Above all things, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by the earth or by any other oath. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, that you may not fall under condemnation.


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Is any one of you suffering hardship? Let him pray. Is any one cheerful? Let him sing with the harp.


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Is any one of you sick? Let him call in the elders of the church and let them pray over him and anoint him with olive oil in the name of the Lord.


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The prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him.


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Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another in order to be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man has great power.


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Elijah was a man of the same weaknesses as ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.


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I wish you to know that he who brings back a sinner from his wanderings will save his soul from death and will hide a host of sins.


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PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the Chosen Ones of the scattered Jews in foreign lands who are living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia \'97


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chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and made holy by the Spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace be to you and peace be multiplied.


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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead \'97


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who are guarded by the power of God through faith for the salvation which is ready to be revealed on the last day.


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In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you are sorrowful in trials of many kinds,


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so that your tested faith, much more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire, may be found to your praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed,


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whom you love though you have not seen him; in whom you have faith though now you do not see him, and you rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy


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inquired and searched, trying to find out what time, or what sort of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them was disclosing when it witnessed beforehand regarding the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.


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It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who have told you the good news by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven \'97 things which angels earnestly long to look into.


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Therefore brace up your minds, be calm and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.


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As obedient children, do not shape your lives by the passions that ruled you in the former days of ignorance,


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And if you call upon him as Father who impartially judges by each one's work, live out the time of your sojourn here in reverence,


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for you know that you were not ransomed with perishable things, silver or gold, from your purposeless life handed down from your forefathers,


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who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of time for your sake


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who through him are faithful to God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.


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Now that you have made your souls holy by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, you must love one another steadily from your hearts,


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for you have been reborn, not from mortal seed but from immortal by the living and enduring word of God.


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For "All flesh is like grass and all its glory is like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls,


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but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word of good news that has been brought to you.


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and, like new-born babes, long for the reasonable pure milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation,


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you also as living stones are built up, a spiritual house, and become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


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Therefore it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am laying in Zion a chosen stone, an honored corner stone. He who has faith in him will not be put to shame."


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To you who have faith is the "honor," but to the unbelieving "the stone which the builders rejected \'97 that has become the corner stone,


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a stone for the foot to strike, a rock to stumble over." Their feet strike the message because of their unbelief, and to this they were destined.


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But you are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may proclaim the virtues of him who called you from darkness into his wonderful light.


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Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God: once you had not found compassion, but now you have found compassion.


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Beloved, I beg you, as foreigners and resident aliens, to shun the passions of the flesh which war against the soul.


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Keep your daily life among the Gentiles honorable, so that, although they talk against you as if you were wrongdoers, they may, from your noble deeds that they see, glorify God on the day of inspection.


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or to governors as those sent by him for the punishment of wrongdoers and the praise of those who do good.


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For this is the will of God \'97 that by doing good we shall silence the ignorance of thoughtless men.


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Household servants, be submissive with all reverence to your lords, not only to the good and fair, but also to the surly.


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For what credit is it if when you sin and are struck with the fist you are patient? But if though doing well, you suffer and are patient, that is grace in God's sight.


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For to this you were called, because Christ too suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow in his foot-steps.


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When he was reviled he did not revile back; he suffered, but made no threat; he committed himself to him who judges justly.


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For you were going astray like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.


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IN the same way you wives are to be submissive to your own husbands, so that if any disbelieve the message they may be won over by the lives of their wives without argument,


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Your adornment must not be of the external kind \'97 braiding the hair and putting on gold and wearing fine dresses;


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but the hidden personality of the heart must wear the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in God's sight most precious.


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For so of old the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves. They were submissive to their own husbands,


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as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Master. You have become her children when you do well and feel no terror.


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In the same way, you husbands must live with your wives wisely, since woman's sex is weaker, but you must give them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.


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Finally, all must be like-minded, sympathetic, full of brotherly love, compassionate, humble-minded,


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not repaying evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but rather blessing, for that is what you were called for \'97 to inherit a blessing.


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For "He who would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.


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For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against wrongdoers."


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But if you should suffer for being righteous, you are blessed. Have no fear of them and do not be disturbed;


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but exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts and be always ready to defend yourselves to every one who asks you to give account of the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.


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Keep a good conscience that, although you are slandered, those who misrepresent your good life in Christ may be put to shame.


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For Christ once for all died for sins, a righteous man for unrighteous men, so that he might lead us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,


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who were once disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, into which a few, that is eight souls, went and were saved through water.


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This is a type of baptism, which now saves us \'97 not the putting off of soil from the flesh, but the endeavor for a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.


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Now that he has gone into heaven he is at the right hand of God, and angels and authorities and powers have been made subject to him.


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SINCE, then, Christ suffered in the flesh, you also must arm yourselves with the same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,


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so that he does not go on living what remains of his time in the flesh according to human passions, but according to God's will.


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The time that has passed was enough to spend doing the will of the Gentiles, when you went on in indecencies, passions, hard drinking, revelries, carousings, and lawless idolatries.


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In these they think it strange that you are not running with them to the same excess of profligacy, and they slander you.


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And for this purpose the good news was told even to the dead, that they might be judged like men in the flesh, but live as God does in the spirit.


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Let each, as he has received a spiritual gift, serve the others in that way, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.


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If any one speaks, let it be as uttering the oracles of God. If any one serves, let it be from the strength that God supplies. Thus in all things let God be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him be glory and strength for the ages of the ages! Amen.


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Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery fury that is among you, which has come to try you, as if some strange thing were happening to you.


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But rejoice since to this extent you are sharing the sufferings of Christ, that when his glory is revealed you may rejoice and exult.


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If you are reproached for the name of Christ you are blessed, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.


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No one of you must suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as a wrongdoer or as a meddler in other men's affairs.


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For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins first with us, what will be the end of those who disobey the good news of God?


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So then let those who are suffering according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.


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THE elders among you I beg \'97 I who am a fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ and a sharer in the glory soon to be revealed \'97


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I beg you to shepherd the flock of God that is among you, not because you must, but willingly, not for base gain, but eagerly,


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In the same way you younger men must be subject to your elders. You all must put on the apron of humble service for one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.


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Resist him firm in the faith and knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being completed in your brotherhood throughout the world.


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The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little will equip, establish and strengthen you.


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By Silvanus, your faithful brother, as I esteem him, I am writing to you briefly, to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Take your stand in it.


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SIMON PETER, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been allotted a faith as precious as ours:


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Since his divine power has given us all things helpful to life and piety through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and virtue,


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and thereby great and precious promises have been granted to us, that through them you may escape the corruption that is in the world through passion and become sharers in the divine nature,


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for this very reason make it your whole endeavor to supply to your faith virtue, and to your virtue knowledge,


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and to your knowledge self-control, and to your self-control endurance, and to your endurance reverence,


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For when you have these in abundance they make you to be neither idle nor fruitless regarding the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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But he who lacks these is blind, dim-sighted, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.


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Therefore endeavor more earnestly, brethren, to make sure that you have been called and chosen. For while doing these things you will never stumble.


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For so entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.


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For this reason I shall always keep reminding you of these things, although you know them and are steadfast in the truth that you have.


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since I know that the laying aside of my tent will come soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made plain to me.


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I will endeavor also on every occasion to make it so that after my going you shall have these things in memory.


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For we were not following cunningly devised myths when we told you of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty.


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For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such words as these were borne to him from the majestic glory, "This is my Son, the Beloved; in him I delight."


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Thus have we the words of the prophets confirmed, and you will do well to give attention to them as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;


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since you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from any one's private interpretation,


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


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BUT false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, and they will craftily bring in deadly heresies, even disowning the Lord who bought them and bringing on themselves quick ruin.


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In covetousness they will make gain out of you by their cunning words. But their condemnation from of old has not been inactive, and their destruction has not been sleeping.


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For if God did not spare angels that had sinned, but thrust them down to Tartarus and committed them to pits of darkness to be kept for judgment,


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and did not spare the ancient world, but guarded Noah, a herald of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly;


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and if reducing to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he condemned them to destruction, making them an example for the godless of what would come upon them,


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for that righteous man living among them was tortured day and night in his righteous soul by the sight and hearing of their lawless deeds, \'97


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the Lord knows how to rescue the pious from trial and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the day of judgment,


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especially those who go after flesh in polluting passions, and despise lordship. They are daring, self-willed; they do not tremble to speak insultingly of glorious beings


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even where angels greater in strength and power do not bring against them an insulting charge before the Lord.


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But they, like irrational creatures, born mere animals for capture and destruction, while speaking profanely of things they are ignorant of, will be corrupted by their own corruption,


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and will suffer unrighteously as the reward of their own unrighteousness. They think it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are spots and blots as they revel in their deceptions while they feast sumptuously with you.


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They have eyes engrossed with some adulteress, eyes which never cease from sin. They seduce unsteady souls. They have hearts practiced in covetousness. They are children of a curse.


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Leaving the straight path they have wandered away following the path of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.


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But he was reproved for his sin; a dumb beast of draught, speaking with human voice, checked the madness of the prophet.


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These men are springs without water, storm-driven mists for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved.


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For by speaking great empty swelling words they entrap in the passions of the flesh \'97 wanton excesses \'97 those who are nearly escaping from those who live in error.


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While they promise them liberty they themselves are the slaves of corruption; for by whatever any one is overcome to that he is enslaved.


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For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they have been again entangled and overcome, their last state has become worse than the first.


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For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment that has been committed to them.


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That has happened to them which the true proverb says, "The dog returns to his own vomit and the sow after bathing returns to wallowing in the mire."


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to arouse your honest minds to recall the predictions of the holy prophets and the commands of your apostles from the Lord and Savior.


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First you should know this, that in the last days scoffers will come with their scoffing, living according to their own passions


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and saying, "Where is his promised coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things remain as they have been since the beginning of the creation?"


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For they willfully forget that there were heavens of old and an earth formed out of water and through water by God's word.


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But the present heavens and the earth are by the same word treasured up and kept for fire on the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.


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Do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day.


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The Lord is not slow about what he has promised, as some think of slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, wishing not to have any perish but to have all come to a change of heart.


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But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the burning elements will be dissolved and the earth and the things in it will not be found.


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Since all of these things are to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy lives and piety,


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you who are looking for and hastening toward the coming of the day of God, when the blazing heavens will be dissolved and the burning elements melted?


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But according to his promise we are expecting new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell.


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Therefore, beloved, since you expect this, endeavor earnestly to be found by him in peace, spotless and faultless,


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and regard the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul has written to you, according to the wisdom given to him.


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So he writes in all his letters when speaking in them of these things. In those letters are some things hard to understand, and these the unlearned and unsteady twist, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own ruin.


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You, then, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, be on your guard not to be led away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own steadfastness,


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but grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity!


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WHAT was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and our hands touched \'97 it is about the Word of Life


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<n>the Life appeared and we saw and testify to it and tell you of the Life eternal which was with the Father and appeared to us</n>


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what wo have seen and heard we are telling you also, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.


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This is the message which we have heard from him and tell to you, God is light and in him is no darkness at all.


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If we say, "We have fellowship with him," and live in darkness, we lie and are not acting the truth.


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If we live in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.


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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness:


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MY children, I am writing this to you in order that you may not sin. Even if any one sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is righteous.


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And he is an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but for those of the whole world.


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But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God has been made perfect. By this we know that we are in him.


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Beloved, I am not writing a new command for you, but an old command, which you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message that you have heard.


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Again I am writing a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.


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He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.


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I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the Evil One. I have written to you, little children, because you have come to know the Father.


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I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the message of God remains in you and you have conquered the Evil One.


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Do not love the world nor the things that are in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him;


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for all that is in the world, the passions of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the show and pride of life, is not from the Father, but from the world.


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Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the last hour.


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They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would have continued with us. But they went out so that it might be plainly seen that not all are of us.


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I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and know that no lie is from the truth.


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Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.


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Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.


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But as for you, the anointing that you have received from him remains in you and you have no need for any one to teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is no lie and as it has taught you, you must remain in him.


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And now, little children, remain in him so that if he appears we may have confidence and not shrink in shame from him at his coming.


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If you know that he is righteous, you know that every one who does righteousness has been born of him.


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SEE what love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why tho world does not know us is that it did not know him.


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Beloved, we are now children of God and it is not yet plain what we shall be. But we know that if he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.


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Little children, let no one deceive you. He who is doing righteousness is righteous as Christ is righteous.


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He who is committing sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this the Son of God appeared \'97 to undo the works of the Devil.


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No one who has been born of God commits sin, for God's life-giving germ remains in him and he cannot continue sinning, because he has been born of God.


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By this the children of God are plain to see, also the children of the Devil. Every one who is not doing righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.


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Not like Cain, who was of the Wicked One and killed his brother. And for what reason did he kill him? Because his own deeds were wicked and his brother's righteous.


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We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. Whoever does not love remains in death.


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Every one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has life eternal remaining in him.


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By this we have come to know love \'97 that Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.


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But if any one has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts away his sympathies from him, how can the love of God remain in him?


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By this we shall know that we are of the truth and shall give confidence to our hearts in his presence,


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and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.


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And this is his command \'97 to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he has given us command.


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He who keeps his commands remains in God and God remains in him. By this we know that God remains in us \'97 by the Spirit which he has given to us.


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BELOVED, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God. For many false prophets have come out into the world.


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By this we know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,


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and no spirit that does not confess Jesus is from God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard is coming into the world and is already in the world.


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But you are of God, little children, and have conquered them, because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.


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They belong to the world and for that reason they speak as the world speaks and the world listens to them.


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We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us: whoever is not of God does not listen to us. In this way we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.


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Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and every one who loves has been born of God and knows God.


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By this the love of God to us was made plain: that God sent his only Son into the world so that we may have life through him.


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In this is love \'97 not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.


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No one has ever seen God. If we love one another God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us.


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We have come to know and have put our trust in the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God and God remains in him.


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Thus love has been made perfect with us so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as God is we also are in this world.


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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has pain. He who fears has not been made perfect in love.


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If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.


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EVERY one who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and every one who loves the father who gave him life loves every one who has received life from that father.


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because all that is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.


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This is he who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth.


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For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in accord.


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If we accept the testimony of men the testimony of God is greater; for this is God's testimony, that he has testified regarding his Son.


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He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony within himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar; because he has not believed the testimony which God has borne regarding his Son.


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I am writing this to you so that you may know that you have life eternal, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.


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This is the confidence that we have toward him: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.


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And if we know that he hears us when we ask anything, we know that we obtain the things that we have asked of him.


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If any one sees his brother committing a sin that is not deadly, he must ask and God will give him life for those who are committing sin that is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly. I do not say that he should pray in behalf of that.


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We know that every one who has been born of God lives without sinning, but he who was born of God keeps him, and the Evil One does not lay hold of him.


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We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true and in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and life eternal.


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THE Elder to the chosen Lady and her children, whom I love in truth <n>and not I alone, but also all who have come to know the truth</n>


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Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.


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I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children living in truth, as we received command from the Father.


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And now I pray you, Lady, not as if writing a new command for you, but one that we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.


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This is love: to live by his commands. This is the command, as you heard from the beginning that you must live by it.


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For many deceivers have come out into the world and they do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.


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Every one who goes forward and does not remain in the teaching of Christ is without God. He who remains in the teaching, he has the Father and the Son.


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If any one comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house and do not bid him welcome.


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I have much to write to you, but I will not do it with paper and ink. I hope to be with you soon and to speak face to face so that our joy may be complete.


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Beloved, I pray that in everything you may prosper and be in health, just as your soul now prospers.


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For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified to your truth \'97 that you are living in the truth.


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and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to help them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God.


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I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who desires to be first among them, does not receive us.


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Therefore, if I come I will bring to mind the works that he is doing, accusing us with wicked words, and not satisfied with that, neither does he receive the brethren, and he hinders those who wish to do so and expels them from the church.


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Beloved, do not imitate evil, but good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil has not seen God.


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Testimony has been borne to Demetrius by all and by the truth itself. We too bear testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.


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But I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends send greetings to you. Greet the friends by name.


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JUDE, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who are in God the Father, beloved, kept for Jesus Christ and called:


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Beloved, although I have been making every effort to write to you regarding our common salvation, I now find it necessary to write and urge you to contend vigorously for the faith that was once for all delivered to the holy.


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For certain persons have crept in, who of old were written of as predestined to this doom, godless, changing the grace of our God into profligacy and disowning our only Ruler and Lord, Jesus Christ.


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I wish to remind you, although you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people from the land of Egypt, then destroyed those who had no faith;


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and angels who did not keep their own rank, but left their own abode, he has kept for the judgment of the great day in everlasting chains under blackness of darkness.


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So Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, which in the same way gave themselves up to unchastity and the pursuit of unnatural vices, serve as an example while they undergo the punishment of eternal fire.


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But Michael, the arch-angel, when in dispute with the Devil he was arguing about the body of Moses, did not venture to bring against him an abusive judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."


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But these speak profanely of whatever they do not know, and all that physically as irrational animals they do understand, in these things they corrupt themselves.


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Alas for them! for they have traveled in the path of Cain, and for hire have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and have perished in the rebellious talk of Korah.


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These are the hidden reefs in your love-feasts while they feast freely with you without fear, shepherds who care only for themselves, waterless clouds driven by winds, trees in autumn fruitless, twice dead, uprooted,


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wild waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars for which the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.


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Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these men when he said, "See, the Lord has come with ten thousand of his holy ones


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to do judgment upon all and to convict all the irreverent of all their deeds of irreverence which they have irreverently done, and of all the hard things which they have spoken against him, irreverent sinners that they are."


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These men are complaining grumblers, living according to their own passions, and their mouths speak great swelling words. They show admiration for persons for the sake of their own gain.


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But you, beloved, remember the words which were long ago spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,


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how they told you that in the latter time there would be scoffers living according to their own ungodly passions.


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must keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you into life eternal.


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pull them out of the fire and save them. Others pity with fear, hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.


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To him who is able to guard you from falling and to make you stand faultless before his glory in great joy,


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to the only God our Savior, be, through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and for all the ages! Amen.


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A REVELATION of Jesus Christ which God gave to him, to make known to his servants things which must soon take place. He sent and made it known through his angel to his servant John,


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who bears witness to the message of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ \'97 everything that he saw.


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Blessed is he who reads, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep in mind what is written in it; for the time is near.


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John to the seven Churches in Asia: Grace be to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne,


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and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood,


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and made us a kingdom, priests to God his Father, to him be glory and power for the ages of the ages! Amen.


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He is coming with clouds and every eye will see him, even of those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will beat their breasts because of him. Yes, Amen.


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<i>"I am the Alpha and the Omega,"</i> says the Lord God, <i>"who is and who was and who shall be, the Almighty."</i>


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I, John, your brother and fellow sharer in the distresses and the kingdom and the endurance in Jesus, came to the island called Patmos, for the sake of the message of God and the testimony of Jesus.


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saying, <i>"What you see write in a book, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."</i>


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and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe that reached his feet, and girded across the breast with a golden girdle.


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His head and his hair were white, like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire,


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and his feet were like fine brass when molten in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.


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He had in his right hand seven stars, and from his mouth there issued a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in full strength.


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When I saw him I fell at his feet as if dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said: <i>"Do not fear. I am the first and the last</i>


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<i>and the living one. I became dead, but now I am living for the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.</i>


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<i>the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are seven churches.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Ephesus write: "These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands:</i>


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<i>I know your works and your labor and your endurance, and that you cannot bear wicked people, and you have tried those who say that they are apostles though they are not, and you have found them liars.</i>


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<i>You have endurance and you have borne for the sake of my name and you have not been discouraged.</i>


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<i>Remember then from where you have fallen, and repent and do your former works. Otherwise I am coming to you and will move your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.</i>


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<i>Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna write: "These things says the First and the Last, who died and returned to life:</i>


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<i>I know your distress and poverty, but you are rich, and I know the profane words from those who say that they are Jews though they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.</i>


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<i>Do not fear what you are soon to suffer. The Devil will soon cast some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will have distress ten days. Be faithful to death and I will give you the crown of life.</i>


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<i>Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Pergamum write: "These things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword:</i>


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<i>I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is. Yet you are holding fast my name and did not disown faith in me even in the days when Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed beside you where Satan lives.</i>


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<i>But I have a few things against you, because you have some who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the sons of Israel: to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit unchastity.</i>


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<i>Repent, therefore. Otherwise I am coming to you shortly, and I will make war upon them with the sword of my mouth.</i>


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<i>Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write: "These things says the Son of God, he who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like fine brass:</i>


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<i>I know your works and your love and your faith and your service and your endurance, and that your last works are more than your first.</i>


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<i>But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and leads astray my servants to commit unchastity and to eat things sacrificed to idols.</i>


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<i>See, I will cast her into a bed and those who commit adultery with her into great distress, unless they repent of their deeds,</i>


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<i>and her children I will surely kill. All the churches shall know that I am he who searches hearts and will give to each of you according to your deeds.</i>


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<i>But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, as many as do not hold this teaching, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I do not lay on you any other burden.</i>


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<i>He who conquers and keeps my commands to the end \'97 I will give him authority over the nations,</i>


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<i>and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron, as earthenware is broken to pieces, just as I also have received from my Father.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write: "These things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your deeds, that you have the name of being alive, but are dead.</i>


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<i>Become watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are about to die. For I have not found any works of yours complete before my God.</i>


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<i>Remember, then, how you have received and heard, and give attention and repent. Unless you watch, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.</i>


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<i>But you have a few names in Sardis which have not stained their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.</i>


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<i>He who conquers shall be thus clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, but will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write: "These things says the Holy, the True, he who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts and who shuts and no one opens:</i>


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<i>"I know your deeds. See, I have set before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and you have kept my word and have not disowned my name.</i>


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<i>See, I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, men who call themselves Jews when they are not but are lying \'97 I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they shall know that I have loved you.</i>


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<i>Because you have kept my command of patient endurance, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which is about to come on all the world, to try the inhabitants of the earth.</i>


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<i>He who conquers \'97 I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God and he will never go out, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven from my God, and I will write on him my own new name.</i>


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<i>"To the Angel of the Church in Laodicea write: "These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:</i>


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<i>Because you say, 'I am rich and have grown wealthy and lack nothing,' and do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked,</i>


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<i>I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on, so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.</i>


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<i>See, I am standing at the door and knocking. If any one listens to my voice and opens his door, I will come in with him and will feast with him and he with me.</i>


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<i>He who conquers \'97 to him I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.</i>


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AFTER this I looked and there was an open door in heaven and the voice that I had heard at first, as if of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here and I will show you things that must come to pass hereafter."


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Immediately I became in the Spirit. A throne was standing in heaven and on the throne One was sitting.


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He who was sitting there was in appearance like a jasper stone and a sardius. A rainbow, in appearance like an emerald, encircled the throne.


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Around the throne I saw twenty-four thrones and on these thrones twenty-four elders seated, clothed in white garments and with golden crowns on their heads.


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From the throne issued lightnings and voices and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. These are the seven Spirits of God.


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Before the throne there was as it were a glassy sea, like crystal. Near the throne and around the throne there were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.


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The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man's, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.


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The four living creatures have each six wings, and around and within they are full of eyes. They cease not saying day and night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."


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And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives for the ages of the ages,


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the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for the ages of the ages, and they cast their crowns before the throne saying,


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"Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things and because of thy will they existed and were created."


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THEN I saw in the right hand of him who was sitting on the throne a book with writing inside and outside and closely sealed with seven seals.


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I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and loose its seals?"


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But no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.


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Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered and can open the book and its seven seals."


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Then I saw midway between the throne and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb standing. He seemed as if he had been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.


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When he took the book the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which is the prayers of the holy.


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Then they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the book and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and didst ransom for God by thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,


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Then I looked and I heard the voices of many angels encircling the throne and the voices of the four living creatures and of the elders \'97 the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands \'97


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crying aloud, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing."


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And every creature that is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all creatures in them, I heard saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and power for the ages of the ages."


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THEN I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals and I heard one of the living creatures say, as if with a voice of thunder, "Come."


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I looked and there came a white horse, and he who was sitting on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him and he went forth conquering and to conquer.


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Then another horse came out. It was fiery red, and to him who was sitting on it was granted to take peace from the earth so that men should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.


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When he opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say, "Come." I looked and there came a black horse, and he who was sitting on it had a pair of scales in his hand.


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I heard what seemed a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A measure of wheat for a shilling and three measures of barley for a shilling. But do no harm to the oil or the wine."


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I looked and there came a pale yellow horse. The name of him who was sitting on it was Death, and Hades was following along with him. Authority was granted to them over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and with the wild beasts of the earth.


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When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the sake of God's message and because of the testimony which they had borne.


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They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Ruler holy and true, wilt thou delay to judge and take vengeance for our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?"


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To each of them a white robe was given, and it was said to them that they must wait quietly yet a little while until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren was complete, who were yet to be killed as they had been.


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I saw when he opened the sixth seal and there came a great earthquake and the sun became black, like sackcloth of hair, and the moon became all like blood


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and the stars of heaven fell to the ground, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a strong wind,


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and the sky passed away like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.


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Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong and every slave and freeman hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains


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and said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,


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AFTER this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind might blow on the land or on the sea or on any tree.


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Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, with the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been granted to harm the land and the sea


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and said, "Do not harm the land or the sea or any tree until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads."


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I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:


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Of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed, Of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,


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Of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,


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Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,


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Of the tribe of Zebulon, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand, Of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand.


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After this I looked and there was a great multitude which no one could count, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands,


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and they shouted with a loud voice saying, "Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!"


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And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God


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saying, "Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God for the ages of the ages! Amen."


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Then one of the elders spoke to me and said, "These who wear the white robes \'97 who are they and where have they come from?"


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I said to him, "My Lord, you know." He said to me, "These have come out of the great distress and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.


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For this reason they are before the throne of God and worship him day and night in his Temple, and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.


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They will not hunger any more nor thirst any more, nor will the sun strike on them nor any burning heat,


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for the Lamb who is in the center before the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."


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Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and much incense was given to him for him to put with the prayers of all the holy on the golden altar before the throne.


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The smoke of the incense from the hand of the angel went up with the prayers of the holy before God.


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Then the angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.


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The first sounded his trumpet and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up.


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The second angel sounded his trumpet and, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea became blood


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and a third of the creatures in the sea, those that had life, died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.


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The third angel sounded his trumpet and there fell from heaven a great star burning like a torch. It fell upon a third of the rivers and upon the springs of water.


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The name of the star is called Wormwood. Then a third of the waters became worm-wood, and many people died from the waters because they had been made bitter.


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The fourth angel sounded his trumpet and a blight fell upon a third part of the sun and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened, and the day had no light for a third part of it, and the night was darkened in the same way.


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Then I looked and I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-heaven say with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who are living on the earth, because of the rest of the trumpet-blasts which the three angels are soon to sound!"


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THE fifth angel sounded his trumpet and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. There was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.


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And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke came up from the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened and the air also by the smoke of the pit.


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Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them such as earthly scorpions have.


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It was said to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth nor anything green nor any tree, but only the people that did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.


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It was not granted to them to kill such, but to torment them five months. Their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a man.


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In those days men will seek for death and will not find it and will long to die, but death will fly from them.


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The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses equipped for battle. On their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were like human faces.


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They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. The noise of their wings was like the noise of many-horsed chariots rushing into battle.


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They have tails as scorpions have, and stings, and with their tails they have power to harm men five months.


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They have over them a king, the angel of the abyss, whose name <n>Destroyer</n> is in Hebrew Abaddon, but in Greek Apollyon.


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The sixth angel sounded his trumpet and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar before God


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saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, "Loose the four angels that are chained at the great river Euphrates."


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So the four angels were loosed, they who were prepared for the hour and day and month and year to kill a third of men.


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The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.


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This is how the horses and those who sat on them appeared to me in the vision: The riders had breastplates, fiery red, dark blue, and sulphur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire and smoke and sulphur.


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By these three plagues a third of men were killed \'97 by the fire and the smoke and the sulphur that came out of their mouths.


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For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents with heads, and with these they do injury.


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But the rest of men, who were not killed by these plagues, neither repented of the deeds of their hands nor ceased worshiping the demons and their idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk,


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nor did they repent of their murders nor of their magic nor of their unchastities nor of their thefts.


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THEN I saw another strong angel descending from heaven. He was clothed in a cloud and the rainbow was over his head. His face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire.


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and shouted with a loud voice like the roar of a lion. When he had shouted the seven thunders spoke, each its own message.


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When the seven thunders had spoken I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken and do not write it."


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and swore by him who lives for the ages of the ages, who formed heaven and all things in it and the earth and all things upon it and the sea and all things in it, "There shall be no more delay,


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but in the days of the blast of the seventh angel, when he soon shall sound his trumpet, then the mystery of God has been finished, according to the good news that he gave to his servants the prophets."


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Then the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke again with me and said, "Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."


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So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little book. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, though in your mouth it will be sweet like honey."


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I took the little book from the hand of the angel and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet like honey, but after I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.


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THEN a reed like a measuring stick was given to me with the words, "Rise and measure the Temple of God and the altar and those who are worshiping at it.


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But the court outside the Temple omit and do not measure it, for it has been given over to the Gentiles and they will trample down the holy city forty-two months.


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I will grant to my two witnesses to prophesy a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.


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If any one wishes to harm them fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. If any one shall wish to harm them, in this way he must be killed.


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They have power to shut up heaven so that no rain shall fall during the days that they are prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and power to smite the earth with every kind of plague as often as they please.


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When they have completed their testimony, the Beast that is coming up out of the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them.


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Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.


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Men of all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their corpses three days and a half and will not permit their corpses to be placed in a tomb.


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Those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and send gifts to one another, because the two prophets tormented those who live on the earth."


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After the three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet. Then great fear fell on those who were looking at them.


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They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here," and they went up into heaven in the cloud while their enemies were looking at them.


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At that hour occurred a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell and seven thousand men were killed by the earthquake. The rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.


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The seventh angel sounded his trumpet and there came loud voices in heaven saying, "The kingship of the world has become our Lord's and his Christ's and he will be king for the ages of the ages."


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Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,


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saying, "We thank thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and hast become king.


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The Gentiles raged, but thy wrath came and the time to judge the dead and to give the reward to thy servants the prophets and to the holy who reverence thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who are destroying the earth."


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Then the Temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant in his temple was seen in his temple, and there came lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.


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A GREAT sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun. The moon was under her feet and on her head was a crown of twelve stars.


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There appeared also another sign in heaven, a great fiery-red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On his heads were seven diadems


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and his tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the ground. The Dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth to a child, so that he might devour the child as soon as it was born.


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She gave birth to a son who is to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron. Then the child was caught up to God and to his throne.


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The woman fled into the wilderness where she has from God a prepared place, that they may nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.


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War arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon. The Dragon and his angels fought,


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Then was hurled down the great Dragon, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who misleads the whole world \'97 he was hurled to the earth and his angels were hurled with him.


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I heard a loud voice in heaven say, "Now has come the salvation and power and kingship of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brethren has been hurled down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.


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But they have conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of testimony to him, and they loved not their lives even to death.


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Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who tent in them! Alas for the land and the sea! For the Devil has gone down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but a little time."


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When the Dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth he pursued the woman who had given birth to the man-child.


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Then there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle to fly into the wilderness to her place, where she shall be fed for a time and times and half a time, hidden from the view of the Serpent.


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The Serpent poured from his mouth after the woman water like a river, to sweep her away with a flood.


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But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river that the Dragon had poured out of his mouth.


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Then the Dragon was enraged against the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commands of God and hold the testimony concerning Jesus.


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THEN I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw rising out of the sea a Beast with ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten diadems and upon his heads were profane names.


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The Beast that I saw was like a leopard, but his feet were like a bear's feet and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The Dragon gave to him his own power and his throne and great authority.


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I saw one of his heads, as it were, mortally wounded, but the mortal wound was healed. The whole world followed the Beast in amazement,


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and they worshiped the Dragon because he had given such power to the Beast, and they worshiped the Beast, saying, "Who is like the Beast, and who can battle with him?"


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There was given to him a mouth speaking boasts and profanities, and there was given to him power to act for forty-two months.


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He opened his mouth to insult God, to speak profanely of his name and of his Tent and of those who tent in heaven.


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It was granted to the Beast to make war with the holy and to conquer them, and power was granted to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.


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All the inhabitants of the earth will worship him, all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the slain Iamb's Book of Life.


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If any one is destined to captivity, into captivity he will go. If any one is to be killed by the sword, by the sword must he be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the holy.


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Then I saw another Beast coming up out of the land. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.


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It exercises all the authority of the first Beast in his presence. It compels the earth and its inhabitants to worship the first Beast whose mortal wound was healed.


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It leads astray the inhabitants of the earth because of the signs which it has been granted power to do in the presence of the Beast. It tells the inhabitants of the earth to make an image of the Beast which was wounded by the sword, yet lived.


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Power was granted to it to give breath to the image of the Beast, so that the image of the Beast spoke and it caused all who did not worship the image of the Beast to be put to death.


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It causes all, small and great, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, to have a mark put on their right hands or on their foreheads,


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so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark \'97 the name of the Beast or the number of his name.


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Here wisdom is required. Let him who has understanding count the number of the Beast; for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred and sixty-six.


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THEN I looked and there was a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and the name of his Father written on their fore-heads.


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I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters, like the sound of loud thunder. The sound that I heard was as of harpers playing on their harps.


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They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth.


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These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were ransomed from among men as first-fruits for God and the Lamb.


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Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven having eternal good news to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.


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He said in a loud voice, "Reverence God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water."


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Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of her passion for unchastity."


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Another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice, "If any one worships the Beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead and on his hand,


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he also will drink of the wine of God's passion which has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured in fire and brimstone in the presence of holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.


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And the smoke of their torture will ascend for ages of ages and they will have no rest day or night \'97 those who worship the Beast and his image, and any one who receives the mark of his name."


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Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their toils. For their works follow with them."


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Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man. He had on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle.


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Another angel came out of the Temple and shouted with a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is dry."


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Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are fully ripe."


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Then the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth and flung it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.


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The winepress was trodden outside the city and blood came out from the wine-press as high as the horses' bridles for a thousand and six hundred furlongs.


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THEN I saw another sign in heaven. It was great and wonderful \'97 seven angels with the seven plagues which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is fully executed.


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Then I saw what was like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had come victorious from the Beast and his image and the number of his name standing by the glassy sea with harps of God.


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They were singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and wonderful are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, O King of the nations.


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Who will not reverence and glorify thy name, O Lord? For thou only art holy. All the nations will come and worship before thee, because thy righteous acts have been made manifest."


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and the seven angels with the seven last plagues came out of the Temple, clothed in pure shining linen and girded around their breasts with golden girdles.


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One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives for the ages of the ages.


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The Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.


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THEN I heard a loud voice saying from the Temple to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth."


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The first went away and poured his bowl upon the land, and there came an evil and malignant ulcer on the men who had the mark of the Beast and those who worshiped its image.


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The second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man and every living thing that was in the sea died.


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The third angel poured out his bowl upon the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.


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Then I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Just art thou who art and wast, the Holy One, because thou hast so judged,


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for they poured out the blood of thy holy ones and prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it."


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Men were scorched with great heat and they insulted the name of God who had power over these plagues, but they did not repent and give him glory.


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The fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the Beast, and his kingdom became darkened and men bit their tongues from pain


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and insulted the God of heaven for their pains and their ulcers, but they did not repent of their deeds.


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The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to make a road ready for the kings from the sunrising.


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Then I saw come out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the False Prophet three impure spirits like frogs.


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They are the spirits of demons who work miracles, and they go forth to the kings of the whole habitable world to gather them for the battle of the great day of God the Almighty.


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<i>"I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who is watching and keeping his garments so that he may not go naked and people see his shame!"</i>


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The seventh angel poured out his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came from the Temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"


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Then came lightnings and voices and thunders and a great earthquake. So great an earthquake has not occurred since man came upon the earth.


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The great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the Gentiles fell. Then Babylon the Great was remembered before God \'97 to give to her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath.


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And great hailstones each weighing about a hundred pounds fell from heaven on men. Men insulted God because of the hail, for the plague of it was great.


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THEN came one of the seven angels that had the seven plagues and spoke with me. He said, "Come here. I will show you the doom of the great prostitute who sits on many waters


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and with whom the kings of the earth have committed lewdness, while the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk with the wine of her lewdness."


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He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast covered with profane names, and with seven heads and ten horns.


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The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She had in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her lewdness.


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On her forehead was written a mysterious name: "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth."


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I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the holy and with the blood of the witnesses for Jesus. When I saw her I wondered greatly.


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The angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystic meaning of the woman and the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.


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The Beast which you saw was and is not and will soon come up out of the abyss and go into destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life will be amazed when they see the Beast that was and is not and will be.


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Here is need for a mind that has wisdom. "The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sits.


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Also they are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he comes he must stay but a little while.


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The Beast which was and is not is also himself an eighth, yet is one of the seven, and will go into destruction.


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The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received kingly power, but they will receive power as kings for one hour with the Beast.


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They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings. They who are with him, called and chosen and faithful, will also conquer."


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He said to me, "The waters that you saw where the prostitute was sitting are peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.


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The ten horns that you saw and the Beast \'97 they hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked and they will devour her flesh and will burn her up with fire.


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For God has put it in their hearts to carry out his purpose, which is that they shall carry out one purpose and give their royal power to the Beast until the words of God are fulfilled.


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AFTER this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great power, and the earth was lit up with his splendor.


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He shouted with a powerful voice, saying, "Babylon the Great has fallen, has fallen, and has become a habitation of demons and a stronghold of every impure spirit and a stronghold of every unclean and detested bird.


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For all the nations have drunk of the wine of her passion for lewdness and the kings of the earth have committed lewdness with her and by the excess of her luxury the merchants of the earth have grown rich."


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Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you may not take part in her sins nor receive a share in her plagues,


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Repay to her as she has paid, and make it double for her deeds. In the cup she mixed mix double for her.


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As much as she glorified herself and played the wanton, so much give her torture and woe. For in her heart she says, 'I sit here a queen; no widow am I and woe I shall not see.'


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For this reason in one day her plagues will come, death and woe and famine, and she shall be burned up in fire. For strong is the Lord God who has judged her.


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"The kings of the earth who have committed lewdness with her and have reveled luxuriously, when they see the smoke of her burning, will wail and beat their breasts.


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Standing afar because of their dismay at her torture, they will say, 'Alas, alas, O great city, Babylon the strong city, for in one hour your doom has come!'


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The merchants of the earth will weep and wail over her, for no one will any longer buy their cargoes,


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cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, all kinds of citrus wood and their many kinds of articles of ivory and their many kinds of articles of costliest wood and brass and iron and marble,


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and cinnamon and spice and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine, and olive oil and fine flour and wheat, and cattle and sheep and horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.


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The ripe fruits for which your soul longed have gone from you, and all your dainty and splendid things are lost to you and they will never more be found.


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The traders in these things who grew rich from her will stand afar through dismay at her torture, weeping and wailing


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and saying: 'Alas, alas, for the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!


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For in one hour this vast wealth has given place to desolation.' " Every ship captain and every one who sails anywhere, and sailors and all who gain their living on the sea, stood afar


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and shouted as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "What city could compare with the great city?"


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They threw dust upon their heads and shouted as they wept and wailed, saying, "Alas, alas, for the great city in which all who had ships on the sea grew rich from her wealth! For in an hour she has been desolated.


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Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you the holy and you apostles and prophets! For God has pronounced sentence in your behalf against her."


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Then one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and hurled it into the sea, saying, "With such violence shall Babylon the great city be hurled down and she will never more be found.


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The music of harpers and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will never more be heard in you. No master of any art will ever more be found in you. The sound of the mill will never more be heard in you.


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The light of a lamp will never more shine in you. The voices of bridegroom and bride will never again be heard in you. Your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your magic arts all the nations were led astray.


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AFTER this I heard what seemed the loud voices of a great multitude in heaven saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,


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for true and just are his judgments. He has judged the great prostitute who was corrupting the earth with her lewdness and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants."


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Then the twenty-four elders fell down and the four living creatures worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, "Amen! Hallelujah!"


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A voice came from the throne saying, "Praise our God, all of you his servants who reverence him, both small and great."


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Then I heard what seemed like the voices of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of mighty thunders, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty is king.


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Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has prepared herself


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and it has been granted to her to be clothed in fine linen shining and pure." For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the holy.


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Then he said to me, "Write: Blessed are they who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" He said to me, "These are the true words of God."


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Then I fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But he said to me, "No, no. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren who hold the testimony to Jesus. Worship God. For testimony to Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."


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Then I saw heaven open and there was a white horse, and he who was sitting on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.


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His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. He has a name written which no one but himself knows,


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From his mouth issues a sharp sword to smite the nations. He will shepherd them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God Almighty.


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Then I saw one angel standing on the sun, and he shouted with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, "Come, gather for the great feast of God,


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to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of generals and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of freemen and of slaves, of small and great."


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Then I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to do battle with him who sits on the horse and with his army.


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And the Beast was captured and with him the False Prophet who did miracles in his presence and thereby misled those who received the mark of the Beast and who worshiped his image. The two were flung alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.


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The rest were slain with the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issued from his mouth, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.


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He laid hold of the Dragon, the ancient Serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and chained him for a thousand years


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and flung him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not mislead the nations until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.


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Then I saw thrones, and men took their seats on them and the power to judge was granted to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for God's message, and who had not worshiped the Beast nor his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They lived and reigned as kings with Christ a thousand years,


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but the rest of the dead did not return to life until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.


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Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection! Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests and kings of God and of Christ, and will reign with him the thousand years.


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and will come out to mislead the nations that are at the four corners of the earth \'97 Gog and Magog \'97 and gather them to battle in number like the sand of the sea.


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They went up over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy and the beloved city. But fire fell from heaven and consumed them,


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and the Devil who was misleading them was flung into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the Beast and the False Prophet, and they will be tormented day and night for the ages of the ages.


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Then I saw a great white throne and him who was sitting on it, from whose face earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them.


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And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged out of what was written in the books according to their deeds.


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The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and they were judged each according to his deeds.


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THEN I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.


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I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.


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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "The Tent of God is with men. He will tent with them and they will be his people and he will be their God.


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He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more; neither shall there any longer be sorrow or wailing or painful toil; for the first things have passed away."


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He who was sitting on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." He said, "Write; for these words are trustworthy and true."


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He said to me, "They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsting I will give from the spring of the water of life freely.


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But the timid and faithless and abominable and murderers and the unchaste and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars will have their lot in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."


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Then one of the angels that had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me. "Come here," he said, "and I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife."


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Then he carried me in Spirit to the top of a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God,


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having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like that of a most precious stone, like crystalline jasper.


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She had a wall great and high, and she had twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels, and there were names written upon the gates. They are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.


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On the east were three gates and on the north three gates and on the south three gates and on the west three gates.


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The wall of the city had twelve foundations and upon them were twelve names, the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.


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He who was speaking with me had a golden reed as a measure, to measure the city and her gates and her wall.


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The city stands foursquare and the length is the same as the breadth. He measured the city with the reed. It extends twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.


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He measured the wall of it, a hundred and forty-four cubits by human measure, which is also that of an angel.


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The foundations of the wall of the city were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,


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the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.


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The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.


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And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God illumines it and the Lamb is its light.


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But there will not enter into it anything unholy or any one who makes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.


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THEN he showed me a river of water of life bright as crystal, issuing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.


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In the space between the street and the river, on this side and on that, grew trees of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit, and yielding their fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.


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There will no longer be any accursed thing. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him with holy rites.


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There will not be night any more and they will have no need of lamplight or of sunlight; for the Lord God will shine upon them and they will be kings for the ages of the ages.


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Then he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to show to his servants what must soon come to pass.


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I, John, am he who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me.


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But he said to me, "No, no. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren and of the prophets and of those who are keeping the words of this book. Worship God."


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Let the wrongdoer do wrong still, and let him who is filthy be filthy still, and let the righteous do righteousness still, and let the holy be holy still.


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<i>Blessed will those be who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.</i>


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<i>Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the unchaste and the murderers and the idolaters and every one who loves and makes a lie.</i>


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<i>"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright morning Star."</i>


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The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." Let him who hears say, "Come." Let him who thirsts come. Let him who will take the water of life freely.


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I testify to every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if any one adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book,


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and if any one takes away anything from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written of in this book.


