# verses

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The Jews, full of resentment, enlisted the help of a gang from the market place, stirred up a crowd, and soon had the whole city in an uproar. They made for Jason's house, hoping to bring them before the People's Assembly;


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however, they found only Jason and some of the brothers, and these they dragged before the city council, shouting, 'The people who have been turning the whole world upside down have come here now;


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they have been staying at Jason's. They have broken Caesar's edicts by claiming that there is another king, Jesus.'


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When it was dark the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Beroea, where they went to the Jewish synagogue as soon as they arrived.


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Here the Jews were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they welcomed the word very readily; every day they studied the scriptures to check whether it was true.


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Many of them became believers, and so did many Greek women of high standing and a number of the men.


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When the Jews of Thessalonica came to learn that the word of God was being preached by Paul in Beroea as well, they went there to make trouble and stir up the people.


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So the brothers arranged for Paul to go immediately as far as the coast, leaving Silas and Timothy behind.


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Paul's escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.


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Paul waited for them in Athens and there his whole soul was revolted at the sight of a city given over to idolatry.


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In the synagogue he debated with the Jews and the godfearing, and in the market place he debated every day with anyone whom he met.


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Even a few Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, 'What can this parrot mean?' And, because he was preaching about Jesus and Resurrection, others said, 'He seems to be a propagandist for some outlandish gods.'


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They got him to accompany them to the Areopagus, where they said to him, 'Can we know what this new doctrine is that you are teaching?


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The one amusement the Athenians and the foreigners living there seem to have is to discuss and listen to the latest ideas.


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So Paul stood before the whole council of the Areopagus and made this speech: 'Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters,


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because, as I strolled round looking at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknown God you revere is the one I proclaim to you.


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'Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands.


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Nor is he in need of anything, that he should be served by human hands; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything -- including life and breath -- to everyone.


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From one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their habitation.


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And he did this so that they might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him; and indeed he is not far from any of us,


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since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: We are all his children.


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'Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.


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'But now, overlooking the times of ignorance, God is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent,


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because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged in uprightness by a man he has appointed. And God has publicly proved this by raising him from the dead.'


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At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, 'We would like to hear you talk about this another time.'


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but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Aeropagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.


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where he met a Jew called Aquila whose family came from Pontus. He and his wife Priscilla had recently left Italy because an edict of Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome. Paul went to visit them,


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and when he found they were tentmakers, of the same trade as himself, he lodged with them, and they worked together.


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After Silas and Timothy had arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted all his time to preaching, declaring to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.


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When they turned against him and started to insult him, he took his cloak and shook it out in front of them, saying, 'Your blood be on your own heads; from now on I will go to the gentiles with a clear conscience.'


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Then he left the synagogue and moved to the house next door that belonged to a worshipper of God called Justus.


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Crispus, president of the synagogue, and his whole household, all became believers in the Lord. Many Corinthians when they heard this became believers and were baptised.


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I am with you. I have so many people that belong to me in this city that no one will attempt to hurt you.'


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But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying,


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Before Paul could open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, 'Listen, you Jews. If this were a misdemeanour or a crime, it would be in order for me to listen to your plea;


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but if it is only quibbles about words and names, and about your own Law, then you must deal with it yourselves -- I have no intention of making legal decisions about these things.'


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and at once they all turned on Sosthenes, the synagogue president, and beat him in front of the tribunal. Gallio refused to take any notice at all.


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After staying on for some time, Paul took leave of the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut off, because of a vow he had made.


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When they reached Ephesus, he left them, but first he went alone to the synagogue to debate with the Jews.


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though when he took his leave he said, 'I will come back another time, God willing.' Then he sailed from Ephesus.


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where he spent a short time before continuing his journey through the Galatian country and then through Phrygia, encouraging all the followers.


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An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of the scriptures, and yet,


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though he had been given instruction in the Way of the Lord and preached with great spiritual fervour and was accurate in all the details he taught about Jesus, he had experienced only the baptism of John.


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He began to teach fearlessly in the synagogue and, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they attached themselves to him and gave him more detailed instruction about the Way.


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When Apollos thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived there he was able by God's grace to help the believers considerably


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by the energetic way he refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.


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It happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples.


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When he asked, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?' they answered, 'No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit.'


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Paul said, 'John's baptism was a baptism of repentance; but he insisted that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him -- namely Jesus.'


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and the moment Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they began to speak with tongues and to prophesy.


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He began by going to the synagogue, where he spoke out fearlessly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. He did this for three months,


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till the attitude of some of the congregation hardened into unbelief. As soon as they began attacking the Way in public, he broke with them and took his disciples apart to hold daily discussions in the lecture room of Tyrannus.


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This went on for two years, with the result that all the inhabitants of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, were able to hear the word of the Lord.


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that handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched him were taken to the sick, and they were cured of their illnesses, and the evil spirits came out of them.


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But some itinerant Jewish exorcists too tried pronouncing the name of the Lord Jesus over people who were possessed by evil spirits; they used to say, 'I adjure you by the Jesus whose spokesman is Paul.'


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and the man with the evil spirit hurled himself at them and overpowered first one and then another, and handled them so violently that they fled from that house stripped of clothing and badly mauled.


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Everybody in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, heard about this episode; everyone was filled with awe, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in great honour.


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and a number of them who had practised magic collected their books and made a bonfire of them in public. The value of these was calculated to be fifty thousand silver pieces.


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When all this was over Paul made up his mind to go back to Jerusalem through Macedonia and Achaia. 'After I have been there,' he said, 'I must go on to see Rome as well.'


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So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, ahead of him to Macedonia, while he remained for a time in Asia.


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A silversmith called Demetrius, who provided work for a large number of craftsmen making silver shrines of Diana,


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called a general meeting of them with others in the same trade. 'As you know,' he said, 'it is on this industry that we depend for our prosperity.


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Now you must have seen and heard how, not just in Ephesus but nearly everywhere in Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and converted a great number of people with his argument that gods made by hand are not gods at all.


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This threatens not only to discredit our trade, but also to reduce the sanctuary of the great goddess Diana to unimportance. It could end up by taking away the prestige of a goddess venerated all over Asia, and indeed all over the world.'


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The whole town was filled with the uproar and the mob made a concerted rush to the theatre, dragging along two of Paul's Macedonian travelling companions, Gaius and Aristarchus.


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in fact, some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent messages urging him not to take the risk of going into the theatre.


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By now everybody was shouting different things, till the assembly itself had no idea what was going on; most of them did not even know why they had gathered together.


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Some of the crowd prevailed upon Alexander, whom the Jews pushed forward; he raised his hand for silence with the intention of explaining things to the people.


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As soon as they realised he was a Jew, they all started shouting in unison, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians!' and they kept this up for two hours.


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When the town clerk eventually succeeded in calming the crowd, he said, 'Citizens of Ephesus! Is there anybody who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the guardian of the temple of great Diana and of her statue that fell from heaven?


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If Demetrius and the craftsmen he has with him want to complain about anyone, there are the assizes and the proconsuls; let them take the case to court.


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We could easily be charged with rioting for today's happenings: there is no ground for it all, and we can give no justification for this gathering.' When he had finished this speech he dismissed the assembly.


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When the disturbance was over, Paul sent for the disciples and, after speaking words of encouragement to them, said good -- bye and set out for Macedonia.


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On his way through those areas he said many words of encouragement to them and then made his way into Greece,


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where he spent three months. He was leaving by ship for Syria when a plot organised against him by the Jews made him decide to go back by way of Macedonia.


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He was accompanied by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, who came from Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus who came from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus who were from Asia.


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We ourselves left Philippi by ship after the days of Unleavened Bread and joined them five days later at Troas, where we stayed for a week.


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On the first day of the week we met for the breaking of bread. Paul was due to leave the next day, and he preached a sermon that went on till the middle of the night.


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and as Paul went on and on, a young man called Eutychus who was sitting on the window-sill grew drowsy and was overcome by sleep and fell to the ground three floors below. He was picked up dead.


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Paul went down and stooped to clasp the boy to him, saying, 'There is no need to worry, there is still life in him.'


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Then he went back upstairs where he broke the bread and ate and carried on talking till he left at daybreak.


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We were now to go on ahead by sea, so we set sail for Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; this was what he had arranged, for he wanted to go overland.


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The next day we sailed from there and arrived opposite Chios. The second day we touched at Samos and, after stopping at Trogyllium, made Miletus the next day.


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Paul had decided to pass wide of Ephesus so as to avoid spending time in Asia, since he was anxious to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.


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When they arrived he addressed these words to them: 'You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia,


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how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.


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I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you and instructed you both in public and in your homes,


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'And now you see me on my way to Jerusalem in captivity to the Spirit; I have no idea what will happen to me there,


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except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear to me that imprisonment and persecution await me.


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But I do not place any value on my own life, provided that I complete the mission the Lord Jesus gave me -- to bear witness to the good news of God's grace.


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'I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again.


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'Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the guardians, to feed the Church of God which he bought with the blood of his own Son.


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'I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock.


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Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.


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So be on your guard, remembering how night and day for three years I never slackened in counselling each one of you with tears.


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And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that has power to build you up and to give you your inheritance among all the sanctified.


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you know for yourselves that these hands of mine earned enough to meet my needs and those of my companions.


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By every means I have shown you that we must exert ourselves in this way to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving." '


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what saddened them most was his saying they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.


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When we had at last torn ourselves away from them and put to sea, we set a straight course and arrived at Cos; the next day we reached Rhodes, and from there went on to Patara.


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After sighting Cyprus and leaving it to port, we sailed to Syria and put in at Tyre, since the ship was to unload her cargo there.


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We sought out the disciples and stayed there a week. Speaking in the Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem,


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but when our time was up we set off. Together with the women and children they all escorted us on our way till we were out of the town. When we reached the beach, we knelt down and prayed;


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The end of our voyage from Tyre came when we landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed one day with them.


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The next day we left and came to Caesarea. Here we called on Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven, and stayed with him.


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He came up to us, took Paul's belt and tied up his own feet and hands, and said, 'This is what the Holy Spirit says, "The man to whom this girdle belongs will be tied up like this by the Jews in Jerusalem and handed over to the gentiles." '


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To this he replied, 'What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For my part, I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'


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Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and took us to the house of a Cypriot with whom we were to lodge; he was called Mnason and had been one of the earliest disciples.


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After greeting them he gave a detailed account of all that God had done among the gentiles through his ministry.


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They gave glory to God when they heard this. Then they said, 'You see, brother, how thousands of Jews have now become believers, all of them staunch upholders of the Law;


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and what they have heard about you is that you instruct all Jews living among the gentiles to break away from Moses, authorising them not to circumcise their children or to follow the customary practices.


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take these men along and be purified with them and pay all the expenses connected with the shaving of their heads. This will let everyone know there is no truth in the reports they have heard about you, and that you too observe the Law by your way of life.


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About the gentiles who have become believers, we have written giving them our decision that they must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from illicit marriages.'


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So the next day Paul took the men along and was purified with them, and he visited the Temple to give notice of the time when the period of purification would be over and the offering would have to be presented on behalf of each of them.


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The seven days were nearly over when some Jews from Asia caught sight of him in the Temple and stirred up the crowd and seized him,


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shouting, 'Men of Israel, help! This is the man who preaches to everyone everywhere against our people, against the Law and against this place. He has even profaned this Holy Place by bringing Greeks into the Temple.'


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They had, in fact, previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and thought that Paul had brought him into the Temple.


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This roused the whole city; people came running from all sides; they seized Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, and the gates were closed behind them.


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While they were setting about killing him, word reached the tribune of the cohort that there was tumult all over Jerusalem.


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He immediately called out soldiers and centurions and charged down on the crowd, who stopped beating Paul when they saw the tribune and the soldiers.


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When the tribune came up he took Paul into custody, had him bound with two chains and enquired who he was and what he had done.


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People in the crowd called out different things, and since the noise made it impossible for him to get any positive information, the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress.


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Just as Paul was being taken into the fortress, he asked the tribune if he could have a word with him. The tribune said, 'You speak Greek, then?


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Aren't you the Egyptian who started the recent revolt and led those four thousand cut-throats out into the desert?'


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'I?' said Paul, 'I am a Jew and a citizen of the well-known city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Please give me permission to speak to the people.'


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The man gave his consent and Paul, standing at the top of the steps, raised his hand to the people for silence. A profound silence followed, and he started speaking to them in Hebrew.


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'I am a Jew', Paul said, 'and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. It was under Gamaliel that I studied and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you all are today.


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as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify. I even received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, which I took with me when I set off to bring prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.


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'It happened that I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when in the middle of the day a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me.


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I answered, "Who are you, Lord?" and he said to me, "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting."


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I said, "What am I to do, Lord?" The Lord answered, "Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do."


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Since the light had been so dazzling that I was blind, I got to Damascus only because my companions led me by the hand.


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'Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there,


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came to see me; he stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul, receive your sight." Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him.


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Then he said, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Upright One and hear his own voice speaking,


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'It happened that, when I got back to Jerusalem, and was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance


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and then I saw him. "Hurry," he said, "leave Jerusalem at once; they will not accept the testimony you are giving about me."


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"Lord," I answered, "they know that I used to go from synagogue to synagogue, imprisoning and flogging those who believed in you;


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and that when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I, too, was standing by, in full agreement with his murderers, and in charge of their clothes."


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So far they had listened to him, but at these words they began to shout, 'Rid the earth of the man! He is not fit to live!'


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and so the tribune had him brought into the fortress and ordered him to be examined under the lash, to find out the reason for the outcry against him.


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But when they had strapped him down Paul said to the centurion on duty, 'Is it legal for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and has not been brought to trial?'


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When he heard this the centurion went and told the tribune; 'Do you realise what you are doing?' he said. 'This man is a Roman citizen.'


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To this the tribune replied, 'It cost me a large sum to acquire this citizenship.' 'But I was born to it,' said Paul.


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Then those who were about to examine him hurriedly withdrew, and the tribune himself was alarmed when he realised that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.


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The next day, since he wanted to know for sure what charge the Jews were bringing, he freed Paul and gave orders for a meeting of the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin; then he brought Paul down and set him in front of them.


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Paul looked steadily at the Sanhedrin and began to speak, 'My brothers, to this day I have conducted myself before God with a perfectly clear conscience.'


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Then Paul said to him, 'God will surely strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there to judge me according to the Law, and then break the Law by ordering a man to strike me?'


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Paul answered, 'Brothers, I did not realise it was the high priest; certainly scripture says, "You will not curse your people's leader." '


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Now Paul was well aware that one party was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, so he called out in the Sanhedrin, 'Brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees. It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.'


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As soon as he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was split between the two parties.


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For the Sadducees say there is neither resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, while the Pharisees accept all three.


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The shouting grew louder, and some of the scribes from the Pharisees' party stood up and protested strongly, 'We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?'


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Feeling was running high, and the tribune, afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered his troops to go down and haul him out and bring him into the fortress.


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Next night, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Courage! You have borne witness for me in Jerusalem, now you must do the same in Rome.'


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When it was day, the Jews held a secret meeting at which they made a vow not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.


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and they went to the chief priests and elders and told them, 'We have made a solemn vow to let nothing pass our lips until we have killed Paul.


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Now it is up to you and the Sanhedrin together to apply to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you meant to examine his case more closely; we, on our side, are prepared to dispose of him before he reaches you.'


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But the son of Paul's sister heard of the ambush they were laying and made his way into the fortress and told Paul,


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who called one of the centurions and said, 'Take this young man to the tribune; he has something to tell him.'


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So the man took him to the tribune, and reported, 'The prisoner Paul summoned me and requested me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you.'


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Then the tribune took him by the hand and drew him aside and questioned him in private, 'What is it you have to tell me?'


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He replied, 'The Jews have made a plan to ask you to take Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they meant to enquire more closely into his case.


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Do not believe them. There are more than forty of them lying in wait for him, and they have vowed not to eat or drink until they have got rid of him. They are ready now and only waiting for your order to be given.'


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The tribune let the young man go with this order, 'Tell no one that you have given me this information.'


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Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, 'Get two hundred soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea by the third hour of the night with seventy cavalry and two hundred auxiliaries;


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This man had been seized by the Jews and would have been murdered by them; but I came on the scene with my troops and got him away, having discovered that he was a Roman citizen.


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I found that the accusation concerned disputed points of their Law, but that there was no charge deserving death or imprisonment.


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Acting on information that there was a conspiracy against the man, I hasten to send him to you, and have notified his accusers that they must state their case against him in your presence.'


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On arriving at Caesarea the escort delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.


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When he had read it, he asked Paul what province he came from. Learning that he was from Cilicia he said,


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'I will hear your case as soon as your accusers are here too.' Then he ordered him to be held in Herod's praetorium.


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Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some of the elders and an advocate named Tertullus, and they laid information against Paul before the governor.


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Paul was called, and Tertullus opened for the prosecution, 'Your Excellency, Felix, the unbroken peace we enjoy and the reforms this nation owes to your foresight


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I do not want to take up too much of your time, but I urge you in your graciousness to give us a brief hearing.


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We have found this man a perfect pest; he stirs up trouble among Jews the world over and is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.


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'I know that you have administered justice over this nation for many years, and I can therefore speak with confidence in my defence.


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As you can verify for yourself, it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem on pilgrimage,


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and it is not true that they ever found me arguing with anyone or stirring up the mob, either in the Temple, in the synagogues, or about the town;


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'What I do admit to you is this: it is according to the Way, which they describe as a sect, that I worship the God of my ancestors, retaining my belief in all points of the Law and in what is written in the prophets;


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and I hold the same hope in God as they do that there will be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked alike.


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In these things, I, as much as they, do my best to keep a clear conscience at all times before God and everyone.


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it was in connection with these that they found me in the Temple; I had been purified, and there was no crowd involved, and no disturbance.


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But some Jews from Asia -- these are the ones who should have appeared before you and accused me of whatever they had against me.


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At least let those who are present say what crime they held against me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,


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unless it were to do with this single claim, when I stood up among them and called out, "It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today." '


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At this, Felix, who was fairly well informed about the Way, adjourned the case, saying, 'When Lysias the tribune comes down I will give judgement about your case.'


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He then gave orders to the centurion that Paul should be kept under arrest but free from restriction, and that none of his own people should be prevented from seeing to his needs.


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Some days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and gave him a hearing on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.


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But when Paul began to treat of uprightness, self-control and the coming Judgement, Felix took fright and said, 'You may go for the present; I will send for you when I find it convenient.'


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At the same time he had hopes of receiving money from Paul, and for this reason he sent for him frequently and had talks with him.


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When two years came to an end, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus and, being anxious to gain favour with the Jews, Felix left Paul in custody.


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urgently asking him to support them against him, and to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush to murder him on the way.


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But Festus replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he would be going back there shortly himself.


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He said, 'Let your authorities come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, they can bring a charge against him.'


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After staying with them for eight or ten days at the most, he went down to Caesarea and the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and had Paul brought in.


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As soon as Paul appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, making many serious accusations which they were unable to substantiate.


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Paul's defence was this, 'I have committed no offence whatever against either Jewish law, or the Temple, or Caesar.'


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Festus was anxious to gain favour with the Jews, so he said to Paul, 'Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges before me there?'


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But Paul replied, 'I am standing before the tribunal of Caesar and this is where I should be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you very well know.


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If I am guilty of committing any capital crime, I do not ask to be spared the death penalty. But if there is no substance in the accusations these persons bring against me, no one has a right to surrender me to them. I appeal to Caesar.'


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Then Festus conferred with his advisers and replied, 'You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.'


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Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul's case before the king, saying, 'There is a man here whom Felix left behind in custody,


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and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation.


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But I told them that Romans are not in the habit of surrendering any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is given an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.


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So they came here with me, and I wasted no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man brought in.


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but they had some argument or other with him about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive.


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Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue.


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But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgement of the emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.'


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Agrippa said to Festus, 'I should like to hear the man myself.' He answered, 'Tomorrow you shall hear him.'


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So the next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived in great state and entered the audience chamber attended by the tribunes and the city notables; and Festus ordered Paul to be brought in.


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Then Festus said, 'King Agrippa, and all here present with us, you see before you the man about whom the whole Jewish community has petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, loudly protesting that he ought not to be allowed to remain alive.


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For my own part I am satisfied that he has committed no capital crime, but when he himself appealed to the emperor I decided to send him.


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But I have nothing definite that I can write to his Imperial Majesty about him; that is why I have produced him before you all, and before you in particular, King Agrippa, so that after the examination I may have something to write.


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Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You have leave to speak on your own behalf.' And Paul held up his hand and began his defence:


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'I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, in that it is before you I am to answer today all the charges made against me by the Jews,


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the more so because you are an expert in matters of custom and controversy among the Jews. So I beg you to listen to me patiently.


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'My manner of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem, is common knowledge among the Jews.


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They have known me for a long time and could testify, if they would, that I followed the strictest party in our religion and lived as a Pharisee.


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the promise that our twelve tribes, constant in worship night and day, hope to attain. For that hope, Your Majesty, I am actually put on trial by Jews!


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'As for me, I once thought it was my duty to use every means to oppose the name of Jesus the Nazarene.


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This I did in Jerusalem; I myself threw many of God's holy people into prison, acting on authority from the chief priests, and when they were being sentenced to death I cast my vote against them.


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I often went round the synagogues inflicting penalties, trying in this way to force them to renounce their faith; my fury against them was so extreme that I even pursued them into foreign cities.


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'On such an expedition I was going to Damascus, armed with full powers and a commission from the chief priests,


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and in the middle of the day as I was on my way, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven shining more brilliantly than the sun round me and my fellow-travellers.


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We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you, kicking against the goad.


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But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason: to appoint you as my servant and as witness of this vision in which you have seen me, and of others in which I shall appear to you.


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to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, and receive, through faith in me, forgiveness of their sins and a share in the inheritance of the sanctified."


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On the contrary I started preaching, first to the people of Damascus, then to those of Jerusalem and all Judaean territory, and also to the gentiles, urging them to repent and turn to God, proving their change of heart by their deeds.


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But I was blessed with God's help, and so I have stood firm to this day, testifying to great and small alike, saying nothing more than what the prophets and Moses himself said would happen:


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that the Christ was to suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he was to proclaim a light for our people and for the gentiles.'


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He had reached this point in his defence when Festus shouted out, 'Paul, you are out of your mind; all that learning of yours is driving you mad.'


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But Paul answered, 'Festus, your Excellency, I am not mad: I am speaking words of sober truth and good sense.


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The king understands these matters, and to him I now speak fearlessly. I am confident that nothing of all this comes as a surprise to him; after all, these things were not done in a corner.


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Paul replied, 'Little or much, I wish before God that not only you but all who are listening to me today would come to be as I am -- except for these chains.'


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When they had retired they talked together and agreed, 'This man is doing nothing that deserves death or imprisonment.'


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And Agrippa remarked to Festus, 'The man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.'


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When it had been decided that we should sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion called Julius, of the Augustan cohort.


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We boarded a vessel from Adramyttium bound for ports on the Asiatic coast and put to sea; we had Aristarchus with us, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.


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Next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius was considerate enough to allow Paul to go to his friends to be looked after.


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For some days we made little headway, and we had difficulty in making Cnidus. The wind would not allow us to touch there, so we sailed under the lee of Crete off Cape Salmone


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A great deal of time had been lost, and navigation was already hazardous, since it was now well after the time of the Fast, so Paul gave them this warning,


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'Friends, I can see this voyage will be dangerous and that we will run considerable risk of losing not only the cargo and the ship but also our lives as well.'


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But the centurion took more notice of the captain and the ship's owner than of what Paul was saying;


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and since the harbour was unsuitable for wintering, the majority were for putting out from there in the hope of wintering at Phoenix -- a harbour in Crete, facing south-west and north-west.


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A southerly breeze sprang up and, thinking their objective as good as reached, they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close inshore.


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But it was not long before a hurricane, the 'north-easter' as they call it, burst on them from across the island.


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The ship was caught and could not keep head to wind, so we had to give way to the wind and let ourselves be driven.


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We ran under the lee of a small island called Cauda and managed with some difficulty to bring the ship's boat under control.


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Having hauled it up they used it to undergird the ship; then, afraid of running aground on the Syrtis banks, they floated out the sea-anchor and so let themselves drift.


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For a number of days both the sun and the stars were invisible and the storm raged unabated until at last we gave up all hope of surviving.


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Then, when they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among the men. 'Friends,' he said, 'you should have listened to me and not put out from Crete. You would have spared yourselves all this damage and loss.


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But now I ask you not to give way to despair. There will be no loss of life at all, only of the ship.


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and he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You are destined to appear before Caesar, and God grants you the safety of all who are sailing with you."


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On the fourteenth night we were being driven one way and another in the Adriatic, when about midnight the crew sensed that land of some sort was near.


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They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; after a short interval they sounded again and found fifteen fathoms.


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Then, afraid that we might run aground somewhere on a reef, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.


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When the crew tried to escape from the ship and lowered the ship's boat into the sea as though they meant to lay out anchors from the bows, Paul said to the centurion and his men,


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Just before daybreak Paul urged them all to have something to eat. 'For fourteen days', he said, 'you have been in suspense, going hungry and eating nothing.


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I urge you to have something to eat; your safety depends on it. Not a hair of any of your heads will be lost.'


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With these words he took some bread, gave thanks to God in view of them all, broke it and began to eat.


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When they had eaten what they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the corn overboard into the sea.


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When day came they did not recognise the land, but they could make out a bay with a beach; they planned to run the ship aground on this if they could.


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They slipped the anchors and let them fall into the sea, and at the same time loosened the lashings of the rudders; then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed for the beach.


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But the cross-currents carried them into a shoal and the vessel ran aground. The bows were wedged in and stuck fast, while the stern began to break up with the pounding of the waves.


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But the centurion was determined to bring Paul safely through and would not let them carry out their plan. He gave orders that those who could swim should jump overboard first and so get ashore,


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and the rest follow either on planks or on pieces of wreckage. In this way it happened that all came safe and sound to land.


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The inhabitants treated us with unusual kindness. They made us all welcome by lighting a huge fire because it had started to rain and the weather was cold.


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Paul had collected a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a viper brought out by the heat attached itself to his hand.


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When the inhabitants saw the creature hanging from his hand they said to one another, 'That man must be a murderer; he may have escaped the sea, but divine justice would not let him live.'


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although they were expecting him at any moment to swell up or drop dead on the spot. After they had waited a long time without seeing anything out of the ordinary happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say he was a god.


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In that neighbourhood there were estates belonging to the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.


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It happened that Publius' father was in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after a prayer he laid his hands on the man and healed him.


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they honoured us with many marks of respect, and when we sailed they put on board the provisions we needed.


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At the end of three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island; she came from Alexandria and her figurehead was the Twins.


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from there we followed the coast up to Rhegium. After one day there a south wind sprang up and on the second day we made Puteoli,


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where we found some brothers and had the great encouragement of staying a week with them. And so we came to Rome.


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When the brothers there heard about us they came to meet us, as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them he thanked God and took courage.


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On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him.


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After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, 'Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.


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They examined me and would have set me free, since they found me guilty of nothing involving the death penalty;


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but the Jews lodged an objection, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, though not because I had any accusation to make against my own nation.


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That is why I have urged you to see me and have a discussion with me, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.'


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They answered, 'We have received no letters from Judaea about you, nor has any of the brothers arrived here with any report or story of anything to your discredit.


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We think it would be as well to hear your own account of your position; all we know about this sect is that it encounters opposition everywhere.'


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So they arranged a day with him and a large number of them visited him at his lodgings. He put his case to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them about Jesus, arguing from the Law of Moses and the prophets from early morning until evening;


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So they disagreed among themselves and, as they went away, Paul had one last thing to say to them, 'How aptly the Holy Spirit spoke when he told your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah:


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Go and say to this people: Listen and listen but never understand! Look and look but never perceive!


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This people's heart is torpid, their ears dulled, they have shut their eyes tight, to avoid using their eyes to see, their ears to hear, using their heart to understand, changing their ways and being healed by me.


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'You must realise, then, that this salvation of God has been sent to the gentiles;they will listen to it.'


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He spent the whole of the two years in his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit him,


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proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete fearlessness and without any hindrance from anyone.


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set apart for the service of the gospel that God promised long ago through his prophets in the holy scriptures.


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was born a descendant of David and who, in terms of the Spirit and of holiness, was designated Son of God in power by resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ, our Lord,


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through whom we have received grace and our apostolic mission of winning the obedience of faith among all the nations for the honour of his name.


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To you all, God's beloved in Rome, called to be his holy people. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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First I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is talked of all over the world.


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God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually mention you in my prayers,


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For I am longing to see you so that I can convey to you some spiritual gift that will be a lasting strength,


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I want you to be quite certain too, brothers, that I have often planned to visit you -- though up to the present I have always been prevented -- in the hope that I might work as fruitfully among you as I have among the gentiles elsewhere.


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For I see no reason to be ashamed of the gospel; it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who has faith -- Jews first, but Greeks as well-


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for in it is revealed the saving justice of God: a justice based on faith and addressed to faith. As it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live.


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The retribution of God from heaven is being revealed against the ungodliness and injustice of human beings who in their injustice hold back the truth.


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ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things. And so these people have no excuse:


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they knew God and yet they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but their arguments became futile and their uncomprehending minds were darkened.


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that they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an imitation, for the image of a mortal human being, or of birds, or animals, or crawling things.


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That is why God abandoned them in their inmost cravings to filthy practices of dishonouring their own bodies-


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because they exchanged God's truth for a lie and have worshipped and served the creature instead of the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.


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why their women have exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices; and the men, in a similar fashion, too, giving up normal relations with women, are consumed with passion for each other, men doing shameful things with men and receiving in themselves due reward for their perversion.


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In other words, since they would not consent to acknowledge God, God abandoned them to their unacceptable thoughts and indecent behaviour.


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And so now they are steeped in all sorts of injustice, rottenness, greed and malice; full of envy, murder, wrangling, treachery and spite,


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libellers, slanderers, enemies of God, rude, arrogant and boastful, enterprising in evil, rebellious to parents,


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They are well aware of God's ordinance: that those who behave like this deserve to die -- yet they not only do it, but even applaud others who do the same.


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So no matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. It is yourself that you condemn when you judge others, since you behave in the same way as those you are condemning.


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But you -- when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing the same yourself -- do you think you will escape God's condemnation?


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Or are you not disregarding his abundant goodness, tolerance and patience, failing to realise that this generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance?


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Your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that Day of retribution when God's just verdicts will be made known.


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For those who aimed for glory and honour and immortality by persevering in doing good, there will be eternal life;


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but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be the fury of retribution.


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Trouble and distress will come to every human being who does evil -- Jews first, but Greeks as well;


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All those who have sinned without the Law will perish without the Law; and those under the Law who have sinned will be judged by the Law.


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For the ones that God will justify are not those who have heard the Law but those who have kept the Law.


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So, when gentiles, not having the Law, still through their own innate sense behave as the Law commands, then, even though they have no Law, they are a law for themselves.


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They can demonstrate the effect of the Law engraved on their hearts, to which their own conscience bears witness; since they are aware of various considerations, some of which accuse them, while others provide them with a defence . . . on the day when,


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that you can teach the ignorant and instruct the unlearned because the Law embodies all knowledge and all truth-


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so then, in teaching others, do you teach yourself as well? You preach that there is to be no stealing, but do you steal?


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You say that adultery is forbidden, but do you commit adultery? You detest the worship of objects, but do you desecrate holy things yourself?


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Circumcision has its value if you keep the Law; but if you go on breaking the Law, you are no more circumcised than the uncircumcised.


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And if an uncircumcised man keeps the commands of the Law, will not his uncircumcised state count as circumcision?


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More, the man who, in his native uncircumcised state, keeps the Law, is a condemnation of you, who, by your concentration on the letter and on circumcision, actually break the Law.


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Being a Jew is not only having the outward appearance of a Jew, and circumcision is not only a visible physical operation.


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The real Jew is the one who is inwardly a Jew, and real circumcision is in the heart, a thing not of the letter but of the spirit. He may not be praised by any human being, but he will be praised by God.


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What if some of them were unfaithful? Do you think their lack of faith could cancel God's faithfulness?


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Out of the question! God will always be true even if no human being can be relied on. As scripture says: That you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence and your victory may appear when you give judgement.


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But if our injustice serves to bring God's saving justice into view, can we say that God is unjust when -- to use human terms -- he brings his retribution down on us?


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You might as well say that if my untruthfulness makes God demonstrate his truthfulness, to his greater glory, then I should not be judged to be a sinner at all.


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In this case, the slanderous report some people are spreading would be true, that we teach that one should do evil that good may come of it. In fact such people are justly condemned.


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Well: are we any better off? Not at all: we have already indicted Jews and Greeks as being all alike under the dominion of sin.


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Now we are well aware that whatever the Law says is said for those who are subject to the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world brought under the judgement of God.


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So then, no human being can be found upright at the tribunal of God by keeping the Law; all that the Law does is to tell us what is sinful.


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God's saving justice was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, but now it has been revealed altogether apart from law:


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God appointed him as a sacrifice for reconciliation, through faith, by the shedding of his blood, and so showed his justness; first for the past, when sins went unpunished because he held his hand;


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and now again for the present age, to show how he is just and justifies everyone who has faith in Jesus.


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So what becomes of our boasts? There is no room for them. On what principle- that only actions count? No; that faith is what counts,


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Do you think God is the God only of the Jews, and not of gentiles too? Most certainly of gentiles too,


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since there is only one God; he will justify the circumcised by their faith, and he will justify the uncircumcised through their faith.


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Are we saying that the Law has been made pointless by faith? Out of the question; we are placing the Law on its true footing.


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If Abraham had been justified because of what he had done, then he would have had something to boast about. But not before God:


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however, when someone, without working, puts faith in the one who justifies the godless, it is this faith that is reckoned as uprightness.


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David, too, says the same: he calls someone blessed if God attributes uprightness to that person, apart from any action undertaken:


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Is this blessing only for the circumcised, or is it said of the uncircumcised as well? Well, we said of Abraham that his faith was reckoned to him as uprightness.


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Now how did this come about? When he was already circumcised, or before he had been circumcised? Not when he had been circumcised, but while he was still uncircumcised;


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and circumcision was given to him later, as a sign and a guarantee that the faith which he had while still uncircumcised was reckoned to him as uprightness. In this way, Abraham was to be the ancestor of all believers who are uncircumcised, so that they might be reckoned as upright;


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as well as the ancestor of those of the circumcision who not only have their circumcision but who also follow our ancestor Abraham along the path of faith that he trod before he was circumcised.


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For the promise to Abraham and his descendants that he should inherit the world was not through the Law, but through the uprightness of faith.


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For if it is those who live by the Law who will gain the inheritance, faith is worthless and the promise is without force;


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for the Law produces nothing but God's retribution, and it is only where there is no Law that it is possible to live without breaking the Law.


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That is why the promise is to faith, so that it comes as a free gift and is secure for all the descendants, not only those who rely on the Law but all those others who rely on the faith of Abraham, the ancestor of us all


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(as scripture says: I have made you the father of many nations). Abraham is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and calls into existence what does not yet exist.


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Though there seemed no hope, he hoped and believed that he was to become father of many nations in fulfilment of the promise: Just so will your descendants be.


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Even the thought that his body was as good as dead -- he was about a hundred years old -- and that Sarah's womb was dead too did not shake his faith.


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Counting on the promise of God, he did not doubt or disbelieve, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God,


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because we believe in him who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus who was handed over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.


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So then, now that we have been justified by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;


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it is through him, by faith, that we have been admitted into God's favour in which we are living, and look forward exultantly to God's glory.


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Not only that; let us exult, too, in our hardships, understanding that hardship develops perseverance,


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and a hope which will not let us down, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.


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You could hardly find anyone ready to die even for someone upright; though it is just possible that, for a really good person, someone might undertake to die.


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How much more can we be sure, therefore, that, now that we have been justified by his death, we shall be saved through him from the retribution of God.


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


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What is more, we are filled with exultant trust in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have already gained our reconciliation.


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Well then; it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.


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Sin already existed in the world before there was any law, even though sin is not reckoned when there is no law.


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Nonetheless death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was not the breaking of a commandment, as Adam's was. He prefigured the One who was to come . . .


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There is no comparison between the free gift and the offence. If death came to many through the offence of one man, how much greater an effect the grace of God has had, coming to so many and so plentifully as a free gift through the one man Jesus Christ!


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Again, there is no comparison between the gift and the offence of one man. One single offence brought condemnation, but now, after many offences, have come the free gift and so acquittal!


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It was by one man's offence that death came to reign over all, but how much greater the reign in life of those who receive the fullness of grace and the gift of saving justice, through the one man, Jesus Christ.


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One man's offence brought condemnation on all humanity; and one man's good act has brought justification and life to all humanity.


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Just as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience are many to be made upright.


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When law came on the scene, it was to multiply the offences. But however much sin increased, grace was always greater;


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so that as sin's reign brought death, so grace was to rule through saving justice that leads to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


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You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death.


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So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, we too should begin living a new life.


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realising that our former self was crucified with him, so that the self which belonged to sin should be destroyed and we should be freed from the slavery of sin.


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We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more.


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That is why you must not allow sin to reign over your mortal bodies and make you obey their desires;


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or give any parts of your bodies over to sin to be used as instruments of evil. Instead, give yourselves to God, as people brought to life from the dead, and give every part of your bodies to God to be instruments of uprightness;


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and then sin will no longer have any power over you -- you are living not under law, but under grace.


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What is the implication? That we are free to sin, now that we are not under law but under grace? Out of the question!


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You know well that if you undertake to be somebody's slave and obey him, you are the slave of him you obey: you can be the slave either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to saving justice.


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Once you were slaves of sin, but thank God you have given whole-hearted obedience to the pattern of teaching to which you were introduced;


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I am putting it in human terms because you are still weak human beings: as once you surrendered yourselves as servants to immorality and to a lawlessness which results in more lawlessness, now you have to surrender yourselves to uprightness which is to result in sanctification.


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and what did you gain from living like that? Experiences of which you are now ashamed, for that sort of behaviour ends in death.


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But, now you are set free from sin and bound to the service of God, your gain will be sanctification and the end will be eternal life.


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For the wage paid by sin is death; the gift freely given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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As people who are familiar with the Law, brothers, you cannot have forgotten that the law can control a person only during that person's lifetime.


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A married woman, for instance, is bound to her husband by law, as long as he lives, but when her husband dies all her legal obligation to him as husband is ended.


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So if she were to have relations with another man while her husband was still alive, she would be termed an adulteress; but if her husband dies, her legal obligation comes to an end and if she then has relations with another man, that does not make her an adulteress.


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In the same way you, my brothers, through the body of Christ have become dead to the Law and so you are able to belong to someone else, that is, to him who was raised from the dead to make us live fruitfully for God.


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While we were still living by our natural inclinations, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were working in all parts of our bodies to make us live lives which were fruitful only for death.


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But now we are released from the Law, having died to what was binding us, and so we are in a new service, that of the spirit, and not in the old service of a written code.


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What should we say, then? That the Law itself is sin? Out of the question! All the same, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have known what sin was; for instance, I should not have known what it meant to covet if the Law had not said: You are not to covet.


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But, once it found the opportunity through that commandment, sin produced in me all kinds of covetousness; as long as there is no Law, sin is dead.


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because sin, finding its opportunity by means of the commandment, beguiled me and, by means of it, killed me.


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Does that mean that something good resulted in my dying? Out of the question! But sin, in order to be identified as sin, caused my death through that good thing, and so it is by means of the commandment that sin shows its unbounded sinful power.


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We are well aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave to sin.


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And really, I know of nothing good living in me -- in my natural self, that is -- for though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not:


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But every time I do what I do not want to, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me.


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but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So I am brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.


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God -- thanks be to him -- through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.


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because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.


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What the Law could not do because of the weakness of human nature, God did, sending his own Son in the same human nature as any sinner to be a sacrifice for sin, and condemning sin in that human nature.


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This was so that the Law's requirements might be fully satisfied in us as we direct our lives not by our natural inclinations but by the Spirit.


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Those who are living by their natural inclinations have their minds on the things human nature desires; those who live in the Spirit have their minds on spiritual things.


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And human nature has nothing to look forward to but death, while the Spirit looks forward to life and peace,


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because the outlook of disordered human nature is opposed to God, since it does not submit to God's Law, and indeed it cannot,


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You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.


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But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified;


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and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.


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If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the habits originating in the body, you will have life.


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for what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, 'Abba, Father!'


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And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory.


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In my estimation, all that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us,


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It was not for its own purposes that creation had frustration imposed on it, but for the purposes of him who imposed it-


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with the intention that the whole creation itself might be freed from its slavery to corruption and brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God.


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And not only that: we too, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we are groaning inside ourselves, waiting with eagerness for our bodies to be set free.


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In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping -- nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible.


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But having this hope for what we cannot yet see, we are able to wait for it with persevering confidence.


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And as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for, when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words;


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and he who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God's holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God.


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We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good.


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He decided beforehand who were the ones destined to be moulded to the pattern of his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;


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it was those so destined that he called; those that he called, he justified, and those that he has justified he has brought into glory.


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Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts?


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who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died -- yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand -- and who is adding his plea for us?


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Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ -- can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence;


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as scripture says: For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered?


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For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power,


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nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.


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This is the truth and I am speaking in Christ, without pretence, as my conscience testifies for me in the Holy Spirit;


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I could pray that I myself might be accursed and cut off from Christ, if this could benefit the brothers who are my own flesh and blood.


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They are Israelites; it was they who were adopted as children, the glory was theirs and the covenants; to them were given the Law and the worship of God and the promises.


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To them belong the fathers and out of them, so far as physical descent is concerned, came Christ who is above all, God, blessed for ever. Amen.


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and not all the descendants of Abraham count as his children, for Isaac is the one through whom your Name will be carried on.


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That is, it is not by being children through physical descent that people become children of God; it is the children of the promise that are counted as the heirs.


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The actual words of the promise were: I shall come back to you at this season, and Sarah will have a son.


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before her children were born, so that neither had yet done anything either good or bad, but in order that it should be God's choice which prevailed


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For speaking to Moses, he said: I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity.


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So it is not a matter of what any person wants or what any person does, but only of God having mercy.


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Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raised you up for this reason, to display my power in you and to have my name talked of throughout the world.


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In other words, if God wants to show mercy on someone, he does so, and if he wants to harden someone's heart, he does so.


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But you -- who do you think you, a human being, are, to answer back to God? Something that was made, can it say to its maker: why did you make me this shape?


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A potter surely has the right over his clay to make out of the same lump either a pot for special use or one for ordinary use.


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But suppose that God, although all the time he wanted to reveal his retribution and demonstrate his power, has with great patience gone on putting up with those who are the instruments of his retribution and designed to be destroyed;


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so that he may make known the glorious riches ready for the people who are the instruments of his faithful love and were long ago prepared for that glory.


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Just as he says in the book of Hosea: I shall tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people,' and I shall take pity on those on whom I had no pity.


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And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' they will be told that they are 'children of the living God'.


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And about Israel, this is what Isaiah cried out: Though the people of Israel are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;


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As Isaiah foretold: Had the Lord Sabaoth not left us a few survivors, we should be like Sodom, we should be the same as Gomorrah.


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What should we say, then? That the gentiles, although they were not looking for saving justice, found it, and this was the saving justice that comes of faith;


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And why? Because they were trying to find it in actions and not in faith, and so they stumbled over the stumbling-stone-


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as it says in scripture: Now I am laying in Zion a stumbling-stone, a rock to trip people up; but he who relies on this will not be brought to disgrace.


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Not recognising God's saving justice they have tried to establish their own, instead of submitting to the saving justice of God.


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Moses writes of the saving justice that comes by the Law and says that whoever complies with it will find life in it.


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But the saving justice of faith says this: Do not think in your heart, 'Who will go up to heaven?' -- 


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that is to bring Christ down; or 'Who will go down to the depths?' -- that is to bring Christ back from the dead.


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What does it say, then? The word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, the faith which we preach,


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


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It is by believing with the heart that you are justified, and by making the declaration with your lips that you are saved.


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it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: the same Lord is the Lord of all, and his generosity is offered to all who appeal to him,


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How then are they to call on him if they have not come to believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard of him? And how will they hear of him unless there is a preacher for them?


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And how will there be preachers if they are not sent? As scripture says: How beautiful are the feet of the messenger of good news.


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But in fact they have not all responded to the good news. As Isaiah says: Lord, who has given credence to what they have heard from us?


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Well then, I say, is it possible that they have not heard? Indeed they have: in the entire earth their voice stands out, their message reaches the whole world.


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Well, another question, then: is it possible that Israel did not understand? In the first place Moses said: I shall rouse you to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate you with a stupid nation.


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And Isaiah is even bold enough to say: I have let myself be found by those who did not seek me; I have let myself be seen by those who did not consult me;


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and referring to Israel, he says: All day long I have been stretching out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people.


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What I am saying is this: is it possible that God abandoned his people? Out of the question! I too am an Israelite, descended from Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.


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God never abandoned his own people to whom, ages ago, he had given recognition. Do you not remember what scripture says about Elijah and how he made a complaint to God against Israel:


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Lord, they have put your prophets to the sword, torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me?


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And what was the prophetic answer given? I have spared for myself seven thousand men that have not bent the knee to Baal.


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What follows? Israel failed to find what it was seeking; only those who were chosen found it and the rest had their minds hardened;


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just as it says in scripture: God has infused them with a spirit of lethargy; until today they have not eyes to see or ears to hear.


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David too says: May their own table prove a trap for them, a pitfall and a snare; let that be their retribution.


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What I am saying is this: Was this stumbling to lead to their final downfall? Out of the question! On the contrary, their failure has brought salvation for the gentiles, in order to stir them to envy.


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And if their fall has proved a great gain to the world, and their loss has proved a great gain to the gentiles -- how much greater a gain will come when all is restored to them!


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Let me say then to you gentiles that, as far as I am an apostle to the gentiles, I take pride in this work of service;


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and I want it to be the means of rousing to envy the people who are my own blood-relations and so of saving some of them.


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Since their rejection meant the reconciliation of the world, do you know what their re-acceptance will mean? Nothing less than life from the dead!


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When the first-fruits are made holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.


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Now suppose that some branches were broken off, and you are wild olive, grafted among the rest to share with the others the rich sap of the olive tree;


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then it is not for you to consider yourself superior to the other branches; and if you start feeling proud, think: it is not you that sustain the root, but the root that sustains you.


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they through their unbelief were broken off, and you are established through your faith. So it is not pride that you should have, but fear:


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Remember God's severity as well as his goodness: his severity to those who fell, and his goodness to you as long as you persevere in it; if not, you too will be cut off.


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And they, if they do not persevere in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for it is within the power of God to graft them back again.


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After all, if you, cut off from what was by nature a wild olive, could then be grafted unnaturally on to a cultivated olive, how much easier will it be for them, the branches that naturally belong there, to be grafted on to the olive tree which is their own.


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I want you to be quite certain, brothers, of this mystery, to save you from congratulating yourselves on your own good sense: part of Israel had its mind hardened, but only until the gentiles have wholly come in;


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and this is how all Israel will be saved. As scripture says: From Zion will come the Redeemer, he will remove godlessness from Jacob.


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As regards the gospel, they are enemies, but for your sake; but as regards those who are God's choice, they are still well loved for the sake of their ancestors.


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Just as you were in the past disobedient to God but now you have been shown mercy, through their disobedience;


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so in the same way they are disobedient now, so that through the mercy shown to you they too will receive mercy.


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How rich and deep are the wisdom and the knowledge of God! We cannot reach to the root of his decisions or his ways.


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Everything there is comes from him and is caused by him and exists for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen.


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I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people.


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Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and mature.


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And through the grace that I have been given, I say this to every one of you: never pride yourself on being better than you really are, but think of yourself dispassionately, recognising that God has given to each one his measure of faith.


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in the same way, all of us, though there are so many of us, make up one body in Christ, and as different parts we are all joined to one another.


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Then since the gifts that we have differ according to the grace that was given to each of us: if it is a gift of prophecy, we should prophesy as much as our faith tells us;


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if it is a gift of practical service, let us devote ourselves to serving; if it is teaching, to teaching;


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if it is encouraging, to encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.


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In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself.


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Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.


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Never try to get revenge: leave that, my dear friends, to the Retribution. As scripture says: Vengeance is mine -- I will pay them back, the Lord promises.


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And more: If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink. By this, you will be heaping red-hot coals on his head.


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Everyone is to obey the governing authorities, because there is no authority except from God and so whatever authorities exist have been appointed by God.


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So anyone who disobeys an authority is rebelling against God's ordinance; and rebels must expect to receive the condemnation they deserve.


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Magistrates bring fear not to those who do good, but to those who do evil. So if you want to live with no fear of authority, live honestly and you will have its approval;


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it is there to serve God for you and for your good. But if you do wrong, then you may well be afraid; because it is not for nothing that the symbol of authority is the sword: it is there to serve God, too, as his avenger, to bring retribution to wrongdoers.


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You must be obedient, therefore, not only because of this retribution, but also for conscience's sake.


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And this is why you should pay taxes, too, because the authorities are all serving God as his agents, even while they are busily occupied with that particular task.


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Pay to each one what is due to each: taxes to the one to whom tax is due, tolls to the one to whom tolls are due, respect to the one to whom respect is due, honour to the one to whom honour is due.


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The only thing you should owe to anyone is love for one another, for to love the other person is to fulfil the law.


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All these: You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and all the other commandments that there are, are summed up in this single phrase: You must love your neighbour as yourself.


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Besides, you know the time has come; the moment is here for you to stop sleeping and wake up, because by now our salvation is nearer than when we first began to believe.


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The night is nearly over, daylight is on the way; so let us throw off everything that belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light.


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Let us live decently, as in the light of day; with no orgies or drunkenness, no promiscuity or licentiousness, and no wrangling or jealousy.


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Let your armour be the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop worrying about how your disordered natural inclinations may be fulfilled.


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Give a welcome to anyone whose faith is not strong, but do not get into arguments about doubtful points.


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One person may have faith enough to eat any kind of food; another, less strong, will eat only vegetables.


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Those who feel free to eat freely are not to condemn those who are unwilling to eat freely; nor must the person who does not eat freely pass judgement on the one who does -- because God has welcomed him.


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And who are you, to sit in judgement over somebody else's servant? Whether he deserves to be upheld or to fall is for his own master to decide; and he shall be upheld, for the Lord has power to uphold him.


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One person thinks that some days are holier than others, and another thinks them all equal. Let each of them be fully convinced in his own mind.


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The one who makes special observance of a particular day observes it in honour of the Lord. So the one who eats freely, eats in honour of the Lord, making his thanksgiving to God; and the one who does not, abstains from eating in honour of the Lord and makes his thanksgiving to God.


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while we are alive, we are living for the Lord, and when we die, we die for the Lord: and so, alive or dead, we belong to the Lord.


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It was for this purpose that Christ both died and came to life again: so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.


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Why, then, does one of you make himself judge over his brother, and why does another among you despise his brother? All of us will have to stand in front of the judgement-seat of God:


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as scripture says: By my own life says the Lord, every knee shall bow before me, every tongue shall give glory to God.


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Let us each stop passing judgement, therefore, on one another and decide instead that none of us will place obstacles in any brother's way, or anything that can bring him down.


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I am sure, and quite convinced in the Lord Jesus, that no food is unclean in itself; it is only if someone classifies any kind of food as unclean, then for him it is unclean.


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And indeed, if through any kind of food you are causing offence to a brother, then you are no longer being guided by love. You are not to let the food that you eat cause the ruin of anyone for whom Christ died.


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for it is not eating and drinking that make the kingdom of God, but the saving justice, the peace and the joy brought by the Holy Spirit.


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It is the person who serves Christ in these things that will be approved by God and respected by everyone.


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So then, let us be always seeking the ways which lead to peace and the ways in which we can support one another.


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Do not wreck God's work for the sake of food. Certainly all foods are clean; but all the same, any kind can be evil for someone to whom it is an offence to eat it.


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It is best to abstain from eating any meat, or drinking any wine, or from any other activity which might cause a brother to fall away, or to be scandalised, or to weaken.


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Within yourself, before God, hold on to what you already believe. Blessed is the person whose principles do not condemn his practice.


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But anyone who eats with qualms of conscience is condemned, because this eating does not spring from faith -- and every action which does not spring from faith is sin.


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It is for us who are strong to bear with the susceptibilities of the weaker ones, and not please ourselves.


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Christ did not indulge his own feelings, either; indeed, as scripture says: The insults of those who insult you fall on me.


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And all these things which were written so long ago were written so that we, learning perseverance and the encouragement which the scriptures give, should have hope.


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Now the God of perseverance and encouragement give you all the same purpose, following the example of Christ Jesus,


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I tell you that Christ's work was to serve the circumcised, fulfilling the truthfulness of God by carrying out the promises made to the fathers,


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and his work was also for the gentiles, so that they should give glory to God for his faithful love; as scripture says: For this I shall praise you among the nations and sing praise to your name.


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And in Isaiah, it says: The root of Jesse will appear, he who rises up to rule the nations, and in him the nations will put their hope.


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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, so that in the power of the Holy Spirit you may be rich in hope.


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My brothers, I am quite sure that you, in particular, are full of goodness, fully instructed and capable of correcting each other.


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But I have special confidence in writing on some points to you, to refresh your memories, because of the grace that was given to me by God.


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I was given grace to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles, dedicated to offer them the gospel of God, so that gentiles might become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.


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Of course I can dare to speak only of the things which Christ has done through me to win the allegiance of the gentiles, using what I have said and done,


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by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. In this way, from Jerusalem and all round, even as far as Illyricum, I have fully carried out the preaching of the gospel of Christ;


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and what is more, it has been my rule to preach the gospel only where the name of Christ has not already been heard, for I do not build on another's foundations;


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in accordance with scripture: Those who have never been told about him will see him, and those who have never heard about him will understand.


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now, however, as there is nothing more to keep me in these parts, I hope, after longing for many years past to visit you, to see you when I am on the way to Spain-


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since Macedonia and Achaia have chosen to make a generous contribution to the poor among God's holy people at Jerusalem.


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Yes, they chose to; not that they did not owe it to them. For if the gentiles have been given a share in their spiritual possessions, then in return to give them help with material possessions is repaying a debt to them.


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So when I have done this, and given this harvest into their possession, I shall visit you on the way to Spain.


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Meanwhile I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that in your prayers to God for me you exert yourselves to help me;


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praying that I may escape the unbelievers in Judaea, and that the aid I am carrying to Jerusalem will be acceptable to God's holy people.


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give her, in the Lord, a welcome worthy of God's holy people, and help her with whatever she needs from you -- she herself has come to the help of many people, including myself.


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who risked their own necks to save my life; to them, thanks not only from me, but from all the churches among the gentiles;


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and my greetings to the church at their house. Greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus, the first of Asia's offerings to Christ.


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Greetings to those outstanding apostles, Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-prisoners, who were in Christ before me.


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Greetings to my kinsman, Herodion, and greetings to those who belong to the Lord in the household of Narcissus.


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Greetings to Tryphaena and Tryphosa who work hard in the Lord; greetings to my dear friend Persis, also a very hard worker in the Lord.


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Greetings to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all God's holy people who are with them.


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I urge you, brothers, be on your guard against the people who are out to stir up disagreements and bring up difficulties against the teaching which you learnt. Avoid them.


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People of that sort are servants not of our Lord Christ, but of their own greed; and with talk that sounds smooth and reasonable they deceive the minds of the unwary.


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Your obedience has become known to everyone, and I am very pleased with you for it; but I should want you to be learned only in what is good, and unsophisticated about all that is evil.


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The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.


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Timothy, who is working with me, sends greetings to you, and so do my kinsmen Lucius, Jason and Sosipater.


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Greetings to you from Gaius, my host here, and host of the whole church. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends greetings to you, and our brother Quartus.


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And now to him who can make you strong in accordance with the gospel that I preach and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, in accordance with that mystery which for endless ages was kept secret


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but now (as the prophets wrote) is revealed, as the eternal God commanded, to be made known to all the nations, so that they obey in faith:


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to the church of God in Corinth, to those who have been consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be God's holy people, with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours.


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I am continually thanking God about you, for the grace of God which you have been given in Christ Jesus;


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he will continue to give you strength till the very end, so that you will be irreproachable on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Brothers, I urge you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to have factions among yourselves but all to be in agreement in what you profess; so that you are perfectly united in your beliefs and judgements.


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From what Chloe's people have been telling me about you, brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you.


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What I mean is this: every one of you is declaring, 'I belong to Paul,' or 'I belong to Apollos,' or 'I belong to Cephas,' or 'I belong to Christ.'


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Has Christ been split up? Was it Paul that was crucified for you, or was it in Paul's name that you were baptised?


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Yes, I did baptise the family of Stephanas, too; but besides these I do not think I baptised anyone.


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After all, Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel; and not by means of wisdom of language, wise words which would make the cross of Christ pointless.


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The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God.


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As scripture says: I am going to destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of any who understand.


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Where are the philosophers? Where are the experts? And where are the debaters of this age? Do you not see how God has shown up human wisdom as folly?


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Since in the wisdom of God the world was unable to recognise God through wisdom, it was God's own pleasure to save believers through the folly of the gospel.


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we are preaching a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness,


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but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.


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Consider, brothers, how you were called; not many of you are wise by human standards, not many influential, not many from noble families.


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No, God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human standards are weak to shame the strong,


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those who by human standards are common and contemptible -- indeed those who count for nothing -- to reduce to nothing all those that do count for something,


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It is by him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God, and saving justice and holiness and redemption.


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Now when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with any brilliance of oratory or wise argument to announce to you the mystery of God.


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I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was knowledge of Jesus, and of him as the crucified Christ.


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and what I spoke and proclaimed was not meant to convince by philosophical argument, but to demonstrate the convincing power of the Spirit,


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But still, to those who have reached maturity, we do talk of a wisdom, not, it is true, a philosophy of this age or of the rulers of this age, who will not last long now.


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It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began.


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None of the rulers of the age recognised it; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;


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but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him;


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to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God.


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After all, is there anyone who knows the qualities of anyone except his own spirit, within him; and in the same way, nobody knows the qualities of God except the Spirit of God.


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Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God's own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us.


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And these are what we speak of, not in the terms learnt from human philosophy, but in terms learnt from the Spirit, fitting spiritual language to spiritual things.


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The natural person has no room for the gifts of God's Spirit; to him they are folly; he cannot recognise them, because their value can be assessed only in the Spirit.


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The spiritual person, on the other hand, can assess the value of everything, and that person's value cannot be assessed by anybody else.


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For: who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his adviser? But we are those who have the mind of Christ.


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And so, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual people; I had to talk to you as people still living by your natural inclinations, still infants in Christ;


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I fed you with milk and not solid food, for you were not yet able to take it -- and even now, you are still not able to,


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for you are still living by your natural inclinations. As long as there are jealousy and rivalry among you, that surely means that you are still living by your natural inclinations and by merely human principles.


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While there is one that says, 'I belong to Paul' and another that says, 'I belong to Apollos' are you not being only too human?


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For what is Apollos and what is Paul? The servants through whom you came to believe, and each has only what the Lord has given him.


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It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will have the proper pay for the work that he has done.


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By the grace of God which was given to me, I laid the foundations like a trained master-builder, and someone else is building on them. Now each one must be careful how he does the building.


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For nobody can lay down any other foundation than the one which is there already, namely Jesus Christ.


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but each person's handiwork will be shown for what it is. The Day which dawns in fire will make it clear and the fire itself will test the quality of each person's work.


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the one whose work is burnt down will suffer the loss of it, though he himself will be saved; he will be saved as someone might expect to be saved from a fire.


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If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person, because God's temple is holy; and you are that temple.


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There is no room for self-delusion. Any one of you who thinks he is wise by worldly standards must learn to be a fool in order to be really wise.


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For the wisdom of the world is folly to God. As scripture says: He traps the crafty in the snare of their own cunning


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whether it is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, the world, life or death, the present or the future -- all belong to you;


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It is of no importance to me how you or any other human court may judge me: I will not even be the judge of my own self.


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It is true that my conscience does not reproach me, but that is not enough to justify me: it is the Lord who is my judge.


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For that reason, do not judge anything before the due time, until the Lord comes; he will bring to light everything that is hidden in darkness and reveal the designs of all hearts. Then everyone will receive from God the appropriate commendation.


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I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you can learn how the saying, 'Nothing beyond what is written' is true of us: no individual among you must become filled with his own importance and make comparisons, to another's detriment.


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Who made you so important? What have you got that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own?


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You already have everything -- you are rich already -- you have come into your kingdom, without any help from us! Well, I wish you were kings and we could be kings with you!


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For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on show right at the end, like men condemned to death: we have been exhibited as a spectacle to the whole universe, both angelic and human.


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Here we are, fools for Christ's sake, while you are the clever ones in Christ; we are weak, while you are strong; you are honoured, while we are disgraced.


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we earn our living by labouring with our own hands; when we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we endure it passively;


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when we are insulted, we give a courteous answer. We are treated even now as the dregs of the world, the very lowest scum.


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for even though you might have ten thousand slaves to look after you in Christ, you still have no more than one father, and it was I who fathered you in Christ Jesus, by the gospel.


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and why I have sent you Timothy, a dear and faithful son to me in the Lord, who will remind you of my principles of conduct in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.


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On the assumption that I was not coming to you, some of you have become filled with your own self-importance;


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but I shall be coming to you soon, the Lord willing, and then I shall find out not what these self-important people say, but what power they have.


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What do you want then? Am I to come to you with a stick in my hand or in love, and with a spirit of gentleness?


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It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, immorality of a kind that is not found even among gentiles: that one of you is living with his stepmother.


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And you so filled with your own self-importance! It would have been better if you had been grieving bitterly, so that the man who has done this thing were turned out of the community.


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For my part, however distant I am physically, I am present in spirit and have already condemned the man who behaved in this way, just as though I were present in person.


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When you have gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus, with the presence of my spirit, and in the power of our Lord Jesus,


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hand such a man over to Satan, to be destroyed as far as natural life is concerned, so that on the Day of the Lord his spirit may be saved.


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Your self-satisfaction is ill founded. Do you not realise that only a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?


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Throw out the old yeast so that you can be the fresh dough, unleavened as you are. For our Passover has been sacrificed, that is, Christ;


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let us keep the feast, then, with none of the old yeast and no leavening of evil and wickedness, but only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.


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I was not including everybody in this present world who is sexually immoral, or everybody who is greedy, or dishonest or worships false gods -- that would mean you would have to cut yourselves off completely from the world.


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In fact what I meant was that you were not to have anything to do with anyone going by the name of brother who is sexually immoral, or is greedy, or worships false gods, or is a slanderer or a drunkard or dishonest; never even have a meal with anybody of that kind.


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It is no concern of mine to judge outsiders. It is for you to judge those who are inside, is it not?


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Is one of you with a complaint against another so brazen as to seek judgement from sinners and not from God's holy people?


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Do you not realise that the holy people of God are to be the judges of the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent for petty cases?


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Do you not realise that we shall be the judges of angels? - then quite certainly over matters of this life.


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But when you have matters of this life to be judged, you bring them before those who are of no account in the Church!


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I say this to make you ashamed of yourselves. Can it really be that it is impossible to find in the community one sensible person capable of deciding questions between brothers,


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No; it is a fault in you, by itself, that one of you should go to law against another at all: why do you not prefer to suffer injustice, why not prefer to be defrauded?


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Do you not realise that people who do evil will never inherit the kingdom of God? Make no mistake -- the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, the self-indulgent, sodomites,


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thieves, misers, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.


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Some of you used to be of that kind: but you have been washed clean, you have been sanctified, and you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.


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'For me everything is permissible'; maybe, but not everything does good. True, for me everything is permissible, but I am determined not to be dominated by anything.


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Foods are for the stomach, and the stomach is for foods; and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual immorality;


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it is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God raised up the Lord and he will raise us up too by his power.


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Do you not realise that your bodies are members of Christ's body; do you think one can take parts of Christ's body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Out of the question!


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Or do you not realise that anyone who attaches himself to a prostitute is one body with her, since the two, as it is said, become one flesh.


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Keep away from sexual immorality. All other sins that people may commit are done outside the body; but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.


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Do you not realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you and whom you received from God?


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You are not your own property, then; you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God.


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Now for the questions about which you wrote. Yes, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman;


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The husband must give to his wife what she has a right to expect, and so too the wife to her husband.


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The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and in the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.


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You must not deprive each other, except by mutual consent for a limited time, to leave yourselves free for prayer, and to come together again afterwards; otherwise Satan may take advantage of any lack of self-control to put you to the test.


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I should still like everyone to be as I am myself; but everyone has his own gift from God, one this kind and the next something different.


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But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry, since it is better to be married than to be burnt up.


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To the married I give this ruling, and this is not mine but the Lord's: a wife must not be separated from her husband-


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or if she has already left him, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband -- and a husband must not divorce his wife.


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For other cases these instructions are my own, not the Lord's. If one of the brothers has a wife who is not a believer, and she is willing to stay with him, he should not divorce her;


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and if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to stay with her, she should not divorce her husband.


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You see, the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through the brother. If this were not so, your children would be unclean, whereas in fact they are holy.


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But if the unbeliever chooses to leave, then let the separation take place: in these circumstances, the brother or sister is no longer tied. But God has called you to live in peace:


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as a wife, how can you tell whether you are to be the salvation of your husband; as a husband, how can you tell whether you are to be the salvation of your wife?


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Anyway let everyone continue in the part which the Lord has allotted to him, as he was when God called him. This is the rule that I give to all the churches.


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If a man who is called has already been circumcised, then he must stay circumcised; when an uncircumcised man is called, he may not be circumcised.


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To be circumcised is of no importance, and to be uncircumcised is of no importance; what is important is the keeping of God's commandments.


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So, if when you were called, you were a slave, do not think it matters -- even if you have a chance of freedom, you should prefer to make full use of your condition as a slave.


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You see, anyone who was called in the Lord while a slave, is a freeman of the Lord; and in the same way, anyone who was free when called, is a slave of Christ.


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About people remaining virgin, I have no directions from the Lord, but I give my own opinion as a person who has been granted the Lord's mercy to be faithful.


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Well then, because of the stress which is weighing upon us, the right thing seems to be this: it is good for people to stay as they are.


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If you are joined to a wife, do not seek to be released; if you are freed of a wife, do not look for a wife.


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However, if you do get married, that is not a sin, and it is not sinful for a virgin to enter upon marriage. But such people will have the hardships consequent on human nature, and I would like you to be without that.


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What I mean, brothers, is that the time has become limited, and from now on, those who have spouses should live as though they had none;


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and those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who enjoy life as though they did not enjoy it; those who have been buying property as though they had no possessions;


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and those who are involved with the world as though they were people not engrossed in it. Because this world as we know it is passing away.


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I should like you to have your minds free from all worry. The unmarried man gives his mind to the Lord's affairs and to how he can please the Lord;


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but the man who is married gives his mind to the affairs of this world and to how he can please his wife, and he is divided in mind.


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So, too, the unmarried woman, and the virgin, gives her mind to the Lord's affairs and to being holy in body and spirit; but the married woman gives her mind to the affairs of this world and to how she can please her husband.


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I am saying this only to help you, not to put a bridle on you, but so that everything is as it should be, and you are able to give your undivided attention to the Lord.


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If someone with strong passions thinks that he is behaving badly towards his fiance'e and that things should take their due course, he should follow his desires. There is no sin in it; they should marry.


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But if he stands firm in his resolution, without any compulsion but with full control of his own will, and decides to let her remain as his fiance'e, then he is acting well.


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A wife is tied as long as her husband is alive. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anybody she likes, only it must be in the Lord.


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She would be happier if she stayed as she is, to my way of thinking -- and I believe that I too have the Spirit of God.


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Now about food which has been dedicated to false gods. We are well aware that all of us have knowledge; but while knowledge puffs up, love is what builds up.


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On the subject of eating foods dedicated to false gods, we are well aware that none of the false gods exists in reality and that there is no God other than the One.


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Though there are so-called gods, in the heavens or on earth -- and there are plenty of gods and plenty of lords-


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yet for us there is only one God, the Father from whom all things come and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist.


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However, not everybody has this knowledge. There are some in whose consciences false gods still play such a part that they take the food as though it had been dedicated to a god; then their conscience, being vulnerable, is defiled,


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But of course food cannot make us acceptable to God; we lose nothing by not eating it, we gain nothing by eating it.


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Only be careful that this freedom of yours does not in any way turn into an obstacle to trip those who are vulnerable.


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Suppose someone sees you, who have the knowledge, sitting eating in the temple of some false god, do you not think that his conscience, vulnerable as it is, may be encouraged to eat foods dedicated to false gods?


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And then it would be through your knowledge that this brother for whom Christ died, vulnerable as he is, has been lost.


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So, sinning against your brothers and wounding their vulnerable consciences, you would be sinning against Christ.


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That is why, if food can be the cause of a brother's downfall, I will never eat meat any more, rather than cause my brother's downfall.


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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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Even if to others I am not an apostle, to you at any rate I am, for you are the seal of my apostolate in the Lord.


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And every right to be accompanied by a Christian wife, like the other apostles, like the brothers of the Lord, and like Cephas?


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What soldier would ever serve in the army at his own expense? And who is there who would plant a vineyard and never eat the fruit from it; or would keep a flock and not feed on the milk from his flock?


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Do not think that this is merely worldly wisdom. Does not the Law say exactly the same? It is written in the Law of Moses:


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You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn. Is it about oxen that God is concerned here,


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or is it not said entirely for our sake? Clearly it was written for our sake, because it is right that whoever ploughs should plough with the expectation of having his share, and whoever threshes should thresh with the expectation of having his share.


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If we have sown the seed of spiritual things in you, is it too much to ask that we should receive from you a crop of material things?


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Others have been given such rights over you and do we not deserve more? In fact, we have never exercised this right; on the contrary, we have put up with anything rather than obstruct the gospel of Christ in any way.


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Do you not realise that the ministers in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar can claim their share from the altar?


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In the same way, the Lord gave the instruction that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel.


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However, I have never availed myself of any rights of this kind; and I have not written this to secure such treatment for myself; I would rather die than that . . . No one shall take from me this ground of boasting.


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In fact, preaching the gospel gives me nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion and I should be in trouble if I failed to do it.


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If I did it on my own initiative I would deserve a reward; but if I do it under compulsion I am simply accepting a task entrusted to me.


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What reward do I have, then? That in my preaching I offer the gospel free of charge to avoid using the rights which the gospel allows me.


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So though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could.


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To the Jews I made myself as a Jew, to win the Jews; to those under the Law as one under the Law (though I am not), in order to win those under the Law;


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to those outside the Law as one outside the Law, though I am not outside the Law but under Christ's law, to win those outside the Law.


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To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation.


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Do you not realise that, though all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one of them gets the prize? Run like that -- to win.


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Every athlete concentrates completely on training, and this is to win a wreath that will wither, whereas ours will never wither.


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I punish my body and bring it under control, to avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be disqualified.


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I want you to be quite certain, brothers, that our ancestors all had the cloud over them and all passed through the sea.


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


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In spite of this, God was not pleased with most of them, and their corpses were scattered over the desert.


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Now these happenings were examples, for our benefit, so that we should never set our hearts, as they did, on evil things;


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nor are you to worship false gods, as some of them did, as it says in scripture: The people sat down to eat and drink, and afterwards got up to amuse themselves.


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Nor, again, are we to fall into sexual immorality; some of them did this, and twenty-three thousand met their downfall in one day.


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And we are not to put the Lord to the test; some of them put him to the test, and they were killed by snakes.


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Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were described in writing to be a lesson for us, to whom it has fallen to live in the last days of the ages.


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None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand. You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it.


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The blessing-cup, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?


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And as there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf.


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Now compare the natural people of Israel: is it not true that those who eat the sacrifices share the altar?


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What does this mean? That the dedication of food to false gods amounts to anything? Or that false gods themselves amount to anything?


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No, it does not; simply that when pagans sacrifice, what is sacrificed by them is sacrificed to demons who are not God. I do not want you to share with demons.


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You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you cannot have a share at the Lord's table and the demons' table as well.


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'Everything is permissible'; maybe so, but not everything does good. True, everything is permissible, but not everything builds people up.


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Eat anything that is sold in butchers' shops; there is no need to ask questions for conscience's sake,


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If an unbeliever invites you to a meal, go if you want to, and eat whatever is put before you; you need not ask questions of conscience first.


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But if someone says to you, 'This food has been offered in sacrifice,' do not eat it, out of consideration for the person that told you, for conscience's sake-


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not your own conscience, I mean, but the other person's. Why should my freedom be governed by somebody else's conscience?


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Provided that I accept it with gratitude, why should I be blamed for eating food for which I give thanks?


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just as I try to accommodate everybody in everything, not looking for my own advantage, but for the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved.


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I congratulate you for remembering me so consistently and for maintaining the traditions exactly as I passed them on to you.


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But I should like you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.


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And for a woman to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered shows disrespect for her head; it is exactly the same as if she had her hair shaved off.


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Indeed, if a woman does go without a veil, she should have her hair cut off too; but if it is a shameful thing for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved off, then she should wear a veil.


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But for a man it is not right to have his head covered, since he is the image of God and reflects God's glory; but woman is the reflection of man's glory.


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and this is why it is right for a woman to wear on her head a sign of the authority over her, because of the angels.


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but when a woman has long hair, it is her glory? After all, her hair was given to her to be a covering.


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If anyone wants to be contentious, I say that we have no such custom, nor do any of the churches of God.


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Now that I am on the subject of instructions, I cannot congratulate you on the meetings you hold; they do more harm than good.


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In the first place, I hear that when you all come together in your assembly, there are separate factions among you, and to some extent I believe it.


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It is no bad thing, either, that there should be differing groups among you so that those who are to be trusted among you can be clearly recognised.


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for when the eating begins, each one of you has his own supper first, and there is one going hungry while another is getting drunk.


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Surely you have homes for doing your eating and drinking in? Or have you such disregard for God's assembly that you can put to shame those who have nothing? What am I to say to you? Congratulate you? On this I cannot congratulate you.


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For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread,


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and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.'


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And in the same way, with the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.'


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Whenever you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes.


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Therefore anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.


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because a person who eats and drinks without recognising the body is eating and drinking his own condemnation.


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but when we are judged by the Lord, we are corrected by the Lord to save us from being condemned along with the world.


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anyone who is hungry should eat at home. Then your meeting will not bring your condemnation. The other matters I shall arrange when I come.


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Because of that, I want to make it quite clear to you that no one who says 'A curse on Jesus' can be speaking in the Spirit of God, and nobody is able to say, 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit.


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There are many different forms of activity, but in everybody it is the same God who is at work in them all.


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To one is given from the Spirit the gift of utterance expressing wisdom; to another the gift of utterance expressing knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit;


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to another, faith, from the same Spirit; and to another, the gifts of healing, through this one Spirit;


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to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the power of distinguishing spirits; to one, the gift of different tongues and to another, the interpretation of tongues.


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For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts -- all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body -- so it is with Christ.


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We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink.


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If the foot were to say, 'I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body,' it does not belong to the body any the less for that.


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Or if the ear were to say, 'I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body,' that would not stop its belonging to the body.


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If the whole body were just an eye, how would there be any hearing? If the whole body were hearing, how would there be any smelling?


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The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' and nor can the head say to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'


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What is more, it is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones.


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It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified that we surround with the greatest dignity; and our less presentable parts are given greater presentability


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which our presentable parts do not need. God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it,


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and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others.


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If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy.


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And those whom God has appointed in the Church are, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after them, miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, helpful acts, guidance, various kinds of tongues.


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Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.


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And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing.


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Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.


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it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.


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Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away with.


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When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways.


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Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known.


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Those who speak in a tongue speak to God, but not to other people, because nobody understands them; they are speaking in the Spirit and the meaning is hidden.


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On the other hand, someone who prophesies speaks to other people, building them up and giving them encouragement and reassurance.


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While I should like you all to speak in tongues, I would much rather you could prophesy; since those who prophesy are of greater importance than those who speak in tongues, unless they can interpret what they say so that the church is built up by it.


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Now suppose, brothers, I come to you and speak in tongues, what good shall I do you if my speaking provides no revelation or knowledge or prophecy or instruction?


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It is the same with an inanimate musical instrument. If it does not make any distinction between notes, how can one recognise what is being played on flute or lyre?


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It is the same with you: if you do not use your tongue to produce speech that can be readily understood, how can anyone know what you are saying? You will be talking to the air.


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but if I do not understand the meaning of the sound, I am a barbarian to the person who is speaking, and the speaker is a barbarian to me.


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So with you, as you are eager to have spiritual powers, aim to be rich in those which build up the community.


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What then? I shall pray with the spirit, but I shall pray with the mind as well: I shall sing praises with the spirit and I shall sing praises with the mind as well.


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Otherwise, if you say your blessing only with the spirit, how is the uninitiated person going to answer 'Amen' to your thanksgiving, without understanding what you are saying?


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all the same, when I am in the assembly I would rather say five words with my mind, to instruct others as well, than ten thousand words in a tongue.


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Brothers, do not remain children in your thinking; infants in wickedness-agreed, but in your thinking grown-ups.


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It says in the written Law: In strange tongues and in a foreign language I will talk to this nation, and even so they will refuse to listen, says the Lord.


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So then, strange languages are significant not for believers, but for unbelievers; whereas on the other hand, prophesying is not for unbelievers, but for believers.


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Suppose that, if the whole congregation were meeting and all of them speaking in tongues, and some uninitiated people or unbelievers were to come in, don't you think they would say that you were all raving?


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But if you were all prophesying when an unbeliever or someone uninitiated came in, he would find himself put to the test by all and judged by all


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and the secrets of his heart revealed; and so he would fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is indeed among you.


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Then what should it be like, brothers? When you come together each of you brings a psalm or some instruction or a revelation, or speaks in a tongue or gives an interpretation. Let all these things be done in a way that will build up the community.


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If there are to be any people speaking in a tongue, then let there be only two, or at the most three, and those one at a time, and let one of these interpret.


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If there is no interpreter, then let each of them be quiet in the assembly, and speak only to himself and God.


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You can all prophesy, but one at a time, then all will learn something and all receive encouragement.


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women are to remain quiet in the assemblies, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is a subordinate part, as the Law itself says.


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If there is anything they want to know, they should ask their husbands at home: it is shameful for a woman to speak in the assembly.


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Do you really think that you are the source of the word of God? Or that you are the only people to whom it has come?


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Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have any spiritual powers must recognise that what I am writing to you is a commandment from the Lord.


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I want to make quite clear to you, brothers, what the message of the gospel that I preached to you is; you accepted it and took your stand on it,


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and you are saved by it, if you keep to the message I preached to you; otherwise your coming to believe was in vain.


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The tradition I handed on to you in the first place, a tradition which I had myself received, was that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures,


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and that he was buried; and that on the third day, he was raised to life, in accordance with the scriptures;


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and next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep;


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For I am the least of the apostles and am not really fit to be called an apostle, because I had been persecuting the Church of God;


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but what I am now, I am through the grace of God, and the grace which was given to me has not been wasted. Indeed, I have worked harder than all the others -- not I, but the grace of God which is with me.


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Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead?


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What is more, we have proved to be false witnesses to God, for testifying against God that he raised Christ to life when he did not raise him -- if it is true that the dead are not raised.


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and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is pointless and you have not, after all, been released from your sins.


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In fact, however, Christ has been raised from the dead, as the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.


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but all of them in their proper order: Christ the first-fruits, and next, at his coming, those who belong to him.


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After that will come the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, having abolished every principality, every ruling force and power.


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and the last of the enemies to be done away with is death, for he has put all things under his feet.


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But when it is said everything is subjected, this obviously cannot include the One who subjected everything to him.


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When everything has been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the One who has subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.


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Otherwise, what are people up to who have themselves baptised on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, what is the point of being baptised on their behalf?


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So do not let anyone lead you astray, 'Bad company corrupts good ways.' Wake up from your stupor as you should and leave sin alone; some of you have no understanding of God; I tell you this to instil some shame in you.


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and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but only a bare grain, of wheat I dare say, or some other kind;


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it is God who gives it the sort of body that he has chosen for it, and for each kind of seed its own kind of body.


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Not all flesh is the same flesh: there is human flesh; animals have another kind of flesh, birds another and fish yet another.


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Then there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; the heavenly have a splendour of their own, and the earthly a different splendour.


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The sun has its own splendour, the moon another splendour, and the stars yet another splendour; and the stars differ among themselves in splendour.


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It is the same too with the resurrection of the dead: what is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable;


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what is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; what is sown is weak, but what is raised is powerful;


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what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is a spiritual body too.


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So the first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; and the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.


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And as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall bear the likeness of the heavenly one.


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What I am saying, brothers, is that mere human nature cannot inherit the kingdom of God: what is perishable cannot inherit what is imperishable.


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but we are all going to be changed, instantly, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet is going to sound, and then the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed,


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because this perishable nature of ours must put on imperishability, this mortal nature must put on immortality.


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And after this perishable nature has put on imperishability and this mortal nature has put on immortality, then will the words of scripture come true: Death is swallowed up in victory.


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So, my dear brothers, keep firm and immovable, always abounding in energy for the Lord's work, being sure that in the Lord none of your labours is wasted.


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Now about the collection for God's holy people; you are to do the same as I prescribed for the churches in Galatia.


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On the first day of the week, each of you should put aside and reserve as much as each can spare; do not delay the collection till I arrive.


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When I come, I will send to Jerusalem with letters of introduction those people you approve to deliver your gift;


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In any case, I shall be coming to you after I have passed through Macedonia, as I have to go through Macedonia;


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and I may be staying some time with you, perhaps wintering, so that you can start me on my next journey, wherever I may be going.


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I do not want to make only a passing visit to you, and I am hoping to spend quite a time with you, the Lord permitting.


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If Timothy comes, make sure that he has nothing to fear from you; he is doing the Lord's work, just as I am,


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and nobody is to underrate him. Start him off in peace on his journey to come on to me: the brothers and I are waiting for him.


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As for our brother Apollos, I urged him earnestly to come to you with the brothers, but he was quite firm that he did not want to go yet, and he will come when he finds an opportunity.


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There is something else I must urge you to do, brothers. You know how Stephanas' family have been the first-fruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to the service of God's holy people;


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I ask you in turn to put yourselves at the service of people like this and all that work with them in this arduous task.


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I am delighted that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived; they have made up for your not being here.


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The churches of Asia send their greetings. Aquila and Prisca send their best wishes in the Lord, together with the church that meets in their house.


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Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to the church of God in Corinth and to all God's holy people in the whole of Achaia.


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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the God who gives every possible encouragement;


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he supports us in every hardship, so that we are able to come to the support of others, in every hardship of theirs because of the encouragement that we ourselves receive from God.


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For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives; so too does the encouragement we receive through Christ.


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So if we have hardships to undergo, this will contribute to your encouragement and your salvation; if we receive encouragement, this is to gain for you the encouragement which enables you to bear with perseverance the same sufferings as we do.


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So our hope for you is secure in the knowledge that you share the encouragement we receive, no less than the sufferings we bear.


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So in the hardships we underwent in Asia, we want you to be quite certain, brothers, that we were under extraordinary pressure, beyond our powers of endurance, so that we gave up all hope even of surviving.


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In fact we were carrying the sentence of death within our own selves, so that we should be forced to trust not in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.


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Your prayer for us will contribute to this, so that, for God's favour shown to us as the result of the prayers of so many, thanks too may be given by many on our behalf.


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There is one thing that we are proud of, namely our conscientious conviction that we have always behaved towards everyone, and especially towards you, with that unalloyed holiness that comes from God, relying not on human reasoning but on the grace of God.


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and it is my hope that, just as you have already understood us partially, so you will understand fully that you can be as proud of us as we shall be of you when the Day of our Lord Jesus comes.


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It was with this assurance that I had been meaning to come to you first, so that you would benefit doubly;


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both to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then to return to you again from Macedonia, so that you could set me on my way to Judaea.


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Since that was my purpose, do you think I lightly changed my mind? Or that my plans are based on ordinary human promptings and I have in my mind Yes, yes at the same time as No, no?


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The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, that is, by me and by Silvanus and Timothy, was never Yes-and-No; his nature is all Yes.


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For in him is found the Yes to all God's promises and therefore it is 'through him' that we answer 'Amen' to give praise to God.


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By my life I call on God to be my witness that it was only to spare you that I did not come to Corinth again.


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We have no wish to lord it over your faith, but to work with you for your joy; for your stand in the faith is firm.


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Indeed, I wrote as I did precisely to spare myself distress when I visited you, from the very people who should have given me joy, in the conviction that for all of you my joy was yours too.


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I wrote to you in agony of mind, not meaning to cause you distress but to show you how very much love I have for you.


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If anyone did cause distress, he caused it not to me, but -- not to exaggerate -- in some degree to all of you.


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and now by contrast you should forgive and encourage him all the more, or he may be overwhelmed by the extent of his distress.


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This was in fact my reason for writing, to test your quality and whether you are completely obedient.


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But if you forgive anybody, then I too forgive that person; and whatever I have forgiven, if there is anything I have forgiven, I have done it for your sake in Christ's presence,


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When I came to Troas for the sake of the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me there in the Lord,


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I had no relief from anxiety, not finding my brother Titus there, and I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.


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But, thanks be to God who always gives us in Christ a part in his triumphal procession, and through us is spreading everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of himself.


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To God we are the fragrance of Christ, both among those who are being saved and among those who are on the way to destruction;


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for these last, the smell of death leading to death, but for the first, the smell of life leading to life. Who is equal to such a task?


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At least we do not adulterate the word of God, as so many do, but it is in all purity, as envoys of God and in God's presence, that we speak in Christ.


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Are we beginning to commend ourselves to you afresh -- as though we needed, like some others, to have letters of commendation either to you or from you?


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and it is plain that you are a letter from Christ, entrusted to our care, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets but on the tablets of human hearts.


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it is not that we are so competent that we can claim any credit for ourselves; all our competence comes from God.


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He has given us the competence to be ministers of a new covenant, a covenant which is not of written letters, but of the Spirit; for the written letters kill, but the Spirit gives life.


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Now if the administering of death, engraved in letters on stone, occurred in such glory that the Israelites could not look Moses steadily in the face, because of its glory, transitory though this glory was,


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For if it is glorious to administer condemnation, to administer saving justice is far richer in glory.


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Indeed, what was once considered glorious has lost all claim to glory, by contrast with the glory which transcends it.


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For if what was transitory had any glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts for ever.


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not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites should not watch the end of what was transitory.


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But their minds were closed; indeed, until this very day, the same veil remains over the reading of the Old Testament: it is not lifted, for only in Christ is it done away with.


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And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.


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but have renounced all shameful secrecy. It is not our way to be devious, or to falsify the word of God; instead, in God's sight we commend ourselves to every human being with a conscience by showing the truth openly.


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the unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, so that they cannot see shining the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.


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It is not ourselves that we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.


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It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God's glory, the glory on the face of Christ.


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But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God's and not our own.


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We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;


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always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.


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Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.


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But as we have the same spirit of faith as is described in scripture -- I believed and therefore I spoke -we, too, believe and therefore we, too, speak,


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realising that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus in our turn, and bring us to himself -- and you as well.


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You see, everything is for your benefit, so that as grace spreads, so, to the glory of God, thanksgiving may also overflow among more and more people.


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That is why we do not waver; indeed, though this outer human nature of ours may be falling into decay, at the same time our inner human nature is renewed day by day.


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The temporary, light burden of our hardships is earning us for ever an utterly incomparable, eternal weight of glory,


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since what we aim for is not visible but invisible. Visible things are transitory, but invisible things eternal.


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For we are well aware that when the tent that houses us on earth is folded up, there is a house for us from God, not made by human hands but everlasting, in the heavens.


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longing to put on our heavenly home over the present one; if indeed we are to be found clothed rather than stripped bare.


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Yes, indeed, in this present tent, we groan under the burden, not that we want to be stripped of our covering, but because we want to be covered with a second garment on top, so that what is mortal in us may be swallowed up by life.


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We are always full of confidence, then, realising that as long as we are at home in the body we are exiled from the Lord,


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we are full of confidence, then, and long instead to be exiled from the body and to be at home with the Lord.


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For at the judgement seat of Christ we are all to be seen for what we are, so that each of us may receive what he has deserved in the body, matched to whatever he has done, good or bad.


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And so it is with the fear of the Lord always in mind that we try to win people over. But God sees us for what we are, and I hope your consciences do too.


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Again we are saying this not to commend ourselves to you, but simply to give you the opportunity to take pride in us, so that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearances and not inner reality.


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For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died;


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his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life.


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From now onwards, then, we will not consider anyone by human standards: even if we were once familiar with Christ according to human standards, we do not know him in that way any longer.


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So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.


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It is all God's work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation.


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I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.


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So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ we appeal to you to be reconciled to God.


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For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God.


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As he said, 'At the time of my favour I have answered you; on the day of salvation I have helped you'; well, now is the real time of favour, now the day of salvation is here.


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but in everything we prove ourselves authentic servants of God; by resolute perseverance in times of hardships, difficulties and distress;


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in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness; in the Holy Spirit, in a love free of affectation;


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in the word of truth and in the power of God; by using the weapons of uprightness for attack and for defence:


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in pain yet always full of joy; poor and yet making many people rich; having nothing, and yet owning everything.


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Do not harness yourselves in an uneven team with unbelievers; how can uprightness and law-breaking be partners, or what can light and darkness have in common?


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How can Christ come to an agreement with Beliar and what sharing can there be between a believer and an unbeliever?


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The temple of God cannot compromise with false gods, and that is what we are -- the temple of the living God. We have God's word for it: I shall fix my home among them and live among them; I will be their God and they will be my people.


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Get away from them, purify yourselves, says the Lord. Do not touch anything unclean, and then I shall welcome you.


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Since these promises have been made to us, my dear friends, we should wash ourselves clean of everything that pollutes either body or spirit, bringing our sanctification to completion in the fear of God.


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Keep a place for us in your hearts. We have not injured anyone, or ruined anyone, or taken advantage of anyone.


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I am not saying this to condemn anybody; as I have already told you, you are in our hearts -- so that together we live and together we die.


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I can speak with the greatest frankness to you; and I can speak with the greatest pride about you: in all our hardship, I am filled with encouragement and overflowing with joy.


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Even after we had come to Macedonia, there was no rest for this body of ours. Far from it; we were beset by hardship on all sides, there were quarrels all around us and misgivings within us.


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and not simply by his arrival only, but also by means of the encouragement that you had given him, as he told us of your desire to see us, how sorry you were and how concerned for us; so that I was all the more joyful.


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So now, though I did distress you with my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it -- and I realise that the letter distressed you, even though not for long-


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I am glad now, not because you were made to feel distress, but because the distress that you were caused led to repentance; your distress was the kind that God approves and so you have come to no kind of harm through us.


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For to be distressed in a way that God approves leads to repentance and then to salvation with no regrets; it is the world's kind of distress that ends in death.


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Just look at this present case: at what the result has been of your being made to feel distress in the way that God approves -- what concern, what defence, what indignation and what alarm; what yearning, and what enthusiasm, and what justice done. In every way you have cleared yourselves of blame in this matter.


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So although I wrote a letter to you, it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the one offended, but only so that you yourselves should fully realise in the sight of God what concern you have for us.


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That is what I have found encouraging. In addition to all this to encourage us, we were made all the more joyful by Titus' joy, now that his spirit has been refreshed by you all.


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And if I boasted about you to him in any way, then I have not been made to look foolish; indeed, our boast to Titus has been proved to be as true as anything we said to you.


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His personal affection for you is all the stronger when he remembers how obedient you have all been, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.


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Next, brothers, we will tell you of the grace of God which has been granted to the churches of Macedonia,


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and how, throughout continual ordeals of hardship, their unfailing joy and their intense poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.


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I can testify that it was of their own accord that they made their gift, which was not merely as far as their resources would allow, but well beyond their resources;


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and they had kept imploring us most insistently for the privilege of a share in the fellowship of service to God's holy people-


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it was not something that we expected of them, but it began by their offering themselves to the Lord and to us at the prompting of the will of God.


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In the end we urged Titus, since he had already made a beginning, also to bring this work of generosity to completion among you.


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More, as you are rich in everything-faith, eloquence, understanding, concern for everything, and love for us too -- then make sure that you excel in this work of generosity too.


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I am not saying this as an order, but testing the genuineness of your love against the concern of others.


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You are well aware of the generosity which our Lord Jesus Christ had, that, although he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that you should become rich through his poverty.


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I will give you my considered opinion in the matter; this will be the right course for you as you were the first, a year ago, not only to take any action but also even to conceive the project.


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Now, then, complete the action as well, so that the fulfilment may -- so far as your resources permit -- be proportionate to your enthusiasm for the project.


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As long as the enthusiasm is there, the basis on which it is acceptable is what someone has, not what someone does not have.


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It is not that you ought to relieve other people's needs and leave yourselves in hardship; but there should be a fair balance-


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your surplus at present may fill their deficit, and another time their surplus may fill your deficit. So there may be a fair balance;


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as scripture says: No one who had collected more had too much, no one who collected less had too little.


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He certainly took our urging to heart; but greater still was his own enthusiasm, and he went off to you of his own accord.


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and who, what is more, was elected by the churches to be our travelling companion in this work of generosity, a work to be administered by us for the glory of the Lord and our complete satisfaction.


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We arranged it this way so that no one should be able to make any accusation against us about this large sum we are administering.


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And so we have been careful to do right not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of people.


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Along with these, we have sent a brother of ours whose eagerness we have tested over and over again in many ways and who is now all the more eager because he has so much faith in you.


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If Titus is in question -- he is my own partner and fellow-worker in your interests; and if our brothers -- they are the emissaries of the churches and the glory of Christ.


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So then, in full view of all the churches, give proof that you love them, and that we were right to boast of you to them.


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for I am well aware of your enthusiasm, and I have been boasting of it to the Macedonians that 'Achaia has been ready for a year'; your enthusiasm has been a spur to many others.


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All the same, I have sent the brothers, to make sure that our boast about you may not prove hollow in this respect and that you may be ready, as I said you would be;


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so that if by chance some of the Macedonians came with me and found you unprepared we -- to say nothing of yourselves -- would not be put to shame by our confidence in you.


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So I have thought it necessary to encourage the brothers to go to you ahead of us and make sure in advance of the gift that you have already promised, so that it is all at hand as a real gift and not an imposition.


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But remember: anyone who sows sparsely will reap sparsely as well -- and anyone who sows generously will reap generously as well.


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Each one should give as much as he has decided on his own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.


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God is perfectly able to enrich you with every grace, so that you always have enough for every conceivable need, and your resources overflow in all kinds of good work.


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The one who so freely provides seed for the sower and food to eat will provide you with ample store of seed for sowing and make the harvest of your uprightness a bigger one:


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you will be rich enough in every way for every kind of generosity that makes people thank God for what we have done.


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For the help provided by this contribution not only satisfies the needs of God's holy people, but also overflows into widespread thanksgiving to God;


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because when you have proved your quality by this help, they will give glory to God for the obedience which you show in professing the gospel of Christ, as well as for the generosity of your fellowship towards them and towards all.


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At the same time, their prayer for you will express the affection they feel for you because of the unbounded grace God has given you.


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I urge you by the gentleness and forbearance of Christ -- this is Paul now speaking personally-I, the one who is so humble when he is facing you but full of boldness at a distance.


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Yes, my appeal to you is that I should not have to be bold when I am actually with you, or show the same self-assurance as I reckon to use when I am challenging those who reckon that we are guided by human motives.


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The weapons with which we do battle are not those of human nature, but they have the power, in God's cause, to demolish fortresses. It is ideas that we demolish,


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every presumptuous notion that is set up against the knowledge of God, and we bring every thought into captivity and obedience to Christ;


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Look at the evidence of your eyes. Anybody who is convinced that he belongs to Christ should go on to reflect that we belong to Christ no less than he does.


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Maybe I have taken rather too much pride in our authority, but the Lord gave us that for building you up, not for knocking you down, and I am not going to be shamed


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Someone said, 'His letters are weighty enough, and full of strength, but when you see him in person, he makes no impression and his powers of speaking are negligible.'


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I should like that sort of person to take note that our deeds when we are present will show the same qualities as our letters when we were at a distance.


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We are not venturing to rank ourselves, or even to compare ourselves with certain people who provide their own commendations. By measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they only show their folly.


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By contrast we do not intend to boast beyond measure, but will measure ourselves by the standard which God laid down for us, namely that of having come all the way to you.


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We are not overreaching ourselves as we would be if we had not come all the way to you; in fact we were the first to come as far as you with the good news of Christ.


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So we are not boasting beyond measure, about other men's work; in fact, we hope, as your faith increases, to grow greater and greater by this standard of ours,


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by preaching the gospel to regions beyond you, rather than boasting about work already done in someone else's province.


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The jealousy that I feel for you is, you see, God's own jealousy: I gave you all in marriage to a single husband, a virgin pure for presentation to Christ.


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But I am afraid that, just as the snake with his cunning seduced Eve, your minds may be led astray from single-minded devotion to Christ.


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Because any chance comer has only to preach a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you have only to receive a spirit different from the one you received, or a gospel different from the one you accepted -- and you put up with that only too willingly.


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Even if there is something lacking in my public speaking, this is not the case with my knowledge, as we have openly shown to you at all times and before everyone.


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Have I done wrong, then, humbling myself so that you might be raised up, by preaching the gospel of God to you for nothing?


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When I was with you and needed money, I was no burden to anybody, for the brothers from Macedonia brought me as much as I needed when they came; I have always been careful not to let myself be a burden to you in any way, and I shall continue to be so.


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And as Christ's truth is in me, this boast of mine is not going to be silenced in the regions of Achaia.


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I will go on acting as I do at present, to cut the ground from under the feet of those who are looking for a chance to be proved my equals in grounds for boasting.


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These people are counterfeit apostles, dishonest workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.


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It is nothing extraordinary, then, when his servants disguise themselves as the servants of uprightness. They will come to the end appropriate to what they have done.


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To repeat: let no one take me for a fool, but if you do, then treat me as a fool, so that I, too, can do a little boasting.


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I shall not be following the Lord's way in what I say now, but will be speaking out of foolishness in the conviction that I have something to boast about.


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and how you will still go on putting up with a man who enslaves you, eats up all you possess, keeps you under his orders and sets himself above you, or even slaps you in the face.


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I say it to your shame; perhaps we have been too weak. Whatever bold claims anyone makes -- now I am talking as a fool -- I can make them too.


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Are they servants of Christ? I speak in utter folly -- I am too, and more than they are: I have done more work, I have been in prison more, I have been flogged more severely, many times exposed to death.


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three times I have been beaten with sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have been in the open sea for a night and a day;


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continually travelling, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger from the gentiles, in danger in the towns and in danger in the open country, in danger at sea and in danger from people masquerading as brothers;


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I have worked with unsparing energy, for many nights without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty, and often altogether without food or drink; I have been cold and lacked clothing.


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And, besides all the external things, there is, day in day out, the pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.


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When I was in Damascus, the governor who was under King Aretas put guards round Damascus city to catch me,


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and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and that was how I escaped from his hands.


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I am boasting because I have to. Not that it does any good, but I will move on to visions and revelations from the Lord.


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I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago -- still in the body? I do not know; or out of the body? I do not know: God knows -- was caught up right into the third heaven.


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was caught up into Paradise and heard words said that cannot and may not be spoken by any human being.


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On behalf of someone like that I am willing to boast, but I am not going to boast on my own behalf except of my weaknesses;


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and then, if I do choose to boast I shall not be talking like a fool because I shall be speaking the truth. But I will not go on in case anybody should rate me higher than he sees and hears me to be, because of the exceptional greatness of the revelations.


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Wherefore, so that I should not get above myself, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to batter me and prevent me from getting above myself.


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but he has answered me, 'My grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.' It is, then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me;


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and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.


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I have turned into a fool, but you forced me to it. It is you that should have been commending me; those super-apostles had no advantage over me, even if I am nothing at all.


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All the marks characteristic of a true apostle have been at work among you: complete perseverance, signs, marvels, demonstrations of power.


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Is there any way in which you have been given less than the rest of the churches, except that I did not make myself a burden to you? Forgive me for this unfairness!


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Here I am, ready to come to you for the third time and I am not going to be a burden on you: it is not your possessions that I want, but yourselves. Children are not expected to save up for their parents, but parents for their children,


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and I am more than glad to spend what I have and to be spent for the sake of your souls. Is it because I love you so much more, that I am loved the less?


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All right, then; I did not make myself a burden to you, but, trickster that I am, I caught you by trickery.


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Titus came at my urging, and I sent his companion with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Can you deny that he and I were following the guidance of the same Spirit and were on the same tracks?


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All this time you have been thinking that we have been pleading our own cause before you; no, we have been speaking in Christ and in the presence of God -- and all, dear friends, to build you up.


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I am afraid that in one way or another, when I come, I may find you different from what I should like you to be, and you may find me what you would not like me to be; so that in one way or the other there will be rivalry, jealousy, bad temper, quarrels, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorders;


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and when I come again, my God may humiliate me in front of you and I shall be grieved by all those who sinned in the past and have still not repented of the impurities and sexual immorality and debauchery that they have committed.


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This will be the third time I have confronted you. Whatever the misdemeanour, the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain a charge.


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I gave you notice once, and now, though I am not with you, I give notice again, just as when I was with you for a second time, to those who sinned before, and to all others; and it is to this effect, that when I do come next time, I shall have no mercy.


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Since you are asking for a proof that it is Christ who speaks in me; he is not weak with you but his power is at work among you;


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for, though it was out of weakness that he was crucified, he is alive now with the power of God. We, too, are weak in him, but with regard to you we shall live with him by the power of God.


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Put yourselves to the test to make sure you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Do you not recognise yourselves as people in whom Jesus Christ is present? - unless, that is, you fail the test.


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It is our prayer to God that you may do nothing wrong -- not so that we have the credit of passing a test, but because you will be doing what is right, even if we do not pass the test.


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and we are delighted to be weak if only you are strong. What we ask in our prayers is that you should be made perfect.


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That is why I am writing this while still far away, so that when I am with you I shall not have to be harsh, with the authority that the Lord has given me, an authority that is for building up and not for breaking down.


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To end then, brothers, we wish you joy; try to grow perfect; encourage one another; have a common mind and live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.


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


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From Paul, an apostle appointed not by human beings nor through any human being but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead,


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who gave himself for our sins to liberate us from this present wicked world, in accordance with the will of our God and Father,


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I am astonished that you are so promptly turning away from the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are going over to a different gospel-


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not that it is another gospel; except that there are trouble-makers among you who are seeking to pervert the gospel of Christ.


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But even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preaches to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let God's curse be on him.


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I repeat again what we declared before: anyone who preaches to you a gospel other than the one you were first given is to be under God's curse.


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Whom am I trying to convince now, human beings or God? Am I trying to please human beings? If I were still doing that I should not be a servant of Christ.


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Now I want to make it quite clear to you, brothers, about the gospel that was preached by me, that it was no human message.


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It was not from any human being that I received it, and I was not taught it, but it came to me through a revelation of Jesus Christ.


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You have surely heard how I lived in the past, within Judaism, and how there was simply no limit to the way I persecuted the Church of God in my attempts to destroy it;


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and how, in Judaism, I outstripped most of my Jewish contemporaries in my limitless enthusiasm for the traditions of my ancestors.


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But when God, who had set me apart from the time when I was in my mother's womb, called me through his grace and chose


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to reveal his Son in me, so that I should preach him to the gentiles, I was in no hurry to confer with any human being,


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or to go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me. Instead, I went off to Arabia, and later I came back to Damascus.


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they simply kept hearing it said, 'The man once so eager to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he used to try to destroy,'


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It was not until fourteen years had gone by that I travelled up to Jerusalem again, with Barnabas, and I took Titus with me too.


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My journey was inspired by a revelation and there, in a private session with the recognised leaders, I expounded the whole gospel that I preach to the gentiles, to make quite sure that the efforts I was making and had already made should not be fruitless.


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Even then, and although Titus, a Greek, was with me, there was no demand that he should be circumcised;


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but because of some false brothers who had secretly insinuated themselves to spy on the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, intending to reduce us to slavery-


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people we did not defer to for one moment, or the truth of the gospel preached to you might have been compromised. . .


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but those who were recognised as important people -- whether they actually were important or not: There is no favouritism with God -those recognised leaders, I am saying, had nothing to add to my message.


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On the contrary, once they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been entrusted to me, just as to Peter the gospel for the circumcised


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and when they acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, then James and Cephas and John, who were the ones recognised as pillars, offered their right hands to Barnabas and to me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.


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They asked nothing more than that we should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do in any case.


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However, when Cephas came to Antioch, then I did oppose him to his face since he was manifestly in the wrong.


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Before certain people from James came, he used to eat with gentiles; but as soon as these came, he backed out and kept apart from them, out of fear of the circumcised.


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And the rest of the Jews put on the same act as he did, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity.


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When I saw, though, that their behaviour was not true to the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, 'Since you, though you are a Jew, live like the gentiles and not like the Jews, how can you compel the gentiles to live like the Jews?'


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have nevertheless learnt that someone is reckoned as upright not by practising the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ; and we too came to believe in Christ Jesus so as to be reckoned as upright by faith in Christ and not by practising the Law: since no human being can be found upright by keeping the Law.


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Now if we too are found to be sinners on the grounds that we seek our justification in Christ, it would surely follow that Christ was at the service of sin. Out of the question!


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In fact, through the Law I am dead to the Law so that I can be alive to God. I have been crucified with Christ


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and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.


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I am not setting aside God's grace as of no value; it is merely that if saving justice comes through the Law, Christ died needlessly.


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You stupid people in Galatia! After you have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes, who has put a spell on you?


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There is only one thing I should like you to tell me: How was it that you received the Spirit -- was it by the practice of the Law, or by believing in the message you heard?


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Can all the favours you have received have had no effect at all -- if there really has been no effect?


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Would you say, then, that he who so lavishly sends the Spirit to you, and causes the miracles among you, is doing this through your practice of the Law or because you believed the message you heard?


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And it was because scripture foresaw that God would give saving justice to the gentiles through faith, that it announced the future gospel to Abraham in the words: All nations will be blessed in you.


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On the other hand, all those who depend on the works of the Law are under a curse, since scripture says: Accursed be he who does not make what is written in the book of the Law effective, by putting it into practice.


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Now it is obvious that nobody is reckoned as upright in God's sight by the Law, since the upright will live through faith;


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and the Law is based not on faith but on the principle, whoever complies with it will find life in it.


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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake since scripture says: Anyone hanged is accursed,


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so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus, and so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.


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To put it in human terms, my brothers: even when a will is only a human one, once it has been ratified nobody can cancel it or add more provisions to it.


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Now the promises were addressed to Abraham and to his progeny. The words were not and to his progenies in the plural, but in the singular; and to your progeny, which means Christ.


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What I am saying is this: once a will had been long ago ratified by God, the Law, coming four hundred and thirty years later, could not abolish it and so nullify its promise.


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You see, if the inheritance comes by the Law, it no longer comes through a promise; but it was by a promise that God made his gift to Abraham.


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Then what is the purpose of the Law? It was added to deal with crimes until the 'progeny' to whom the promise had been made should come; and it was promulgated through angels, by the agency of an intermediary.


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Is the Law contrary, then, to God's promises? Out of the question! If the Law that was given had been capable of giving life, then certainly saving justice would have come from the Law.


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As it is, scripture makes no exception when it says that sin is master everywhere; so the promise can be given only by faith in Jesus Christ to those who have this faith.


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But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law, locked up to wait for the faith which would eventually be revealed to us.


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So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.


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There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus.


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What I am saying is this: an heir, during the time while he is still under age, is no different from a slave, even though he is the owner of all the property;


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So too with us, as long as we were still under age, we were enslaved to the elemental principles of this world;


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but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law,


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But formerly when you did not know God, you were kept in slavery to things which are not really gods at all,


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whereas now that you have come to recognise God -- or rather, be recognised by God -- how can you now turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt elements whose slaves you now want to be all over again?


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indeed you remember that it was an illness that first gave me the opportunity to preach the gospel to you,


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but though my illness was a trial to you, you did not show any distaste or revulsion; instead, you welcomed me as a messenger of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.


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What has happened to the utter contentment you had then? For I can testify to you that you would have plucked your eyes out, were that possible, and given them to me.


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Their devotion to you has no praiseworthy motive; they simply want to cut you off from me, so that you may centre your devotion on them.


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My children, I am going through the pain of giving birth to you all over again, until Christ is formed in you;


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and how I wish I could be there with you at this moment and find the right way of talking to you: I am quite at a loss with you.


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The son of the slave girl came to be born in the way of human nature; but the son of the freewoman came to be born through a promise.


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There is an allegory here: these women stand for the two covenants. The one given on Mount Sinai -- that is Hagar, whose children are born into slavery;


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now Sinai is a mountain in Arabia and represents Jerusalem in its present state, for she is in slavery together with her children.


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as scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren woman who has borne no children! Break into shouts of joy, you who were never in labour. For the sons of the forsaken one are more in number than the sons of the wedded wife.


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just as at that time, the child born in the way of human nature persecuted the child born through the Spirit, so now.


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But what is it that scripture says? Drive away that slave girl and her son; the slave girl's son is not to share the inheritance with the son of the freewoman.


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Christ set us free, so that we should remain free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be fastened again to the yoke of slavery.


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I, Paul, give you my word that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all.


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I give my assurance once again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law;


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once you seek to be reckoned as upright through the Law, then you have separated yourself from Christ, you have fallen away from grace.


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since in Christ Jesus it is not being circumcised or being uncircumcised that can effect anything -- only faith working through love.


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But I feel sure that, united in the Lord, you will not be led astray, and that anyone who makes trouble with you will be condemned, no matter who he is.


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And I, brothers -- if I were still preaching circumcision, why should I still be persecuted? For then the obstacle which is the cross would have no point any more.


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After all, brothers, you were called to be free; do not use your freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another in love,


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since the whole of the Law is summarised in the one commandment: You must love your neighbour as yourself.


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If you go snapping at one another and tearing one another to pieces, take care: you will be eaten up by one another.


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The desires of self-indulgence are always in opposition to the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are in opposition to self-indulgence: they are opposites, one against the other; that is how you are prevented from doing the things that you want to.


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the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements,


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factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things. And about these, I tell you now as I have told you in the past, that people who behave in these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.


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On the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness,


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Brothers, even if one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of gentleness; and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the same way.


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but everyone is to examine his own achievements, and then he will confine his boasting to his own achievements, not comparing them with anybody else's.


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When someone is under instruction in doctrine, he should give his teacher a share in all his possessions.


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If his sowing is in the field of self-indulgence, then his harvest from it will be corruption; if his sowing is in the Spirit, then his harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life.


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And let us never slacken in doing good; for if we do not give up, we shall have our harvest in due time.


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So then, as long as we have the opportunity let all our actions be for the good of everybody, and especially of those who belong to the household of the faith.


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It is those who want to cut a figure by human standards who force circumcision on you, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.


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Even though they are circumcised they still do not keep the Law themselves; they want you to be circumcised only so that they can boast of your outward appearance.


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But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.


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Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's holy people, faithful in Christ Jesus.


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Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.


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marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was his purpose and good pleasure,


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in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace


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He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, according to his good pleasure which he determined beforehand in Christ,


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for him to act upon when the times had run their course: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.


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And it is in him that we have received our heritage, marked out beforehand as we were, under the plan of the One who guides all things as he decides by his own will,


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chosen to be, for the praise of his glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.


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Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, and having put your trust in it you have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,


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who is the pledge of our inheritance, for the freedom of the people whom God has taken for his own, for the praise of his glory.


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That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all God's holy people,


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May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him.


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May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how rich is the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people,


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and how extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power


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at work in Christ, the power which he exercised in raising him from the dead and enthroning him at his right hand, in heaven,


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far above every principality, ruling force, power or sovereignty, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.


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He has put all things under his feet, and made him, as he is above all things, the head of the Church;


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which used to make up your way of life when you were living by the principles of this world, obeying the ruler who dominates the air, the spirit who is at work in those who rebel.


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We too were all among them once, living only by our natural inclinations, obeying the demands of human self-indulgence and our own whim; our nature made us no less liable to God's retribution than the rest of the world.


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even when we were dead in our sins, brought us to life with Christ -- it is through grace that you have been saved-


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This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how extraordinarily rich he is in grace.


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Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God;


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We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life.


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Do not forget, then, that there was a time when you who were gentiles by physical descent, termed the uncircumcised by those who speak of themselves as the circumcised by reason of a physical operation,


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do not forget, I say, that you were at that time separate from Christ and excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants of the Promise, limited to this world, without hope and without God.


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But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far off have been brought close, by the blood of Christ.


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For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one entity and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, by destroying in his own person the hostility,


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that is, the Law of commandments with its decrees. His purpose in this was, by restoring peace, to create a single New Man out of the two of them,


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and through the cross, to reconcile them both to God in one Body; in his own person he killed the hostility.


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So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of God and part of God's household.


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You are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone.


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This mystery, as it is now revealed in the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, was unknown to humanity in previous generations:


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that the gentiles now have the same inheritance and form the same Body and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.


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I have been made the servant of that gospel by a gift of grace from God who gave it to me by the workings of his power.


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I, who am less than the least of all God's holy people, have been entrusted with this special grace, of proclaiming to the gentiles the unfathomable treasure of Christ


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and of throwing light on the inner workings of the mystery kept hidden through all the ages in God, the Creator of everything.


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The purpose of this was, that now, through the Church, the principalities and ruling forces should learn how many-sided God's wisdom is,


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so, I beg you, do not let the hardships I go through on your account make you waver; they are your glory.


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In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self,


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with all God's holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth;


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so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God.


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glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.


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I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you therefore to lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you were called.


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The one who went down is none other than the one who went up above all the heavens to fill all things.


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And to some, his 'gift' was that they should be apostles; to some prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers;


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until we all reach unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and form the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.


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Then we shall no longer be children, or tossed one way and another, and carried hither and thither by every new gust of teaching, at the mercy of all the tricks people play and their unscrupulousness in deliberate deception.


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by whom the whole Body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each individual part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up in love.


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So this I say to you and attest to you in the Lord, do not go on living the empty-headed life that the gentiles live.


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Intellectually they are in the dark, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is the consequence of closed minds.


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Their sense of right and wrong once dulled, they have abandoned all self-control and pursue to excess every kind of uncleanness.


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You were to put aside your old self, which belongs to your old way of life and is corrupted by following illusory desires.


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so that you could put on the New Man that has been created on God's principles, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth.


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So from now on, there must be no more lies. Speak the truth to one another, since we are all parts of one another.


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Anyone who was a thief must stop stealing; instead he should exert himself at some honest job with his own hands so that he may have something to share with those in need.


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No foul word should ever cross your lips; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners;


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do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal, ready for the day when we shall be set free.


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Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you -- as must every kind of malice.


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Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.


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and follow Christ by loving as he loved you, giving himself up for us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.


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Among you there must be not even a mention of sexual vice or impurity in any of its forms, or greed: this would scarcely become the holy people of God!


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There must be no foul or salacious talk or coarse jokes -- all this is wrong for you; there should rather be thanksgiving.


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For you can be quite certain that nobody who indulges in sexual immorality or impurity or greed -- which is worshipping a false god -- can inherit the kingdom of God.


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Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments: it is such behaviour that draws down God's retribution on those who rebel against him.


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and anything illuminated is itself a light. That is why it is said: Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.


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So be very careful about the sort of lives you lead, like intelligent and not like senseless people.


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Sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs among yourselves, singing and chanting to the Lord in your hearts,


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since, as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife;


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so that when he took the Church to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless.


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In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love himself.


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A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and that is the way Christ treats the Church,


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This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and the two become one flesh.


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To sum up: you also, each one of you, must love his wife as he loves himself; and let every wife respect her husband.


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And parents, never drive your children to resentment but bring them up with correction and advice inspired by the Lord.


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Slaves, be obedient to those who are, according to human reckoning, your masters, with deep respect and sincere loyalty, as you are obedient to Christ:


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not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please human beings, but as slaves of Christ who wholeheartedly do the will of God.


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Never forget that everyone, whether a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well.


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And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, and never forget that they and you have the same Master in heaven and there is no favouritism with him.


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For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens.


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That is why you must take up all God's armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full.


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and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One.


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And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God.


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In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all God's holy people,


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and pray for me to be given an opportunity to open my mouth and fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel


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of which I am an ambassador in chains; pray that in proclaiming it I may speak as fearlessly as I ought to.


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So that you know, as well, what is happening to me and what I am doing, my dear friend Tychicus, my trustworthy helper in the Lord, will tell you everything.


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I am sending him to you precisely for this purpose, to give you news about us and encourage you thoroughly.


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Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with their presiding elders and the deacons.


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I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.


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It is only right that I should feel like this towards you all, because you have a place in my heart, since you have all shared together in the grace that has been mine, both my chains and my work defending and establishing the gospel.


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it is my prayer that your love for one another may grow more and more with the knowledge and complete understanding


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that will help you to come to true discernment, so that you will be innocent and free of any trace of guilt when the Day of Christ comes,


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entirely filled with the fruits of uprightness through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.


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Now I want you to realise, brothers, that the circumstances of my present life are helping rather than hindering the advance of the gospel.


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and so most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my chains and are getting more and more daring in announcing the Message without any fear.


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It is true that some of them are preaching Christ out of malice and rivalry; but there are many as well whose intentions are good;


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There are others who are proclaiming Christ out of jealousy, not in sincerity but meaning to add to the weight of my chains.


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But what does it matter? Only that in both ways, whether with false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and for that I am happy;


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and I shall go on being happy, too, because I know that this is what will save me, with your prayers and with the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ;


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all in accordance with my most confident hope and trust that I shall never have to admit defeat, but with complete fearlessness I shall go on, so that now, as always, Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or my death.


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On the other hand again, if to be alive in the body gives me an opportunity for fruitful work, I do not know which I should choose.


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I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and to be with Christ, and this is by far the stronger desire-


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This much I know for certain, that I shall stay and stand by you all, to encourage your advance and your joy in the faith,


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so that my return to be among you may increase to overflowing your pride in Jesus Christ on my account.


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But you must always behave in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to you and see for myself or whether I only hear all about you from a distance, I shall find that you are standing firm and united in spirit, battling, as a team with a single aim, for the faith of the gospel,


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undismayed by any of your opponents. This will be a clear sign, for them that they are to be lost, and for you that you are to be saved.


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This comes from God, for you have been granted the privilege for Christ's sake not only of believing in him but of suffering for him as well;


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you are fighting the same battle which you saw me fighting for him and which you hear I am fighting still.


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So if in Christ there is anything that will move you, any incentive in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any warmth or sympathy -- I appeal to you,


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Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others,


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But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being,


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so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus


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So, my dear friends, you have always been obedient; your obedience must not be limited to times when I am present. Now that I am absent it must be more in evidence, so work out your salvation in fear and trembling.


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so that you remain faultless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world,


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proffering to it the Word of life. Then I shall have reason to be proud on the Day of Christ, for it will not be for nothing that I have run the race and toiled so hard.


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Indeed, even if my blood has to be poured as a libation over your sacrifice and the offering of your faith, then I shall be glad and join in your rejoicing-


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I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon, so that my mind may be set at rest when I hear how you are.


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But you know what sort of person he has proved himself, working with me for the sake of the gospel like a son with his father.


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That is the man, then, that I am hoping to send to you immediately I can make out what is going to happen to me;


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Nevertheless I thought it essential to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and companion-in-arms since he came as your representative to look after my needs;


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Indeed he was seriously ill and nearly died; but God took pity on him -- and not only on him but also on me, to spare me one grief on top of another.


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So I am sending him back as promptly as I can so that you will have the joy of seeing him again, and that will be some comfort to me in my distress.


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because it was for Christ's work that he came so near to dying, risking his life to do the duty to me which you could not do yourselves.


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Finally, brothers, I wish you joy in the Lord. To write to you what I have already written before is no trouble to me and to you will be a protection.


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We are the true people of the circumcision since we worship by the Spirit of God and make Christ Jesus our only boast, not relying on physical qualifications,


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although, I myself could rely on these too. If anyone does claim to rely on them, my claim is better.


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Circumcised on the eighth day of my life, I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents. In the matter of the Law, I was a Pharisee;


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as for religious fervour, I was a persecutor of the Church; as for the uprightness embodied in the Law, I was faultless.


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Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ


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and be given a place in him, with the uprightness I have gained not from the Law, but through faith in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on faith,


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that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death,


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Not that I have secured it already, nor yet reached my goal, but I am still pursuing it in the attempt to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.


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Brothers, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; I can only say that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front,


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So this is the way in which all of us who are mature should be thinking, and if you are still thinking differently in any way, then God has yet to make this matter clear to you.


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Brothers, be united in imitating me. Keep your eyes fixed on those who act according to the example you have from me.


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For there are so many people of whom I have often warned you, and now I warn you again with tears in my eyes, who behave like the enemies of Christ's cross.


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They are destined to be lost; their god is the stomach; they glory in what they should think shameful, since their minds are set on earthly things.


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But our homeland is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,


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who will transfigure the wretched body of ours into the mould of his glorious body, through the working of the power which he has, even to bring all things under his mastery.


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So then, my brothers and dear friends whom I miss so much, my joy and my crown, hold firm in the Lord, dear friends.


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and I ask you, Syzygus, really to be a 'partner' and help them. These women have struggled hard for the gospel with me, along with Clement and all my other fellow-workers, whose names are written in the book of life.


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Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude,


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and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.


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Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire -- with whatever is good and praiseworthy.


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Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.


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As for me, I am full of joy in the Lord, now that at last your consideration for me has blossomed again; though I recognise that you really did have consideration before, but had no opportunity to show it.


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I know how to live modestly, and I know how to live luxuriously too: in every way now I have mastered the secret of all conditions: full stomach and empty stomach, plenty and poverty.


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In the early days of the gospel, as you of Philippi well know, when I left Macedonia, no church other than yourselves made common account with me in the matter of expenditure and receipts. You were the only ones;


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It is not the gift that I value most; what I value is the interest that is mounting up in your account.


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I have all that I need and more: I am fully provided, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the offering that you sent, a pleasing smell, the sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to God.


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My greetings to every one of God's holy people in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings.


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to God's holy people in Colossae, our faithful brothers in Christ. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.


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ever since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you show towards all God's holy people


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because of the hope which is stored up for you in heaven. News of this hope reached you not long ago through the word of truth, the gospel


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that came to you in the same way as it is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world. It has had the same effect among you, ever since you heard about the grace of God and recognised it for what it truly is.


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This you learnt from Epaphras, our very dear fellow-worker and a trustworthy deputy for us as Christ's servant,


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That is why, ever since the day he told us, we have never failed to remember you in our prayers and ask that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you should reach the fullest knowledge of his will


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and so be able to lead a life worthy of the Lord, a life acceptable to him in all its aspects, bearing fruit in every kind of good work and growing in knowledge of God,


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giving thanks with joy to the Father who has made you able to share the lot of God's holy people and with them to inherit the light.


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Because that is what he has done. It is he who has rescued us from the ruling force of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son that he loves,


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for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers -- all things were created through him and for him.


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and he is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church. He is the Beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he should be supreme in every way;


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and through him to reconcile all things to him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, by making peace through his death on the cross.


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now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body, to bring you before himself holy, faultless and irreproachable-


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as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the gospel, which you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.


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It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church,


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of which I was made a servant with the responsibility towards you that God gave to me, that of completing God's message,


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the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his holy people.


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It was God's purpose to reveal to them how rich is the glory of this mystery among the gentiles; it is Christ among you, your hope of glory:


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this is the Christ we are proclaiming, admonishing and instructing everyone in all wisdom, to make everyone perfect in Christ.


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I want you to know, then, what a struggle I am having on your behalf and on behalf of those in Laodicea, and on behalf of so many others who have never seen me face to face.


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It is all to bind them together in love and to encourage their resolution until they are rich in the assurance of their complete understanding and have knowledge of the mystery of God


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I may be absent in body, but in spirit I am there among you, delighted to find how well-ordered you are and to see how firm your faith in Christ is.


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be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving.


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Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a 'philosophy' of the kind that human beings hand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ.


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and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every sovereignty and ruling force.


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In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision performed, not by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your natural self. This is circumcision according to Christ.


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You have been buried with him by your baptism; by which, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead.


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You were dead, because you were sinners and uncircumcised in body: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us every one of our sins.


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He has wiped out the record of our debt to the Law, which stood against us; he has destroyed it by nailing it to the cross;


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and he has stripped the sovereignties and the ruling forces, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession.


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Then never let anyone criticise you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals, New Moons or Sabbaths.


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Do not be cheated of your prize by anyone who chooses to grovel to angels and worship them, pinning every hope on visions received, vainly puffed up by a human way of thinking;


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such a person has no connection to the Head, by which the whole body, given all that it needs and held together by its joints and sinews, grows with the growth given by God.


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If you have really died with Christ to the principles of this world, why do you still let rules dictate to you, as though you were still living in the world?


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and all about things which perish even while they are being used -- according to merely human commandments and doctrines!


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In these rules you can indeed find what seems to be good sense -- the cultivation of the will, and a humility which takes no account of the body; but in fact they have no value against self-indulgence.


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Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look for the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand.


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That is why you must kill everything in you that is earthly: sexual vice, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god;


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but now you also must give up all these things: human anger, hot temper, malice, abusive language and dirty talk;


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and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator;


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and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised and uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.


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As the chosen of God, then, the holy people whom he loves, you are to be clothed in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience.


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Bear with one another; forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same.


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And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together in one body. Always be thankful.


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Let the Word of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God;


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and whatever you say or do, let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus, in thanksgiving to God the Father through him.


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Slaves, be obedient in every way to the people who, according to human reckoning, are your masters; not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please human beings, but wholeheartedly, out of respect for the Master.


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knowing that the Lord will repay you by making you his heirs. It is Christ the Lord that you are serving.


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Masters, make sure that your slaves are given what is upright and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.


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Pray for us especially, asking God to throw open a door for us to announce the message and proclaim the mystery of Christ, for the sake of which I am in chains;


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Always talk pleasantly and with a flavour of wit but be sensitive to the kind of answer each one requires.


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Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a very dear brother, and a trustworthy helper and companion in the service of the Lord.


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I am sending him to you precisely for this purpose: to give you news about us and to encourage you thoroughly.


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With him I am sending Onesimus, that dear and trustworthy brother who is a fellow-citizen of yours. They will tell you everything that is happening here.


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Aristarchus, who is here in prison with me, sends his greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas -- you were sent some instructions about him; if he comes to you, give him a warm welcome-


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and Jesus Justus adds his greetings. Of all those who have come over from the circumcision, these are the only ones actually working with me for the kingdom of God. They have been a great comfort to me.


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Epaphras, your fellow-citizen, sends his greetings; this servant of Christ Jesus never stops battling for you, praying that you will never lapse but always hold perfectly and securely to the will of God.


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Please give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church which meets in her house.


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After this letter has been read among you, send it on to be read in the church of the Laodiceans; and get the letter from Laodicea for you to read yourselves.


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Give Archippus this message, 'Remember the service that the Lord assigned to you, and try to carry it out.'


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Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonica which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.


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We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus Christ.


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because our gospel came to you not only in words, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with great effect. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your sake.


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You took us and the Lord as your model, welcoming the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit in spite of great hardship.


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since it was from you that the word of the Lord rang out -- and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other people about it:


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other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with the worship of false gods when you were converted to God and became servants of the living and true God;


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and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven. It is he who saves us from the Retribution which is coming.


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Although, as you know, we had received rough treatment and insults at Philippi, God gave us the courage to speak his gospel to you fearlessly, in spite of great opposition.


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No, God has approved us to be entrusted with the gospel, and this is how we preach, seeking to please not human beings but God who tests our hearts.


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Indeed, we have never acted with the thought of flattering anyone, as you know, nor as an excuse for greed, God is our witness;


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when we could have imposed ourselves on you with full weight, as apostles of Christ. Instead, we lived unassumingly among you. Like a mother feeding and looking after her children,


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we felt so devoted to you, that we would have been happy to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, so dear had you become.


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You remember, brothers, with what unsparing energy we used to work, slaving night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you while we were proclaiming the gospel of God to you.


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You are witnesses, and so is God, that our treatment of you, since you believed, has been impeccably fair and upright.


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urging you, encouraging you and appealing to you to live a life worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and his glory.


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Another reason why we continually thank God for you is that as soon as you heard the word that we brought you as God's message, you welcomed it for what it really is, not the word of any human being, but God's word, a power that is working among you believers.


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For you, my brothers, have modelled yourselves on the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea, in that you have suffered the same treatment from your own countrymen as they have had from the Jews,


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who put the Lord Jesus to death, and the prophets too, and persecuted us also. Their conduct does not please God, and makes them the enemies of the whole human race,


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because they are hindering us from preaching to gentiles to save them. Thus all the time they are reaching the full extent of their iniquity, but retribution has finally overtaken them.


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Although we had been deprived of you for only a short time in body but never in affection, brothers, we had an especially strong desire and longing to see you face to face again,


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What do you think is our hope and our joy, and what our crown of honour in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes?


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When we could not bear it any longer, we decided it would be best to be left without a companion at Athens,


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and sent our brother Timothy, who is God's helper in spreading the gospel of Christ, to keep you firm and encourage you about your faith


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and prevent any of you from being unsettled by the present hardships. As you know, these are bound to come our way:


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indeed, when we were with you, we warned you that we are certain to have hardships to bear, and that is what has happened now, as you have found out.


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That is why, when I could not bear it any longer, I sent to assure myself of your faith: I was afraid the Tester might have put you to the test, and all our work might have been pointless.


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However, Timothy has returned from you and has given us good news of your faith and your love, telling us that you always remember us with pleasure and want to see us quite as much as we want to see you.


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And so, brothers, your faith has been a great encouragement to us in the middle of our own distress and hardship;


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We are earnestly praying night and day to be able to see you face to face again and make up any shortcomings in your faith.


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May the Lord increase and enrich your love for each other and for all, so that it matches ours for you.


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And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.


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Finally, brothers, we urge you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus; we instructed you how to live in the way that pleases God, and you are so living; but make more progress still.


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He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters; the Lord always pays back sins of that sort, as we told you before emphatically.


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in other words, anyone who rejects this is rejecting not human authority, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.


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As for brotherly love, there is no need to write to you about that, since you have yourselves learnt from God to love one another,


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and in fact this is how you treat all the brothers throughout the whole of Macedonia. However, we do urge you, brothers, to go on making even greater progress


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and to make a point of living quietly, attending to your own business and earning your living, just as we told you to,


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We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, to make sure that you do not grieve for them, as others do who have no hope.


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We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that in the same way God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.


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We can tell you this from the Lord's own teaching, that we who are still alive for the Lord's coming will not have any advantage over those who have fallen asleep.


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At the signal given by the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise,


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and only after that shall we who remain alive be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. This is the way we shall be with the Lord for ever.


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for you are well aware in any case that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.


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It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that sudden destruction falls on them, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there is no escape.


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No, you are all children of light and children of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness,


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but we belong to the day and we should be sober; let us put on faith and love for a breastplate, and the hope of salvation for a helmet.


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We appeal to you, my brothers, to be considerate to those who work so hard among you as your leaders in the Lord and those who admonish you.


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Have the greatest respect and affection for them because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.


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We urge you, brothers, to admonish those who are undisciplined, encourage the apprehensive, support the weak and be patient with everyone.


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Make sure that people do not try to repay evil for evil; always aim at what is best for each other and for everyone.


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May the God of peace make you perfect and holy; and may your spirit, life and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonica which is in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ


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We must always thank God for you, brothers; quite rightly, because your faith is growing so wonderfully and the mutual love that each one of you has for all never stops increasing.


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Among the churches of God we take special pride in you for your perseverance and faith under all the persecutions and hardships you have to bear.


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It all shows that God's judgement is just, so that you may be found worthy of the kingdom of God; it is for the sake of this that you are suffering now.


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For God's justice will surely mean hardship being inflicted on those who are now inflicting hardship on you,


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and for you who are now suffering hardship, relief with us, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with the angels of his power.


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He will come amid flaming fire; he will impose a penalty on those who do not acknowledge God and refuse to accept the gospel of our Lord Jesus.


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Their punishment is to be lost eternally, excluded from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength


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on that day when he comes to be glorified among his holy ones and marvelled at by all who believe in him; and you are among those who believed our witness.


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In view of this we also pray continually that our God will make you worthy of his call, and by his power fulfil all your desires for goodness, and complete all that you have been doing through faith;


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so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.


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please do not be too easily thrown into confusion or alarmed by any manifestation of the Spirit or any statement or any letter claiming to come from us, suggesting that the Day of the Lord has already arrived.


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Never let anyone deceive you in any way. It cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and there has appeared the wicked One, the lost One,


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the Enemy, who raises himself above every so-called God or object of worship to enthrone himself in God's sanctuary and flaunts the claim that he is God.


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and the wicked One will appear openly. The Lord will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming.


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But the coming of the wicked One will be marked by Satan being at work in all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs and wonders,


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and every wicked deception aimed at those who are on the way to destruction because they would not accept the love of the truth and so be saved.


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and so that those who do not believe the truth and take their pleasure in wickedness may all be condemned.


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But we must always thank God for you, brothers whom the Lord loves, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved by the Spirit who makes us holy and by faith in the truth.


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Through our gospel he called you to this so that you should claim as your own the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Stand firm, then, brothers, and keep the traditions that we taught you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.


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May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who has given us his love and, through his grace, such ceaseless encouragement and such sure hope,


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Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord's message may spread quickly, and be received with honour as it was among you;


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and we, in the Lord, have every confidence in you, that you are doing and will go on doing all that we tell you.


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In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge you, brothers, to keep away from any of the brothers who lives an undisciplined life, not in accordance with the tradition you received from us.


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nor did we ever accept food from anyone without paying for it; no, we worked with unsparing energy, night and day, so as not to be a burden on any of you.


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This was not because we had no right to be, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to imitate.


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Now we hear that there are some of you who are living lives without any discipline, doing no work themselves but interfering with other people's.


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In the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge and call on people of this kind to go on quietly working and earning the food that they eat.


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If anyone refuses to obey what I have written in this letter, take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed of himself,


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May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.


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This greeting is in my own hand-PAUL. It is the mark of genuineness in every letter; this is my own writing.


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Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus appointed by the command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope,


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to Timothy, true child of mine in the faith. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.


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When I was setting out for Macedonia I urged you to stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread wrong teaching


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or to give attention to myths and unending genealogies; these things only foster doubts instead of furthering God's plan which is founded on faith.


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The final goal at which this instruction aims is love, issuing from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith.


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trying to be teachers of the Law; but they understand neither the words they use nor the matters about which they make such strong assertions.


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on the understanding that laws are not framed for people who are upright. On the contrary, they are for criminals and the insubordinate, for the irreligious and the wicked, for the sacrilegious and the godless; they are for people who kill their fathers or mothers and for murderers,


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for the promiscuous, homosexuals, kidnappers, for liars and for perjurers -- and for everything else that is contrary to the sound teaching


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I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength. By calling me into his service he has judged me trustworthy,


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even though I used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor and contemptuous. Mercy, however, was shown me, because while I lacked faith I acted in ignorance;


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Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them;


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and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the leading example of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who were later to trust in him for eternal life.


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To the eternal King, the undying, invisible and only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.


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Timothy, my son, these are the instructions that I am giving you, in accordance with the words once spoken over you by the prophets, so that in their light you may fight like a good soldier


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with faith and a good conscience for your weapons. Some people have put conscience aside and wrecked their faith in consequence.


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I mean men like Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they may learn not to be blasphemous.


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I urge then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be offered for everyone,


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for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives with all devotion and propriety.


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For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus,


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of which I was appointed herald and apostle and -- I am telling the truth and no lie -- a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.


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In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.


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Similarly, women are to wear suitable clothes and to be dressed quietly and modestly, without braided hair or gold and jewellery or expensive clothes;


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I give no permission for a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. A woman ought to be quiet,


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Nevertheless, she will be saved by child-bearing, provided she lives a sensible life and is constant in faith and love and holiness.


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That is why the presiding elder must have an impeccable character. Husband of one wife, he must be temperate, discreet and courteous, hospitable and a good teacher;


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a man who manages his own household well and brings his children up to obey him and be well-behaved:


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how can any man who does not understand how to manage his own household take care of the Church of God?


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He should not be a new convert, in case pride should turn his head and he incur the same condemnation as the devil.


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It is also necessary that he be held in good repute by outsiders, so that he never falls into disrepute and into the devil's trap.


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Similarly, deacons must be respectable, not double-tongued, moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money.


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They are first to be examined, and admitted to serve as deacons only if there is nothing against them.


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Deacons must be husbands of one wife and must be people who manage their children and households well.


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Those of them who carry out their duties well as deacons will earn a high standing for themselves and an authoritative voice in matters concerning faith in Christ Jesus.


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but in case I should be delayed, I want you to know how people ought to behave in God's household -- that is, in the Church of the living God, pillar and support of the truth.


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Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is very deep indeed: He was made visible in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed to the gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.


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The Spirit has explicitly said that during the last times some will desert the faith and pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines that come from devils,


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they forbid marriage and prohibit foods which God created to be accepted with thanksgiving by all who believe and who know the truth.


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Everything God has created is good, and no food is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving:


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If you put all this to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus and show that you have really digested the teaching of the faith and the good doctrine which you have always followed.


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Physical exercise is useful enough, but the usefulness of religion is unlimited, since it holds out promise both for life here and now and for the life to come;


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I mean that the point of all our toiling and battling is that we have put our trust in the living God and he is the Saviour of the whole human race but particularly of all believers.


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Let no one disregard you because you are young, but be an example to all the believers in the way you speak and behave, and in your love, your faith and your purity.


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You have in you a spiritual gift which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the body of elders laid their hands on you; do not neglect it.


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Be conscientious about what you do and what you teach; persevere in this, and in this way you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.


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Never speak sharply to a man older than yourself, but appeal to him as you would to your own father; treat younger men as brothers,


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If a widow has children or grandchildren, they are to learn first of all to do their duty to their own families and repay their debt to their parents, because this is what pleases God.


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But a woman who is really widowed and left on her own has set her hope on God and perseveres night and day in petitions and prayer.


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Anyone who does not look after his own relations, especially if they are living with him, has rejected the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.


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Enrolment as a widow is permissible only for a woman at least sixty years old who has had only one husband.


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She must be a woman known for her good works -- whether she has brought up her children, been hospitable to strangers and washed the feet of God's holy people, helped people in hardship or been active in all kinds of good work.


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Do not accept young widows because if their natural desires distract them from Christ, they want to marry again,


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Besides, they learn how to be idle and go round from house to house; and then, not merely idle, they learn to be gossips and meddlers in other people's affairs and to say what should remain unsaid.


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I think it is best for young widows to marry again and have children and a household to look after, and not give the enemy any chance to raise a scandal about them;


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If a woman believer has widowed relatives, she should support them and not make the Church bear the expense but enable it to support those who are really widowed.


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Elders who do their work well while they are in charge earn double reward, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.


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As scripture says: You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn; and again: The worker deserves his wages.


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Never accept any accusation brought against an elder unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.


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Before God, and before Jesus Christ and the angels he has chosen, I charge you to keep these rules impartially and never to be influenced by favouritism.


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Do not be too quick to lay hands on anyone, and never make yourself an accomplice in anybody else's sin; keep yourself pure.


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You should give up drinking only water and have a little wine for the sake of your digestion and the frequent bouts of illness that you have.


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The faults of some people are obvious long before they come to the reckoning, while others have faults that are not discovered until later.


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Similarly, the good that people do can be obvious; but even when it is not, it cannot remain hidden.


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All those under the yoke of slavery must have unqualified respect for their masters, so that the name of God and our teaching are not brought into disrepute.


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Those whose masters are believers are not to respect them less because they are brothers; on the contrary, they should serve them all the better, since those who have the benefit of their services are believers and dear to God. This is what you are to teach and urge.


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Anyone who teaches anything different and does not keep to the sound teaching which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion,


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is proud and has no understanding, but rather a weakness for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and evil mistrust;


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and unending disputes by people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth, and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.


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Religion, of course, does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have.


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People who long to be rich are a prey to trial; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and harmful ambitions which plunge people into ruin and destruction.


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'The love of money is the root of all evils' and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.


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But, as someone dedicated to God, avoid all that. You must aim to be upright and religious, filled with faith and love, perseverance and gentleness.


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Fight the good fight of faith and win the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.


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Now, before God, the source of all life, and before Jesus Christ, who witnessed to his noble profession of faith before Pontius Pilate, I charge you


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to do all that you have been told, with no faults or failures, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,


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who at the due time will be revealed by God, the blessed and only Ruler of all, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,


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who alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no human being has seen or is able to see: to him be honour and everlasting power. Amen.


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Instruct those who are rich in this world's goods that they should not be proud and should set their hopes not on money, which is untrustworthy, but on God who gives us richly all that we need for our happiness.


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this is the way they can amass a good capital sum for the future if they want to possess the only life that is real.


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My dear Timothy, take great care of all that has been entrusted to you. Turn away from godless philosophical discussions and the contradictions of the 'knowledge' which is not knowledge at all;


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From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God in accordance with his promise of life in Christ Jesus,


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to Timothy, dear son of mine. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.


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Night and day I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my ancestors did. I remember you in my prayers constantly night and day;


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I also remember your sincere faith, a faith which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure dwells also in you.


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That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift of God that you possess through the laying on of my hands.


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So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to our Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but share in my hardships for the sake of the gospel, relying on the power of God


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who has saved us and called us to be holy -- not because of anything we ourselves had done but for his own purpose and by his own grace. This grace had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time,


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but it has been revealed only by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus. He has abolished death, and he has brought to light immortality and life through the gospel,


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That is why I am experiencing my present sufferings; but I am not ashamed, because I know in whom I have put my trust, and I have no doubt at all that he is able to safeguard until that Day what I have entrusted to him.


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Keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.


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I hope the Lord will be kind to all the family of Onesiphorus, because he has often been a comfort to me and has never been ashamed of my chains.


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May the Lord grant him to find the Lord's mercy on that Day. You know better than anyone else how much he helped me at Ephesus.


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Pass on to reliable people what you have heard from me through many witnesses so that they in turn will be able to teach others.


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No one on active service involves himself in the affairs of civilian life, because he must win the approval of the man who enlisted him;


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or again someone who enters an athletic contest wins only by competing in the sports -- a prize can be won only by competing according to the rules;


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Remember the gospel that I carry, 'Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David';


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it is on account of this that I have to put up with suffering, even to being chained like a criminal. But God's message cannot be chained up.


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So I persevere for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they, too, may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.


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Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there must be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening.


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Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who has no need to be ashamed, but who keeps the message of truth on a straight path.


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Have nothing to do with godless philosophical discussions -- they only lead further and further away from true religion.


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the men who have gone astray from the truth, claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting some people's faith.


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However, God's solid foundation-stone stands firm, and this is the seal on it: 'The Lord knows those who are his own' and 'All who call on the name of the Lord must avoid evil.'


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Not all the dishes in a large house are made of gold and silver; some are made of wood or earthenware: the former are held in honour, the latter held cheap.


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If someone holds himself aloof from these faults I speak of, he will be a vessel held in honour, dedicated and fit for the Master, ready for any good work.


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Turn away from the passions of youth, concentrate on uprightness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.


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Avoid these foolish and undisciplined speculations, understanding that they only give rise to quarrels;


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and a servant of the Lord must not engage in quarrels, but must be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and patient.


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He must be gentle when he corrects people who oppose him, in the hope that God may give them a change of mind so that they recognise the truth


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and come to their senses, escaping the trap of the devil who made them his captives and subjected them to his will.


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People will be self-centred and avaricious, boastful, arrogant and rude; disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious;


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heartless and intractable; they will be slanderers, profligates, savages and enemies of everything that is good;


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They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it. Keep away from people like that.


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Of the same kind, too, are those men who insinuate themselves into families in order to get influence over silly women who are obsessed with their sins and follow one craze after another,


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Just as Jannes and Jambres defied Moses, so these men defy the truth, their minds corrupt and their faith spurious.


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But they will not be able to go on much longer: their folly, like that of the other two, must become obvious to everybody.


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You, though, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my aims, my faith, my patience and my love, my perseverance


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and the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra -- all the persecutions I have endured; and the Lord has rescued me from every one of them.


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and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures -from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.


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All scripture is inspired by God and useful for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teaching them to be upright.


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Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom:


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proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement -- but do all with patience and with care to instruct.


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The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes;


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But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfil the service asked of you.


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As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart.


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all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing.


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As it is, Demas has deserted me for love of this life and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia;


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When you come, bring the cloak I left with Carpus in Troas, and the scrolls, especially the parchment ones.


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Be on your guard against him yourself, because he has been bitterly contesting everything that we say.


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The first time I had to present my defence, no one came into court to support me. Every one of them deserted me -- may they not be held accountable for it.


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But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed for all the gentiles to hear; and so I was saved from the lion's mouth.


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The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


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Make every effort to come before the winter. Greetings to you from Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.


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From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion,


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and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.


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To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.


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The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you,


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that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable character, husband of one wife, and his children must be believers and not liable to be charged with disorderly conduct or insubordination.


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The presiding elder has to be irreproachable since he is God's representative: never arrogant or hot-tempered, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor avaricious;


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and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted on both for giving encouragement in sound doctrine and for refuting those who argue against it.


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And in fact there are many people who are insubordinate, who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it, particularly among those of the circumcision.


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They must be silenced: people of this kind upset whole families, by teaching things that they ought not to, and doing it for the sake of sordid gain.


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It was one of themselves, one of their own prophets, who said, 'Cretans were never anything but liars, dangerous animals, all greed and laziness';


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so that they stop taking notice of Jewish myths and the orders of people who turn away from the truth.


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To those who are pure themselves, everything is pure; but to those who have been corrupted and lack faith, nothing can be pure -- the corruption is both in their minds and in their consciences.


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They claim to know God but by their works they deny him; they are outrageously rebellious and quite untrustworthy for any good work.


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Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine -- they must be the teachers of right behaviour


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how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced.


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and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable


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and there must be no pilfering -- they must show complete honesty at all times, so that they are in every way a credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.


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it has taught us that we should give up everything contrary to true religion and all our worldly passions; we must be self-restrained and live upright and religious lives in this present world,


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waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.


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He offered himself for us in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be his very own and eager to do good.


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Remind them to be obedient to the officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity;


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not to go slandering other people but to be peaceable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds.


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There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves.


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it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit


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This is doctrine that you can rely on. I want you to be quite uncompromising in teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works. All this is good, and useful for everybody.


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But avoid foolish speculations, and those genealogies, and the quibbles and disputes about the Law -- they are useless and futile.


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If someone disputes what you teach, then after a first and a second warning, have no more to do with him:


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As soon as I have sent Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to join me at Nicopolis, where I have decided to spend the winter.


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Help eagerly on their way Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, and make sure they have everything they need.


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All our people must also learn to occupy themselves in doing good works for their practical needs, and not to be unproductive.


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All those who are with me send their greetings. Greetings to those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.


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From Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and from our brother Timothy; to our dear fellow worker Philemon,


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because I hear of the love and the faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all God's holy people.


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I pray that your fellowship in faith may come to expression in full knowledge of all the good we can do for Christ.


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I have received much joy and encouragement by your love; you have set the hearts of God's holy people at rest.


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I am rather appealing to your love, being what I am, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.


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I am appealing to you for a child of mine, whose father I became while wearing these chains: I mean Onesimus.


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I should have liked to keep him with me; he could have been a substitute for you, to help me while I am in the chains that the gospel has brought me.


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However, I did not want to do anything without your consent; it would have been forcing your act of kindness, which should be spontaneous.


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I suppose you have been deprived of Onesimus for a time, merely so that you could have him back for ever,


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no longer as a slave, but something much better than a slave, a dear brother; especially dear to me, but how much more to you, both on the natural plane and in the Lord.


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I am writing this in my own hand: I, Paul, shall pay it back -- I make no mention of a further debt, that you owe your very self to me!


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I am writing with complete confidence in your compliance, sure that you will do even more than I ask.


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There is another thing: will you get a place ready for me to stay in? I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.


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in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages.


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He is the reflection of God's glory and bears the impress of God's own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.


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So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name.


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To which of the angels, then, has God ever said: You are my Son, today I have fathered you, or: I shall be a father to him and he a son to me?


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Again, when he brings the First-born into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God pay him homage.


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but to the Son he says: Your throne, God, is for ever and ever; and: the sceptre of his kingdom is a sceptre of justice;


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you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, as none of your rivals.


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Like a cloak you will roll them up, like a garment, and they will be changed. But you never alter and your years are unending.


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To which of the angels has God ever said: Take your seat at my right hand till I have made your enemies your footstool?


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Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?


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We ought, then, to turn our minds more attentively than before to what we have been taught, so that we do not drift away.


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If a message that was spoken through angels proved to be so reliable that every infringement and disobedience brought its own proper punishment,


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then we shall certainly not go unpunished if we neglect such a great salvation. It was first announced by the Lord himself, and is guaranteed to us by those who heard him;


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God himself confirmed their witness with signs and marvels and miracles of all kinds, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the various ways he wills.


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Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him?


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For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour,


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put all things under his feet. For in putting all things under him he made no exceptions. At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are under him,


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but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by God's grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity.


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It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should, in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation.


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For consecrator and consecrated are all of the same stock; that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers


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in the text: I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly; or in the text:


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Since all the children share the same human nature, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could set aside him who held the power of death, namely the devil,


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It was essential that he should in this way be made completely like his brothers so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people.


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For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test.


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That is why all you who are holy brothers and share the same heavenly call should turn your minds to Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith.


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He was trustworthy to the one who appointed him, just like Moses, who remained trustworthy in all his household;


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but he deserves a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honoured than the house itself.


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It is true that Moses was trustworthy in the household of God, as a servant is, acting as witness to the things which were yet to be revealed,


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but Christ is trustworthy as a son is, over his household. And we are his household, as long as we fearlessly maintain the hope in which we glory.


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for forty years. That was why that generation sickened me and I said, 'Always fickle hearts, that cannot grasp my ways!'


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Take care, brothers, that none of you ever has a wicked heart, so unbelieving as to turn away from the living God.


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Every day, as long as this today lasts, keep encouraging one another so that none of you is hardened by the lure of sin,


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because we have been granted a share with Christ only if we keep the grasp of our first confidence firm to the end.


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In this saying: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts, as at the Rebellion,


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And with whom was he angry for forty years? Surely with those who sinned and whose dead bodies fell in the desert.


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Let us beware, then: since the promise never lapses, none of you must think that he has come too late for the promise of entering his place of rest.


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We received the gospel exactly as they did; but hearing the message did them no good because they did not share the faith of those who did listen.


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We, however, who have faith, are entering a place of rest, as in the text: And then in my anger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest. Now God's work was all finished at the beginning of the world;


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as one text says, referring to the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.


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It remains the case, then, that there would be some people who would reach it, and since those who first heard the good news were prevented from entering by their refusal to believe,


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God fixed another day, a Today, when he said through David in the text already quoted: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts.


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Let us, then, press forward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal to believe and be lost.


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The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts.


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No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.


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Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our profession of faith.


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For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin.


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Let us, then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help.


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Every high priest is taken from among human beings and is appointed to act on their behalf in relationships with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins;


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he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or who have gone astray, because he too is subject to the limitations of weakness.


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And so it was not Christ who gave himself the glory of becoming high priest, but the one who said to him: You are my Son, today I have fathered you,


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During his life on earth, he offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing by his reverence,


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On this subject we have many things to say, and they are difficult to explain because you have grown so slow at understanding.


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Indeed, when you should by this time have become masters, you need someone to teach you all over again the elements of the principles of God's sayings; you have gone back to needing milk, and not solid food.


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Truly, no one who is still living on milk can digest the doctrine of saving justice, being still a baby.


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Let us leave behind us then all the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to its completion, without going over the fundamental doctrines again: the turning away from dead actions, faith in God,


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the teaching about baptisms and the laying -- on of hands, about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement.


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As for those people who were once brought into the light, and tasted the gift from heaven, and received a share of the Holy Spirit,


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and yet in spite of this have fallen away -- it is impossible for them to be brought to the freshness of repentance a second time, since they are crucifying the Son of God again for themselves, and making a public exhibition of him.


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A field that drinks up the rain that has fallen frequently on it, and yields the crops that are wanted by the owners who grew them, receives God's blessing;


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but one that grows brambles and thistles is worthless, and near to being cursed. It will end by being burnt.


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But you, my dear friends -- in spite of what we have just said, we are sure you are in a better state and on the way to salvation.


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God would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for his name or the services you have done, and are still doing, for the holy people of God.


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Our desire is that every one of you should go on showing the same enthusiasm till the ultimate fulfilment of your hope,


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never growing careless, but taking as your model those who by their faith and perseverance are heirs of the promises.


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When God made the promise to Abraham, he swore by his own self, since there was no one greater he could swear by:


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Human beings, of course, swear an oath by something greater than themselves, and between them, confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute.


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In the same way, when God wanted to show the heirs of the promise even more clearly how unalterable his plan was, he conveyed it by an oath


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so that through two unalterable factors in which God could not be lying, we who have fled to him might have a vigorous encouragement to grasp the hope held out to us.


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where Jesus has entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever, of the order of Melchizedek.


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Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, came to meet Abraham when he returned from defeating the kings, and blessed him;


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and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, 'king of saving justice' and also king of Salem, that is, 'king of peace';


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he has no father, mother or ancestry, and his life has no beginning or ending; he is like the Son of God. He remains a priest for ever.


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Now think how great this man must have been, if the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the finest plunder.


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We know that any of the descendants of Levi who are admitted to the priesthood are obliged by the Law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their own brothers although they too are descended from Abraham.


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But this man, who was not of the same descent, took his tithe from Abraham, and he gave his blessing to the holder of the promises.


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Further, in the normal case it is ordinary mortal men who receive the tithes, whereas in that case it was one who is attested as being alive.


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It could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, actually paid tithes, in the person of Abraham,


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Now if perfection had been reached through the levitical priesthood -- and this was the basis of the Law given to the people -- why was it necessary for a different kind of priest to arise, spoken of as being of the order of Melchizedek rather than of the order of Aaron?


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So our Lord, of whom these things were said, belonged to a different tribe, the members of which have never done service at the altar;


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everyone knows he came from Judah, a tribe which Moses did not mention at all when dealing with priests.


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This becomes even more clearly evident if another priest, of the type of Melchizedek, arises who is a priest


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since the Law could not make anything perfect; but now this commandment is replaced by something better-the hope that brings us close to God.


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but this one with the swearing of an oath by him who said to him, The Lord has sworn an oath he will never retract: you are a priest for ever;


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the very fact that it occurred with the swearing of an oath makes the covenant of which Jesus is the guarantee all the greater.


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It follows, then, that his power to save those who come to God through him is absolute, since he lives for ever to intercede for them.


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Such is the high priest that met our need, holy, innocent and uncontaminated, set apart from sinners, and raised up above the heavens;


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he has no need to offer sacrifices every day, as the high priests do, first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; this he did once and for all by offering himself.


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The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever.


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The principal point of all that we have said is that we have a high priest of exactly this kind. He has taken his seat at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens,


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and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent which the Lord, and not any man, set up.


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Every high priest is constituted to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer.


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In fact, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are others who make the offerings laid down by the Law,


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though these maintain the service only of a model or a reflection of the heavenly realities; just as Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: See that you work to the design that was shown you on the mountain.


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As it is, he has been given a ministry as far superior as is the covenant of which he is the mediator, which is founded on better promises.


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If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no room for a second one to replace it.


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And in fact God does find fault with them; he says: Look, the days are coming, the Lord declares, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,


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but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors, the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, and I too abandoned them, the Lord declares.


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No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel, when those days have come, the Lord declares: In their minds I shall plant my laws writing them on their hearts. Then I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.


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There will be no further need for each to teach his neighbour, and each his brother, saying 'Learn to know the Lord!' No, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest,


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By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is old. And anything old and ageing is ready to disappear.


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The first covenant also had its laws governing worship and its sanctuary, a sanctuary on this earth.


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There was a tent which comprised two compartments: the first, in which the lamp-stand, the table and the loaves of permanent offering were kept, was called the Holy Place;


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to which belonged the gold altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant, plated all over with gold. In this were kept the gold jar containing the manna, Aaron's branch that grew the buds, and the tables of the covenant.


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On top of it were the glorious winged creatures, overshadowing the throne of mercy. This is not the time to go into detail about this.


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Under these provisions, priests go regularly into the outer tent to carry out their acts of worship,


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but the second tent is entered only once a year, and then only by the high priest who takes in the blood to make an offering for his own and the people's faults of inadvertence.


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By this, the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up;


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it is a symbol for this present time. None of the gifts and sacrifices offered under these regulations can possibly bring any worshipper to perfection in his conscience;


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they are rules about outward life, connected with food and drink and washing at various times, which are in force only until the time comes to set things right.


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But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, not made by human hands, that is, not of this created order;


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and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption.


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The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement, may restore their bodily purity.


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How much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself, blameless as he was, to God through the eternal Spirit, purify our conscience from dead actions so that we can worship the living God.


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This makes him the mediator of a new covenant, so that, now that a death has occurred to redeem the sins committed under an earlier covenant, those who have been called to an eternal inheritance may receive the promise.


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a testament comes into effect only after a death, since it has no force while the testator is still alive.


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and why, after Moses had promulgated all the commandments of the Law to the people, he took the calves' blood, the goats' blood and some water, and with these he sprinkled the book itself and all the people, using scarlet wool and hyssop;


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In fact, according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission.


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Only the copies of heavenly things are purified in this way; the heavenly things themselves have to be purified by a higher sort of sacrifice than this.


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It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was merely a model of the real one; he entered heaven itself, so that he now appears in the presence of God on our behalf.


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And he does not have to offer himself again and again, as the high priest goes into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own,


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or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. As it is, he has made his appearance once and for all, at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself.


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so Christ too, having offered himself only once to bear the sin of many, will manifest himself a second time, sin being no more, to those who are waiting for him, to bring them salvation.


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So, since the Law contains no more than a reflection of the good things which were still to come, and no true image of them, it is quite incapable of bringing the worshippers to perfection, by means of the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year.


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Otherwise, surely the offering of them would have stopped, because the worshippers, when they had been purified once, would have no awareness of sins.


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and that is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me a body.


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then I said, 'Here I am, I am coming,' in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God.


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He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;


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and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second.


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And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.


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Every priest stands at his duties every day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices which are quite incapable of taking away sins.


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He, on the other hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his seat for ever, at the right hand of God,


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By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified.


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No, this is the covenant I will make with them, when those days have come. the Lord says: In their minds I will plant my Laws writing them on their hearts,


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by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh.


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So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith, our hearts sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.


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Do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do, but encourage each other; the more so as you see the Day drawing near.


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If, after we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, then there is no longer any sacrifice for them.


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There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgement and of the fiery wrath that is to devour your enemies.


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Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses is ruthlessly put to death on the word of two witnesses or three;


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and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God, and who treats the blood of the covenant which sanctified him as if it were not holy, and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to a far severer punishment.


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We are all aware who it was that said: Vengeance is mine; I will pay them back. And again: The Lord will vindicate his people.


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Remember the great challenge of the sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days;


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sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to humiliations and violence, and sometimes as associates of others who were treated in the same way.


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For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you accepted with joy being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting.


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My upright person will live through faith but if he draws back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.


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We are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faith until our souls are saved.


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Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen.


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It is by faith that we understand that the ages were created by a word from God, so that from the invisible the visible world came to be.


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It was because of his faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for that he was acknowledged as upright when God himself made acknowledgement of his offerings. Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith.


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It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not experience death: he was no more, because God took him; because before his assumption he was acknowledged to have pleased God.


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Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.


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It was through his faith that Noah, when he had been warned by God of something that had never been seen before, took care to build an ark to save his family. His faith was a judgement on the world, and he was able to claim the uprightness which comes from faith.


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It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going.


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By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land as though it were not his, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.


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It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise was faithful to it.


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Because of this, there came from one man, and one who already had the mark of death on him, descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore which cannot be counted.


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All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth.


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People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of a homeland.


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but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.


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It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though he had yet to receive what had been promised,


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He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.


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It was by faith that this same Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob and Esau for the still distant future.


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By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, bowed in reverence, as he leant on his staff.


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It was by faith that, when he was about to die, Joseph mentioned the Exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his own remains.


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It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was kept hidden by his parents for three months; because they saw that he was a fine child; they were not afraid of the royal edict.


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It was by faith that, when he was grown up, Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter


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and chose to be ill-treated in company with God's people rather than to enjoy the transitory pleasures of sin.


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He considered that the humiliations offered to the Anointed were something more precious than all the treasures of Egypt, because he had his eyes fixed on the reward.


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It was by faith that he left Egypt without fear of the king's anger; he held to his purpose like someone who could see the Invisible.


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It was by faith that he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood to prevent the Destroyer from touching any of their first-born sons.


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It was by faith they crossed the Red Sea as easily as dry land, while the Egyptians, trying to do the same, were drowned.


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It was through faith that the walls of Jericho fell down when the people had marched round them for seven days.


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It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies and so was not killed with the unbelievers.


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What more shall I say? There is not time for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, or of David, Samuel and the prophets.


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These were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what was upright and earned the promises. They could keep a lion's mouth shut,


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put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders.


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Some returned to their wives from the dead by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life.


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They were stoned, or sawn in half, or killed by the sword; they were homeless, and wore only the skins of sheep and goats; they were in want and hardship, and maltreated.


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They were too good for the world and they wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines.


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since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.


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With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us.


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Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God's throne.


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Think of the way he persevered against such opposition from sinners and then you will not lose heart and come to grief.


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Have you forgotten that encouraging text in which you are addressed as sons? My son, do not scorn correction from the Lord, do not resent his training,


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Perseverance is part of your training; God is treating you as his sons. Has there ever been any son whose father did not train him?


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Besides, we have all had our human fathers who punished us, and we respected them for it; all the more readily ought we to submit to the Father of spirits, and so earn life.


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Our human fathers were training us for a short life and according to their own lights; but he does it all for our own good, so that we may share his own holiness.


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Of course, any discipline is at the time a matter for grief, not joy; but later, in those who have undergone it, it bears fruit in peace and uprightness.


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and make your crooked paths straight; then the injured limb will not be maimed, it will get better instead.


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Be careful that no one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a large number.


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And be careful that there is no immoral person, or anyone worldly minded like Esau, who sold his birthright for one single meal.


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As you know, when he wanted to obtain the blessing afterwards, he was rejected and, though he pleaded for it with tears, he could find no way of reversing the decision.


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What you have come to is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or gloom or total darkness, or a storm;


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or trumpet-blast or the sound of a voice speaking which made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them.


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They could not bear the order that was given: If even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned.


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But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival,


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with the whole Church of first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and to the spirits of the upright who have been made perfect;


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and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to purifying blood which pleads more insistently than Abel's.


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Make sure that you never refuse to listen when he speaks. If the people who on earth refused to listen to a warning could not escape their punishment, how shall we possibly escape if we turn away from a voice that warns us from heaven?


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That time his voice made the earth shake, but now he has given us this promise: I am going to shake the earth once more and not only the earth but heaven as well.


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The words once more indicate the removal of what is shaken, since these are created things, so that what is not shaken remains.


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We have been given possession of an unshakeable kingdom. Let us therefore be grateful and use our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases him, in reverence and fear.


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and remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.


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Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; and those who are being badly treated, since you too are in the body.


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Marriage must be honoured by all, and marriages must be kept undefiled, because the sexually immoral and adulterers will come under God's judgement.


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Put avarice out of your lives and be content with whatever you have; God himself has said: I shall not fail you or desert you,


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and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord on my side, I fear nothing: what can human beings do to me?


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Remember your leaders, who preached the word of God to you, and as you reflect on the outcome of their lives, take their faith as your model.


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Do not be led astray by all sorts of strange doctrines: it is better to rely on grace for inner strength than on food, which has done no good to those who concentrate on it.


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The bodies of the animals whose blood is taken into the sanctuary by the high priest for the rite of expiation are burnt outside the camp,


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Through him, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, the fruit of the lips of those who acknowledge his name.


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Keep doing good works and sharing your resources, for these are the kinds of sacrifice that please God.


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Obey your leaders and give way to them; they watch over your souls because they must give an account of them; make this a joy for them to do, and not a grief -- you yourselves would be the losers.


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Pray for us; we are sure that our own conscience is clear and we are certainly determined to behave honourably in everything we do.


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I pray that the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood that sealed an eternal covenant,


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may prepare you to do his will in every kind of good action; effecting in us all whatever is acceptable to himself through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


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I urge you, brothers, to take these words of encouragement kindly; that is why I have written to you briefly.


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I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he arrives in time, he will be with me when I see you.


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Greetings to all your leaders and to all God's holy people. God's holy people in Italy send you greetings.


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From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion.


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perseverance must complete its work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in any way.


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Any of you who lacks wisdom must ask God, who gives to all generously and without scolding; it will be given.


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But the prayer must be made with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea by the buffeting of the wind.


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the scorching sun comes up, and the grass withers, its flower falls, its beauty is lost. It is the same with the rich: in the middle of a busy life, the rich will wither.


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Blessed is anyone who perseveres when trials come. Such a person is of proven worth and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.


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Never, when you are being put to the test, say, 'God is tempting me'; God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test .


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Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death.


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all that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow caused by change.


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By his own choice he gave birth to us by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all his creation.


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Remember this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to human anger;


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so do away with all impurities and remnants of evil. Humbly welcome the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.


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Anyone who listens to the Word and takes no action is like someone who looks at his own features in a mirror and,


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But anyone who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it -- not listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice -- will be blessed in every undertaking.


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Nobody who fails to keep a tight rein on the tongue can claim to be religious; this is mere self-deception; that person's religion is worthless.


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Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows in their hardships, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.


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My brothers, do not let class distinction enter into your faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord.


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Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, well-dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes,


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and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, 'Come this way to the best seats'; then you tell the poor man, 'Stand over there' or 'You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.'


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Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who were poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.


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Are not they the ones who drag you into court, who insult the honourable name which has been pronounced over you?


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Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme Law of scripture: you will love your neighbour as yourself;


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but as soon as you make class distinctions, you are committing sin and under condemnation for breaking the Law.


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You see, anyone who keeps the whole of the Law but trips up on a single point, is still guilty of breaking it all.


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He who said, 'You must not commit adultery' said also, 'You must not kill.' Now if you commit murder, you need not commit adultery as well to become a breaker of the Law.


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How does it help, my brothers, when someone who has never done a single good act claims to have faith? Will that faith bring salvation?


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If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on,


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and one of you says to them, 'I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty,' without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that?


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But someone may say: So you have faith and I have good deeds? Show me this faith of yours without deeds, then! It is by my deeds that I will show you my faith.


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You believe in the one God -- that is creditable enough, but even the demons have the same belief, and they tremble with fear.


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So you can see that his faith was working together with his deeds; his faith became perfect by what he did.


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In this way the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham put his faith in God, and this was considered as making him upright; and he received the name 'friend of God'.


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There is another example of the same kind: Rahab the prostitute, was she not justified by her deeds because she welcomed the messengers and showed them a different way to leave?


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Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that we shall receive a stricter judgement.


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For we all trip up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a tight rein.


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Once we put a bit in the horse's mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control.


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Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, they are directed by a tiny rudder wherever the whim of the helmsman decides.


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So the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest;


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The tongue is a flame too. Among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a whole wicked world: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation.


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Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish of every kind can all be tamed, and have been tamed, by humans;


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We use it to bless the Lord and Father, but we also use it to curse people who are made in God's image:


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Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers, or a vine yield figs? No more can sea water yield fresh water.


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Anyone who is wise or understanding among you should from a good life give evidence of deeds done in the gentleness of wisdom.


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But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or selfish ambition, do not be boastful or hide the truth with lies;


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whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it is also peaceable, kindly and considerate; it is full of mercy and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it.


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Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?


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You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive;


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when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.


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Adulterers! Do you not realise that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the world for a friend is constituted an enemy of God.


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Can you not see the point of the saying in scripture, 'The longing of the spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing.'?


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But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: God opposes the proud but he accords his favour to the humble.


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The nearer you go to God, the nearer God will come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers.


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Appreciate your wretchedness, and weep for it in misery. Your laughter must be turned to grief, your happiness to gloom.


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Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who slanders a brother, or condemns one, is speaking against the Law and condemning the Law. But if you condemn the Law, you have ceased to be subject to it and become a judge over it.


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There is only one lawgiver and he is the only judge and has the power to save or to destroy. Who are you to give a verdict on your neighbour?


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Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.'


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You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.


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Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.'


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All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body. It is like a fire which you have stored up for the final days.


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Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back from the labourers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.


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On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart's content.


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Now be patient, brothers, until the Lord's coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!


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Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates.


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For your example, brothers, in patiently putting up with persecution, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name;


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remember it is those who had perseverance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and understood the Lord's purpose, realising that the Lord is kind and compassionate.


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Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth or use any oaths at all. If you mean 'yes', you must say 'yes'; if you mean 'no', say 'no'. Otherwise you make yourselves liable to judgement.


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Any one of you who is ill should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint the sick person with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him.


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The prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.


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So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another to be cured; the heartfelt prayer of someone upright works very powerfully.


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Elijah was a human being as frail as ourselves -- he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell for three and a half years;


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he may be sure that anyone who can bring back a sinner from his erring ways will be saving his soul from death and covering over many a sin.


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Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to all those living as aliens in the Dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen,


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in the foresight of God the Father, to be made holy by the Spirit, obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.


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Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead


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and into a heritage that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away. It is reserved in heaven for you


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who are being kept safe by God's power through faith until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the final point of time.


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so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved -- to your praise and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.


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You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described;


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This salvation was the subject of the search and investigation of the prophets who spoke of the grace you were to receive,


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searching out the time and circumstances for which the Spirit of Christ, bearing witness in them, was revealing the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow them.


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It was revealed to them that it was for your sake and not their own that they were acting as servants delivering the message which has now been announced to you by those who preached to you the gospel through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.


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Your minds, then, must be sober and ready for action; put all your hope in the grace brought to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ.


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but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the model of the Holy One who calls us,


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And if you address as Father him who judges without favouritism according to each individual's deeds, live out the time of your exile here in reverent awe.


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For you know that the price of your ransom from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors was paid, not in anything perishable like silver or gold,


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He was marked out before the world was made, and was revealed at the final point of time for your sake.


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Through him you now have faith in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory for this very purpose -- that your faith and hope should be in God.


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Since by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves so that you can experience the genuine love of brothers, love each other intensely from the heart;


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for your new birth was not from any perishable seed but from imperishable seed, the living and enduring Word of God.


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For all humanity is grass, and all its beauty like the wild flower's. As grass withers, the flower fades,


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but the Word of the Lord remains for ever. And this Word is the Good News that has been brought to you.


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Like new-born babies all your longing should be for milk -- the unadulterated spiritual milk -- which will help you to grow up to salvation,


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He is the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him


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so that you, too, may be living stones making a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


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As scripture says: Now I am laying a stone in Zion, a chosen, precious cornerstone and no one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace.


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To you believers it brings honour. But for unbelievers, it is rather a stone which the builders rejected that became a cornerstone,


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a stumbling stone, a rock to trip people up. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the Word; it was the fate in store for them.


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But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.


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Once you were a non-people and now you are the People of God; once you were outside his pity; now you have received pity.


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I urge you, my dear friends, as strangers and nomads, to keep yourselves free from the disordered natural inclinations that attack the soul.


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Always behave honourably among gentiles so that they can see for themselves what moral lives you lead, and when the day of reckoning comes, give thanks to God for the things which now make them denounce you as criminals.


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For the sake of the Lord, accept the authority of every human institution: the emperor, as the supreme authority,


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You are slaves of no one except God, so behave like free people, and never use your freedom as a cover for wickedness.


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Slaves, you should obey your masters respectfully, not only those who are kind and reasonable but also those who are difficult to please.


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You see, there is merit if, in awareness of God, you put up with the pains of undeserved punishment;


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but what glory is there in putting up with a beating after you have done something wrong? The merit in the sight of God is in putting up with it patiently when you are punished for doing your duty.


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This, in fact, is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow in his steps.


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He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was suffering he made no threats but put his trust in the upright judge.


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He was bearing our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our sins and live for uprightness; through his bruises you have been healed.


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You had gone astray like sheep but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.


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In the same way, you wives should be obedient to your husbands. Then if there are some husbands who do not believe the Word, they may find themselves won over, without a word spoken, by the way their wives behave,


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Your adornment should be not an exterior one, consisting of braided hair or gold jewellery or fine clothing,


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but the interior disposition of the heart, consisting in the imperishable quality of a gentle and peaceful spirit, so precious in the sight of God.


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That was how the holy women of the past dressed themselves attractively -- they hoped in God and were submissive to their husbands;


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like Sarah, who was obedient to Abraham, and called him her lord. You are now her children, as long as you live good lives free from fear and worry.


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In the same way, husbands must always treat their wives with consideration in their life together, respecting a woman as one who, though she may be the weaker partner, is equally an heir to the generous gift of life. This will prevent anything from coming in the way of your prayers.


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Finally: you should all agree among yourselves and be sympathetic; love the brothers, have compassion and be self-effacing.


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Never repay one wrong with another, or one abusive word with another; instead, repay with a blessing. That is what you are called to do, so that you inherit a blessing.


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For Who among you delights in life, longs for time to enjoy prosperity? Guard your tongue from evil, your lips from any breath of deceit.


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For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, his ear turned to their cry. But the Lord's face is set against those who do evil.


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Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have.


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But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, so that those who slander your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their accusations.


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And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.


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Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life,


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They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them, in Noah's time when the ark was being built. In it only a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water.


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It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now -- not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,


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who has entered heaven and is at God's right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject to him.


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As Christ has undergone bodily suffering, you too should arm yourselves with the same conviction, that anyone who has undergone bodily suffering has broken with sin,


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because for the rest of life on earth that person is ruled not by human passions but only by the will of God.


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You spent quite long enough in the past living the sort of life that gentiles choose to live, behaving in a debauched way, giving way to your passions, drinking to excess, having wild parties and drunken orgies and sacrilegiously worshipping false gods.


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So people are taken aback that you no longer hurry off with them to join this flood which is rushing down to ruin, and then abuse you for it.


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And this was why the gospel was brought to the dead as well, so that, though in their bodies they had undergone the judgement that faces all humanity, in their spirit they might enjoy the life of God.


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Each one of you has received a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these varied graces of God, put it at the service of others.


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If anyone is a speaker, let it be as the words of God, if anyone serves, let it be as in strength granted by God; so that in everything God may receive the glory, through Jesus Christ, since to him alone belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.


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My dear friends, do not be taken aback at the testing by fire which is taking place among you, as though something strange were happening to you;


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but in so far as you share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, so that you may enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed.


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If you are insulted for bearing Christ's name, blessed are you, for on you rests the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory.


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but if any one of you should suffer for being a Christian, then there must be no shame but thanksgiving to God for bearing this name.


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The time has come for the judgement to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who refuse to believe God's gospel?


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So even those whom God allows to suffer should commit themselves to a Creator who is trustworthy, and go on doing good.


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I urge the elders among you, as a fellow-elder myself and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and as one who is to have a share in the glory that is to be revealed:


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give a shepherd's care to the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, as God wants; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it.


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In the same way, younger people, be subject to the elders. Humility towards one another must be the garment you all wear constantly, because God opposes the proud but accords his favour to the humble.


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Keep sober and alert, because your enemy the devil is on the prowl like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.


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Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledge that it is the same kind of suffering that the community of your brothers throughout the world is undergoing.


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You will have to suffer only for a little while: the God of all grace who called you to eternal glory in Christ will restore you, he will confirm, strengthen and support you.


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I write these few words to you through Silvanus, who is a trustworthy brother, to encourage you and attest that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!


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Your sister in Babylon, who is with you among the chosen, sends you greetings; so does my son, Mark.


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Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith as precious as our own, given through the saving justice of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.


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By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness.


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Through these, the greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption rife in the world through disordered passion.


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The possession and growth of these qualities will prevent your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffectual or unproductive.


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But without them, a person is blind or short-sighted, forgetting how the sins of the past were washed away.


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Instead of this, brothers, never allow your choice or calling to waver; then there will be no danger of your stumbling,


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for in this way you will be given the generous gift of entry to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


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That is why I will always go on recalling the same truths to you, even though you already know them and are firmly fixed in these truths.


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since I know the time for me to lay aside this tent is coming soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.


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And I shall take great care that after my own departure you will still have a means to recall these things to mind.


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When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not slavishly repeating cleverly invented myths; no, we had seen his majesty with our own eyes.


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He was honoured and glorified by God the Father, when a voice came to him from the transcendent Glory, This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour.


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So we have confirmation of the words of the prophets; and you will be right to pay attention to it as to a lamp for lighting a way through the dark, until the dawn comes and the morning star rises in your minds.


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At the same time, we must recognise that the interpretation of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual.


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For no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them.


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As there were false prophets in the past history of our people, so you too will have your false teachers, who will insinuate their own disruptive views and, by disowning the Lord who bought them freedom, will bring upon themselves speedy destruction.


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Many will copy their debauched behaviour, and the Way of Truth will be brought into disrepute on their account.


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In their greed they will try to make a profit out of you with untrue tales. But the judgement made upon them long ago is not idle, and the destruction awaiting them is for ever on the watch.


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When angels sinned, God did not spare them: he sent them down into the underworld and consigned them to the dark abyss to be held there until the Judgement.


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He did not spare the world in ancient times: he saved only Noah, the preacher of uprightness, along with seven others, when he sent the Flood over a world of sinners.


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He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by reducing them to ashes as a warning to future sinners;


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but rescued Lot, an upright man who had been sickened by the debauched way in which these vile people behaved-


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for that upright man, living among them, was outraged in his upright soul by the crimes that he saw and heard every day.


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All this shows that the Lord is well able to rescue the good from their trials, and hold the wicked for their punishment until the Day of Judgement,


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especially those who follow the desires of their corrupt human nature and have no respect for the Lord's authority. Such self-willed people with no reverence are not afraid of offending against the glorious ones,


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but the angels in their greater strength and power make no complaint or accusation against them in the Lord's presence.


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But these people speak evil of what they do not understand; they are like brute beasts, born only to be caught and killed, and like beasts they will be destroyed, being injured in return for the injuries they have inflicted.


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Debauchery even by day they make their pleasure; they are unsightly blots, and amuse themselves by their trickery even when they are sharing your table;


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with their eyes always looking for adultery, people with an insatiable capacity for sinning, they will seduce any but the most stable soul. Where greed is concerned they are at their peak of fitness. They are under a curse.


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They have left the right path and wandered off to follow the path of Balaam son of Bosor, who set his heart on a dishonest reward, but soon had his fault pointed out to him:


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People like this are dried-up springs, fogs swirling in the wind, and the gloom of darkness is stored up for them.


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With their high-sounding but empty talk they tempt back people who have scarcely escaped from those who live in error, by playing on the disordered desires of their human nature and by debaucheries.


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They may promise freedom but are themselves slaves to corruption; because if anyone lets himself be dominated by anything, then he is a slave to it;


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and anyone who has escaped the pollution of the world by coming to know our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and who then allows himself to be entangled and mastered by it a second time, ends up by being worse than he was before.


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It would have been better for them never to have learnt the way of uprightness, than to learn it and then desert the holy commandment that was entrusted to them.


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What they have done is exactly as the proverb rightly says: The dog goes back to its vomit and: As soon as the sow has been washed, it wallows in the mud.


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My dear friends, this is the second letter I have written to you, trying to awaken in you by my reminders an unclouded understanding.


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Remember what was said in the past by the holy prophets and the command of the Lord and Saviour given by your apostles.


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First of all, do not forget that in the final days there will come sarcastic scoffers whose life is ruled by their passions.


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'What has happened to the promise of his coming?' they will say, 'Since our Fathers died everything has gone on just as it has since the beginning of creation!'


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They deliberately ignore the fact that long ago there were the heavens and the earth, formed out of water and through water by the Word of God,


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and that it was through these same factors that the world of those days was destroyed by the floodwaters.


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It is the same Word which is reserving the present heavens and earth for fire, keeping them till the Day of Judgement and of the destruction of sinners.


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But there is one thing, my dear friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.


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The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance.


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The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up.


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while you wait for the Day of God to come, and try to hasten its coming: on that Day the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat.


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What we are waiting for, relying on his promises, is the new heavens and new earth, where uprightness will be at home.


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So then, my dear friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live blameless and unsullied lives so that he will find you at peace.


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Think of our Lord's patience as your opportunity to be saved; our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that he was given.


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He makes this point too in his letters as a whole wherever he touches on these things. In all his letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand, and these are the ones that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture -to their own destruction.


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Since you have been forewarned about this, my dear friends, be careful that you do not come to the point of losing the firm ground that you are standing on, carried away by the errors of unprincipled people.


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Instead, continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, in time and eternity. Amen.


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Something which has existed since the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have watched and touched with our own hands, the Word of life -- this is our theme.


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That life was made visible; we saw it and are giving our testimony, declaring to you the eternal life, which was present to the Father and has been revealed to us.


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We are declaring to you what we have seen and heard, so that you too may share our life. Our life is shared with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.


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This is what we have heard from him and are declaring to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.


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If we say that we share in God's life while we are living in darkness, we are lying, because we are not living the truth.


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But if we live in light, as he is in light, we have a share in another's life, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.


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if we acknowledge our sins, he is trustworthy and upright, so that he will forgive our sins and will cleanse us from all evil.


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My children, I am writing this to prevent you from sinning; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright.


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Whoever says, 'I know him' without keeping his commandments, is a liar, and truth has no place in him.


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But anyone who does keep his word, in such a one God's love truly reaches its perfection. This is the proof that we are in God.


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My dear friends, this is not a new commandment I am writing for you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the message you have heard.


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Yet in another way, I am writing a new commandment for you -- and this is true for you, just as much as for him -- for darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.


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But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and is walking about in darkness not knowing where he is going, because darkness has blinded him.


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I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the One who has existed since the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the Evil One.


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I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, parents, because you have come to know the One who has existed since the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong, and God's word remains in you, and you have overcome the Evil One.


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Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in him,


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because everything there is in the world -- disordered bodily desires, disordered desires of the eyes, pride in possession -- is not from the Father but is from the world.


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And the world, with all its disordered desires, is passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains for ever.


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Children, this is the final hour; you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many Antichrists have already come; from this we know that it is the final hour.


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They have gone from among us, but they never really belonged to us; if they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. But this was to prove that not one of them belonged to us.


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I have written to you not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you are well aware of it, and because no lie can come from the truth.


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Who is the liar, if not one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son.


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Whoever denies the Son cannot have the Father either; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too.


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Let what you heard in the beginning remain in you; as long as what you heard in the beginning remains in you, you will remain in the Son and in the Father.


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But as for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; since the anointing he gave you teaches you everything, and since it is true, not false, remain in him just as he has taught you.


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Therefore remain in him now, children, so that when he appears we may be fearless, and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.


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If you know that he is upright you must recognise that everyone whose life is upright is a child of his.


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You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children -- which is what we are! The reason why the world does not acknowledge us is that it did not acknowledge him.


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My dear friends, we are already God's children, but what we shall be in the future has not yet been revealed. We are well aware that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.


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Now you are well aware that he has appeared in order to take sins away, and that in him there is no sin.


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Children, do not let anyone lead you astray. Whoever acts uprightly is upright, just as he is upright.


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Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since the devil has been a sinner from the beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil.


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No one who is a child of God sins because God's seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God.


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This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil: whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God.


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not to be like Cain, who was from the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder his brother? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's upright.


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We are well aware that we have passed over from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love, remains in death.


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Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you are well aware that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.


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This is the proof of love, that he laid down his life for us, and we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.


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If anyone is well-off in worldly possessions and sees his brother in need but closes his heart to him, how can the love of God be remaining in him?


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and whatever we ask we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is acceptable to him.


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His commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should love one another as he commanded us.


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Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us.


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My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets are at large in the world.


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This is the proof of the spirit of God: any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ, come in human nature, is from God,


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and no spirit which fails to acknowledge Jesus is from God; it is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you have heard of; he is already at large in the world.


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Children, you are from God and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.


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We are from God; whoever recognises God listens to us; anyone who is not from God refuses to listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.


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My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.


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This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent his only Son into the world that we might have life through him.


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Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to expiate our sins.


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No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us.


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We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.


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Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is.


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In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love.


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Anyone who says 'I love God' and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen.


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Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.


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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and whoever loves the father loves the son.


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because every child of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.


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He it is who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water alone but with water and blood, and it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is Truth.


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If we accept the testimony of human witnesses, God's testimony is greater, for this is God's testimony which he gave about his Son.


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Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him, and whoever does not believe is making God a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.


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I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.


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Our fearlessness towards him consists in this, that if we ask anything in accordance with his will he hears us.


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And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him, we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him.


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If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother -- provided that it is not a deadly sin. There is sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that.


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We are well aware that no one who is a child of God sins, because he who was born from God protects him, and the Evil One has no hold over him.


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We are well aware also that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know the One who is true. We are in the One who is true as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and this is eternal life. Children, be on your guard against false gods.


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From the Elder: my greetings to the Lady, the chosen one, and to her children, whom I love in truth -- and I am not the only one, for so do all who have come to know the Truth -- and I am not the only one, for so so do all who have come to know the Truth-


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In our life of truth and love, we shall have grace, faithful love and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.


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It has given me great joy to find that children of yours have been living the life of truth as we were commanded by the Father.


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And now I am asking you -- dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but only the one which we have had from the beginning -- that we should love one another.


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To love is to live according to his commandments: this is the commandment which you have heard since the beginning, to live a life of love.


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There are many deceivers at large in the world, refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in human nature. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist.


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If anybody does not remain in the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he does not have God with him: only those who remain in what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them.


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If anyone comes to you bringing a different doctrine, you must not receive him into your house or even give him a greeting.


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There are several things I have to tell you, but I have thought it best not to trust them to paper and ink. I hope instead to visit you and talk to you in person, so that our joy may be complete.


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My dear friend, I hope everything is going happily with you and that you are as well physically as you are spiritually.


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It was a great joy to me when some brothers came and told of your faithfulness to the truth, and of your life in the truth.


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My dear friend, you have done loyal work in helping these brothers, even though they were strangers to you.


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They are a proof to the whole Church of your love and it would be a kindness if you could help them on their journey as God would approve.


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It was entirely for the sake of the name that they set out, without depending on the non-believers for anything:


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I have written a note for the members of the church, but Diotrephes, who enjoys being in charge of it, refuses to accept us.


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So if I come, I shall tell everyone how he has behaved, and about the wicked accusations he has been circulating against us. As if that were not enough, he not only refuses to welcome our brothers, but prevents from doing so other people who would have liked to, and expels them from the church.


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My dear friend, never follow a bad example, but keep following the good one; whoever does what is right is from God, but no one who does what is wrong has ever seen God.


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Demetrius has been approved by everyone, and indeed by Truth itself. We too will vouch for him and you know that our testimony is true.


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From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James; to those who are called, to those who are dear to God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ,


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My dear friends, at a time when I was eagerly looking forward to writing to you about the salvation that we all share, I felt that I must write to you encouraging you to fight hard for the faith which has been once and for all entrusted to God's holy people.


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Certain people have infiltrated among you, who were long ago marked down for condemnation on this account; without any reverence they pervert the grace of our God to debauchery and deny all religion, rejecting our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.


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I should like to remind you -- though you have already learnt it once and for all -- that the Lord rescued the nation from Egypt, but afterwards he still destroyed the people who refused to believe him;


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and the angels who did not keep to the authority they had, but left their appointed sphere, he has kept in darkness in eternal bonds until the judgement of the great Day.


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Sodom and Gomorrah, too, and the neighbouring towns, who with the same sexual immorality pursued unnatural lusts, are put before us as an example since they are paying the penalty of eternal fire.


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Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well.


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Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.'


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But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand -- merely by nature like unreasoning animals -- will turn out to be fatal to them.


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Alas for them, because they have followed Cain; they have thrown themselves into the same delusion as Balaam for a reward; they have been ruined by the same rebellion as Korah -and share the same fate.


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They are a dangerous hazard at your community meals, coming for the food and quite shamelessly only looking after themselves. They are like the clouds blown about by the winds and bringing no rain, or like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead;


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like wild sea waves with their own shame for foam; or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up for ever.


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It was with them in mind that Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam, made his prophecy when he said, 'I tell you, the Lord will come with his holy ones in their tens of thousands,


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to pronounce judgement on all humanity and to sentence the godless for all the godless things they have done, and for all the defiant things said against him by godless sinners.'


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They are mischief-makers, grumblers governed only by their own desires, with mouths full of boastful talk, ready to flatter others for gain.


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'At the final point of time', they told you, 'there will be mockers who follow nothing but their own godless desires.'


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But you, my dear friends, must build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit;


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keep yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.


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others you must save by snatching them from the fire; to others again you must be compassionate but wary, hating even the tunic stained by their bodies.


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To him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and joyful,


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to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, authority and power, before all ages, now and for ever. Amen.


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A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him so that he could tell his servants what is now to take place very soon; he sent his angel to make it known to his servant John,


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and John has borne witness to the Word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw.


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Blessed is anyone who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed those who hear them, if they treasure the content, because the Time is near.


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John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from him who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits who are before his throne,


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and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the highest of earthly kings. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood,


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and made us a Kingdom of Priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.


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Look, he is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. Indeed this shall be so. Amen.


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'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.


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I, John, your brother and partner in hardships, in the kingdom and in perseverance in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the Word of God and of witness to Jesus;


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it was the Lord's Day and I was in ecstasy, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like the sound of a trumpet, saying,


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'Write down in a book all that you see, and send it to the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.'


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and, in the middle of them, one like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a belt of gold.


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His head and his hair were white with the whiteness of wool, like snow, his eyes like a burning flame,


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his feet like burnished bronze when it has been refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean.


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In his right hand he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining with all its force.


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When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, 'Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One,


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The secret of the seven stars you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lamp-stands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp-stands are the seven churches themselves.'


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'Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who lives among the seven golden lamp-stands:


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I know your activities, your hard work and your perseverance. I know you cannot stand wicked people, and how you put to the test those who were self-styled apostles, and found them false.


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Think where you were before you fell; repent, and behave as you did at first, or else, if you will not repent, I shall come to you and take your lamp-stand from its place.


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Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: those who prove victorious I will feed from the tree of life set in God's paradise."


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'Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna and say, "Here is the message of the First and the Last, who was dead and has come to life again:


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I know your hardships and your poverty, and -- though you are rich -- the slander of the people who falsely claim to be Jews but are really members of the synagogue of Satan.


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Do not be afraid of the sufferings that are coming to you. Look, the devil will send some of you to prison to put you to the test, and you must face hardship for ten days. Even if you have to die, keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life for your prize.


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Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: for those who prove victorious will come to no harm from the second death."


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'Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum and say, "Here is the message of the one who has the sharp sword, double-edged:


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I know where you live, in the place where Satan is enthroned, and that you still hold firmly to my name, and did not disown your faith in me even when my faithful witness, Antipas, was killed among you, where Satan lives.


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"Nevertheless, I have one or two charges against you: some of you are followers of Balaam, who taught Balak to set a trap for the Israelites so that they committed adultery by eating food that had been sacrificed to idols;


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Let anyone who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: to those who prove victorious I will give some hidden manna and a white stone, with a new name written on it, known only to the person who receives it."


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'Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira and say, "Here is the message of the Son of God who has eyes like a burning flame and feet like burnished bronze:


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I know your activities, your love, your faith, your service and your perseverance, and I know how you are still making progress.


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Nevertheless, I have a complaint to make: you tolerate the woman Jezebel who claims to be a prophetess, and by her teaching she is luring my servants away to commit the adultery of eating food which has been sacrificed to idols.


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Look, I am consigning her to a bed of pain, and all her partners in adultery to great hardship, unless they repent of their practices;


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and I will see that her children die, so that all the churches realise that it is I who test motives and thoughts and repay you as your deeds deserve.


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But on the rest of you in Thyatira, all of you who have not accepted this teaching or learnt the deep secrets of Satan, as they are called, I am not laying any other burden;


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To anyone who proves victorious, and keeps working for me until the end, I will give the authority over the nations


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which I myself have been given by my Father, to rule them with an iron sceptre and shatter them like so many pots.


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'Write to the angel of the church in Sardis and say, "Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know about your behaviour: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead.


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Wake up; put some resolve into what little vigour you have left: it is dying fast. So far I have failed to notice anything in your behaviour that my God could possibly call perfect;


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remember how you first heard the message. Hold on to that. Repent! If you do not wake up, I shall come to you like a thief, and you will have no idea at what hour I shall come upon you.


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There are a few in Sardis, it is true, who have kept their robes unstained, and they are fit to come with me, dressed in white.


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Anyone who proves victorious will be dressed, like these, in white robes; I shall not blot that name out of the book of life, but acknowledge it in the presence of my Father and his angels.


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'Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia and say, "Here is the message of the holy and true one who has the key of David, so that when he opens, no one will close, and when he closes, no one will open:


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I know about your activities. Look, I have opened in front of you a door that no one will be able to close -- and I know that though you are not very strong, you have kept my commandments and not disowned my name.


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Look, I am going to make the synagogue of Satan -- those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are liars, because they are no such thing -- I will make them come and fall at your feet and recognize that I have loved you.


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Because you have kept my commandment to persevere, I will keep you safe in the time of trial which is coming for the whole world, to put the people of the world to the test.


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I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have, and let no one take your victor's crown away from you.


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Anyone who proves victorious I will make into a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and it will stay there for ever; I will inscribe on it the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down from my God in heaven, and my own new name as well.


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'Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea and say, "Here is the message of the Amen, the trustworthy, the true witness, the Principle of God's creation:


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You say to yourself: I am rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realising that you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too.


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I warn you, buy from me the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on your eyes to enable you to see.


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Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person's side.


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Anyone who proves victorious I will allow to share my throne, just as I have myself overcome and have taken my seat with my Father on his throne.


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Then, in my vision, I saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, 'Come up here: I will show you what is to take place in the future.'


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With that, I fell into ecstasy and I saw a throne standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne,


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and the One sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling the throne, and this looked like an emerald.


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Round the throne in a circle were twenty-four thrones, and on them twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads.


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Flashes of lightning were coming from the throne, and the sound of peals of thunder, and in front of the throne there were seven flaming lamps burning, the seven Spirits of God.


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In front of the throne was a sea as transparent as crystal. In the middle of the throne and around it, were four living creatures all studded with eyes, in front and behind.


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The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third living creature had a human face, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.


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Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was studded with eyes all the way round as well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; who was, and is and is to come.'


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Every time the living creatures glorified and honoured and gave thanks to the One sitting on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,


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the twenty-four elders prostrated themselves before him to worship the One who lives for ever and ever, and threw down their crowns in front of the throne, saying:


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You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you made the whole universe; by your will, when it did not exist, it was created.


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I saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that was written on back and front and was sealed with seven seals.


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Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'


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But there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it.


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but one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so he will open the scroll and its seven seals.'


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Then I saw, in the middle of the throne with its four living creatures and the circle of the elders, a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world.


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and when he took it, the four living creatures prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense which are the prayers of the saints.


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They sang a new hymn: You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation


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In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands,


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loudly chanting: Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing.


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Then I heard all the living things in creation -- everything that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying: To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honour, glory and power, for ever and ever.


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Then, in my vision, I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures shout in a voice like thunder, 'Come!'


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Immediately I saw a white horse appear, and its rider was holding a bow; he was given a victor's crown and he went away, to go from victory to victory.


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And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword.


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When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature shout, 'Come!' Immediately I saw a black horse appear, and its rider was holding a pair of scales;


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and I seemed to hear a voice shout from among the four living creatures and say, 'A day's wages for a quart of corn, and a day's wages for three quarts of barley, but do not tamper with the oil or the wine.'


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Immediately I saw another horse appear, deathly pale, and its rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague and through wild beasts.


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When he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the Word of God, for witnessing to it.


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They shouted in a loud voice, 'Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?'


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Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow-servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been.


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In my vision, when he broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon turned red as blood all over,


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and the stars of the sky fell onto the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when a high wind shakes it;


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the sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places.


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Then all the kings of the earth, the governors and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains.


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They said to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb.


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Next I saw four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the world to keep them from blowing over the land or the sea or any tree.


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Then I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea,


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'Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.'


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And I heard how many had been sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel.


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From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand had been sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;


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from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;


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from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;


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from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; and from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand had been sealed.


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After that I saw that there was a huge number, impossible for anyone to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted in a loud voice,


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And all the angels who were standing in a circle round the throne, surrounding the elders and the four living creatures, prostrated themselves before the throne, and touched the ground with their foreheads, worshipping God


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with these words: Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.


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One of the elders then spoke and asked me, 'Who are these people, dressed in white robes, and where have they come from?'


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I answered him, 'You can tell me, sir.' Then he said, 'These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.


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That is why they are standing in front of God's throne and serving him day and night in his sanctuary; and the One who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.


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because the Lamb who is at the heart of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.'


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Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. A large quantity of incense was given to him to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that stood in front of the throne;


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and so from the angel's hand the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God and with it the prayers of the saints.


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Then the angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar, which he then hurled down onto the earth; immediately there came peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, and the earth shook.


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The first blew his trumpet and, with that, hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled on the earth: a third of the earth was burnt up, and a third of all trees, and every blade of grass was burnt.


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The second angel blew his trumpet, and it was as though a great mountain blazing with fire was hurled into the sea: a third of the sea turned into blood,


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The third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star fell from the sky, burning like a ball of fire, and it fell on a third of all rivers and on the springs of water;


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this was the star called Wormwood, and a third of all water turned to wormwood, so that many people died; the water had become so bitter.


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The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were blasted, so that the light went out of a third of them and the day lost a third of its illumination, and likewise the night.


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In my vision, I heard an eagle, calling aloud as it flew high overhead, 'Disaster, disaster, disaster, on all the people on earth at the sound of the other three trumpets which the three angels have yet to blow!'


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Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss.


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When he unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss,


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and out of the smoke dropped locusts onto the earth: they were given the powers that scorpions have on the earth:


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they were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or trees and told to attack only those people who were without God's seal on their foreheads.


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They were not to kill them, but to give them anguish for five months, and the anguish was to be the anguish of a scorpion's sting.


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When this happens, people will long for death and not find it anywhere; they will want to die and death will evade them.


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These locusts looked like horses armoured for battle; they had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked human,


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They had body-armour like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots with many horses charging.


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Their tails were like scorpions' tails, with stings, and with their tails they were able to torture people for five months.


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As their leader they had their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon.


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The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice issuing from the four horns of the golden altar in God's presence.


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It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet, and said, 'Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates.'


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These four angels had been ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year, and ready to destroy a third of the human race.


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In my vision I saw the horses, and the riders with their breastplates of flame colour, hyacinth-blue and sulphur-yellow; the horses had lions' heads, and fire, smoke and sulphur were coming from their mouths.


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It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke and the sulphur coming from their mouths, that the one third of the human race was killed.


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All the horses' power was in their mouths and their tails: their tails were like snakes, and had heads which inflicted wounds.


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But the rest of the human race, who escaped death by these plagues, refused either to abandon their own handiwork or to stop worshipping devils, the idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood that can neither see nor hear nor move.


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Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were pillars of fire.


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In his hand he had a small scroll, unrolled; he put his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land


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and he shouted so loud, it was like a lion roaring. At this, the seven claps of thunder made themselves heard


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and when the seven thunderclaps had sounded, I was preparing to write, when I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Keep the words of the seven thunderclaps secret and do not write them down.'


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and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, and made heaven and all that it contains, and earth and all it contains, and the sea and all it contains, 'The time of waiting is over;


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at the time when the seventh angel is heard sounding his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as he announced in the gospel to his servants the prophets.'


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Then I heard the voice I had heard from heaven speaking to me again. 'Go', it said, 'and take that open scroll from the hand of the angel standing on sea and land.'


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I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll, and he said, 'Take it and eat it; it will turn your stomach sour, but it will taste as sweet as honey.'


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So I took it out of the angel's hand, and I ate it and it tasted sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it my stomach turned sour.


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Then I was told, 'You are to prophesy again, this time against many different nations and countries and languages and kings.'


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Then I was given a long cane like a measuring rod, and I was told, 'Get up and measure God's sanctuary, and the altar, and the people who worship there;


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but exclude the outer court and do not measure it, because it has been handed over to gentiles -- they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.


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Fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies if anyone tries to harm them; and anyone who tries to harm them will certainly be killed in this way.


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They have the power to lock up the sky so that it does not rain as long as they are prophesying; they have the power to turn water into blood and strike the whole world with any plague as often as they like.


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When they have completed their witnessing, the beast that comes out of the Abyss is going to make war on them and overcome them and kill them.


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Their corpses lie in the main street of the great city known by the symbolic names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified.


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People of every race, tribe, language and nation stare at their corpses, for three-and-a-half days, not letting them be buried,


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and the people of the world are glad about it and celebrate the event by giving presents to each other, because these two prophets have been a plague to the people of the world.'


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After the three-and-a-half days, God breathed life into them and they stood up on their feet, and everybody who saw it happen was terrified;


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then I heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, 'Come up here,' and while their enemies were watching, they went up to heaven in a cloud.


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Immediately, there was a violent earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand persons were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors, overcome with fear, could only praise the God of heaven.


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Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and voices could be heard shouting in heaven, calling, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'


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The twenty-four elders, enthroned in the presence of God, prostrated themselves and touched the ground with their foreheads worshipping God


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with these words, 'We give thanks to you, Almighty Lord God, He who is, He who was, for assuming your great power and beginning your reign.


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The nations were in uproar and now the time has come for your retribution, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants the prophets, for the saints and for those who fear your name, small and great alike, to be rewarded. The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth.'


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Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake and violent hail.


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Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.


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Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet.


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Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born.


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The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne,


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while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.


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And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels,


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The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.


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Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, 'Salvation and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ, now that the accuser, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down.


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They have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life.


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So let the heavens rejoice and all who live there; but for you, earth and sea, disaster is coming -- because the devil has gone down to you in a rage, knowing that he has little time left.'


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As soon as the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child,


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but she was given a pair of the great eagle's wings to fly away from the serpent into the desert, to the place where she was to be looked after for a time, two times and half a time.


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So the serpent vomited water from his mouth, like a river, after the woman, to sweep her away in the current,


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but the earth came to her rescue; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river spewed from the dragon's mouth.


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Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, who obey God's commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus.


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Then I saw a beast emerge from the sea: it had seven heads and ten horns, with a coronet on each of its ten horns, and its heads were marked with blasphemous titles.


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I saw that the beast was like a leopard, with paws like a bear and a mouth like a lion; the dragon had handed over to it his own power and his throne and his immense authority.


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I saw that one of its heads seemed to have had a fatal wound but that this deadly injury had healed and the whole world had marvelled and followed the beast.


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They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves in front of the beast, saying, 'Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?'


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and it mouthed its blasphemies against God, against his name, his heavenly Tent and all those who are sheltered there.


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It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race, people, language and nation;


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and all people of the world will worship it, that is, everybody whose name has not been written down since the foundation of the world in the sacrificial Lamb's book of life.


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Those for captivity to captivity; those for death by the sword to death by the sword. This is why the saints must have perseverance and faith.


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Then I saw a second beast, emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb, but made a noise like a dragon.


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This second beast exercised all the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and all its people worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed.


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And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched.


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Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astray the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honour of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and still lived.


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It was allowed to breathe life into this statue, so that the statue of the beast was able to speak, and to have anyone who refused to worship the statue of the beast put to death.


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It compelled everyone -- small and great alike, rich and poor, slave and citizen -- to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead,


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and made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.


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There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number 666.


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Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.


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I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps.


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There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world.


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These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb.


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Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe.


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He was calling, 'Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.'


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A second angel followed him, calling, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.'


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A third angel followed, shouting aloud, 'All those who worship the beast and his statue, or have had themselves branded on the hand or forehead,


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will be made to drink the wine of God's fury which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of retribution; in fire and brimstone they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb


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and the smoke of their torture will rise for ever and ever. There will be no respite, night or day, for those who worship the beast or its statue or accept branding with its name.'


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This is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus.


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Then I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Write down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord! Blessed indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them.'


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Now in my vision I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.


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Then another angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sitting on the cloud, 'Ply your sickle and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.'


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Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped.


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and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with the sharp sickle, 'Put your sickle in, and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth; all its grapes are ripe.'


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So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God's anger,


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outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses' bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.


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And I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God.


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I seemed to be looking at a sea of crystal suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which is his name. They all had harps from God,


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and they were singing the hymn of Moses, the servant of God, and the hymn of the Lamb: How great and wonderful are all your works, Lord God Almighty; upright and true are all your ways, King of nations.


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Who does not revere and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy, and all nations will come and adore you for the many acts of saving justice you have shown.


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and out came the seven angels with the seven plagues, wearing pure white linen, fastened round their waists with belts of gold.


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One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of God who lives for ever and ever.


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The smoke from the glory and the power of God filled the temple so that no one could go into it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.


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Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary calling to the seven angels, 'Go, and empty the seven bowls of God's anger over the earth.'


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The first angel went and emptied his bowl over the earth; at once, on all the people who had been branded with the mark of the beast and had worshipped its statue, there came disgusting and virulent sores.


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The second angel emptied his bowl over the sea, and it turned to blood, like the blood of a corpse, and every living creature in the sea died.


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Then I heard the angel of water say, 'You are the Upright One, He who is, He who was, the Holy One, for giving this verdict:


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they spilt the blood of the saints and the prophets, and blood is what you have given them to drink; it is what they deserve.'


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And I heard the altar itself say, 'Truly, Lord God Almighty, the punishments you give are true and just.'


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but though people were scorched by the fierce heat of it, they cursed the name of God who had the power to cause such plagues, and they would not repent and glorify him.


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The fifth angel emptied his bowl over the throne of the beast and its whole empire was plunged into darkness. People were biting their tongues for pain,


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but instead of repenting for what they had done, they cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores.


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The sixth angel emptied his bowl over the great river Euphrates; all the water dried up so that a way was made for the kings of the East to come in.


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Then from the jaws of dragon and beast and false prophet I saw three foul spirits come; they looked like frogs


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and in fact were demon spirits, able to work miracles, going out to all the kings of the world to call them together for the war of the Great Day of God the Almighty.-


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Look, I shall come like a thief. Blessed is anyone who has kept watch, and has kept his clothes on, so that he does not go out naked and expose his shame.-


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The seventh angel emptied his bowl into the air, and a great voice boomed out from the sanctuary, 'The end has come.'


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Then there were flashes of lightning and peals of thunder and a violent earthquake, unparalleled since humanity first came into existence.


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The Great City was split into three parts and the cities of the world collapsed; Babylon the Great was not forgotten: God made her drink the full winecup of his retribution.


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and hail, with great hailstones weighing a talent each, fell from the sky on the people. They cursed God for sending a plague of hail; it was the most terrible plague.


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One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to speak to me, and said, 'Come here and I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who is enthroned beside abundant waters,


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with whom all the kings of the earth have prostituted themselves, and who has made all the population of the world drunk with the wine of her adultery.'


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He took me in spirit to a desert, and there I saw a woman riding a scarlet beast which had seven heads and ten horns and had blasphemous titles written all over it.


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The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and glittered with gold and jewels and pearls, and she was holding a gold winecup filled with the disgusting filth of her prostitution;


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on her forehead was written a name, a cryptic name: 'Babylon the Great, the mother of all the prostitutes and all the filthy practices on the earth.'


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I saw that she was drunk, drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her, I was completely mystified.


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The angel said to me, 'Do you not understand? I will tell you the meaning of this woman, and of the beast she is riding, with the seven heads and the ten horns.


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'The beast you have seen was once alive and is alive no longer; it is yet to come up from the Abyss, but only to go to its destruction. And the people of the world, whose names have not been written since the beginning of the world in the book of life, will be astonished when they see how the beast was once alive and is alive no longer, and is still to come.


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The seven heads are also seven emperors. Five of them have already gone, one is here now, and one is yet to come; once here, he must stay for a short while.


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The beast, who was alive and is alive no longer, is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven, and he is going to his destruction.


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'The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet been given their royal power but will have royal authority only for a single hour and in association with the beast.


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and they will go to war against the Lamb; but because the Lamb is Lord of lords and King of kings, he will defeat them, he and his followers, the called, the chosen, the trustworthy.'


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The angel continued, 'The waters you saw, beside which the prostitute was sitting, are all the peoples, the populations, the nations and the languages.


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But the ten horns and the beast will turn against the prostitute, and tear off her clothes and leave her stark naked; then they will eat her flesh and burn the remains in the fire.


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In fact, God has influenced their minds to do what he intends, to agree together to put their royal powers at the beast's disposal until the time when God's words shall be fulfilled.


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After this, I saw another angel come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth shone with his glory.


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At the top of his voice he shouted, 'Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird.


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All the nations have drunk deep of the wine of her prostitution; every king on the earth has prostituted himself with her, and every merchant grown rich through her debauchery.'


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Another voice spoke from heaven; I heard it say, 'Come out, my people, away from her, so that you do not share in her crimes and have the same plagues to bear.


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Her sins have reached up to the sky, and God has her crimes in mind: treat her as she has treated others.


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She must be paid double the amount she exacted. She is to have a doubly strong cup of her own mixture.


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Every one of her pomps and orgies is to be matched by a torture or an agony. I am enthroned as queen, she thinks; I am no widow and will never know bereavement.


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For that, in one day, the plagues will fall on her: disease and mourning and famine. She will be burned to the ground. The Lord God who has condemned her is mighty.'


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'There will be mourning and weeping for her by the kings of the earth who have prostituted themselves with her and held orgies with her. They see the smoke as she burns,


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while they keep at a safe distance through fear of her anguish. They will say: Mourn, mourn for this great city, Babylon, so powerful a city, in one short hour your doom has come upon you.


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'There will be weeping and distress over her among all the traders of the earth when no one is left to buy their cargoes of goods;


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their stocks of gold and silver, jewels and pearls, linen and purple and silks and scarlet; all the sandalwood, every piece in ivory or fine wood, in bronze or iron or marble;


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the cinnamon and spices, the myrrh and ointment and incense; wine, oil, flour and corn; their stocks of cattle, sheep, horses and chariots, their slaves and their human cargo.


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'All the fruits you had set your hearts on have failed you; gone for ever, never to return again, is your life of magnificence and ease.


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'The traders who had made a fortune out of her will be standing at a safe distance through fear of her anguish, mourning and weeping.


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They will be saying: Mourn, mourn for this great city; for all the linen and purple and scarlet that you wore, for all your finery of gold and jewels and pearls;


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your huge riches are all destroyed within a single hour.' All the captains and seafaring men, sailors and all those who make a living from the sea kept a safe distance,


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They threw dust on their heads and said, with tears and groans: 'Mourn, mourn for this great city whose lavish living has made a fortune for every owner of a sea-going ship, ruined within a single hour.


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'Now heaven, celebrate her downfall, and all you saints, apostles and prophets: God has given judgement for you against her.'


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Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, 'That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.


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Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet; never again will craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmill be heard;


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never again will shine the light of the lamp in you, never again will be heard in you the voices of bridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, all the nations were led astray by your sorcery.


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After this I heard what seemed to be the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, 'Alleluia! Salvation and glory and power to our God!


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He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her prostitution; he has avenged the blood of his servants which she shed.'


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Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves down and worshipped God seated on his throne, and they cried, 'Amen, Alleluia.'


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Then a voice came from the throne; it said, 'Praise our God, you servants of his and those who fear him, small and great alike.'


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And I heard what seemed to be the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean or the great roar of thunder, answering, 'Alleluia! The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun;


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let us be glad and joyful and give glory to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb.


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His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints.'


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The angel said, 'Write this, "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb," ' and he added, 'These words of God are true.'


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Then I knelt at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'Never do that: I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of all your brothers who have in themselves the witness of Jesus. God alone you must worship.' The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.


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And now I saw heaven open, and a white horse appear; its rider was called Trustworthy and True; in uprightness he judges and makes war.


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His eyes were flames of fire, and he was crowned with many coronets; the name written on him was known only to himself,


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From his mouth came a sharp sword with which to strike the unbelievers; he is the one who will rule them with an iron sceptre, and tread out the wine of Almighty God's fierce retribution.


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I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he shouted aloud to all the birds that were flying high overhead in the sky, 'Come here. Gather together at God's great feast.


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You will eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of great generals and heroes, the flesh of horses and their riders and of all kinds of people, citizens and slaves, small and great alike.'


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Then I saw the beast, with all the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to fight the Rider and his army.


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But the beast was taken prisoner, together with the false prophet who had worked miracles on the beast's behalf and by them had deceived those who had accepted branding with the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped his statue. These two were hurled alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur.


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All the rest were killed by the sword of the Rider, which came out of his mouth, and all the birds glutted themselves with their flesh.


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Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key of the Abyss in his hand and an enormous chain.


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He overpowered the dragon, that primeval serpent which is the devil and Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years.


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He hurled him into the Abyss and shut the entrance and sealed it over him, to make sure he would not lead the nations astray again until the thousand years had passed. At the end of that time he must be released, but only for a short while.


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Then I saw thrones, where they took their seats, and on them was conferred the power to give judgement. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having witnessed for Jesus and for having preached God's word, and those who refused to worship the beast or his statue and would not accept the brand-mark on their foreheads or hands; they came to life, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.


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The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over; this is the first resurrection.


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Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection; the second death has no power over them but they will be priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for a thousand years.


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and will come out to lead astray all the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and mobilise them for war, his armies being as many as the sands of the sea.


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They came swarming over the entire country and besieged the camp of the saints, which is the beloved City. But fire rained down on them from heaven and consumed them.


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Then the devil, who led them astray, was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and their torture will not come to an end, day or night, for ever and ever.


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Then I saw a great white throne and the One who was sitting on it. In his presence, earth and sky vanished, leaving no trace.


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I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing in front of his throne while the books lay open. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from what was written in the books, as their deeds deserved.


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Death and Hades were emptied of the dead that were in them; and every one was judged as his deeds deserved. Then Death and Hades were hurled into the burning lake. This burning lake is the second death;


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and anybody whose name could not be found written in the book of life was hurled into the burning lake.


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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.


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I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband.


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Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them.


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He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.'


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Then the One sitting on the throne spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, "What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true."


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Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty;


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anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things; and I will be his God and he will be my son.


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But the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word, or worship obscenities, for murderers and the sexually immoral, and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars, is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur.'


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One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, 'Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.'


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In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.


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Its wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel;


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on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.


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The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.


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The angel that was speaking to me was carrying a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and wall.


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The plan of the city is perfectly square, its length the same as its breadth. He measured the city with his rod and it was twelve thousand furlongs, equal in length and in breadth, and equal in height.


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The foundations of the city wall were faced with all kinds of precious stone: the first with diamond, the second lapis lazuli, the third turquoise, the fourth crystal,


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the fifth agate, the sixth ruby, the seventh gold quartz, the eighth malachite, the ninth topaz, the tenth emerald, the eleventh sapphire and the twelfth amethyst.


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The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate being made of a single pearl, and the main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.


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I could not see any temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple,


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and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God, and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.


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Nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb's book of life.


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Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear.


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Down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the nations.


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The curse of destruction will be abolished. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him,


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And night will be abolished; they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever.


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The angel said to me, 'All that you have written is sure and will come true: the Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent his angel to reveal to his servants what is soon to take place.


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I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I had heard and seen them all, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me, to worship him;


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but he said, 'Do no such thing: I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of your brothers the prophets and those who keep the message of this book. God alone you must worship.'


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This, too, he said to me, 'Do not keep the prophecies in this book a secret, because the Time is close.


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Meanwhile let the sinner continue sinning, and the unclean continue to be unclean; let the upright continue in his uprightness, and those who are holy continue to be holy.


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Blessed are those who will have washed their robes clean, so that they will have the right to feed on the tree of life and can come through the gates into the city.


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Others must stay outside: dogs, fortune-tellers, and the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and everyone of false speech and false life.'


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I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the sake of the churches. I am the sprig from the root of David and the bright star of the morning.


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The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!' Let everyone who listens answer, 'Come!' Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free.


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This is my solemn attestation to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book;


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if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book.


