# verses

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However, you have a custom that at Passover I set one prisoner free. Do you want me to set free for you the 'king of the Jews'?"


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The soldiers twisted thorn-branches into a crown and placed it on his head, put a purple robe on him,


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Pilate went outside once more and said to the crowd, "Look, I'm bringing him out to you to get you to understand that I find no case against him."


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So Yeshua came out, wearing the thorn-branch crown and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Look at the man!"


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When the head <i>cohanim </i>and the Temple guards saw him they shouted, "Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!" Pilate said to them, "You take him out yourselves and put him to death on the stake, because I don't find any case against him."


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The Judeans answered him, "We have a law; according to that law, he ought to be put to death, because he made himself out to be the Son of God."


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He went back into the headquarters and asked Yeshua, "Where are you from?" But Yeshua didn't answer.


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So Pilate said to him, "You refuse to speak to me? Don't you understand that it is in my power either to set you free or to have you executed on the stake?"


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Yeshua answered, "You would have no power over me if it hadn't been given to you from above; this is why the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."


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On hearing this, Pilate tried to find a way to set him free; but the Judeans shouted, "If you set this man free, it means you're not a 'Friend of the Emperor'! Everyone who claims to be a king is opposing the Emperor!"


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When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Yeshua outside and sat down on the judge's seat in the place called The Pavement (in Aramaic, <i>Gabta</i>);


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They shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Put him to death on the stake!" Pilate said to them, "You want me to execute your king on a stake?" The head <i>cohanim </i>answered, "We have no king but the Emperor."


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Then Pilate handed Yeshua over to them to have him put to death on the stake. So they took charge of Yeshua.


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There they nailed him to the stake along with two others, one on either side, with Yeshua in the middle.


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Pilate also had a notice written and posted on the stake; it read, YESHUA FROM NATZERET THE KING OF THE JEWS


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Many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Yeshua was put on the stake was close to the city; and it had been written in Hebrew, in Latin and in Greek.


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The Judeans' head <i>cohanim </i>therefore said to Pilate, "Don't write, 'The King of the Jews,' but 'He said, "I am King of the Jews."'"


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When the soldiers had nailed Yeshua to the stake, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier, with the under-robe left over. Now the under-robe was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom;


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so they said to one another, "We shouldn't tear it in pieces; let's draw for it." This happened in order to fulfill the words from the <i>Tanakh</i>, "They divided my clothes among themselves and gambled for my robe." This is why the soldiers did these things.


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Nearby Yeshua's execution stake stood his mother, his mother's sister Miryam the wife of K'lofah, and Miryam from Magdala.


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When Yeshua saw his mother and the <i>talmid </i>whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Mother, this is your son."


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Then he said to the <i>talmid</i>, "This is your mother." And from that time on, the <i> talmid </i>took her into his own home.


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After this, knowing that all things had accomplished their purpose, Yeshua, in order to fulfill the words of the <i>Tanakh</i>, said, "I'm thirsty."


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A jar full of cheap sour wine was there; so they soaked a sponge in the wine, coated it with oregano leaves and held it up to his mouth.


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After Yeshua had taken the wine, he said, "It is accomplished!" And, letting his head droop, he delivered up his spirit.


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It was Preparation Day, and the Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake on <i>Shabbat</i>, since it was an especially important <i>Shabbat</i>. So they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.


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The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been put on a stake beside Yeshua, then the legs of the other one;


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The man who saw it has testified about it, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he tells the truth, so you too can trust.


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For these things happened in order to fulfill this passage of the <i>Tanakh</i>: "Not one of his bones will be broken."


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After this, Yosef of Ramatayim, who was a <i>talmid </i>of Yeshua, but a secret one out of fear of the Judeans, asked Pilate if he could have Yeshua's body. Pilate gave his consent, so Yosef came and took the body away.


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Also Nakdimon, who at first had gone to see Yeshua by night, came with some seventy pounds of spices- a mixture of myrrh and aloes.


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They took Yeshua's body and wrapped it up in linen sheets with the spices, in keeping with Judean burial practice.


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In the vicinity of where he had been executed was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been buried.


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So, because it was Preparation Day for the Judeans, and because the tomb was close by, that is where they buried Yeshua.


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Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Miryam from Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.


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So she came running to Shim'on Kefa and the other <i>talmid</i>, the one Yeshua loved, and said to them, "They've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they've put him!"


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also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up.


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Then the other <i>talmid</i>, who had arrived at the tomb first, also went in; he saw, and he trusted.


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(They had not yet come to understand that the <i>Tanakh </i>teaches that the Messiah has to rise from the dead.)


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and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Yeshua had been, one at the head and one at the feet.


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"Why are you crying?" they asked her. "They took my Lord," she said to them, "and I don't know where they have put him."


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Yeshua said to her, "Lady, why are you crying? Whom are you looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you're the one who carried him away, just tell me where you put him; and I'll go and get him myself."


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Yeshua said to her, "Miryam!" Turning, she cried out to him in Hebrew, "<i>Rabbani</i>!" (that is, "Teacher!")


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"Stop holding onto me," Yeshua said to her, "because I haven't yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."


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Miryam of Magdala went to the <i>talmidim </i>with the news that she had seen the Lord and that he had told her this.


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In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the <i>talmidim </i>were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, "<i>Shalom aleikhem</i>!"


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Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side. The <i>talmidim </i>were overjoyed to see the Lord.


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"<i>Shalom aleikhem</i>!" Yeshua repeated. "Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you."


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When the other <i>talmidim </i>told him, "We have seen the Lord," he replied, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe it."


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A week later his <i>talmidim </i>were once more in the room, and this time T'oma was with them. Although the doors were locked, Yeshua came, stood among them and said, "<i>Shalom aleikhem</i>!"


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Then he said to T'oma, "Put your finger here, look at my hands, take your hand and put it into my side. Don't be lacking in trust, but have trust!"


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Yeshua said to him, "Have you trusted because you have seen me? How blessed are those who do not see, but trust anyway!"


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In the presence of the <i>talmidim </i>Yeshua performed many other miracles which have not been recorded in this book.


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But these which have been recorded are here so that you may trust that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by this trust you may have life because of who he is.


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Shim'on Kefa and T'oma (his name means "twin") were together with Natan'el from Kanah in the Galil, the sons of Zavdai, and two other <i>talmidim</i>.


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Shim'on Kefa said, "I'm going fishing." They said to him, "We're coming with you." They went and got into the boat, but that night they didn't catch anything.


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However, just as day was breaking, Yeshua stood on shore, but the <i>talmidim </i>didn't know it was he.


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He said to them, "Throw in your net to starboard and you will catch some." So they threw in their net, and there were so many fish in it that they couldn't haul it aboard.


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The <i> talmid </i>Yeshua loved said to Kefa, "It's the Lord!" On hearing it was the Lord, Shim'on Kefa threw on his coat, because he was stripped for work, and plunged into the lake;


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but the other <i>talmidim </i>followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish; for they weren't far from shore, only about a hundred yards.


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Shim'on Kefa went up and dragged the net ashore. It was full of fish, 153 of them; but even with so many, the net wasn't torn.


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Yeshua said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the <i>talmidim </i>dared to ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.


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This was now the third time Yeshua had appeared to the <i>talmidim </i>after being raised from the dead.


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After breakfast, Yeshua said to Shim'on Kefa, "Shim'on Bar-Yochanan, do you love me more than these?" He replied, "Yes, Lord, you know I'm your friend." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."


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A second time he said to him, "Shim'on Bar-Yochanan, do you love me?" He replied, "Yes, Lord, you know I'm your friend." He said to him, "Shepherd my sheep."


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The third time he said to him, "Shim'on Bar-Yochanan, are you my friend?" Shim'on was hurt that he questioned him a third time: "Are you my friend?" So he replied, "Lord, you know everything! You know I'm your friend!" Yeshua said to him, "Feed my sheep!


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Yes, indeed! I tell you, when you were younger, you put on your clothes and went where you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go."


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He said this to indicate the kind of death by which Kefa would bring glory to God. Then Yeshua said to him, "Follow me!"


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Kefa turned and saw the <i>talmid </i>Yeshua especially loved following behind, the one who had leaned against him at the supper and had asked, "Who is the one who is betraying you?"


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Therefore the word spread among the brothers that that <i>talmid </i>would not die. However, Yeshua didn't say he wouldn't die, but simply, "If I want him to stay on until I come, what is it to you?"


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This one is the <i>talmid </i>who is testifying about these things and who has recorded them. And we know that his testimony is true.


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But there are also many other things Yeshua did; and if they were all to be recorded, I don't think the whole world could contain the books that would have to be written!


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until the day when, after giving instructions through the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.


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After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.


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At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for "what the Father promised, which you heard about from me.


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For Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>!"


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When they were together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra'el?"


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He answered, "You don't need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority.


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But you will receive power when the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y'hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!"


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As they were staring into the sky after him, suddenly they saw two men dressed in white standing next to them.


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The men said, "You Galileans! Why are you standing, staring into space? This Yeshua, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back to you in just the same way as you saw him go into heaven."


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After entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. The names of the emissaries were Kefa, Ya'akov, Yochanan, Andrew, Philip, T'oma, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, Ya'akov Ben-Halfai, Shim'on "the Zealot," and Y'hudah Ben-Ya'akov.


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These all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer, along with some women, including Miryam (Yeshua's mother), and his brothers.


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During this period, when the group of believers numbered about 120, Kefa stood up and addressed his fellow-believers:


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"Brothers, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>spoke in advance through David about Y'hudah, and these words of the <i>Tanakh </i>had to be fulfilled. He was guide for those who arrested Yeshua-


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(With the money Y'hudah received for his evil deed, he bought a field; and there he fell to his death. His body swelled up and burst open, and all his insides spilled out.


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This became known to everyone in Yerushalayim, so they called that field Hakal<i>-</i>D'ma- which in their language means "Field of Blood").


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"Now," said Kefa, "it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his estate become desolate, let there be no one to live in it'; and 'Let someone else take his place as a supervisor.'


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Therefore, one of the men who have been with us continuously throughout the time the Lord Yeshua traveled around among us,


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from the time Yochanan was immersing people until the day Yeshua was taken up from us- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."


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Then they drew lots to decide between the two, and the lot fell to Mattityahu. So he was added to the eleven emissaries.


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Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.


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Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them.


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They were all filled with the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.


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When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered; they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language.


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Totally amazed, they asked, "How is this possible? Aren't all these people who are speaking from the Galil?


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Jews by birth and proselytes; Jews from Crete and from Arabia...! How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?"


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Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: "You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!


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'<i>ADONAI </i>says: "In the Last Days, I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.


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Even on my slaves, both men and women, will I pour out from my Spirit in those days; and they will prophesy.


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The sun will become dark and the moon blood before the great and fearful Day of <i> ADONAI </i>comes.


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"Men of Isra'el! Listen to this! Yeshua from Natzeret was a man demonstrated to you to have been from God by the powerful works, miracles and signs that God performed through him in your presence. You yourselves know this.


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This man was arrested in accordance with God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the <i>Torah</i>, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him!


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"But God has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him.


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For David says this about him: 'I saw <i>ADONAI </i>always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.


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For this reason, my heart was glad; and my tongue rejoiced; and now my body too will live on in the certain hope


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"Brothers, I know I can say to you frankly that the patriarch David died and was buried- his tomb is with us to this day.


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Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne,


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he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in Sh'ol and whose flesh did not see decay.


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"Moreover, he has been exalted to the right hand of God; has received from the Father what he promised, namely, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>; and has poured out this gift, which you are both seeing and hearing.


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'<i>ADONAI </i>said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'


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Therefore, let the whole house of Isra'el know beyond doubt that God has made him both Lord and Messiah- this Yeshua, whom you executed on a stake!"


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On hearing this, they were stung in their hearts; and they said to Kefa and the other emissaries, "Brothers, what should we do?"


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Kefa answered them, "Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>!


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For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away- as many as <i> ADONAI </i>our God may call!"


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He pressed his case with many other arguments and kept pleading with them, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation!"


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So those who accepted what he said were immersed, and there were added to the group that day about three thousand people.


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They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers.


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in fact, they sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need.


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Continuing faithfully and with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily, and breaking bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of heart,


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praising God and having the respect of all the people. And day after day the Lord kept adding to them those who were being saved.


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One afternoon at three o'clock, the hour of <i>minchah </i>prayers, as Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Temple,


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a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day people used to put him at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so that he could beg from those going into the Temple court.


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Kefa said, "I don't have silver, and I don't have gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua of Natzeret, walk!"


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And taking hold of him by his right hand, Kefa pulled him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong;


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so that he sprang up, stood a moment, and began walking. Then he entered the Temple court with them, walking and leaping and praising God!


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They recognized him as the same man who had formerly sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were utterly amazed and confounded at what had happened to him.


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While he clung to Kefa and Yochanan, all the people came running in astonishment toward them in Shlomo's Colonnade.


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Seeing this, Kefa addressed the people: "Men of Isra'el! Why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk through some power or godliness of our own?


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The God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Yeshua- the same Yeshua you handed over and disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided to release him.


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And it is through putting trust in his name that his name has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes through Yeshua which has given him this perfect healing in the presence of you all.


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"Now, brothers, I know that you did not understand the significance of what you were doing; neither did your leaders.


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But this is how God fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.


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so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord's presence; and he may send the Messiah appointed in advance for you, that is, Yeshua.


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He has to remain in heaven until the time comes for restoring everything, as God said long ago, when he spoke through the holy prophets.


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For Moshe himself said, '<i>ADONAI </i>will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you.


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Indeed, all the prophets announced these days, starting with Sh'mu'el and continuing through all who followed.


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"You are the sons of the prophets; and you are included in the covenant which God made with our fathers when he said to Avraham, 'By your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.'


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So it is to you first that God has sent his servant whom he has raised up, so that he might bless you by turning each one of you from your evil ways."


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Kefa and Yochanan were still speaking to the people when the <i>cohanim</i>, the captain in charge of the Temple police, and the <i>Tz'dukim </i>came upon them,


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very annoyed that they were teaching the people the doctrine of resurrection from the dead and offering Yeshua as proof.


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The Temple police arrested them; and since it was already evening, they put them in custody overnight.


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However, many of those who heard the message trusted; the number of men alone was about five thousand.


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along with 'Anan the <i>cohen hagadol</i>, Kayafa, Yochanan, Alexander and the other men from the family of the <i>cohen hagadol</i>.


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They had the emissaries stand before them and asked, "By what power or in what name did you do this?"


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If we are being examined today about a good deed done for a disabled person, if you want to know how he was restored to health,


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then let it be known to you and to all the people of Isra'el that it is in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua from Natzeret, whom you had executed on a stake as a criminal but whom God has raised from the dead, that this man stands before you perfectly healed.


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There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!"


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When they saw how bold Kefa and Yochanan were, even though they were untrained <i> 'am-ha'aretz</i>, they were amazed; also they recognized them as having been with Yeshua.


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Moreover, since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there beside them, there was nothing they could say to discredit the healing.


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"What can we do with these men?" they asked each other. "Why, anyone in Yerushalayim can see that a remarkable miracle has come about through them- we can't possibly deny that.


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But to prevent it from spreading any further among the people, let's warn them not to speak any more to anyone in this name."


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So they called them in again and ordered them under no circumstances to speak or teach in the name of Yeshua.


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But Kefa and Yochanan answered, "You must judge whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God.


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They threatened them some more but finally let them go- they couldn't punish them because of the people, for everyone was praising God over what had happened,


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Upon being released, they went back to their friends and reported what the head <i>cohanim </i>and elders had said to them.


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When they heard it, they raised their voices to God with singleness of heart. "Master," they prayed, "You made heaven, earth, the sea and everything in them.


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By the <i> Ruach HaKodesh</i>, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, you said, 'Why did the nations rage and the peoples devise useless plans?


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The kings of the earth took their stand; and the rulers assembled together against <i> ADONAI </i>and against his Messiah.'


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"This has come true in this city, since Herod and Pontius Pilate, with <i>Goyim </i>and the peoples of Isra'el, all assembled against your holy servant Yeshua, whom you made Messiah,


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"So now, Lord, take note of their threats; and enable your slaves to speak your message with boldness!


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Stretch out your hand to heal and to do signs and miracles through the name of your holy servant Yeshua!"


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While they were still praying, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, and they spoke God's message with boldness.


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All the many believers were one in heart and soul, and no one claimed any of his possessions for himself, but everyone shared everything he had.


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With great power the emissaries continued testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua, and they were all held in high regard.


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No one among them was poor, since those who owned lands or houses sold them and turned over the proceeds


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Thus Yosef, whom the emissaries called Bar-Nabba (which means "the Exhorter"), a <i>Levi </i> and a native of Cyprus,


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and, with his wife's knowledge, withheld some of the proceeds for himself; although he did bring the rest to the emissaries.


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Then Kefa said, "Why has the Adversary so filled your heart that you lie to the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>and keep back some of the money you received for the land?


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Before you sold it, the property was yours; and after you sold it, the money was yours to use as you pleased. So what made you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not to human beings but to God!"


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Kefa challenged her: "Tell me, is it true that you sold the land for such-and-such a price?" "Yes," she answered, "that is what we were paid for it."


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But Kefa came back at her, "Then why did you people plot to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The men who buried your husband are at the door. They will carry you out too!"


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Instantly she collapsed at his feet and died. The young men entered, found her there dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.


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As a result of this, great fear came over the whole Messianic community, and indeed over everyone who heard about it.


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Meanwhile, through the emissaries many signs and miracles continued to be done among the people. United in mind and purpose, the believers met in Shlomo's Colonnade;


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They went so far as to bring the sick into the streets and lay them on mattresses and stretchers, so that at least Kefa's shadow might fall on them as he passed by.


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Crowds also gathered from the towns around Yerushalayim, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits; and every one of them was healed.


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But the <i> cohen hagadol </i>and his associates, who were members of the party of the <i> Tz'dukim</i>, were filled with jealousy.


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But during the night, an angel of <i>ADONAI </i>opened the doors of the prison, led them out and said,


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After hearing that, they entered the Temple area about dawn and began to teach. Now the <i>cohen hagadol </i>and his associates came and called a meeting of the <i> Sanhedrin </i>(that is, of Isra'el's whole assembly of elders) and sent to the jail to have them brought.


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"We found the jail securely locked and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened it, we found no one inside!"


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When the captain of the Temple police and the head <i>cohanim </i>heard these things, they were puzzled and wondered what would happen next.


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Then someone came and reported to them, "Listen! The men you ordered put in prison are standing in the Temple court, teaching the people!"


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The captain and his officers went and brought them, but not with force; because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.


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"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name! Look here! you have filled Yerushalayim with your teaching; moreover, you are determined to make us responsible for this man's death!"


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The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake.


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God has exalted this man at his right hand as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra'el to do <i>t'shuvah </i>and have her sins forgiven.


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We are witnesses to these things; so is the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, whom God has given to those who obey him."


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On hearing this, the members of the <i>Sanhedrin </i>were infuriated and wanted to put the emissaries to death.


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But one of the members of the <i>Sanhedrin </i>rose to his feet, a <i>Parush </i>named Gamli'el, a teacher of the <i>Torah </i>highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men put outside for a little while


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Some time ago, there was a rebellion under Todah, who claimed to be somebody special; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, rallied behind him. But upon his being put to death, his whole following was broken up and came to nothing.


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After this, Y'hudah HaG'lili led another uprising, back at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax; and he got some people to defect to him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered.


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So in the present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these people, but to leave them alone. For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse.


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But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!" They heeded his advice.


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After summoning the emissaries and flogging them, they commanded them not to speak in the name of Yeshua, and let them go.


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The emissaries left the <i>Sanhedrin </i>overjoyed at having been considered worthy of suffering disgrace on account of him.


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And not for a single day, either in the Temple court or in private homes, did they stop teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Yeshua is the Messiah.


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Around this time, when the number of <i>talmidim </i>was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.


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So the Twelve called a general meeting of the <i>talmidim </i>and said, "It isn't appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.


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Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter,


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What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch.


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So the word of God continued to spread. The number of <i>talmidim </i>in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of <i>cohanim </i>were becoming obedient to the faith.


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But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen,


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So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, "We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God."


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They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the <i>Torah</i>-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the <i>Sanhedrin</i>.


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There they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the <i>Torah</i>;


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for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us."


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Everyone sitting in the <i>Sanhedrin </i>stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.


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and Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham <i>avinu </i>in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran


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So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now.


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He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot; yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him, even though at the time he was childless.


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What God said to him was, 'Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years.


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But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,' God said, 'and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'


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And he gave him <i>b'rit-milah</i>. So he became the father of Yitz'chak and did his <i> b'rit-milah </i>on the eighth day, and Yitz'chak became the father of Ya'akov, and Ya'akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.


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"Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But <i> ADONAI </i>was with him;


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he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household.


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The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, and Yosef's family became known to Pharaoh.


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Their bodies were removed to Sh'khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh'khem for a certain sum of money.


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"As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly,


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With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.


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"It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight. For three months he was reared in his father's house;


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So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.


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"But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra'el.


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On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian.


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He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn't understand.


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When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?'


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the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?


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On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.


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"After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush.


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When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of <i>ADONAI</i>,


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'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov.' But Moshe trembled with fear and didn't dare to look.


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<i>ADONAI </i>said to him, 'Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.


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I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.'


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"This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge?' is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush.


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This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.


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This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra'el, 'God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers'


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This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.


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"But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt,


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saying to Aharon, 'Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt- we don't know what has become of him.'


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That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands.


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So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars- as has been written in the book of the prophets, 'People of Isra'el, it was not to me that you offered slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!


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No, you carried the tent of Molekh and the star of your god Reifan, the idols you made so that you could worship them. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.'


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"Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen.


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Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y'hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them. "So it was until the days of David.


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'Heaven is my throne,' says <i>ADONAI</i>, 'and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house could you build for me? What kind of place could you devise for my rest?


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"Stiffnecked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>! You do the same things your fathers did!


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Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the <i>Tzaddik</i>, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers!-


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But he, full of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, looked up to heaven and saw God's <i> Sh'khinah</i>, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God.


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At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn't have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him,


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threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha'ul.


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and Sha'ul gave his approval to his murder. Starting with that day, there arose intense persecution against the Messianic Community in Yerushalayim; all but the emissaries were scattered throughout the regions of Y'hudah and Shomron.


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But Sha'ul set out to destroy the Messianic Community- entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and handed them over to be put in prison.


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and the crowds were paying close attention to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the miraculous signs he was doing.


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For many people were having unclean spirits driven out of them, shrieking; also many paralytics and crippled persons were being healed;


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But there was a man named Shim'on in the city who for some time had been practicing magic and astonishing the nation of Shomron, claiming to be somebody great.


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Everyone gave heed to him, from the lowest to the highest, saying, "This man is the power of God called 'The Great Power'."


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But when they came to believe Philip, as he announced the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were immersed, both men and women.


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Moreover, Shim'on himself came to believe; and after being immersed, he attached himself closely to Philip; and he was amazed as he saw the miraculous signs and great works of power that kept taking place.


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When the emissaries in Yerushalayim heard that Shomron had received the Word of God, they sent them Kefa and Yochanan,


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For until then he had not come upon any of them; they had only been immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua.


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Shim'on saw that the Spirit was given when the emissaries placed their hands on them, and he offered them money.


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"Give this power to me, too," he said, "so that whoever I place my hands on will receive the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>."


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But Kefa said to him, "Your silver go to ruin- and you with it, for thinking the free gift of God can be bought!


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So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps you will yet be forgiven for holding such a thought in your heart.


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Shim'on answered, "Pray to the Lord for me, so that none of the things you have spoken about will happen to me."


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Then, after giving a thorough witness and speaking the Word of the Lord, Kefa and Yochanan started back to Yerushalayim, announcing the Good News to many villages in Shomron.


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An angel of <i>ADONAI </i>said to Philip, "Get up, and go southward on the road that goes down from Yerushalayim to 'Azah, the desert road."


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So he got up and went. On his way, he caught sight of an Ethiopian, a eunuch who was minister in charge of all the treasure of the Kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia. He had been to Yerushalayim to worship;


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As Philip ran up, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Yesha'yahu the prophet. "Do you understand what you're reading?" he asked.


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"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.


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Now the portion of the <i>Tanakh </i>that he was reading was this: "He was like a sheep led to be slaughtered; like a lamb silent before the shearer, he does not open his mouth.


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He was humiliated and denied justice. Who will tell about his descendants, since his life has been taken from the earth?"


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The eunuch said to Philip, "Here's my question to you- is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?"


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Then Philip started to speak- beginning with that passage, he went on to tell him the Good News about Yeshua.


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As they were going down the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Here's some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn't be immersed?"


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He ordered the chariot to stop; then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip immersed him.


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When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way- full of joy.


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But Philip showed up at Ashdod and continued proclaiming the Good News as he went through all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


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Meanwhile, Sha'ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's <i>talmidim</i>, went to the <i>cohen hagadol</i>


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and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to "the Way," and bring them back to Yerushalayim.


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Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?"


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They helped Sha'ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek.


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There was a <i>talmid </i>in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, "Hananyah!" He said, "Here I am, Lord."


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The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y'hudah's house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha'ul; for he is praying,


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and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight."


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But Hananyah answered, "Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim;


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But the Lord said to him, "Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the <i>Goyim</i>, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra'el as well.


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So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, "Brother Sha'ul, the Lord- Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here- has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the <i> Ruach HaKodesh</i>."


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In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha'ul's eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed;


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then he ate some food and regained his strength. Sha'ul spent some days with the <i>talmidim </i>in Dammesek,


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All who heard him were amazed. They asked, "Isn't he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn't that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head <i>cohanim</i>?"


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But Sha'ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.


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but their plot became known to Sha'ul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to do away with him;


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but under cover of night, his <i>talmidim </i>took him and let him down over the city wall, lowering him in a large basket.


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On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the <i>talmidim</i>; but they were all afraid of him- they didn't believe he was a <i>talmid</i>.


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However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha'ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha'ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua.


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So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord.


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Then the Messianic community throughout Y'hudah, the Galil and Shomron enjoyed peace and was built up. They lived in the fear of the Lord, with the counsel of the <i> Ruach HaKodesh</i>; and their numbers kept multiplying.


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Everyone living in Lud and the Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now in Yafo there was a <i>talmidah </i>named Tavita


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It happened that just at that time, she took sick and died. After washing her, they laid her in a room upstairs.


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Lud is near Yafo, and the <i>talmidim </i>had heard that Kefa was there, so they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come to us without delay."


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Kefa got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him into the upstairs room. All the widows stood by him, sobbing and showing all the dresses and coats Tavita had made them while she was still with them.


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But Kefa put them all outside, kneeled down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said, "Tavita! Get up!" She opened her eyes; and on seeing Kefa, she sat up.


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He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet; then, calling the believers and the widows, he presented her to them alive.


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There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment.


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He was a devout man, a "God-fearer," as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God.


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One afternoon around three o'clock he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!"


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Cornelius stared at the angel, terrified. "What is it, sir?" he asked. "Your prayers," replied the angel, "and your acts of charity have gone up into God's presence, so that he has you on his mind.


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As the angel that had spoken to him went away, Cornelius called two of his household slaves and one of his military aides, who was a godly man;


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The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray.


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He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance


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in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners.


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But Kefa said, "No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or <i> treif</i>."


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Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had seen, when the men Cornelius had sent, having inquired for Shim'on's house, stood at the gate


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Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them, because I myself have sent them."


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They answered, "Cornelius. He's a Roman army officer, an upright man and a God-fearer, a man highly regarded by the whole Jewish nation; and he was told by a holy angel to have you come to his house and listen to what you have to say."


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So Kefa invited them to be his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Yafo;


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and he arrived at Caesarea the day after that. Cornelius was expecting them- he had already called together his relatives and close friends.


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He said to them, "You are well aware that for a man who is a Jew to have close association with someone who belongs to another people, or to come and visit him, is something that just isn't done. But God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean;


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so when I was summoned, I came without raising any questions. Tell me, then, why did you send for me?"


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Cornelius answered, "Three days ago around this time, I was at <i>minchah </i>prayers in my house, when suddenly a man in shining clothes stood in front of me


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Now send to Yafo and ask for Shim'on, known as Kefa; he is staying in the house of Shim'on, a leather-tanner, by the sea.'


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So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now all of us are here in the presence of God to hear everything the Lord has ordered you to say."


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but that whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what people he belongs to.


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"Here is the message that he sent to the sons of Isra'el announcing <i>shalom </i>through Yeshua the Messiah, who is Lord of everything.


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You know what has been going on throughout Y'hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed;


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how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him.


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"As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake;


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not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead.


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"Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.


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All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."


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Kefa was still saying these things when the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>fell on all who were hearing the message.


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All the believers from the Circumcision faction who had accompanied Kefa were amazed that the gift of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>was also being poured out


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on the <i> Goyim</i>, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Kefa's response was,


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"Is anyone prepared to prohibit these people from being immersed in water? After all, they have received the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, just as we did."


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And he ordered that they be immersed in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Then they asked Kefa to stay on with them for a few days.


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The emissaries and the brothers throughout Y'hudah heard that the <i> Goyim </i>had received the word of God;


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"I was in the city of Yafo, praying; and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came down to me.


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"At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying;


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and the Spirit told me to have no misgivings about going back with them. These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man's house.


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He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Yafo and bring back Shim'on, known as Kefa.


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"But I had hardly begun speaking when the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>fell on them, just as on us at the beginning!


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And I remembered that the Lord had said, 'Yochanan used to immerse people in water, but you will be immersed in the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>.'


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Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as he gave us after we had come to put our trust in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who was I to stand in God's way?"


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On hearing these things, they stopped objecting and began to praise God, saying, "This means that God has enabled the <i>Goyim </i>as well to do <i>t'shuvah </i>and have life!"


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Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution which had arisen over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch; they spoke God's word, but only to Jews.


text:
However, some of these, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, when they arrived at Antioch, began speaking to the Greeks too, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Yeshua.


text:
News of this reached the ears of the Messianic community in Yerushalayim, and they sent Bar-Nabba to Antioch.


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On arriving and seeing for himself the grace of God at work, he was glad; and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with their whole hearts;


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and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They met with the congregation there for a whole year and taught a sizeable crowd. Also it was in Antioch that the <i> talmidim </i>for the first time were called "Messianic."


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and one of them named Agav stood up and through the Spirit predicted that there was going to be a severe famine throughout the Roman Empire. (It took place while Claudius was Emperor.)


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So the <i> talmidim </i>decided to provide relief to the brothers living in Y'hudah, each according to his means;


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It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community;


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When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of <i>Matzah</i>,


text:
so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after <i>Pesach</i>.


text:
So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.


text:
The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison.


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Suddenly an angel of <i>ADONAI </i>stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa's side and woke him. "Hurry! Get up!" he said; and the chains fell off his hands.


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The angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals," and he did. "Throw on your robe," he said, "and follow me!"


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Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real- he thought he was seeing a vision.


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Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him.


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Then Kefa came to himself and said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for."


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Realizing what had happened, he went to the house of Miryam the mother of Yochanan (surnamed Mark), where many people had gathered to pray.


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She recognized Kefa's voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Kefa was standing outside.


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"You're out of your mind!" they said to her. But she insisted it was true. So they said, "It is his angel."


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Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and said, "Tell all this to Ya'akov and the brothers." Then he left and went elsewhere.


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Herod had a thorough search made for him, but they failed to find him, so he cross-examined the guards and ordered them put to death. Then Herod went down from Y'hudah to Caesarea and spent some time there.


text:
Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tzor and Tzidon, so they joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, the king's chief personal servant, they asked for peace; because they depended on the king's lands for their food supply.


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At once, because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of <i>ADONAI </i>struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died.


text:
Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul, having completed their errand, returned from Yerushalayim, bringing with them Yochanan, surnamed Mark.


text:
In the Antioch congregation were prophets and teachers- Bar-Nabba, Shim'on (known as "the Black"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Menachem (who had been brought up with Herod the governor) and Sha'ul.


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One time when they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>said to them, "Set aside for me Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul for the work to which I have called them."


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So these two, after they had been sent out by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.


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After landing in Salamis, they began proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues, with Yochanan (Mark) as an assistant;


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and thus they made their way throughout the whole island. They ended up in Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and pseudo-prophet named Bar-Yeshua.


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He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. Now the governor had called for Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul and was anxious to hear the message about God;


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but the sorcerer Elymas (for that is how his name is translated) opposed them, doing his best to turn the governor away from the faith.


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Then Sha'ul, also known as Paul, filled with the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, stared straight at him and said,


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"You son of Satan, full of fraud and evil! You enemy of everything good! Won't you ever stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?


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So now, look! The hand of the Lord is upon you; and for a while you will be blind, unable to see the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over Elymas; and he groped about, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.


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Having set sail from Paphos, Sha'ul and his companions arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. There Yochanan left them and returned to Yerushalayim,


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but the others went on from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, and on <i>Shabbat </i>they went into the synagogue and sat down.


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After the reading from the <i>Torah </i>and from the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message, "Brothers, if any of you has a word of exhortation for the people, speak!"


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The God of this people Isra'el chose our fathers. He made the people great during the time when they were living as aliens in Egypt and with a stretched-out arm he led them out of that land.


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and after he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Kena'an he gave their land to his people as an inheritance.


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Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha'ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years,


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God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, 'I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.'


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"In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra'el from this man's descendants a deliverer, Yeshua.


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Now before the coming of Yeshua, Yochanan proclaimed to all the people of Isra'el an immersion in connection with turning to God from sin.


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But as Yochanan was ending his work, he said, 'Who do you suppose I am? Well- I'm not! But after me is coming someone, the sandals of whose feet I am unworthy to untie.'


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"Brothers!- sons of Avraham and those among you who are 'God-fearers'! It is to us that the message of this deliverance has been sent!


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For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every <i>Shabbat</i>, so they fulfilled that message by condemning him.


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They could not find any legitimate ground for a death sentence; nevertheless they asked Pilate to have him executed;


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and when they had carried out all the things written about him, he was taken down from the stake and placed in a tomb.


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He appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from the Galil to Yerushalayim; and they are now his witnesses to the people.


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he has fulfilled for us the children in raising up Yeshua, as indeed it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'


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And as for his raising him up from the dead, to return to decay no more, he said, 'I will give the holy and trustworthy things of David to you.'


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For David did indeed serve God's purposes in his own generation; but after that, he died, was buried with his fathers and did see decay.


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"Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through this man is proclaimed forgiveness of sins!


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That is, God clears everyone who puts his trust in this man, even in regard to all the things concerning which you could not be cleared by the <i>Torah </i>of Moshe.


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'You mockers! Look, and marvel, and die! For in your own time, I am doing a work that you simply will not believe, even if someone explains it to you!'"


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As they left, the people invited Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba to tell them more about these matters the following <i>Shabbat</i>.


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When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the born Jews and devout proselytes followed Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba, who spoke with them and urged them to keep holding fast to the love and kindness of God.


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The next <i> Shabbat</i>, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord;


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but when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Sha'ul was saying and insulted him.


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However, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba answered boldly: "It was necessary that God's word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life- why, we're turning to the <i>Goyim</i>!


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For that is what <i>ADONAI </i>has ordered us to do: 'I have set you as a light for the <i> Goyim</i>, to be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.'"


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The Gentiles were very happy to hear this. They honored the message about the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life came to trust.


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But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the women 'God-fearers' of high social standing and the leading men of the city, and they organized persecution against Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba and expelled them from their district.


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In Iconium the same thing happened- they went into the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large number of both Jews and Greeks came to trust.


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But the Jews who would not be persuaded stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.


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Therefore, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba remained for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who bore witness to the message about his love and kindness by enabling them to perform signs and miracles.


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However, the people of the city were divided- some sided with the unbelieving Jews, others with the emissaries.


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Eventually the unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles, together with their leaders, made a move to mistreat the emissaries, even to stone them;


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but they learned of it and escaped to Lystra and Derbe, towns in Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,


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There was a man living in Lystra who could not use his feet- crippled from birth, he had never walked.


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This man listened to Sha'ul speaking. Sha'ul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,


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When the crowds saw what Sha'ul had done, they began to shout in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the form of men!"


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and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, intending to offer a sacrifice to them with the people.


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When the emissaries Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul heard of it, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd, shouting,


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"Men! Why are you doing this? We're just men, human like you! We are announcing Good News to you- turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them!


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yet he did not leave himself without evidence of his nature; because he does good things, giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons, filling you with food and your hearts with happiness!"


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Then some unbelieving Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They won over the crowds, stoned Sha'ul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.


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But as the <i>talmidim </i>gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day, he left with Bar-Nabba for Derbe.


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After proclaiming the Good News in that city and making many people into <i>talmidim</i>, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,


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strengthening the <i>talmidim</i>, encouraging them to remain true to the faith, and reminding them that it is through many hardships that we must enter the Kingdom of God.


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After appointing elders for them in every congregation, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.


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After speaking the message in Perga, they came down to Attalia; and from there, they sailed back to Antioch,


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the place where they had been handed over to the care of God for the work which they had now completed.


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When they arrived, they gathered the Messianic community together and reported what God had done through them, that he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.


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But some men came down from Y'hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, "You can't be saved unless you undergo <i>b'rit-milah </i>in the manner prescribed by Moshe."


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This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha'ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this <i>sh'eilah </i>before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.


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After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.


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On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them.


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But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the <i>P'rushim</i>; and they stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the <i>Torah </i>of Moshe."


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After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, "Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the <i>Goyim </i>should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust.


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And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>to them, just as he did to us;


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So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the <i>talmidim </i>which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear?


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No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered- and it's the same with them."


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Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.


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Shim'on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the <i>Goyim </i>a people to bear his name.


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'"After this, I will return; and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins, I will restore it,


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so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, that is, all the <i>Goyim </i>who have been called by my name,"


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"Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the <i>Goyim </i> who are turning to God.


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Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood.


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For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every <i>Shabbat</i>."


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Then the emissaries and the elders, together with the whole Messianic community, decided to select men from among themselves to send to Antioch with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. They sent Y'hudah, called Bar-Sabba, and Sila, both leading men among the brothers,


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with the following letter: From: The emissaries and the elders, your brothers To: The brothers from among the Gentiles throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings!


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We have heard that some people went out from among us without our authorization, and that they have upset you with their talk, unsettling your minds.


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So we have decided unanimously to select men and send them to you with our dear friends Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul,


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For it seemed good to the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>and to us not to lay any heavier burden on you than the following requirements:


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to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will be doing the right thing. <i>Shalom</i>!


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The messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the group together and delivered the letter.


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After they had spent some time there, they were sent off with a greeting of "<i>Shalom</i>!" from the brothers to those who had sent them.


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But Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba stayed in Antioch, where they and many others taught and proclaimed the Good News of the message about the Lord.


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After some time, Sha'ul said to Bar-Nabba, "Let's go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we proclaimed the message about the Lord, and see how they're doing."


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But Sha'ul thought it would be unwise to take this man with them, since he had gone off and left them in Pamphylia to do the work by themselves.


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There was such sharp disagreement over this that they separated from each other, with Bar-Nabba taking Mark and sailing off to Cyprus.


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However, Sha'ul chose Sila and left, after the brothers had committed him to the love and kindness of the Lord.


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Sha'ul came down to Derbe and went on to Lystra, where there lived a <i> talmid </i>named Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who had come to trust, and a Greek father.


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Sha'ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a <i>b'rit-milah</i>, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.


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As they went on through the towns, they delivered to the people the decisions reached by the emissaries and the elders in Yerushalayim for them to observe.


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They traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>from speaking the message in the province of Asia.


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When they came to the frontier of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Yeshua would not let them.


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There a vision appeared to Sha'ul at night. A man from Macedonia was standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"


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As soon as he had seen the vision, we lost no time getting ready to leave for Macedonia; for we concluded that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.


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and from there, we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that part of Macedonia. We spent a few days in this city;


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then on <i> Shabbat</i>, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we understood a <i> minyan </i>met. We sat down and began speaking to the women who had gathered there.


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One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in fine purple cloth. She was already a "God-fearer," and the Lord opened up her heart to respond to what Sha'ul was saying.


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After she and the members of her household had been immersed, she gave us this invitation: "If you consider me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house." And she insisted till we went.


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Once, when we were going to the place where the <i>minyan </i>gathered, we were met by a slave girl who had in her a snake-spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes.


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This girl followed behind Sha'ul and the rest of us and kept screaming, "These men are servants of God <i>Ha'Elyon</i>! They're telling you how to be saved!"


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She kept this up day after day, until Sha'ul, greatly disturbed, turned and said to the spirit, "In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, I order you to come out of her!" And the spirit did come out, at that very moment.


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But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Sha'ul and Sila and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities.


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Bringing them to the judges, they said, "These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews.


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What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."


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The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged.


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After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely.


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Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.


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Around midnight, Sha'ul and Sila were praying and singing hymns to God, while the other prisoners listened attentively.


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Suddenly there was a violent earthquake which shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose.


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The jailer awoke, and when he saw the doors open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, for he assumed that the prisoners had escaped.


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Then, even at that late hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed off their wounds; and without delay, he and all his people were immersed.


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After that, he brought them up to his house and set food in front of them; and he and his entire household celebrated their having come to trust in God.


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The jailer told Sha'ul, "The judges have sent word to release both of you. So come out, and go on your way in peace."


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But Sha'ul said to the officers, "After flogging us in public when we hadn't been convicted of any crime and are Roman citizens, they threw us in prison. Now they want to get rid of us secretly? Oh, no! Let them come and escort us out themselves!"


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The officers reported these words to the judges, who became frightened when they heard that Sha'ul and Sila were Roman citizens.


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From the prison they went to Lydia's house, and after seeing and encouraging the brothers they departed.


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After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Sha'ul and Sila came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue.


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According to his usual practice, Sha'ul went in; and on three <i>Shabbat</i>s he gave them <i> drash</i>es from the <i>Tanakh</i>,


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explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that "this Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah."


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Some of the Jews were persuaded and threw in their lot with Sha'ul and Sila, as did a great many of the Greek men who were "God-fearers," and not a few of the leading women.


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But the unbelieving Jews grew jealous; so they got together some vicious men from the riffraff hanging around in the market square, collected a crowd and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's house, hoping to bring Sha'ul and Sila out to the mob.


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But when they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities and shouted, "These men who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too!


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And Jason has let them stay in his home! All of them are defying the decrees of the Emperor; because they assert that there is another king, Yeshua!"


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But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha'ul and Sila off to Berea. As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue.


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Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the <i>Tanakh </i>every day to see if the things Sha'ul was saying were true.


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But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha'ul in Berea as well, they went there too to make trouble and agitate the crowds.


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The brothers sent Sha'ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind.


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Sha'ul's escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.


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While Sha'ul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him was disturbed at the sight of the city full of idols.


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So he began holding discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the "God-fearers," and in the market square every day with the people who happened to be there.


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Also a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers started meeting with him. Some asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others, because he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua and the resurrection, said, "He sounds like a propagandist for foreign gods."


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They took and brought him before the High Council, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?


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Some of the things we are hearing from you strike us as strange, and we would like to know what they mean."


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(All the Athenians and the foreigners living there used to spend their spare time talking or hearing about the latest intellectual fads.)


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Sha'ul stood up in the Council meeting and said, "Men of Athens: I see how very religious you are in every way!


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For as I was walking around, looking at your shrines, I even found an altar which had been inscribed, 'To An Unknown God.' So, the one whom you are already worshipping in ignorance- this is the one I proclaim to you.


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"The God who made the universe and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in man-made temples;


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nor is he served by human hands, as if he lacked something; since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything to everyone.


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"From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.


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God did this so that people would look for him and perhaps reach out and find him although in fact, he is not far from each one of us,


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'for in him we live and move and exist.' Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, 'We are actually his children.'


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So, since we are children of God, we shouldn't suppose that God's essence resembles gold, silver or stone shaped by human technique and imagination.


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"In the past, God overlooked such ignorance; but now he is commanding all people everywhere to turn to him from their sins.


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For he has set a Day when he will judge the inhabited world, and do it justly, by means of a man whom he has designated. And he has given public proof of it by resurrecting this man from the dead."


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At the mention of a resurrection of dead people, some began to scoff; while others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."


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But some men stayed with him and came to trust, including the High Council member Dionysius; there was also a woman named Damaris; and others came to trust along with them.


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where he met a Jewish man named Aquila, originally from Pontus but having recently come with his wife Priscilla from Italy, because Claudius had issued a decree expelling all the Jews from Rome. Sha'ul went to see them;


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and because he had the same trade as they, making tents, he stayed on with them; and they worked together.


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Sha'ul also began carrying on discussions every <i>Shabbat </i>in the synagogue, where he tried to convince both Jews and Greeks.


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But after Sila and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Sha'ul felt pressed by the urgency of the message and testified in depth to the Jews that Yeshua is the Messiah.


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However when they set themselves against him and began hurling insults, he shook out his clothes and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! For my part, I am clean; from now on, I will go to the <i>Goyim</i>!"


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So he left them and went into the home of a "God-fearer" named Titius Justus, whose house was right next door to the synagogue.


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Crispus, the president of the synagogue, came to trust in the Lord, along with his whole household; also many of the Corinthians who heard trusted and were immersed.


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One night, in a vision, the Lord said to Sha'ul, "Don't be afraid, but speak right up, and don't stop,


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But when Gallio became the Roman governor of Achaia, the unbelieving Jews made a concerted attack on Sha'ul and took him to court,


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saying, "This man is trying to persuade people to worship God in ways that violate the <i>Torah</i>."


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Sha'ul was just about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews, "Listen, you Jews, if this were a case of inflicted injury or a serious crime, I could reasonably be expected to hear you out patiently.


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But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, then you must deal with it yourselves. I flatly refuse to judge such matters."


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They all grabbed Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and gave him a beating in full view of the bench; but Gallio showed no concern whatever.


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Sha'ul remained for some time, then said good-bye to the brothers and sailed off to Syria, after having his hair cut short in Cenchrea, because he had taken a vow; with him were Priscilla and Aquila.


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They came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself went into the synagogue and held dialogue with the Jews.


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however, in his farewell he said, "God willing, I will come back to you." Then he set sail from Ephesus.


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After landing at Caesarea, he went up to Yerushalayim and greeted the Messianic community. Then he came down to Antioch,


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spent some time there, and afterwards set out and passed systematically through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the <i>talmidim</i>.


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Meanwhile, a Jewish man named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker with a thorough knowledge of the <i>Tanakh</i>.


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This man had been informed about the Way of the Lord, and with great spiritual fervor he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Yeshua, but he knew only the immersion of Yochanan.


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He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God in fuller detail.


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When he made plans to cross over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote the <i>talmidim </i>there to welcome him. On arrival, he greatly helped those who through grace had come to trust;


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for he powerfully and conclusively refuted the unbelieving Jews in public, demonstrating by the <i>Tanakh </i>that Yeshua is the Messiah.


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While Apollos was in Corinth, Sha'ul completed his travels through the inland country and arrived at Ephesus, where he found a few <i>talmidim</i>.


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He asked them, "Did you receive the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>when you came to trust?" "No," they said to him, "we have never even heard that there is such a thing as the <i> Ruach HaKodesh</i>."


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Sha'ul said, "Yochanan practiced an immersion in connection with turning from sin to God; but he told the people to put their trust in the one who would come after him, that is, in Yeshua."


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and when Sha'ul placed his hands on them, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>came upon them; so that they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.


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Sha'ul went into the synagogue; and for three months he spoke out boldly, engaging in dialogue and trying to persuade people about the Kingdom of God.


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But some began hardening themselves and refusing to listen; and when these started defaming the Way before the whole synagogue, Sha'ul withdrew, took the <i> talmidim </i>with him, and commenced holding daily dialogues in Tyrannus's <i> yeshivah</i>.


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This went on for two years; so that everyone, both Jews and Greeks, living in the province of Asia heard the message about the Lord.


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For instance, handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were brought to sick people; they would recover from their ailments; and the evil spirits would leave them.


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Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, "I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha'ul is proclaiming!"


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and the evil spirit answered them. It said, "Yeshua I know. And Sha'ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?"


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Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding.


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When all this became known to the residents of Ephesus, fear fell on all of them, Jews and Greeks alike; and the name of the Lord Yeshua came to be held in high regard.


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Many of those who had earlier made professions of faith now came and admitted publicly their evil deeds;


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and a considerable number of those who had engaged in occult practices threw their scrolls in a pile and burned them in public. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, it came to fifty thousand <i>drachma</i>s.


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Some time later, Sha'ul decided by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Yerushalayim. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome."


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So he dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia; but he himself remained in the province of Asia for awhile.


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There was a silversmith named Demetrius who manufactured from silver, objects connected with the worship of the goddess Artemis; and he provided no small amount of work for the craftsmen.


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He called a meeting of them and of those engaged in similar trades, and said, "Men, you understand that this line of business provides us our living.


text:
And you can see and hear for yourselves that not only here in Ephesus, but in practically the whole province of Asia, this Sha'ul has convinced and turned away a considerable crowd by saying that man-made gods aren't gods at all.


text:
Now the danger is not only that the reputation of our trade will suffer, but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to be taken lightly. It could end up with the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and indeed throughout the whole world, being ignominiously brought down from her divine majesty!"


text:
Soon the whole city was in an uproar. As one man, the mob rushed into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Sha'ul's traveling companions from Macedonia.


text:
Even some of the officials of the province, friends of his, sent a message begging him not to risk entering the theater.


text:
Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and others something else, because the assembly was in complete confusion, and the great majority didn't even know why they were there.


text:
Some of the crowd explained the situation to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed to the front. So Alexander motioned for silence, hoping to make a defense speech to the people.


text:
But as soon as they recognized that he was a Jew, they began bellowing in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" and they kept it up for about two hours.


text:
At last, the city clerk was able to quiet the crowd. "Men of Ephesus!" he said, "Is there anyone who doesn't know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone which fell from the sky?


text:
So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and the judges are there- let them bring charges and counter-charges.


text:
For we are in danger of being accused of rioting on account of what has happened today. There is no justification for it; and if we are asked, we will be unable to give any reasonable explanation for this disorderly gathering."


text:
After the furor died down, Sha'ul sent for the <i>talmidim </i>and encouraged them, then took his leave and set out on his way to Macedonia.


text:
where he spent three months. As he was preparing to set sail for Syria, he discovered a plot against him by the unbelieving Jews; so he changed his mind and decided to return by way of Macedonia.


text:
Sopater from Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; as did Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.


text:
while we sailed from Philippi after the Days of <i>Matzah</i>. Five days later, we met them in Troas, where we spent a week.


text:
On <i> Motza'ei-Shabbat</i>, when we were gathered to break bread, Sha'ul addressed them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight.


text:
and there was a young fellow named Eutychus sitting on the window-sill. As Sha'ul's <i> drash </i>went on and on, Eutychus grew sleepier and sleepier; until finally he went sound asleep and fell from the third story to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead.


text:
But Sha'ul went down, threw himself onto him, put his arms around him and said, "Don't be upset, he's alive!"


text:
Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. He continued talking with them till daylight, then left.


text:
We went on ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were planning to take Sha'ul aboard- he had arranged this because he wanted to go there by land.


text:
The next day, we sailed from there and arrived off Chios; the following day, we crossed over to Samos; and the day after that, we reached Miletus.


text:
For Sha'ul had decided to bypass Ephesus on his voyage, in order to avoid losing time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to get to Yerushalayim, if possible in time to celebrate <i>Shavu'ot</i>.


text:
When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, I was with you the whole time,


text:
serving the Lord with much humility and with tears, in spite of the tests I had to undergo because of the plots of the unbelieving Jews.


text:
You know that I held back nothing that could be helpful to you, and that I taught you both in public and from house to house,


text:
declaring with utmost seriousness the same message to Jews and Greeks alike: turn from sin to God; and put your trust in our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.


text:
"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Yerushalayim. I don't know what will happen to me there,


text:
other than that in every city the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>keeps warning me that imprisonment and persecution await me.


text:
But I consider my own life of no importance to me whatsoever, as long as I can finish the course ahead of me, the task I received from the Lord Yeshua- to declare in depth the Good News of God's love and kindness.


text:
"Now, listen! I know that none of you people among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom will ever see me again.


text:
"Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God's Messianic community, which he won for himself at the cost of his own Son's blood.


text:
Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the <i>talmidim </i>after themselves.


text:
So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!


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"And now I entrust you to the care of the Lord and to the message of his love and kindness, for it can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who have been set apart for God.


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You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided not only for my own needs, but for the needs of my co-workers as well.


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In everything I have given you an example of how, by working hard like this, you must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Yeshua himself, 'There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.'"


text:
What saddened them the most was his remark that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.


text:
After we had torn ourselves away from the Ephesian elders, we set sail and made a straight run to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.


text:
After sighting Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria and landed at Tzor, because that was where the ship was unloading its cargo.


text:
Having searched out the <i>talmidim </i>there, we remained for a week. Guided by the Spirit, they told Sha'ul not to go up to Yerushalayim;


text:
but when the week was over, we left to continue our journey. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the town. Kneeling on the beach and praying,


text:
When the voyage from Tzor was over, we arrived at Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers and stayed with them overnight.


text:
The following day, we left and came to Caesarea, where we went to the home of Philip the proclaimer of the Good News, one of the Seven, and stayed with him.


text:
to visit us. He took Sha'ul's belt, tied up his own hands and feet and said, "Here is what the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>says: the man who owns this belt- the Judeans in Yerushalayim will tie him up just like this and hand him over to the <i>Goyim</i>."


text:
but Sha'ul answered, "What are you doing, crying and trying to weaken my resolve? I am prepared not only to be tied up, but even to die in Yerushalayim for the name of the Lord Yeshua."


text:
and with us went some of the <i>talmidim </i>from Caesarea. They brought us to the home of the man with whom we were to stay, Mnason from Cyprus, who had been a <i>talmid </i>since the early days.


text:
After greeting them, Sha'ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.


text:
On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the <i>Torah</i>.


text:
Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the <i>Goyim </i>to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a <i> b'rit-milah </i>for their sons and not to follow the traditions.


text:
Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the <i>Torah</i>.


text:
"However, in regard to the <i>Goyim </i>who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication."


text:
The next day Sha'ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them.


text:
The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him.


text:
"Men of Isra'el, help!" they shouted. "This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the <i>Torah </i>and against this place! And now he has even brought some <i>Goyim </i>into the Temple and defiled this holy place!"


text:
(They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha'ul had brought him into the Temple.)


text:
The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha'ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut.


text:
But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil.


text:
Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha'ul.


text:
Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.


text:
Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn't find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks.


text:
When Sha'ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild-


text:
As Sha'ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "Is it all right if I say something to you?" The commander said, "You know Greek!


text:
Say, aren't you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?"


text:
Sha'ul said, "I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people."


text:
Having received permission, Sha'ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew:


text:
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli'el in every detail of the <i>Torah </i>of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today.


text:
I persecuted to death the followers of this Way, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.


text:
The <i>cohen hagadol </i>and the whole <i>Sanhedrin </i>can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Dammesek, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city too and bring them back to Yerushalayim for punishment.


text:
"As I was traveling and approaching Dammesek, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me!


text:
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?'


text:
I answered, 'Sir, who are you?' 'I am Yeshua from Natzeret,' he said to me, 'and you are persecuting me!'


text:
Those who were with me did see the light, but they didn't hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.


text:
I said 'What should I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up, and go into Dammesek, and there you will be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.'


text:
I had been blinded by the brightness of the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Dammesek.


text:
"A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the <i>Torah </i>who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there,


text:
came to me, stood by me and said, 'Brother Sha'ul, see again!' And at that very moment, I recovered my sight and saw him.


text:
He said, 'The God of our fathers determined in advance that you should know his will, see the <i>Tzaddik </i>and hear his voice;


text:
So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, immerse yourself and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.'


text:
"After I had returned to Yerushalayim, it happened that as I was praying in the Temple, I went into a trance,


text:
and I saw Yeshua. 'Hurry!' he said to me, 'Get out of Yerushalayim immediately, because they will not accept what you have to say about me.'


text:
I said, 'Lord, they know themselves that in every synagogue I used to imprison and flog those who trusted in you;


text:
also that when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there too, in full agreement; I was even looking after the clothes of the ones who were killing him!'


text:
They had been listening to him up to this point; but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, "Rid the earth of such a man! He's not fit to live!"


text:
so the commander ordered him brought into the barracks and directed that he be interrogated and whipped, in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this.


text:
But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha'ul said to the captain standing by, "Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn't even had a trial?"


text:
When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, "Do you realize what you're doing? This man is a Roman citizen!"


text:
The commander replied, "I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money." "But I was born to it," Sha'ul said.


text:
At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.


text:
However, the next day, since he wanted to know the specific charge the Judeans were bringing against him, he released him and ordered the head <i>cohanim </i>and the whole <i>Sanhedrin </i>to meet. Then he brought Sha'ul down and put him in front of them.


text:
Sha'ul looked straight at them and said, "Brothers, I have been discharging my obligations to God with a perfectly clear conscience, right up until today."


text:
But the <i> cohen hagadol</i>, Hananyah, ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.


text:
Then Sha'ul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Will you sit there judging me according to the <i>Torah</i>, yet in violation of the <i>Torah </i> order me to be struck?"


text:
Sha'ul said, "I didn't know, brothers, that he was the <i>cohen hagadol</i>; for it says in the <i>Torah</i>, 'You are not to speak disparagingly of a ruler of your people.'"


text:
But knowing that one part of the <i>Sanhedrin </i>consisted of <i>Tz'dukim </i>and the other of <i>P'rushim</i>, Sha'ul shouted, "Brothers, I myself am a <i>Parush </i>and the son of <i>P'rushim</i>; and it is concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am being tried!"


text:
When he said this, an argument arose between the <i>P'rushim </i>and the <i>Tz'dukim</i>, and the crowd was divided.


text:
For the <i> Tz'dukim </i>deny the resurrection and the existence of angels and spirits; whereas the <i>P'rushim </i>acknowledge both.


text:
So there was a great uproar, with some of the <i>Torah</i>-teachers who were on the side of the <i>P'rushim </i>standing up and joining in- "We don't find anything wrong with this man; and if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, what of it?"


text:
The dispute became so violent that the commander, fearing that Sha'ul would be torn apart by them, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force and bring him back into the barracks.


text:
The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage! For just as you have borne a faithful witness to me in Yerushalayim, so now you must bear witness in Rome."


text:
The next day, some of the Judeans formed a conspiracy. They took an oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Sha'ul;


text:
They went to the head <i>cohanim </i>and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Sha'ul.


text:
What you are to do is make it appear to the commander that you and the <i>Sanhedrin </i> want to get more accurate information about Sha'ul's case, so that he will bring him down to you; while we, for our part, are prepared to kill him before he ever gets here."


text:
But the son of Sha'ul's sister got wind of the planned ambush, and he went into the barracks and told Sha'ul.


text:
Sha'ul called one of the officers and said, "Take this man up to the commander; he has something to tell him."


text:
So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Sha'ul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."


text:
The commander took him by the hand, led him aside privately and asked, "What is it you have to tell me?"


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He said, "The Judeans have agreed to ask you tomorrow to bring Sha'ul down to the <i> Sanhedrin </i>on the pretext that they want to investigate his case more thoroughly.


text:
But don't let yourself be talked into it, because more than forty men are lying in wait for him. They have taken an oath neither to eat nor to drink until they kill him; and they are ready now, only waiting for you to give your consent to their request."


text:
The commander let the young man go, cautioning him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me."


text:
Then he summoned two of the captains and said, "Get two hundred infantry soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, and seventy mounted cavalry and two hundred spearmen;


text:
also provide replacements for Sha'ul's horse when it gets tired; and bring him through safely to Felix the governor."


text:
This man was seized by the Judeans and was about to be killed by them, when I came on the scene with my troops and rescued him. After learning that he was a Roman citizen,


text:
I wanted to understand exactly what they were charging him with; so I brought him down to their "<i>Sanhedrin</i>."


text:
I found that he was charged in connection with questions of their "<i>Torah</i>" but that there was no charge deserving death or prison.


text:
But when I was informed of a plot against the man, I immediately sent him to you and also ordered his accusers to state their case against him before you.


text:
So the soldiers, following their orders, took Sha'ul during the night and brought him to Antipatris,


text:
The cavalry took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and handed Sha'ul over to him.


text:
he said, "I will give you a full hearing after your accusers have also arrived," and ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod's headquarters.


text:
After five days, the <i>cohen hagadol </i>Hananyah came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they presented their case against Sha'ul to the governor.


text:
Sha'ul was called, and Tertullus began to make the charges: "Felix, your Excellency, it is because of you that we enjoy unbroken peace, and it is your foresight that has brought to this nation


text:
But, in order not to take up too much of your time, I beg your indulgence to give us a brief hearing.


text:
"We have found this man a pest. He is an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the <i>Natzratim</i>.


text:
By questioning this man yourself, you will be able to learn all about the things of which we are accusing him."


text:
When the governor motioned for Sha'ul to speak, he replied, "I know that you have been judge over this nation for a number of years, so I am glad to make my defense.


text:
As you can verify for yourself, it has not been more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Yerushalayim;


text:
and neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues nor anywhere else in the city did they find me either arguing with anyone or collecting a crowd.


text:
"But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the <i>Torah </i>and everything written in the Prophets.


text:
And I continue to have a hope in God- which they too accept- that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.


text:
Indeed, it is because of this that I make a point of always having a clear conscience in the sight of both God and man.


text:
"After an absence of several years, I came to Yerushalayim to bring a charitable gift to my nation and to offer sacrifices.


text:
It was in connection with the latter that they found me in the Temple. I had been ceremonially purified, I was not with a crowd, and I was not causing a disturbance.


text:
But some Jews from the province of Asia- they ought to be here before you to make a charge if they have anything against me!


text:
Or else, let these men themselves say what crime they found me guilty of when I stood in front of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>,


text:
other than this one thing which I shouted out when I was standing among them: 'I am on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!'"


text:
But Felix, who had rather detailed knowledge of things connected with the Way, put them off, saying, "When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case."


text:
He ordered the captain to keep Sha'ul in custody, but to let him have considerable liberty and not prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.


text:
After some days, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Sha'ul and listened to him as he spoke about trusting in the Messiah Yeshua.


text:
But when Sha'ul began to discuss righteousness, self-control and the coming Judgment, Felix became frightened and said, "For the time being, go away! I will send for you when I get a chance."


text:
At the same time, he hoped that Sha'ul would offer him a bribe; so he sent for him rather often and kept talking with him.


text:
After two years, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; but because Felix wanted to grant the Judeans a favor, he left Sha'ul still a prisoner.


text:
There the head <i>cohanim </i>and the Judean leaders informed him of the case against Sha'ul, and they asked him


text:
to do them the favor of having the man sent to Yerushalayim. (They had plotted to have him ambushed and killed <i>en route</i>.)


text:
Festus replied that Sha'ul was being kept under guard in Caesarea, and that he was about to go there shortly himself.


text:
"So," he said, "let competent men among you come down with me and press charges against the man, if he has done something wrong."


text:
After staying with them at most eight or ten days, Festus went down to Caesarea; and on the following day, he took his seat in court and ordered Sha'ul to be brought in.


text:
When he arrived, the Judeans who had come down from Yerushalayim stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him which they could not prove.


text:
In reply, Sha'ul said, "I have committed no offense- not against the <i>Torah </i>to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple, and not against the Emperor."


text:
But Festus, wanting to do the Judeans a favor, asked Sha'ul, "Would you be willing to go up to Yerushalayim and be tried before me there on these charges?"


text:
Sha'ul replied, "I am standing right now in the court of the Emperor, and this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Judeans, as you very well know.


text:
If I am a wrongdoer, if I have done something for which I deserve to die, then I am ready to die. But if there is nothing to these charges which they are bringing against me, no one can give me to them just to grant a favor! I appeal to the Emperor!"


text:
Then Festus, after talking with his advisers, answered, "You have appealed to the Emperor; you will go to the Emperor!"


text:
Since they were staying on there for some time, Festus had the opportunity to acquaint the king with Sha'ul's situation. "There is a man here," he said, "who was left behind in custody by Felix.


text:
When I was in Yerushalayim, the head <i>cohanim </i>and the elders of the Judeans informed me about him and asked me to pronounce judgment against him.


text:
My answer to them was that it is not the custom with Romans to give up an accused man just to grant a favor, before he has met his accusers face to face and had the opportunity to defend himself against the charge.


text:
So when they arrived here with me, I did not delay, but took my seat in court the next day and ordered the man brought in.


text:
they disputed with him about certain points of their own religion, and particularly about somebody called Yeshua, who had died, but who Sha'ul claimed was alive.


text:
Being at a loss as to how to investigate such questions, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Yerushalayim and be tried on these matters there.


text:
But since Sha'ul appealed to be kept in custody and have his case decided by His Imperial Majesty, I ordered him held until I could send him to the Emperor."


text:
Agrippa said to Festus, "I myself have been wanting to hear the man." "Tomorrow," he replied, "You will hear him."


text:
So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with much pageantry; they entered the audience room accompanied by military commanders and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Sha'ul was brought in.


text:
Festus said, "King Agrippa and all of you here with us, do you see this man? The whole Judean community has complained to me about him both in Yerushalayim and here, crying that he shouldn't be allowed to remain alive.


text:
But I discovered that he had done nothing that deserves a death sentence. Now when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.


text:
However, I have nothing specific to write to His Majesty about him. This is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa- so that after we have examined him, I might have something to write.


text:
It seems irrational to me to send a prisoner without also indicating what the charges against him are."


text:
Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "You have permission to speak on your own behalf." Then Sha'ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:


text:
"King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by Jews,


text:
because you are so well informed about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.


text:
"So then! All Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Yerushalayim.


text:
They have known me for a long time; and if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion- that is, I have lived as a <i> Parush</i>.


text:
It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews!


text:
and in Yerushalayim I did so. After receiving authority from the head <i>cohanim</i>, I myself threw many of God's people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.


text:
Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them, I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.


text:
"On one such occasion, I was traveling to Dammesek with the full authority and power of the head <i>cohanim</i>.


text:
I was on the road, and it was noon, your Majesty, when I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions.


text:
We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, 'Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It's hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!'


text:
But get up, and stand on your feet! I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve and bear witness to what you have already seen of me, and to what you will see when I appear to you in the future.


text:
to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to God, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in me.'


text:
On the contrary, I announced first in Dammesek, then in Yerushalayim and throughout Y'hudah, and also to the <i>Goyim</i>, that they should turn from their sins to God and then do deeds consistent with that repentance.


text:
However, I have had God's help; so to this day, I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what both the prophets and Moshe said would happen-


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that the Messiah would die, and that he, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the People and the <i>Goyim</i>."


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But just as he reached this point in his defense, Festus shouted at the top of his voice, "Sha'ul, you're out of your mind! So much learning is driving you crazy!"


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But Sha'ul said, "No, I am not 'crazy,' Festus, your Excellency; on the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity.


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For the king understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that none of these things have been hidden from him. After all, they didn't happen in some back alley.


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Sha'ul replied, "Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!"


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After they had left, they said to one another, "This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison."


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Once it had been decided that we should set sail for Italy, they handed Sha'ul and some other prisoners over to an officer of the Emperor's Regiment named Julius.


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We embarked in a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.


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The next day, we landed at Tzidon; and Julius considerately allowed Sha'ul to go visit his friends and receive what he needed.


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Putting to sea from there, we sailed close to the sheltered side of Cyprus because the winds were against us,


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then across the open sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia; and so we reached Myra in Lycia.


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For a number of days we made little headway, and we arrived off Cnidus only with difficulty. The wind would not let us continue any farther along the direct route; so we ran down along the sheltered side of Crete from Cape Salmone;


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and, continuing to struggle on, hugging the coast, we reached a place called Pleasant Harbor, near the town of Lasea.


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Since much time had been lost, and continuing the voyage was risky, because it was already past <i>Yom-Kippur</i>, Sha'ul advised them,


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"Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be a catastrophe, not only with huge losses to the cargo and the ship but with loss of our lives as well."


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However, the officer paid more attention to the pilot and the ship's owner than to what Sha'ul said.


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Moreover, since the harbor was not well suited to sitting out the winter, the majority reached the decision to sail on from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, another harbor in Crete, and wintering there, where it is protected from the southwest and northwest winds.


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When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they had their goal within grasp; so they raised the anchor and started coasting by Crete close to shore.


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But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon.


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As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat.


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They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting.


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But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison non-essentials;


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For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, while the storm continued to rage, until gradually all hope of survival vanished.


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It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha'ul stood up in front of them and said, "You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss.


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But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life- only the ship will be lost.


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He said, 'Don't be afraid, Sha'ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.'


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It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land.


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So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet.


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Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.


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At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship- they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow.


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Sha'ul said to the officer and the soldiers, "Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved."


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Just before daybreak, Sha'ul urged them all to eat, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing.


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Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head."


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When he had said this, he took bread, said the <i>b'rakhah </i>to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat.


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When day broke, they didn't recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.


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So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.


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But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.


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At this point the soldiers' thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape.


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But the officer, wanting to save Sha'ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore,


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and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.


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Its people showed extraordinary kindness- it was cold and it had started to rain, so they lit a bonfire and welcomed us all.


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Sha'ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand.


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The islanders saw the creature hanging from Sha'ul's hand and said to one another, "This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live."


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They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing that nothing amiss was happening to him, they reversed their opinion and said he was a god.


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Nearby were lands belonging to the governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us in a friendly manner and put us up for three days.


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Now it so happened that Publius' father was lying in bed, sick with fever attacks and dysentery. Sha'ul went in to him, prayed, placed his hands on him and healed him.


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They heaped honors on us; and when the time came for us to sail, they provided the supplies we needed.


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After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called "Twin Gods," which had passed the winter at the island.


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From there, we arrived at Rhegium by tacking; but after one day, a south wind sprang up; so we made it to Puteoli the second day.


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The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha'ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.


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And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha'ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.


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After three days Sha'ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: "Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans.


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They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence.


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But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor- not that I had any charge to make against my own people.


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This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra'el that I have this chain around me."


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They said to him, "We have not received any letters about you from Y'hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.


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But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it."


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So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the <i>Torah </i>of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua.


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while others refused to believe. So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha'ul had made one final statement: "The <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha'yahu the prophet,


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'Go to this people and say, "You will keep on hearing but never understand, and you will keep on seeing but never perceive,


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because the heart of this people has grown thick- with their ears they barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, for fear that they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and do <i>t'shuvah</i>, so that I could heal them."'


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Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the <i>Goyim</i>, and they will listen!"


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Sha'ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him,


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openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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From: Sha'ul, a slave of the Messiah Yeshua, an emissary because I was called and set apart for the Good News of God.


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he was powerfully demonstrated to be Son of God spiritually, set apart by his having been resurrected from the dead; he is Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.


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Through him we received grace and were given the work of being an emissary on his behalf promoting trust-grounded obedience among all the Gentiles,


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To: All those in Rome whom God loves, who have been called, who have been set apart for him: Grace to you and <i>shalom </i>from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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First, I thank my God through Yeshua the Messiah for all of you, because the report of your trust is spreading throughout the whole world.


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For God, whom I serve in my spirit by spreading the Good News about his Son, is my witness that I regularly remember you


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in my prayers; and I always pray that somehow, now or in the future, I might, by God's will, succeed in coming to visit you.


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For I long to see you, so that I might share with you some spiritual gift that can make you stronger-


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or, to put it another way, so that by my being with you, we might, through the faith we share, encourage one another.


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Brothers, I want you to know that although I have been prevented from visiting you until now, I have often planned to do so, in order that I might have some fruit among you, just as I have among the other Gentiles.


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I owe a debt to both civilized Greeks and uncivilized people, to both the educated and the ignorant;


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For I am not ashamed of the Good News, since it is God's powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile.


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For in it is revealed how God makes people righteous in his sight; and from beginning to end it is through trust- as the <i>Tanakh </i>puts it, "But the person who is righteous will live his life by trust."


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What is revealed is God's anger from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who in their wickedness keep suppressing the truth;


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For ever since the creation of the universe his invisible qualities- both his eternal power and his divine nature- have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made. Therefore, they have no excuse;


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because, although they know who God is, they do not glorify him as God or thank him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened.


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In fact, they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for mere images, like a mortal human being, or like birds, animals or reptiles!


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This is why God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts' lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other's bodies.


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They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator- praised be he for ever. <i>Amen</i>.


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This is why God has given them up to degrading passions; so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural;


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and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burn with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty appropriate to their perversion.


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In other words, since they have not considered God worth knowing, God has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things.


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They are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and vice; stuffed with jealousy, murder, quarrelling, dishonesty and ill-will; they are gossips,


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slanderers, haters of God; they are insolent, arrogant and boastful; they plan evil schemes; they disobey their parents;


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They know well enough God's righteous decree that people who do such things deserve to die; yet not only do they keep doing them, but they applaud others who do the same.


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Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself; since you who are judging do the same things he does.


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do you think that you, a mere man passing judgment on others who do such things, yet doing them yourself, will escape the judgment of God?


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Or perhaps you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience; because you don't realize that God's kindness is intended to lead you to turn from your sins.


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But by your stubbornness, by your unrepentant heart, you are storing up anger for yourself on the Day of Anger, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed;


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To those who seek glory, honor and immortality by perseverance in doing good, he will pay back eternal life.


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But to those who are self-seeking, who disobey the truth and obey evil, he will pay back wrath and anger.


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Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile;


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but glory and honor and <i>shalom </i>to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.


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All who have sinned outside the framework of <i>Torah </i>will die outside the framework of <i>Torah</i>; and all who have sinned within the framework of <i>Torah </i> will be judged by <i>Torah</i>.


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For it is not merely the hearers of <i>Torah </i>whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what <i>Torah </i>says who will be made righteous in God's sight.


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For whenever Gentiles, who have no <i>Torah</i>, do naturally what the <i>Torah </i> requires, then these, even though they don't have <i>Torah</i>, for themselves are <i>Torah</i>!


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For their lives show that the conduct the <i>Torah </i>dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them


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on a day when God passes judgment on people's inmost secrets. (According to the Good News as I proclaim it, he does this through the Messiah Yeshua.)


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and know his will and give your approval to what is right, because you have been instructed from the <i>Torah</i>;


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an instructor for the spiritually unaware and a teacher of children, since in the <i>Torah </i>you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth;


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then, you who teach others, don't you teach yourself? Preaching, "Thou shalt not steal," do you steal?


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Saying, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? Detesting idols, do you commit idolatrous acts?


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as it says in the <i>Tanakh</i>, "For it is because of you that God's name is blasphemed by the <i>Goyim</i>."


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For circumcision is indeed of value if you do what <i>Torah </i>says. But if you are a transgressor of <i>Torah</i>, your circumcision has become uncircumcision!


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Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the <i>Torah</i>, won't his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?


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Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the <i>Torah </i>will stand as a judgment on you who have had a <i>b'rit-milah </i>and have <i>Torah </i>written out but violate it!


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For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical.


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On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly; and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual not literal; so that his praise comes not from other people but from God.


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Heaven forbid! God would be true even if everyone were a liar!- as the <i>Tanakh </i> says, "so that you, God, may be proved right in your words and win the verdict when you are put on trial."


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Now if our unrighteousness highlights God's righteousness, what should we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict his anger on us? (I am speaking here the way people commonly do.)


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"But," you say, "if, through my lie, God's truth is enhanced and brings him greater glory, why am I still judged merely for being a sinner?"


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Indeed! Why not say (as some people slander us by claiming we do say), "Let us do evil, so that good may come of it"? Against them the judgment is a just one!


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So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are controlled by sin.


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all have turned away and at the same time become useless; there is no one who shows kindness, not a single one!


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"Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers' venom is under their lips.


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Moreover, we know that whatever the <i>Torah </i>says, it says to those living within the framework of the <i>Torah</i>, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God's adverse judgment.


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For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands, because what <i>Torah </i>really does is show people how sinful they are.


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But now, quite apart from <i>Torah</i>, God's way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear- although the <i>Torah </i>and the Prophets give their witness to it as well-


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and it is a righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah, to all who continue trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile,


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By God's grace, without earning it, all are granted the status of being considered righteous before him, through the act redeeming us from our enslavement to sin that was accomplished by the Messiah Yeshua.


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God put Yeshua forward as the <i>kapparah </i>for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God's righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past;


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and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshua's faithfulness.


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So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of <i>Torah </i>excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a <i>Torah </i>that has to do with trusting.


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Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of <i> Torah </i>commands.


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Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles;


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because, as you will admit, God is one. Therefore, he will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting.


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Does it follow that we abolish <i>Torah </i>by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm <i>Torah</i>.


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For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God!


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For what does the <i>Tanakh </i>say? "Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness."


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Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him.


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However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.


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In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:


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Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham's trust was credited to his account as righteousness;


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but what state was he in when it was so credited- circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision!


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In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him,


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and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a <i> b'rit-milah</i>, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which <i>Avraham avinu </i>had when he was still uncircumcised.


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For the promise to Avraham and his seed that he would inherit the world did not come through legalism but through the righteousness that trust produces.


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The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God's free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of the <i>Torah</i>, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had <i>- Avraham avinu </i>for all of us.


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This accords with the <i>Tanakh</i>, where it says, "I have appointed you to be a father to many nations." Avraham is our father in God's sight because he trusted God as the one who gives life to the dead and calls nonexistent things into existence.


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For he was past hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been told, "So many will your seed be."


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His trust did not waver when he considered his own body- which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old- or when he considered that Sarah's womb was dead too.


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He did not by lack of trust decide against God's promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God,


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They were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead-


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Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and raised to life in order to make us righteous.


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So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have <i>shalom </i>with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.


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Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God's glory.


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But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance,


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and this hope does not let us down, because God's love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>who has been given to us.


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Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die.


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But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners.


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Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God's judgment!


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For if we were reconciled with God through his Son's death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled!


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And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.


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Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned.


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Sin was indeed present in the world before <i>Torah </i>was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no <i>Torah</i>.


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Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam's violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come.


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But the free gift is not like the offence. For if, because of one man's offence, many died, then how much more has God's grace, that is, the gracious gift of one man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflowed to many!


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No, the free gift is not like what resulted from one man's sinning; for from one sinner came judgment that brought condemnation; but the free gift came after many offences and brought acquittal.


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For if, because of the offence of one man, death ruled through that one man; how much more will those receiving the overflowing grace, that is, the gift of being considered righteous, rule in life through the one man Yeshua the Messiah!


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In other words, just as it was through one offence that all people came under condemnation, so also it is through one righteous act that all people come to be considered righteous.


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For just as through the disobedience of the one man, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the other man, many will be made righteous.


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And the <i> Torah </i>came into the picture so that the offence would proliferate; but where sin proliferated, grace proliferated even more.


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All this happened so that just as sin ruled by means of death, so also grace might rule through causing people to be considered righteous, so that they might have eternal life, through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.


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Don't you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death?


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Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life.


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For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his.


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We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.


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We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over him.


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For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God.


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In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua.


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and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness.


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Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? "Let's go on sinning, because we're not under legalism but under grace"? Heaven forbid!


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Don't you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves- whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous?


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By God's grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed;


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(I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God.


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but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death.


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However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit- it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life.


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For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.


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Surely you know, brothers- for I am speaking to those who understand <i> Torah</i>- that the <i>Torah </i>has authority over a person only so long as he lives?


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For example, a married woman is bound by <i>Torah </i>to her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is released from the part of the <i>Torah </i>that deals with husbands.


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Therefore, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from that part of the <i>Torah</i>; so that if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.


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Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the <i>Torah </i>through the Messiah's body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God.


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For when we were living according to our old nature, the passions connected with sins worked through the <i>Torah </i>in our various parts, with the result that we bore fruit for death.


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But now we have been released from this aspect of the <i>Torah</i>, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.


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Therefore, what are we to say? That the <i>Torah </i>is sinful? Heaven forbid! Rather, the function of the <i>Torah </i>was that without it, I would not have known what sin is. For example, I would not have become conscious of what greed is if the <i>Torah </i>had not said, "Thou shalt not covet."


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But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of evil desires- for apart from <i>Torah</i>, sin is dead.


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I was once alive outside the framework of <i>Torah</i>. But when the commandment really encountered me, sin sprang to life,


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For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me; and through the commandment, sin killed me.


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Then did something good become for me the source of death? Heaven forbid! Rather, it was sin working death in me through something good, so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin, so that sin through the commandment might come to be experienced as sinful beyond measure.


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For we know that the <i>Torah </i>is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave.


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I don't understand my own behavior- I don't do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate!


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For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me- that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can't do it!


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But if I am doing what "the real me" doesn't want, it is no longer "the real me" doing it but the sin housed inside me.


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So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse "<i>torah</i>," that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me!


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but in my various parts, I see a different "<i>torah</i>," one that battles with the <i> Torah </i>in my mind and makes me a prisoner of sin's "<i>torah</i>," which is operating in my various parts.


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Thanks be to God [, he will]!- through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord! To sum up: with my mind, I am a slave of God's <i>Torah</i>; but with my old nature, I am a slave of sin's "<i>Torah</i>."


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Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua.


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Why? Because the <i>Torah </i>of the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua, has set me free from the "<i>Torah</i>" of sin and death.


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For what the <i>Torah </i>could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature,


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so that the just requirement of the <i>Torah </i>might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants.


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For those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.


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Having one's mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one's mind controlled by the Spirit is life and <i>shalom</i>.


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For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God's <i>Torah</i>- indeed, it cannot.


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But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit- provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn't have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn't belong to him.


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However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous.


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And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.


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So then, brothers, we don't owe a thing to our old nature that would require us to live according to our old nature.


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For if you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die; but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.


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For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit, who makes us sons and by whose power we cry out, "<i>Abba!</i>" (that is, "Dear Father!").


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and if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Messiah- provided we are suffering with him in order also to be glorified with him.


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I don't think the sufferings we are going through now are even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us in the future.


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for the creation was made subject to frustration- not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it. But it was given a reliable hope


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that it too would be set free from its bondage to decay and would enjoy the freedom accompanying the glory that God's children will have.


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and not only it, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we continue waiting eagerly to be made sons- that is, to have our whole bodies redeemed and set free.


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It was in this hope that we were saved. But if we see what we hope for, it isn't hope- after all, who hopes for what he already sees?


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But if we continue hoping for something we don't see, then we still wait eagerly for it, with perseverance.


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Similarly, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don't know how to pray the way we should. But the Spirit himself pleads on our behalf with groanings too deep for words;


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and the one who searches hearts knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking, because his pleadings for God's people accord with God's will.


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Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose;


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because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;


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and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified!


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He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all- is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too?


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So who will bring a charge against God's chosen people? Certainly not God- he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous!


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Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and- more than that- has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf!


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Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War?


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As the <i> Tanakh </i>puts it, "For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered."


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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming,


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neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.


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I am speaking the truth- as one who belongs to the Messiah, I do not lie; and also bearing witness is my conscience, governed by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>:


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that I could wish myself actually under God's curse and separated from the Messiah, if it would help my brothers, my own flesh and blood,


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the people of Isra'el! They were made God's children, the <i>Sh'khinah </i>has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the <i>Torah</i>, the Temple service and the promises;


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the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praised be <i>ADONAI </i>for ever! <i>Amen</i>.


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But the present condition of Isra'el does not mean that the Word of God has failed. For not everyone from Isra'el is truly part of Isra'el;


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indeed, not all the descendants are seed of Avraham; rather, "What is to be called your 'seed' will be in Yitz'chak."


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In other words, it is not the physical children who are children of God, but the children the promise refers to who are considered seed.


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And even more to the point is the case of Rivkah; for both her children were conceived in a single act with Yitz'chak, our father;


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and before they were born, before they had done anything at all, either good or bad (so that God's plan might remain a matter of his sovereign choice, not dependent on what they did, but on God, who does the calling),


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For the <i> Tanakh </i>says to Pharaoh, "It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world."


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But you will say to me, "Then why does he still find fault with us? After all, who resists his will?"


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Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me this way?"


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Or has the potter no right to make from a given lump of clay this pot for honorable use and that one for dishonorable?


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Now what if God, even though he was quite willing to demonstrate his anger and make known his power, patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction?


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What if he did this in order to make known the riches of his glory to those who are the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-


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As indeed he says in Hoshea, "Those who were not my people I will call my people; her who was not loved I will call loved;


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and in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called sons of the living God!"


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But Yesha'yahu, referring to Isra'el, cries out, "Even if the number of people in Isra'el is as large as the number of grains of sand by the sea, only a remnant will be saved.


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Also, as Yesha'yahu said earlier, "If <i>ADONAI</i>-<i>Tzva'ot </i>had not left us a seed, we would have become like S'dom, we would have resembled 'Amora."


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So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting!


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However, Isra'el, even though they kept pursuing a <i>Torah </i>that offers righteousness, did not reach what the <i>Torah </i>offers.


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Why? Because they did not pursue righteousness as being grounded in trusting but as if it were grounded in doing legalistic works. They stumbled over the stone that makes people stumble.


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As the <i> Tanakh </i>puts it, "Look, I am laying in Tziyon a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will trip them up. But he who rests his trust on it will not be humiliated."


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for, since they are unaware of God's way of making people righteous and instead seek to set up their own, they have not submitted themselves to God's way of making people righteous.


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For the goal at which the <i>Torah </i>aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts.


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For Moshe writes about the righteousness grounded in the <i>Torah </i>that the person who does these things will attain life through them.


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Moreover, the righteousness grounded in trusting says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend to heaven?'"- that is, to bring the Messiah down-


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What, then, does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." <i>- </i> that is, the word about trust which we proclaim, namely,


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that if you acknowledge publicly with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be delivered.


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For with the heart one goes on trusting and thus continues toward righteousness, while with the mouth one keeps on making public acknowledgement and thus continues toward deliverance.


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That means that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile <i>- ADONAI is </i>the same for everyone, rich toward everyone who calls on him,


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But how can they call on someone if they haven't trusted in him? And how can they trust in someone if they haven't heard about him? And how can they hear about someone if no one is proclaiming him?


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And how can people proclaim him unless God sends them?- as the <i>Tanakh </i>puts it, "How beautiful are the feet of those announcing good news about good things!"


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The problem is that they haven't all paid attention to the Good News and obeyed it. For Yesha'yahu says, "<i>ADONAI</i>, who has trusted what he has heard from us?"


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So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah.


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"But, I say, isn't it rather that they didn't hear?" No, they did hear- "Their voice has gone out throughout the whole world and their words to the ends of the earth."


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"But, I say, isn't it rather that Isra'el didn't understand?" "I will provoke you to jealousy over a non-nation, over a nation void of understanding I will make you angry."


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Moreover, Yesha'yahu boldly says, "I was found by those who were not looking for me, I became known to those who did not ask for me";


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but to Isra'el he says, "All day long I held out my hands to a people who kept disobeying and contradicting."


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"In that case, I say, isn't it that God has repudiated his people?" Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra'el, from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Binyamin.


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God has not repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance. Or don't you know what the <i> Tanakh </i>says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra'el,


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"<i>ADONAI</i>, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I'm the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!"


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But what is God's answer to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba'al."


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(Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.)


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What follows is that Isra'el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike,


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just as the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "God has given them a spirit of dullness- eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day."


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And David says, "Let their dining table become for them a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.


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"In that case, I say, isn't it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?" Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.


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Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world- that is, if Isra'el's being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter- how much greater riches will Isra'el in its fullness bring them!


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However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work


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For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!


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Now if the <i>hallah </i>offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.


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But if some of the branches were broken off, and you- a wild olive- were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,


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then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.


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True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!


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So take a good look at God's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God's kindness toward you- provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off!


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Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in.


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For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!


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For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness;


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and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya'akov


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With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs' sake,


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Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra'el's disobedience;


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so also Isra'el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God's mercy.


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O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments! How unsearchable are his ways!


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I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical "Temple worship" for you.


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In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the <i>'olam hazeh</i>. Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.


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For I am telling every single one of you, through the grace that has been given to me, not to have exaggerated ideas about your own importance. Instead, develop a sober estimate of yourself based on the standard which God has given to each of you, namely, trust.


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For just as there are many parts that compose one body, but the parts don't all have the same function;


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so there are many of us, and in union with the Messiah we comprise one body, with each of us belonging to the others.


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But we have gifts that differ and which are meant to be used according to the grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, use it to the extent of your trust;


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if you are a counselor, use your gift to comfort and exhort; if you are someone who gives, do it simply and generously; if you are in a position of leadership, lead with diligence and zeal; if you are one who does acts of mercy, do them cheerfully.


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Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect.


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Be sensitive to each other's needs- don't think yourselves better than others, but make humble people your friends. Don't be conceited.


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Never seek revenge, my friends; instead, leave that to God's anger; for in the <i>Tanakh </i>it is written, "<i>ADONAI </i>says, 'Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay.'"


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On the contrary, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing this, you will heap fiery coals [of shame] on his head."


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Everyone is to obey the governing authorities. For there is no authority that is not from God, and the existing authorities have been placed where they are by God.


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Therefore, whoever resists the authorities is resisting what God has instituted; and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.


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For rulers are no terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you like to be unafraid of the person in authority? Then simply do what is good, and you will win his approval;


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for he is God's servant, there for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid! Because it is not for nothing that he holds the power of the sword; for he is God's servant, there as an avenger to punish wrongdoers.


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This is also why you pay taxes; for the authorities are God's public officials, constantly attending to these duties.


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Pay everyone what he is owed: if you owe the tax-collector, pay your taxes; if you owe the revenue-collector, pay revenue; if you owe someone respect, pay him respect; if you owe someone honor, pay him honor.


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Don't owe anyone anything- except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow human being has fulfilled <i>Torah</i>.


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For the commandments, "Don't commit adultery," "Don't murder," "Don't steal," "Don't covet," and any others are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."


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Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust.


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The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light.


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Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime- not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarrelling and being jealous.


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Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; and don't waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature.


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One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables.


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The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him-


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who are you to pass judgment on someone else's servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.


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One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind.


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He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God.


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for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord-


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indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.


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You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God's judgment seat;


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since it is written in the <i>Tanakh</i>, "As I live, says <i>ADONAI</i>, every knee will bend before me, and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God."


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Therefore, let's stop passing judgment on each other! Instead, make this one judgment- not to put a stumbling block or a snare in a brother's way.


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I know- that is, I have been persuaded by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah- that nothing is unclean in itself. But if a person considers something unclean, then for him it is unclean;


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and if your brother is being upset by the food you eat, your life is no longer one of love. Do not, by your eating habits, destroy someone for whom the Messiah died!


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for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, <i>shalom </i>and joy in the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>.


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Anyone who serves the Messiah in this fashion both pleases God and wins the approval of other people.


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Don't tear down God's work for the sake of food. True enough, all things are clean; but it is wrong for anybody by his eating to cause someone to fall away.


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The belief you hold about such things, keep between yourself and God. Happy the person who is free of self-condemnation when he approves of something!


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But the doubter comes under condemnation if he eats, because his action is not based on trust. And anything not based on trust is a sin.


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So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves.


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For even the Messiah did not please himself; rather, as the <i>Tanakh </i>says, 'The insults of those insulting you fell on me.'


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For everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that with the encouragement of the <i>Tanakh </i>we might patiently hold on to our hope.


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And may God, the source of encouragement and patience, give you the same attitude among yourselves as the Messiah Yeshua had,


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so that with one accord and with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the Jewish people in order to show God's truthfulness by making good his promises to the Patriarchs,


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and in order to show his mercy by causing the Gentiles to glorify God- as it is written in the <i>Tanakh</i>, "Because of this I will acknowledge you among the Gentiles and sing praise to your name."


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And again, Yesha'yahu says, "The root of Yishai will come, he who arises to rule Gentiles; Gentiles will put their hope in him."


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May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and <i>shalom </i>as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>you may overflow with hope.


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Now I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and well able to counsel each other.


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But on some points I have written you quite boldly by way of reminding you about them, because of the grace God has given me


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to be a servant of the Messiah Yeshua for the Gentiles, with the priestly duty of presenting the Good News of God, so that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, made holy by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>.


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for I will not dare speak of anything except what the Messiah has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by my words and deeds,


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through the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Yerushalayim all the way to Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the Good News of the Messiah.


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I have always made it my ambition to proclaim the Good News where the Messiah was not yet known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation,


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but rather, as the <i>Tanakh </i>puts it, "Those who have not been told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."


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But now, since there is no longer a place in these regions that needs me, and since I have wanted for many years to come to you,


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I hope to see you as I pass through on my way to Spain, and to have you help me travel there after I have enjoyed your company awhile.


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For Macedonia and Achaia thought it would be good to make some contribution to the poor among God's people in Yerushalayim.


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They were pleased to do it, but the fact is that they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared with the Jews in spiritual matters, then the Gentiles clearly have a duty to help the Jews in material matters.


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So when I have finished this task and made certain that they have received this fruit, I will leave for Spain and visit you on my way there;


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And now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God on my behalf


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that I will be rescued from the unbelievers in Y'hudah, and that my service for Yerushalayim will be acceptable to God's people there.


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so that you may welcome her in the Lord, as God's people should, and give her whatever assistance she may need from you; for she has been a big help to many people- including myself.


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They risked their necks to save my life; not only I thank them, but also all the Messianic communities among the Gentiles.


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And give my greetings to the congregation that meets in their house. Give my greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus, who was the first person in the province of Asia to put his trust in the Messiah.


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Greetings to Andronicus and Junia, relatives of mine who were in prison with me. They are well known among the emissaries; also they came to trust in the Messiah before I did.


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Greetings to Appeles, whose trust in the Messiah has been tested and proved. Greet those in the household of Aristobulus.


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Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who are working hard for the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has done a lot of hard work for the Lord.


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Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all of God's people who are with them.


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I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put snares alongside the teaching in which you have been trained- keep away from them.


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For men like these are not serving our Lord the Messiah but their own belly; by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the innocent.


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For everyone has heard about your obedience; therefore I rejoice over you. However, I want you to be wise concerning good, but innocent concerning evil.


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And God, the source of <i>shalom</i>, will soon crush the Adversary under your feet. The grace of our Lord Yeshua be with you.


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My host Gaius, in whose home the whole congregation meets, greets you. Erastus the city treasurer and brother Quartus greet you.


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Now to God, who can strengthen you, according to my Good News, in harmony with the revelation of the secret truth which is the proclamation of Yeshua the Messiah, kept hidden in silence for ages and ages,


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but manifested now through prophetic writings, in keeping with the command of God the Eternal, and communicated to all the Gentiles to promote in them trust-grounded obedience-


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From: Sha'ul, called by God's will to be an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua; and from brother Sosthenes


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To: God's Messianic community in Corinth, consisting of those who have been set apart by Yeshua the Messiah and called to be God's holy people- along with everyone everywhere who calls on the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, their Lord as well as ours:


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I thank my God always for you because of God's love and kindness given to you through the Messiah Yeshua,


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in that you have been enriched by him in so many ways, particularly in power of speech and depth of knowledge.


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so that you are not lacking any spiritual gift and are eagerly awaiting the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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He will enable you to hold out until the end and thus be blameless on the Day of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah-


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God is trustworthy: it was he who called you into fellowship with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.


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Nevertheless, brothers, I call on you in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to agree, all of you, in what you say, and not to let yourselves remain split into factions but be restored to having a common mind and a common purpose.


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For some of Chloe's people have made it known to me, my brothers, that there are quarrels among you.


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I say this because one of you says, "I follow Sha'ul"; another says, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Kefa"; while still another says, "I follow the Messiah!"


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Has the Messiah been split in pieces? Was it Sha'ul who was put to death on a stake for you? Were you immersed into the name of Sha'ul?


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(Oh yes, I did also immerse Stephanas and his household; beyond that, I can't remember whether I immersed anyone else.)


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For the Messiah did not send me to immerse but to proclaim the Good News- and to do it without relying on "wisdom" that consists of mere rhetoric, so as not to rob the Messiah's execution-stake of its power.


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For the message about the execution-stake is nonsense to those in the process of being destroyed, but to us in the process of being saved it is the power of God.


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Indeed, the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent."


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Where does that leave the philosopher, the <i>Torah</i>-teacher, or any of today's thinkers? Hasn't God made this world's wisdom look pretty foolish?


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For God's wisdom ordained that the world, using its own wisdom, would not come to know him. Therefore God decided to use the "nonsense" of what we proclaim as his means of saving those who come to trust in it.


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we go on proclaiming a Messiah executed on a stake as a criminal! To Jews this is an obstacle, and to Greeks it is nonsense;


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but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this same Messiah is God's power and God's wisdom!


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For God's "nonsense" is wiser than humanity's "wisdom." And God's "weakness" is stronger than humanity's "strength."


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Just look at yourselves, brothers- look at those whom God has called! Not many of you are wise by the world's standards, not many wield power or boast noble birth.


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But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the strong;


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and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important;


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It is his doing that you are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and holiness and redemption as well!


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As for me, brothers, when I arrived among you, it was not with surpassing eloquence or wisdom that I came announcing to you the previously concealed truth about God;


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for I had decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Yeshua the Messiah, and even him only as someone who had been executed on a stake as a criminal.


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and neither the delivery nor the content of my message relied on compelling words of "wisdom" but on a demonstration of the power of the Spirit,


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Yet there is a wisdom that we are speaking to those who are mature enough for it. But it is not the wisdom of this world or of this world's leaders, who are in the process of passing away.


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On the contrary, we are communicating a secret wisdom from God which has been hidden until now but which, before history began, God had decreed would bring us glory.


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Not one of this world's leaders has understood it; because if they had, they would not have executed the Lord from whom this glory flows.


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But, as the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one's heart has imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love him."


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It is to us, however, that God has revealed these things. How? Through the Spirit. For the Spirit probes all things, even the profoundest depths of God.


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For who knows the inner workings of a person except the person's own spirit inside him? So too no one knows the inner workings of God except God's Spirit.


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Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, so that we might understand the things God has so freely given us.


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These are the things we are talking about when we avoid the manner of speaking that human wisdom would dictate and instead use a manner of speaking taught by the Spirit, by which we explain things of the Spirit to people who have the Spirit.


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Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God- to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit.


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But the person who has the Spirit can evaluate everything, while no one is in a position to evaluate him.


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For who has known the mind of <i>ADONAI</i>? Who will counsel him? But we have the mind of the Messiah!


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As for me, brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as babies, so far as experience with the Messiah is concerned.


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I gave you milk, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. But you aren't ready for it now either!


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For you are still worldly! Isn't it obvious from all the jealousy and quarrelling among you that you are worldly and living by merely human standards?


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For when one says, "I follow Sha'ul" and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you being merely human?


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After all, what is Apollos? What is Sha'ul? Only servants through whom you came to trust. Indeed, it was the Lord who brought you to trust through one of us or through another.


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Using the grace God gave me, I laid a foundation, like a skilled master-builder; and another man is building on it. But let each one be careful how he builds.


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Some will use gold, silver or precious stones in building on this foundation; while others will use wood, grass or straw.


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But each one's work will be shown for what it is; the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire- the fire will test the quality of each one's work.


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if it is burned up, he will have to bear the loss: he will still escape with his life, but it will be like escaping through a fire.


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So if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are that temple.


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Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world's standards), let him become "foolish," so that he may become really wise.


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For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; inasmuch as the <i> Tanakh </i>says, "He traps the wise in their own cleverness,"


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whether Sha'ul or Apollos or Kefa or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they all belong to you,


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And it matters very little to me how I am evaluated by you or by any human court; in fact, I don't even evaluate myself.


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I am not aware of anything against me, but this does not make me innocent. The one who is evaluating me is the Lord.


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So don't pronounce judgment prematurely, before the Lord comes; for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness; he will expose the motives of people's hearts; and then each will receive from God whatever praise he deserves.


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Now in what I have said here, brothers, I have used myself and Apollos as examples to teach you not to go beyond what the <i>Tanakh </i>says, proudly taking the side of one leader against another.


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After all, what makes you so special? What do you have that you didn't receive as a gift? And if in fact it was a gift, why do you boast as if it weren't?


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You are glutted already? You are rich already? You have become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we might share the kingship with you!


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For I think God has been placing us emissaries on display at the tail of the parade, like men condemned to die in the public arena: we have become a spectacle before the whole universe, angels as well as men.


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For the Messiah's sake we are fools, but united with the Messiah you are wise! We are weak, but you are strong; you are honored, but we are dishonored.


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Till this very moment we go hungry and thirsty, we are dressed in rags, we are treated roughly, we wander from place to place,


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we exhaust ourselves working with our own hands for our living. When we are cursed, we keep on blessing; when we are persecuted, we go on putting up with it;


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when we are slandered, we continue making our appeal. We are the world's garbage, the scum of the earth- yes, to this moment!


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I am not writing you this to make you feel ashamed, but, as my dear children, to confront you and get you to change.


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For even if you have ten thousand trainers in connection with the Messiah, you do not have many fathers; for in connection with the Messiah Yeshua it was I who became your father by means of the Good News.


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This is why I have sent you Timothy, my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord. He will remind you of the way of life I follow in union with the Messiah Yeshua and teach everywhere in every congregation.


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But I am coming to you soon, if the Lord wills; and I will take cognizance not of the talk of these arrogant people but of their power.


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It is actually being reported that there is sexual sin among you, and it is sexual sin of a kind that is condemned even by pagans- a man is living with his stepmother!


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And you stay proud? Shouldn't you rather have felt some sadness that would have led you to remove from your company the man who has done this thing?


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For I myself, even though I am absent physically, am with you spiritually; and I have already judged the man who has done this as if I were present.


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In the name of the Lord Yeshua, when you are assembled, with me present spiritually and the power of our Lord Yeshua among us,


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hand over such a person to the Adversary for his old nature to be destroyed, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.


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Your boasting is not good. Don't you know the saying, "It takes only a little <i> hametz </i>to leaven a whole batch of dough?"


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Get rid of the old <i>hametz</i>, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our <i>Pesach </i>lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed.


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So let us celebrate the <i>Seder </i>not with leftover <i>hametz</i>, the <i>hametz </i>of wickedness and evil, but with the <i>matzah </i>of purity and truth.


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I didn't mean the sexually immoral people outside your community, or the greedy, or the thieves or the idol-worshippers- for then you would have to leave the world altogether!


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No, what I wrote you was not to associate with anyone who is supposedly a brother but who also engages in sexual immorality, is greedy, worships idols, is abusive, gets drunk or steals. With such a person you shouldn't even eat!


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For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Isn't it those who are part of the community that you should be judging?


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How dare one of you with a complaint against another go to court before pagan judges and not before God's people?


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Don't you know that God's people are going to judge the universe? If you are going to judge the universe, are you incompetent to judge these minor matters?


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So if you require judgments about matters of everyday life, why do you put them in front of men who have no standing in the Messianic Community?


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I say, shame on you! Can it be that there isn't one person among you wise enough to be able to settle a dispute between brothers?


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Actually, if you are bringing lawsuits against each other, it is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?


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Don't you know that unrighteous people will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don't delude yourselves- people who engage in sex before marriage, who worship idols, who engage in sex after marriage with someone other than their spouse, who engage in active or passive homosexuality,


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who steal, who are greedy, who get drunk, who assail people with contemptuous language, who rob- none of them will share in the Kingdom of God.


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Some of you used to do these things. But you have cleansed yourselves, you have been set apart for God, you have come to be counted righteous through the power of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the Spirit of our God.


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You say, "For me, everything is permitted"? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. "For me, everything is permitted"? Maybe, but as far as I am concerned, I am not going to let anything gain control over me.


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"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"? Maybe, but God will put an end to both of them. Anyhow, the body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.


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Don't you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid!


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Don't you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "The two will become one flesh";


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Run from sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body.


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Or don't you know that your body is a temple for the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>who lives inside you, whom you received from God? The fact is, you don't belong to yourselves;


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Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.


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The husband should give his wife what she is entitled to in the marriage relationship, and the wife should do the same for her husband.


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The wife is not in charge of her own body, but her husband is; likewise, the husband is not in charge of his own body, but his wife is.


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Do not deprive each other, except for a limited time, by mutual agreement, and then only so as to have extra time for prayer; but afterwards, come together again. Otherwise, because of your lack of self-control, you may succumb to the Adversary's temptation.


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but if they can't exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.


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To those who are married I have a command, and it is not from me but from the Lord: a woman is not to separate herself from her husband


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But if she does separate herself, she is to remain single or be reconciled with her husband. Also, a husband is not to leave his wife.


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To the rest I say- I, not the Lord: if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she is satisfied to go on living with him, he should not leave her.


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Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is satisfied to go on living with her, she is not to leave him.


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For the unbelieving husband has been set aside for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set aside for God by the brother- otherwise your children would be "unclean," but as it is, they are set aside for God.


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But if the unbelieving spouse separates himself, let him be separated. In circumstances like these, the brother or sister is not enslaved- God has called you to a life of peace.


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


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Only let each person live the life the Lord has assigned him and live it in the condition he was in when God called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations.


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Was someone already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not try to remove the marks of his circumcision. Was someone uncircumcised when he was called? He shouldn't undergo <i>b'rit-milah</i>.


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Being circumcised means nothing, and being uncircumcised means nothing; what does mean something is keeping God's commandments.


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Were you a slave when you were called? Well, don't let it bother you; although if you can gain your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity.


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For a person who was a slave when he was called is the Lord's freedman; likewise, someone who was a free man when he was called is a slave of the Messiah.


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Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is worthy to be trusted.


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That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife.


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But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you.


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What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left: from now on a man with a wife should live as if he had none-


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and those who deal in worldly affairs as if not engrossed in them- because the present scheme of things in this world won't last much longer.


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What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord's affairs,


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with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world's affairs, with how to please his wife;


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and he finds himself split. Likewise the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord's affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world's affairs, with how to please her husband.


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I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you- I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion.


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Now if a man thinks he is behaving dishonorably by treating his fiancГ©e this way, and if there is strong sexual desire, so that marriage is what ought to happen; then let him do what he wants- he is not sinning: let them get married.


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But if a man has firmly made up his mind, being under no compulsion but having complete control over his will, if he has decided within himself to keep his fiancГ©e a virgin, he will be doing well.


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A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer in the Lord.


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However, in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains unmarried, and in saying this I think I have God's Spirit.


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Now about food sacrificed to idols: we know that, as you say, "We all have knowledge." Yes, that is so, but "knowledge" puffs a person up with pride; whereas love builds up.


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So, as for eating food sacrificed to idols, we "know" that, as you say, "An idol has no real existence in the world, and there is only one God."


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For even if there are so-called "gods," either in heaven or on earth- as in fact there are "gods" and "lords" galore-


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yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being.


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But not everyone has this knowledge. Moreover, some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat food which has been sacrificed to them, they think of it as really affected by the idol; and their consciences, being weak, are thus defiled.


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Now food will not improve our relationship with God- we will be neither poorer if we abstain nor richer if we eat.


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You have this "knowledge"; but suppose someone with a weak conscience sees you sitting, eating a meal in the temple of an idol. Won't he be built up wrongly to eat this food which has been sacrificed to idols?


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and so, when you sin against the brothers by wounding their conscience when it is weak, you are sinning against the Messiah!


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To sum up, if food will be a snare for my brother, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to sin.


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Am I not a free man? Am I not an emissary of the Messiah? Haven't I seen Yeshua our Lord? And aren't you yourselves the result of my work for the Lord?


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Even if to others I am not an emissary, at least I am to you; for you are living proof that I am the Lord's emissary.


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Don't we have the right to take along with us a believing wife, as do the other emissaries, also the Lord's brothers and Kefa?


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Did you ever hear of a soldier paying his own expenses? or of a farmer planting a vineyard without eating its grapes? Who shepherds a flock without drinking some of the milk?


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What I am saying is not based merely on human authority, because the <i>Torah </i>says the same thing-


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for in the <i>Torah </i>of Moshe it is written, "You are not to put a muzzle on an ox when it is treading out the grain." If God is concerned about cattle,


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all the more does he say this for our sakes. Yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop.


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If others are sharing in this right to be supported by you, don't we have a greater claim to it? But we don't make use of this right. Rather, we put up with all kinds of things so as not to impede in any way the Good News about the Messiah.


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Don't you know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrifices offered there?


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In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the Good News should get their living from the Good News.


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But I have not made use of any of these rights. Nor am I writing now to secure them for myself, for I would rather die than be deprived of my ground for boasting!


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For I can't boast merely because I proclaim the Good News- this I do from inner compulsion: woe is me if I don't proclaim the Good News!


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For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it unwillingly, I still do it, simply because I've been entrusted with a job.


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So then, what is my reward? Just this: that in proclaiming the Good News I can make it available free of charge, without making use of the rights to which it entitles me.


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For although I am a free man, not bound to do anyone's bidding, I have made myself a slave to all in order to win as many people as possible.


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That is, with Jews, what I did was put myself in the position of a Jew, in order to win Jews. With people in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the <i>Torah</i>, I put myself in the position of someone under such legalism, in order to win those under this legalism, even though I myself am not in subjection to a legalistic perversion of the <i>Torah</i>.


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With those who live outside the framework of <i>Torah</i>, I put myself in the position of someone outside the <i>Torah </i>in order to win those outside the <i>Torah</i>- although I myself am not outside the framework of God's <i>Torah </i>but within the framework of <i>Torah </i>as upheld by the Messiah.


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With the "weak" I became "weak," in order to win the "weak." With all kinds of people I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them.


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But I do it all because of the rewards promised by the Good News, so that I may share in them along with the others who come to trust.


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Don't you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one wins the prize? So then, run to win!


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Now every athlete in training submits himself to strict discipline, and he does it just to win a laurel wreath that will soon wither away. But we do it to win a crown that will last forever.


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Accordingly, I don't run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don't shadow-box but try to make every punch count.


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I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that, after proclaiming the Good News to others, I myself will not be disqualified.


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For, brothers, I don't want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers. All of them were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they all passed through the sea,


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and they all drank the same drink from the Spirit- for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah.


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Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did.


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Don't be idolaters, as some of them were- as the <i>Tanakh </i>puts it, "The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry."


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And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day.


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These things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the <i>acharit-hayamim</i>.


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No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.


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The "cup of blessing" over which we make the <i>b'rakhah</i>- isn't it a sharing in the bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah? The bread we break, isn't it a sharing in the body of the Messiah?


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Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many constitute one body, since we all partake of the one loaf of bread.


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So, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols has any significance in itself? or that an idol has significance in itself?


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No, what I am saying is that the things which pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice not to God but to demons; and I don't want you to become sharers of the demons!


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You can't drink both a cup of the Lord and a cup of demons, you can't partake in both a meal of the Lord and a meal of demons.


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"Everything is permitted," you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. "Everything is permitted?" Maybe, but not everything is edifying.


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If some unbeliever invites you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put in front of you without raising questions of conscience.


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But if someone says to you, "This meat was offered as a sacrifice," then don't eat it, out of consideration for the person who pointed it out and also for conscience's sake-


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however, I don't mean your conscience but that of the other person. You say, "Why should my freedom be determined by someone else's conscience?


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If I participate with thankfulness, why am I criticized over something for which I myself bless God?"


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Well, whatever you do, whether it's eating or drinking or anything else, do it all so as to bring glory to God.


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Do not be an obstacle to anyone- not to Jews, not to Gentiles, and not to God's Messianic Community.


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Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not looking out for my own interests but for those of the many, so that they may be saved;


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Now I praise you because you have remembered everything I told you and observe the traditions just the way I passed them on to you.


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But I want you to understand that the head of every man is the Messiah, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Messiah is God.


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but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame to her head- there is no difference between her and a woman who has had her head shaved.


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For if a woman is not veiled, let her also have her hair cut short; but if it is shameful for a woman to wear her hair cut short or to have her head shaved, then let her be veiled.


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For a man indeed should not have his head veiled, because he is the image and glory of God, and the woman is the glory of man.


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The reason a woman should show by veiling her head that she is under authority has to do with the angels.


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Nevertheless, in union with the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor is man independent of woman;


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for as the woman was made from the man, so also the man is now born through the woman. But everything is from God.


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But a woman who wears her hair long enhances her appearance, because her hair has been given to her as a covering.


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However, if anyone wants to argue about it, the fact remains that we have no such custom, nor do the Messianic communities of God.


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But in giving you this next instruction I do not praise you, because when you meet together it does more harm than good!


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For, in the first place, I hear that when you gather together as a congregation you divide up into cliques; and to a degree I believe it


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(granted that there must be some divisions among you in order to show who are the ones in the right).


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because as you eat your meal, each one goes ahead on his own; so that one stays hungry while another is already drunk!


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Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or are you trying to show your contempt for God's Messianic community and embarrass those who are poor? What am I supposed to say to you? Am I supposed to praise you? Well, for this I don't praise you!


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For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you- that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread;


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and after he had made the <i>b'rakhah </i>he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me";


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likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me."


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For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.


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Therefore, whoever eats the Lord's bread or drinks the Lord's cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord!


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for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.


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But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned along with the world.


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If someone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it will not result in judgment. As for the other matters, I will instruct you about them when I come.


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You know that when you were pagans, no matter how you felt you were being led, you were being led astray to idols, which can't speak at all.


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Therefore, I want to make it clear to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Yeshua is cursed!" and no one can say, "Yeshua is Lord," except by the <i> Ruach HaKodesh</i>.


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Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good.


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To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit;


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to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues.


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For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body; so it is with the Messiah.


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For it was by one Spirit that we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.


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If the foot says, "I'm not a hand, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body.


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And if the ear says, "I'm not an eye, so I'm not part of the body," that doesn't make it stop being part of the body.


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On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be less important turn out to be all the more necessary;


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and upon body parts which we consider less dignified we bestow greater dignity; and the parts that aren't attractive are the ones we make as attractive as we can,


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while our attractive parts have no need for such treatment. Indeed, God has put the body together in such a way that he gives greater dignity to the parts that lack it,


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So that there will be no disagreements within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others.


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Thus if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its happiness.


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And God has placed in the Messianic Community first, emissaries; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those who work miracles; then those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help; those skilled in administration; and those who speak in various tongues.


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I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels; but if I lack love, I have become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging.


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I may have the gift of prophecy, I may fathom all mysteries, know all things, have all faith- enough to move mountains; but if I lack love, I am nothing.


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I may give away everything that I own, I may even hand over my body to be burned; but if I lack love, I gain nothing.


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When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, argued like a child; now that I have become a man, I have finished with childish ways.


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For now we see obscurely in a mirror, but then it will be face to face. Now I know partly; then I will know fully, just as God has fully known me.


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Pursue love! However, keep on eagerly seeking the things of the Spirit; and especially seek to be able to prophesy.


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For someone speaking in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God, because no one can understand, since he is uttering mysteries in the power of the Spirit.


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A person speaking in a tongue does edify himself, but a person prophesying edifies the congregation.


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I wish you would all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you would all prophesy. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless someone gives an interpretation, so that the congregation can be edified.


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Brothers, suppose I come to you now speaking in tongues. How can I be of benefit to you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?


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Even with lifeless musical instruments, such as a flute or a harp, how will anyone recognize the melody if one note can't be distinguished from another?


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It's the same with you: how will anyone know what you are saying unless you use your tongue to produce intelligible speech? You will be talking to the air!


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but if I don't know what a person's sounds mean, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.


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Likewise with you: since you eagerly seek the things of the Spirit, seek especially what will help in edifying the congregation.


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So, what about it? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.


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Otherwise, if you are giving thanks with your spirit, how will someone who has not yet received much instruction be able to say, "<i>Amen,</i>" when you have finished giving thanks, since he doesn't know what you are saying?


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but in a congregation meeting I would rather say five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue!


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Brothers, don't be children in your thinking. In evil, be like infants; but in your thinking, be grown-up.


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In the <i> Torah </i>it is written, "By other tongues, by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people. But even then they will not listen to me," says <i>ADONAI</i>.


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Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.


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So if the whole congregation comes together with everybody speaking in tongues, and uninstructed people or unbelievers come in, won't they say you're crazy?


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But if you all prophesy, and some unbeliever or uninstructed person enters, he is convicted of sin by all, he is brought under judgment by all,


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and the secrets of his heart are laid bare; so he falls on his face and worships God, saying, "God is really here among you!"


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What is our conclusion, brothers? Whenever you come together, let everyone be ready with a psalm or a teaching or a revelation, or ready to use his gift of tongues or give an interpretation; but let everything be for edification.


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If the gift of tongues is exercised, let it be by two or at most three, and each in turn; and let someone interpret.


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And if there is no one present who can interpret, let the people who speak in tongues keep silent when the congregation meets- they can speak to themselves and to God.


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For you can all prophesy one by one, with the result that all will learn something and all will be encouraged.


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for God is not a God of unruliness but of <i>shalom</i>. As in all the congregations of God's people,


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let the wives remain silent when the congregation meets; they are certainly not permitted to speak out. Rather, let them remain subordinate, as also the <i> Torah </i>says;


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and if there is something they want to know, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for a woman to speak out in a congregational meeting.


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If anyone thinks he is a prophet or is endowed with the Spirit, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is a command of the Lord.


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Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have taken your stand,


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and by which you are being saved- provided you keep holding fast to the message I proclaimed to you. For if you don't, your trust will have been in vain.


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For among the first things I passed on to you was what I also received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in accordance with what the <i>Tanakh </i>says;


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and he was buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with what the <i> Tanakh </i>says;


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and afterwards he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, though some have died.


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For I am the least of all the emissaries, unfit to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the Messianic Community of God.


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But by God's grace I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain; on the contrary, I have worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me.


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But if it has been proclaimed that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you are saying there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?


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and if the Messiah has not been raised, then what we have proclaimed is in vain; also your trust is in vain;


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furthermore, we are shown up as false witnesses for God in having testified that God raised up the Messiah, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.


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If it is only for this life that we have put our hope in the Messiah, we are more pitiable than anyone.


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But the fact is that the Messiah <i>has </i>been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died.


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For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive.


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But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming;


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then the culmination, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after having put an end to every rulership, yes, to every authority and power.


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for "He put everything in subjection under his feet." But when it says that "everything" has been subjected, obviously the word does not include God, who is himself the one subjecting everything to the Messiah.


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Now when everything has been subjected to the Son, then he will subject himself to God, who subjected everything to him; so that God may be everything in everyone.


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Were it otherwise, what would the people accomplish who are immersed on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not actually raised, why are people immersed for them?


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Brothers, by the right to be proud which the Messiah Yeshua our Lord gives me, I solemnly tell you that I die every day.


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If my fighting with "wild beasts" in Ephesus was done merely on a human basis, what do I gain by it? If dead people are not raised, we might as well live by the saying, "Let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"


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Come to your senses! Live righteously and stop sinning! There are some people who lack knowledge of God- I say this to your shame.


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Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds and another for fish.


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Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else.


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The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.


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So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is "sown," it decays; when it is raised, it cannot decay.


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When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it will be strong.


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When sown, it is an ordinary human body; when raised, it will be a body controlled by the Spirit. If there is an ordinary human body, there is also a body controlled by the Spirit.


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In fact, the <i>Tanakh </i>says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being; but the last "Adam" has become a life-giving Spirit.


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Note, however, that the body from the Spirit did not come first, but the ordinary human one; the one from the Spirit comes afterwards.


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People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven;


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and just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also we will bear the image of the man from heaven.


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Let me say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, nor can something that decays share in what does not decay.


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It will take but a moment, the blink of an eye, at the final <i>shofar</i>. For the <i> shofar </i>will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever, and we too will be changed.


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For this material which can decay must be clothed with imperishability, this which is mortal must be clothed with immortality.


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When what decays puts on imperishability and what is mortal puts on immortality, then this passage in the <i>Tanakh </i>will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory.


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So, my dear brothers, stand firm and immovable, always doing the Lord's work as vigorously as you can, knowing that united with the Lord your efforts are not in vain.


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Now, in regard to the collection being made for God's people: you are to do the same as I directed the congregations in Galatia to do.


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Every week, on <i>Motza'ei-Shabbat</i>, each of you should set some money aside, according to his resources, and save it up; so that when I come I won't have to do fundraising.


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And when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the people you have approved, and I will send them to carry your gift to Yerushalayim.


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and I may stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me continue my travels wherever I may go.


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For I don't want to see you now, when I am only passing through; because I am hoping to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows it.


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If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to be afraid of while he is with you; for he is doing the Lord's work, just as I am.


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So let no one treat him with disrespect. Help him on his way in peace, so that he will return to me, for the brothers and I are expecting him.


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As for brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to go and visit you along with the other brothers; and although it was not at all his desire to come at this time, he will come when he has the opportunity.


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Now, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first people in Achaia to put their trust in the Messiah, and they have devoted themselves to serving God's people.


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I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus are here, because they have helped make up for your not being here.


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They have refreshed my spirit, just as they have yours. I want you to show appreciation for people like these.


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The congregations in the province of Asia send greetings to you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in union with the Lord, as does the congregation that meets in their house.


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From: Sha'ul, by God's will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy To: God's Messianic community in Corinth, along with all God's people throughout Achaia:


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Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, compassionate Father, God of all encouragement and comfort;


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who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from God.


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For just as the Messiah's sufferings overflow into us, so through the Messiah our encouragement also overflows.


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So if we undergo trials, it is for your encouragement and deliverance; and if we are encouraged, that should encourage you when you have to endure sufferings like those we are experiencing.


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Moreover, our hope for you remains staunch, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you will also share in the encouragement.


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For, brothers, we want you to know about the trials we have undergone in the province of Asia. The burden laid on us was so far beyond what we could bear that we even despaired of living through it.


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In our hearts we felt we were under sentence of death. However, this was to get us to rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead!


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He rescued us from such deadly peril, and he will rescue us again! The one in whom we have placed our hope will indeed continue to rescue us.


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And you must add your help by praying for us; for the more people there are praying, the more people there will be to give thanks when their prayer for us is answered.


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For we take pride in this: that our conscience assures us that in our dealings with the world, and especially with you, we have conducted ourselves with frankness and godly pureness of motive- not by worldly wisdom but by God-given grace.


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There are no hidden meanings in our letters other than what you can read and understand; and my hope is that you will understand fully,


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as indeed you have already understood us in part; so that on the Day of our Lord Yeshua you can be as proud of us as we are of you.


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So sure was I of this that I had planned to come and see you, so that you might have the benefit of a second visit.


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I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, visit you again on my way back from Macedonia, and then have you send me on my way to Y'hudah.


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Did I make these plans lightly? Or do I make plans the way a worldly man does, ready to say, "Yes, yes," and "No, no," in the same breath?


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For the Son of God, the Messiah Yeshua, who was proclaimed among you through us- that is, through me and Sila and Timothy- was not a yes-and-no man; on the contrary, with him it is always "Yes!"


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For however many promises God has made, they all find their "Yes" in connection with him; that is why it is through him that we say the "<i>Amen</i>" when we give glory to God.


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I call God to witness- he knows what my life is like- that the reason I held back from coming to Corinth was out of consideration for you!


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We are not trying to dictate how you must live out your trust in the Messiah, for in your trust you are standing firm. Rather, we are working with you for your own happiness.


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Indeed, this is why I wrote as I did- so that when I came, I would not have to be pained by those who ought to be making me happy; for I had enough confidence in all of you to believe that unless I could be happy, none of you could be happy either.


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I wrote to you with a greatly distressed and anguished heart, and with many tears, not in order to cause you pain, but to get you to realize how very much I love you.


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Now if someone has been a cause of pain, it is not I whom he has pained, but, in some measure- I don't want to overstate it- all of you.


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so that now you should do the opposite- forgive him, encourage him, comfort him. Otherwise such a person might be swallowed up in overwhelming depression.


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Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For indeed, whatever I have forgiven, if there has been anything to forgive, has been for your sake in the presence of the Messiah


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Now when I went to Troas to proclaim the Good News of the Messiah, since a door had been opened for me by the Lord,


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I could not rest, because I failed to find my brother Titus. So I left the people there and went on to Macedonia.


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But thanks be to God, who in the Messiah constantly leads us in a triumphal procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of what it means to know him!


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For to God we are the aroma of the Messiah, both among those being saved and among those being lost;


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to the latter, we are the smell of death leading only to more death; but to the former, we are the sweet smell of life leading to more life. Who is equal to such a task?


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For we are not like a lot of folks who go about huckstering God's message for a fee; on the contrary, we speak out of a sincere heart, as people sent by God, standing in God's presence, living in union with the Messiah.


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Are we starting to recommend ourselves again? Or do we, like some, need letters of recommendation either to you or from you?


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You make it clear that you are a letter from the Messiah placed in our care, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on human hearts.


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It is not that we are competent in ourselves to count anything as having come from us; on the contrary, our competence is from God.


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He has even made us competent to be workers serving a New Covenant, the essence of which is not a written text but the Spirit. For the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.


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Now if that which worked death, by means of a written text engraved on stone tablets, came with glory- such glory that the people of Isra'el could not stand to look at Moshe's face because of its brightness, even though that brightness was already fading away-


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For if there was glory in what worked to declare people guilty, how much more must the glory abound in what works to declare people innocent!


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unlike Moshe, who put a veil over his face, so that the people of Isra'el would not see the fading brightness come to an end.


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What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away.


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Now, "<i>ADONAI</i>" in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of <i>ADONAI is</i>, there is freedom.


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So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by <i> ADONAI </i>the Spirit.


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Indeed, we refuse to make use of shameful underhanded methods, employing deception or distorting God's message. On the contrary, by making very clear what the truth is, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.


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They do not come to trust because the god of the <i>'olam hazeh </i>has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God.


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For what we are proclaiming is not ourselves, but the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, with ourselves as slaves for you because of Yeshua.


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For it is the God who once said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has made his light shine in our hearts, the light of the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of the Messiah Yeshua.


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But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it will be evident that such overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.


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We always carry in our bodies the dying of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may be manifested in our bodies too.


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For we who are alive are always being handed over to death for Yeshua's sake, so that Yeshua's life also might be manifested in our mortal bodies.


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The <i> Tanakh </i>says, "I trusted, therefore I spoke." Since we have that same Spirit who enables us to trust, we also trust and therefore speak;


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because we know that he who raised the Lord Yeshua will also raise us with Yeshua and bring us along with you into his presence.


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All this is for your sakes, so that as grace flows out to more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to overflow and bring glory to God.


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This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily.


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For our light and transient troubles are achieving for us an everlasting glory whose weight is beyond description.


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We concentrate not on what is seen but on what is not seen, since things seen are temporary, but things not seen are eternal.


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We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from God, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven.


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For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours.


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Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life.


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Moreover, it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit.


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So we are always confident- we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord;


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We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.


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for we must all appear before the Messiah's court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body.


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So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are.


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We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person's appearance rather than his inner qualities.


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For the Messiah's love has hold of us, because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind (which implies that all mankind was already dead),


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and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised.


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So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer.


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Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation- the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new!


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And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation,


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which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.


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Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, "Be reconciled to God!


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God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God's righteousness."


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On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities,


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We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh; </i>by genuineness of love


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and truthfulness of speech; and by God's power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it;


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unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God's workers headed for death, yet look! we're alive! as punished, yet not killed;


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as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!


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Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness?


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What harmony can there be between the Messiah and B'liya'al? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?


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What agreement can there be between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God- as God said, "I will house myself in them,... and I will walk among you. I will be their God, and they will be my people."


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Therefore <i>ADONAI </i>says, "'Go out from their midst; separate yourselves; don't even touch what is unclean. Then I myself will receive you.


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In fact, I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.' says <i> ADONAI-Tzva'ot.</i>"


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Therefore, my dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God.


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Make room for us in your hearts- we haven't wronged anyone, we haven't corrupted anyone, we haven't exploited anyone.


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I am not saying this to put blame on you, for I have already said that you have a place in our hearts, whether we live together or die together;


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that I am very confident in you; that I am very proud of you; that you have filled me with encouragement; and that in spite of all our troubles, I am overflowing with joy.


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For indeed when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. On the contrary, we faced all kinds of troubles- altercations without, apprehensions within.


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However, it was not only his arrival which encouraged us, but also how encouraged he was about you, as he told us how you long to see me, how distressed you are over my situation, how zealous you are in my defense- this news made me even happier!


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If I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it before- for I do see that that letter did distress you, though only for a short time-


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now I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God. For you handled the pain in God's way, so that you were not harmed by us at all.


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Pain handled in God's way produces a turning from sin to God which leads to salvation, and there is nothing to regret in that! But pain handled in the world's way produces only death.


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For just look at what handling the pain God's way produced in you! What earnest diligence, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to put things right! In everything you have proved yourselves blameless in the matter.


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So even though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of either the one who did the wrong or the one wronged, but so that before God you could see for yourselves how deep is your devotion to us.


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This is the reason we have been encouraged. Besides our own encouragement, we had the even greater joy of seeing how happy Titus was, because all of you set his mind at rest.


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For I had boasted somewhat about you to him, and now I have not been made to look foolish. On the contrary, just as everything we have said to you is true, so too our boasting in front of Titus has proved true.


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And his affection for you is all the greater as he remembers how ready you were to obey and how you received him with reverence and respect.


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Despite severe trials, and even though they are desperately poor, their joy has overflowed in a wealth of generosity.


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I tell you they have not merely given according to their means, but of their own free will they have given beyond their means.


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Also, they didn't do this in the way we had expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, which means, by God's will, to us.


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All this has led us to urge Titus to bring this same gracious gift to completion among you, since he has already made a beginning of it.


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Just as you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in diligence of every kind, and in your love for us- see that you excel in this gift too.


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I am not issuing an order; rather, I am testing the genuineness of your love against the diligence of others.


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For you know how generous our Lord Yeshua the Messiah was- for your sakes he impoverished himself, even though he was rich, so that he might make you rich by means of his poverty.


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As I say, in regard to this matter I am only giving an opinion. A year ago you were not only the first to take action but the first to want to do so. Now it would be to your advantage


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to finish what you started, so that your eagerness in wanting to commence the project may be matched by your eagerness to complete it, as you contribute from what you have.


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For if the eagerness to give is there, the acceptability of the gift will be measured by what you have, not by what you don't have.


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It is not that relief for others should cause trouble for you, but that there should be a kind of reciprocity:


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at present your abundance can help those in need; so that when you are in need, their abundance can help you- thus there is reciprocity.


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It is as the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "He who gathered much had nothing extra, and he who gathered little had nothing lacking."


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for he not only responded to our urging, but, being so devoted, he is coming to you on his own initiative.


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And with him we are sending the brother whose work for the Good News is praised in all the congregations;


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not only that, he has also been appointed by the congregations to travel with us, so that the way we administer this charitable work will bring honor to the Lord and show our eagerness to help.


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Our aim in this is to show that our conduct in dealing with these substantial sums is above reproach;


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for we take pains to do what is right not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people.


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With these two we are sending another brother of ours, one whose diligence we have tested many times in many ways, but who is now all the more diligent because of his great confidence in you.


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As for Titus, he is my partner who works with me on your behalf; and the other brothers with him are emissaries of the congregations and bring honor to the Messiah.


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So the love you show these men will justify our pride in you to them, and through them to the congregations that sent them.


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I know how eager you are, and I boast about you to the Macedonians. I tell them, "Achaia has been ready since last year," and it was your zeal that stirred up most of them.


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But now I am sending the brothers so that our boast about you in this regard will not prove hollow, so that you will be ready, as I said you would be.


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For if some Macedonians were to come with me and find you unprepared, we would be humiliated at having been so confident- to say nothing of how you would feel.


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So I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go on to you ahead of me and prepare your promised gift in plenty of time; this way it will be ready when I come and will be a genuine gift, not something extracted by pressure.


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Each should give according to what he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.


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Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause-


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He who provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your <i>tzedakah</i>.


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You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything. And through us your generosity will cause people to thank God,


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because rendering this holy service not only provides for the needs of God's people, but it also overflows in the many thanks people will be giving to God.


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In offering this service you prove to these people that you glorify God by actually doing what your acknowledgement of the Good News of the Messiah requires, namely, sharing generously with them and with everyone.


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And in their prayers for you they will feel a strong affection for you because of how gracious God has been to you.


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Now it is I myself, Sha'ul, making an appeal to you with the meekness and forbearance that come from the Messiah, I who am considered timid when face-to-face with you but intimidating from a distance.


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But I beg you not to force me to be intimidating when I am with you, as I expect to be toward some who regard us as living in a worldly way.


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because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God's power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments


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and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah.


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And when you have become completely obedient, then we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience.


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You are looking at the surface of things. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself that we belong to the Messiah as much as he does.


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For even if I boast a little too much about the authority the Lord has given us- authority to build you up, not tear you down- I am not ashamed.


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Someone says, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but when he appears in person he is weak, and as a speaker he is nothing."


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We don't dare class or compare ourselves with some of the people who advertise themselves. In measuring themselves against each other and comparing themselves with each other, they are simply stupid.


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We will not boast about what lies outside the area of work which God has given us; rather, we will boast within our assigned area, and that area does reach as far as you.


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We are not overextending our boasting as if we had not reached as far as you; for we did come all the way to you with the Good News of the Messiah.


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We do not boast about the area in which others labor; but our hope is that as your trust grows, we will be magnified in your midst in relation to our own area of work, so that we can go on to do even more,


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namely, to proclaim the Good News in regions beyond you. Our hope is not to boast about the work already done by someone else.


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because it is not the one who recommends himself who is worthy of approval, but the one whom the Lord recommends.


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For I am jealous for you with God's kind of jealousy; since I promised to present you as a pure virgin in marriage to your one husband, the Messiah;


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and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness.


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For if someone comes and tells you about some other Yeshua than the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one you received or accept some so-called "good news" different from the Good News you already accepted, you bear with him well enough!


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I may not be a skilled speaker, but I do have the knowledge; anyhow, we have made this clear to you in every way and in every circumstance.


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Or did I sin in humbling myself so that you could be exalted, in proclaiming God's Good News to you free of charge?


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And when I was with you and had needs, I did not burden anyone: my needs were met by the brothers who came from Macedonia. In nothing have I been a burden to you, nor will I be.


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The truthfulness of the Messiah is in me, so that this boast concerning me is not going to be silenced anywhere in Achaia.


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No, I do it- and will go on doing it- in order to cut the ground from under those who want an excuse to boast that they work the same way we do.


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The fact is that such men are pseudo-emissaries: they tell lies about their work and masquerade as emissaries of the Messiah.


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so it's no great thing if his workers masquerade as servants of righteousness. They will meet the end their deeds deserve.


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I repeat: don't let anyone think I am a fool. But even if you do, at least receive me as a fool; so that I too may do a little boasting!


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What I am saying is not in accordance with the Lord; rather, this conceited boasting is spoken as a fool would speak.


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You put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, exploits you, takes you in, puffs himself up, slaps you in the face.


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To my shame, I must admit that we have been too "weak" to do such things! But if anyone dares to boast about something- I'm talking like a fool!- I am just as daring.


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Are they Hebrew-speakers? So am I. Are they of the people of Isra'el? So am I. Are they descendants of Avraham? So am I.


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Are they servants of the Messiah? (I'm talking like a madman!) I'm a better one! I've worked much harder, been imprisoned more often, suffered more beatings, been near death over and over.


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Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.


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In my many travels I have been exposed to danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the desert, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.


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I have toiled and endured hardship, often not had enough sleep, been hungry and thirsty, frequently gone without food, been cold and naked.


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And besides these external matters, there is the daily pressure of my anxious concern for all the congregations.


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When I was in Dalmanuta, the governor under King Aretas had the city of Dalmanuta guarded in order to arrest me;


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I have to boast. There is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.


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I know a man in union with the Messiah who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the third heaven; whether he was in the body or outside the body I don't know, God knows.


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was snatched into Gan-'Eden and heard things that cannot be put into words, things unlawful for a human being to utter.


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About such a man I will boast; but about myself I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses.


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If I did want to boast, I would not be foolish; because I would be speaking the truth. But, because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than what my words or deeds may warrant.


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Therefore, to keep me from becoming overly proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from the Adversary to pound away at me, so that I wouldn't grow conceited.


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but he told me, "My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness." Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah's power will rest upon me.


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Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.


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I have behaved like a fool, but you forced me to do it- you who should have been commending me. For I am in no way inferior to the "super-emissaries," even if I am nothing.


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The things that prove I am an emissary- signs, wonders and miracles- were done in your presence, despite what I had to endure.


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Is there any way in which you have been behind any of the other congregations, other than in my not having been a burden to you? For this unfairness, please forgive me!


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Look, I am ready this third time to come and visit you; and I will not be a burden to you; for it is not what you own that I want, but you! Children are not supposed to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.


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And as for me, I will most gladly spend everything I have and be spent myself too for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?


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Let it be granted, then, that I was not a burden to you; but, crafty fellow that I am, I took you with trickery!


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that I took advantage of you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him; Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? Didn't we live by the same Spirit and show you the same path?


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Perhaps you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves before you. No, we have been speaking in the sight of God, as those united with the Messiah should; and, my dear friends, it is all for your upbuilding.


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For I am afraid of coming and finding you not the way I want you to be, and also of not being found the way you want me to be. I am afraid of finding quarreling and jealousy, anger and rivalry, slander and gossip, arrogance and disorder.


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I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have not repented of the impurity, fornication and debauchery that they have engaged in.


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This will be the third time that I have come to visit you. Any charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.


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To those who sinned in the past and to the rest I say beforehand while absent the same thing I said when I was with you the second time: if I come again I will not spare you-


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since you are looking for proof of the Messiah speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you.


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For although he was executed on a stake in weakness, now he lives by God's power. And we too are weak in union with him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God's power.


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Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don't you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you?- unless you fail to pass the test.


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And we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We are not concerned with our appearing successful, but with your doing what is right, even if we appear to be failures.


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So we rejoice whenever we are weak and you are strong; indeed, what we pray for is that you become perfect.


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I write these things while away from you, so that when I am with you I will not have to use my authority to deal sharply with you, for the Lord gave it to me for building up and not for tearing down.


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And now, brothers, <i>shalom! </i>Put yourselves in order, pay attention to my advice, be of one mind, live in <i>shalom</i>- and the God of love and <i>shalom </i>will be with you.


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The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the love of God and the fellowship of the <i> Ruach HaKodesh </i>be with you all.


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From: Sha'ul, an emissary- I received my commission not from human beings or through human mediation but through Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead- also from all the brothers with me


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who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father.


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I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah's grace, and turn to some other supposedly "Good News,"


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which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah.


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But even if we- or, for that matter, an angel from heaven!- were to announce to you some so-called "Good News" contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever!


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We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces "Good News" contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!


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Now does that sound as if I were trying to win human approval? No! I want God's approval! Or that I'm trying to cater to people? If I were still doing that, I would not be a servant of the Messiah.


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Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product;


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because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it- it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah.


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For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism- how I did my best to persecute God's Messianic Community and destroy it;


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and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.


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and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek.


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Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa's acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks,


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they were only hearing the report, "The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy";


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Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus.


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I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles- but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.


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Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in- they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us.


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Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.


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Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders- what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances- these leaders added nothing to me.


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On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised;


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since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles.


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So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya'akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised.


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Their only request was that we should remember the poor- which very thing I have spared no pains to do.


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Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly, because he was clearly in the wrong.


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For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya'akov, he had been eating with the Gentile believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers.


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And the other Jewish believers became hypocrites along with him, so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy.


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But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, "If you, who are a Jew, live like a <i>Goy </i>and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the <i>Goyim </i>to live like Jews?


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even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua's trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah's trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands, no one will be declared righteous.


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But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid!


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Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor.


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For it was through letting the <i>Torah </i>speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God.


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When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me.


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I do not reject God's gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah's death was pointless.


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You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal!


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I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it?


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Are you that stupid? Having begun with the Spirit's power, do you think you can reach the goal under your own power?


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Have you suffered so much for nothing? If that's the way you think, your suffering certainly will have been for nothing!


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What about God, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you- does he do it because of your legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it?


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It was the same with Avraham: "He trusted in God and was faithful to him, and that was credited to his account as righteousness."


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Be assured, then, that it is those who live by trusting and being faithful who are really children of Avraham.


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Also the <i> Tanakh</i>, foreseeing that God would consider the Gentiles righteous when they live by trusting and being faithful, told the Good News to Avraham in advance by saying, "In connection with you, all the <i>Goyim </i>will be blessed."


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So then, those who rely on trusting and being faithful are blessed along with Avraham, who trusted and was faithful.


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For everyone who depends on legalistic observance of <i>Torah </i>commands lives under a curse, since it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the Scroll of the <i>Torah</i>."


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Now it is evident that no one comes to be declared righteous by God through legalism, since "The person who is righteous will attain life by trusting and being faithful."


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Furthermore, legalism is not based on trusting and being faithful, but on [a misuse of] the text that says, "Anyone who does these things will attain life through them."


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The Messiah redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the <i>Torah </i>by becoming cursed on our behalf; for the <i>Tanakh </i>says, "Everyone who hangs from a stake comes under a curse."


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Yeshua the Messiah did this so that in union with him the Gentiles might receive the blessing announced to Avraham, so that through trusting and being faithful, we might receive what was promised, namely, the Spirit.


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Brothers, let me make an analogy from everyday life: when someone swears an oath, no one else can set it aside or add to it.


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Now the promises were made to Avraham and to his seed. It doesn't say, "and to seeds," as if to many; on the contrary, it speaks of one- "and to your seed"- and this "one" is the Messiah.


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Here is what I am saying: the legal part of the <i>Torah</i>, which came into being 430 years later, does not nullify an oath sworn by God, so as to abolish the promise.


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For if the inheritance comes from the legal part of the <i>Torah</i>, it no longer comes from a promise. But God gave it to Avraham through a promise.


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So then, why the legal part of the <i>Torah</i>? It was added in order to create transgressions, until the coming of the seed about whom the promise had been made. Moreover, it was handed down through angels and a mediator.


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Does this mean that the legal part of the <i>Torah </i>stands in opposition to God's promises? Heaven forbid! For if the legal part of the <i>Torah </i>which God gave had had in itself the power to give life, then righteousness really would have come by legalistically following such a <i>Torah</i>.


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But instead, the <i>Tanakh </i>shuts up everything under sin; so that what had been promised might be given, on the basis of Yeshua the Messiah's trusting faithfulness, to those who continue to be trustingly faithful.


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Now before the time for this trusting faithfulness came, we were imprisoned in subjection to the system which results from perverting the <i>Torah </i>into legalism, kept under guard until this yet-to-come trusting faithfulness would be revealed.


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Accordingly, the <i>Torah </i>functioned as a custodian until the Messiah came, so that we might be declared righteous on the ground of trusting and being faithful.


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because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom


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there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.


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What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate;


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but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the <i>Torah </i>was the norm,


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so that he might redeem those in subjection to this legalism and thus enable us to be made God's sons.


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Now because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out, "Abba!" (that is, "Dear Father!").


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But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more?


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Brothers, I beg of you: put yourselves in my place- after all, I put myself in your place. It isn't that you have done me any wrong-


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and even though my physical condition must have tempted you to treat me with scorn, you did not display any sign of disdain or disgust. No, you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God, as if I had been the Messiah Yeshua himself!


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So what has become of the joy you felt? For I bear you witness that had it been possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.


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True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them.


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To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not,


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my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again- and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you.


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I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone of voice. I don't know what to do with you.


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Tell me, you who want to be in subjection to the system that results from perverting the <i>Torah </i>into legalism, don't you hear what the <i>Torah </i>itself says?


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The one by the slave woman was born according to the limited capabilities of human beings, but the one by the free woman was born through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise.


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Now, to make a <i>midrash </i>on these things: the two women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children for slavery- this is Hagar.


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Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Yerushalayim, for she serves as a slave along with her children.


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for the <i> Tanakh </i>says, "Rejoice, you barren woman who does not bear children! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the deserted wife will have more children than the one whose husband is with her!"


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But just as then the one born according to limited human capability persecuted the one born through the Spirit's supernatural power, so it is now.


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Nevertheless, what does the <i>Tanakh </i>say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for by no means will the son of the slave woman inherit along with the son of the free woman!"


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What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don't let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.


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Mark my words- I, Sha'ul, tell you that if you undergo <i>b'rit-milah </i>the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all!


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Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes <i>b'rit-milah </i>is obligated to observe the entire <i>Torah</i>!


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You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God's grace!


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For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled.


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When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.


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I am confident that since you are united with the Lord, you will take no other view; and I am confident that the one who has been disturbing you, whoever he may be, will have to bear his punishment.


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And as for me, brothers, if I am still preaching that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were the case, my preaching about the execution-stake would cause no offense whatever.


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For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love.


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For the whole of the <i>Torah </i>is summed up in this one sentence: "Love your neighbor as yourself";


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but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!


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What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants.


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For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions.


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But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the <i>Torah </i>into legalism.


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And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and indecency;


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involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and getting angry; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue


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and envy; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God!


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Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires.


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Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.


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Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won't be tempted too.


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Bear one another's burdens- in this way you will be fulfilling the <i>Torah's </i>true meaning, which the Messiah upholds.


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So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else;


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But whoever is being instructed in the Word should share all the good things he has with his instructor.


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Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life.


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So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don't give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.


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Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful.


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It is those who want to look good outwardly who are trying to get you to be circumcised. The only reason they are doing it is to escape persecution for preaching about the Messiah's execution-stake.


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For even those who are getting circumcised don't observe the Torah. On the contrary, they want you to get circumcised so that they can boast of having gained your adherence.


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But as for me, Heaven forbid that I should boast about anything except the execution-stake of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Through him, as far as I am concerned, the world has been put to death on the stake; and through him, as far as the world is concerned, I have been put to death on the stake.


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For neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being a new creation.


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And as many as order their lives by this rule, shalom upon them and mercy, and upon the Isra'el of God!


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From now on, I don't want anyone to give me any more tsuris, because I have scars on my body to prove that I belong to Yeshua!


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From: Sha'ul, by God's will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua To: God's people living in Ephesus, that is, those who are trusting in the Messiah Yeshua:


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Praised be <i>ADONAI</i>, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven.


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In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence.


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He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons- in keeping with his pleasure and purpose-


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so that we would bring him praise commensurate with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One.


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In union with him, through the shedding of his blood, we are set free- our sins are forgiven; this accords with the wealth of the grace


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he has made known to us his secret plan, which by his own will he designed beforehand in connection with the Messiah


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and will put into effect when the time is ripe- his plan to place everything in heaven and on earth under the Messiah's headship.


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Also in union with him we were given an inheritance, we who were picked in advance according to the purpose of the One who effects everything in keeping with the decision of his will,


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so that we who earlier had put our hope in the Messiah would bring him praise commensurate with his glory.


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Furthermore, you who heard the message of the truth, the Good News offering you deliverance, and put your trust in the Messiah were sealed by him with the promised <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>,


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who guarantees our inheritance until we come into possession of it and thus bring him praise commensurate with his glory.


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For this reason, ever since I heard about your trust in the Lord Yeshua and your love for all God's people,


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the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of him.


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I pray that he will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has promised his people,


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and how surpassingly great is his power working in us who trust him. It works with the same mighty strength he used


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far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion or any other name that can be named either in the <i>'olam hazeh </i>or in the <i>'olam haba</i>.


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Also, he has put all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the Messianic Community,


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You walked in the ways of the <i>'olam hazeh </i>and obeyed the Ruler of the Powers of the Air, who is still at work among the disobedient.


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Indeed, we all once lived this way- we followed the passions of our old nature and obeyed the wishes of our old nature and our own thoughts. In our natural condition we were headed for God's wrath, just like everyone else.


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that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, he brought us to life along with the Messiah- it is by grace that you have been delivered.


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in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua.


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For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God's gift.


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For we are of God's making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.


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Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth- called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised-


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at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.


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But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.


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For he himself is our <i>shalom</i>- he has made us both one and has broken down the <i> m'chitzah </i>which divided us


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by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the <i>Torah</i>, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make <i> shalom</i>,


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and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.


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Also, when he came, he announced as Good News <i>shalom </i>to you far off and <i>shalom </i>to those nearby,


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So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's family.


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You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself.


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In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord.


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Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!


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It is a consequence of this that I, Sha'ul, am a prisoner of the Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Gentiles.


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and that it was by a revelation that this secret plan was made known to me. I have already written about it briefly,


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and if you read what I have written, you will grasp how I understand this secret plan concerning the Messiah.


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In past generations it was not made known to mankind, as the Spirit is now revealing it to his emissaries and prophets,


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that in union with the Messiah and through the Good News the Gentiles were to be joint heirs, a joint body and joint sharers with the Jews in what God has promised.


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I became a servant of this Good News by God's gracious gift, which he gave me through the operation of his power.


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To me, the least important of all God's holy people, was given this privilege of announcing to the Gentiles the Good News of the Messiah's unfathomable riches,


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and of letting everyone see how this secret plan is going to work out. This plan, kept hidden for ages by God, the Creator of everything,


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is for the rulers and authorities in heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how many-sided God's wisdom is.


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So I ask you not to be discouraged by the troubles I endure on your behalf- it is all for your glory.


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so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love,


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so that you, with all God's people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the Messiah's love,


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yes, to know it, even though it is beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of God.


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to him be glory in the Messianic Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation forever. <i>Amen</i>.


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Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.


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and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of <i>shalom</i>.


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This is why it says, "After he went up into the heights, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to mankind."


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Now this phrase, "he went up," what can it mean if not that he first went down into the lower parts, that is, the earth?


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The one who went down is himself the one who also went up, far above all of heaven, in order to fill all things.


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Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers.


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until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah's perfection.


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We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive.


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Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.


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Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.


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Therefore I say this- indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.


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Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God's will.


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They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more.


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If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth,


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then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires;


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and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.


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Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body.


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Be angry, but don't sin- don't let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger;


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The thief must stop stealing; instead, he should make an honest living by his own efforts. This way he will be able to share with those in need.


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Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them.


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Don't cause grief to God's <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption.


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Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness.


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Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.


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and live a life of love, just as also the Messiah loved us, indeed, on our behalf gave himself up as an offering, as a slaughtered sacrifice to God with a pleasing fragrance.


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Among you there should not even be mentioned sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or greed; these are utterly inappropriate for God's holy people.


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Also out of place are obscenity and stupid talk or coarse language; instead, you should be giving thanks.


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For of this you can be sure: every sexually immoral, impure or greedy person- that is, every idol-worshipper- has no share in the Kingdom of the Messiah and of God.


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Let no one deceive you with empty talk; for it is because of these things that God's judgment is coming on those who disobey him.


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For you used to be darkness; but now, united with the Lord, you are light. Live like children of light,


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since anything revealed is a light. This is why it says, "Get up, sleeper! Arise from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you!"


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Don't get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit-


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sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other; sing to the Lord and make music in your heart to him;


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because the husband is head of the wife, just as the Messiah, as head of the Messianic Community, is himself the one who keeps the body safe.


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Just as the Messianic Community submits to the Messiah, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.


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As for husbands, love your wives, just as the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf,


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in order to set it apart for God, making it clean through immersion in the <i>mikveh</i>, so to speak,


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in order to present the Messianic Community to himself as a bride to be proud of, without a spot, wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without defect.


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This is how husbands ought to love their wives- like their own bodies; for the man who loves his wife is loving himself.


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Why, no one ever hated his own flesh! On the contrary, he feeds it well and takes care of it, just as the Messiah does the Messianic Community,


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"Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and remain with his wife, and the two will become one."


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However, the text also applies to each of you individually: let each man love his wife as he does himself, and see that the wife respects her husband.


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Fathers, don't irritate your children and make them resentful; instead, raise them with the Lord's kind of discipline and guidance.


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Slaves, obey your human masters with the same fear, trembling and single-heartedness with which you obey the Messiah.


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Don't obey just to win their favor, serving only when they are watching you; but serve as slaves of the Messiah, doing what God wants with all your heart.


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Remember that whoever does good work, whether he be a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord.


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And masters, treat your slaves the same way. Don't threaten them. Remember that in heaven both you and they have the same Master, and he has no favorites.


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Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary.


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For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.


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So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing.


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Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate,


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Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.


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And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God;


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as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God's people.


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And pray for me, too, that whenever I open my mouth, the words will be given to me to be bold in making known the secret of the Good News,


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Now, so that you may also be informed about how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the dear brother and a faithful worker for the Lord, will tell you everything.


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This is the very reason I have sent him to you, so that you may know how we are getting along and so that he may comfort and encourage you.


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<i>Shalom </i>to the brothers. May God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah give you love and trust.


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From: Sha'ul and Timothy, slaves of the Messiah Yeshua To: All God's people united with the Messiah Yeshua and living in Philippi, along with the congregation leaders and <i>shammashim</i>:


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And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua.


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It is right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you on my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and establishing the Good News, you are all sharing with me in this privileged work.


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And this is my prayer: that your love may more and more overflow in fullness of knowledge and depth of discernment,


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so that you will be able to determine what is best and thus be pure and without blame for the Day of the Messiah,


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filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Yeshua the Messiah- to the glory and praise of God.


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Now, brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped in advancing the Good News.


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It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains.


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Also, my being in prison has given most of the brothers in the Lord confidence, so that they have become much more bold in speaking the word of God fearlessly.


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True, some are proclaiming the Messiah out of jealousy and rivalry, but others are doing it in goodwill.


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while the former announce the Messiah out of selfish ambition, with impure motives, supposing they can stir up trouble for me in prison.


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But so what? All that matters is that in every way, whether honestly or in pretense, the Messiah is being proclaimed; and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,


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for I know that this will work out for my deliverance, because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah.


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It all accords with my earnest expectation and hope that I will have nothing to be ashamed of; but rather, now, as always, the Messiah will be honored by my body, whether it is alive or dead.


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Yes, I am convinced of this; so I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have joy in it.


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Then, through my being with you again, you will have even greater reason for boasting about the Messiah Yeshua.


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Only conduct your lives in a way worthy of the Good News of the Messiah; so that whether I come and see you or I hear about you from a distance, you stand firm, united in spirit, fighting with one accord for the faith of the Good News,


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not frightened by anything the opposition does. This will be for them an indication that they are headed for destruction and you for deliverance. And this is from God;


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because for the Messiah's sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf,


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Therefore, if you have any encouragement for me from your being in union with the Messiah, any comfort flowing from love, any fellowship with me in the Spirit, or any compassion and sympathy,


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Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force.


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On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being,


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that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow- in heaven, on earth and under the earth-


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and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is <i>ADONAI</i>- to the glory of God the Father.


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So, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey now when I am away from you: keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling,


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so that you may be blameless and pure children of God, without defect in the midst of a twisted and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the sky,


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as you hold on to the Word of Life. If you do this, I will be able to boast, when the Day of the Messiah comes, that I did not run or toil for nothing.


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Indeed, even if my lifeblood is poured out as a drink offering over the sacrifice and service of your faith, I will still be glad and rejoice with you all.


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But I hope in the Lord Yeshua to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I too may be cheered by knowing how you are doing.


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But you know his character, that like a child with his father he slaved with me to advance the Good News.


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Also I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-worker and fellow-soldier, the emissary whom you sent to take care of my needs;


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Indeed he was ill, close to death; but God had mercy on him- and not only on him, but also on me- otherwise I would have had sorrow piled on sorrow.


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Therefore, I am all the more eager to send him, so that you may rejoice when you see him again; and I, for my part, may be less sad.


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For he risked his life and nearly died working for the Messiah, in order to give me the help you were not in a position to give.


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In conclusion, my brothers: rejoice in union with the Lord. It is no trouble for me to repeat what I have written you before, and for you it will be a safeguard:


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For it is we who are the Circumcised, we who worship by the Spirit of God and make our boast in the Messiah Yeshua! We do not put confidence in human qualifications,


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even though I certainly have grounds for putting confidence in such things. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for putting confidence in human qualifications, I have better grounds:


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вЂў <i> b'rit-milah </i>on the eighth day,вЂў by birth belonging to the people of Isra'el,вЂў from the tribe of Binyamin,вЂў a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents,вЂў in regard to the <i>Torah, </i>a <i>Parush</i>,


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вЂў in regard to zeal, a persecutor of the Messianic Community,вЂў in regard to the righteousness demanded by legalism, blameless.


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But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage.


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Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah


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and be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah's faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust.


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Yes, I gave it all up in order to know him, that is, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings as I am being conformed to his death,


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It is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the goal- no, I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me.


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Brothers, I, for my part, do not think of myself as having yet gotten hold of it; but one thing I do: forgetting what is behind me and straining forward toward what lies ahead,


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I keep pursuing the goal in order to win the prize offered by God's upward calling in the Messiah Yeshua.


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Therefore, as many of us as are mature, let us keep paying attention to this; and if you are differently minded about anything, God will also reveal this to you.


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Brothers, join in imitating me, and pay attention to those who live according to the pattern we have set for you.


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For many- I have told you about them often before, and even now I say it with tears- live as enemies of the Messiah's execution-stake.


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They are headed for destruction! Their god is the belly; they are proud of what they ought to be ashamed of, since they are concerned about the things of the world.


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But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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He will change the bodies we have in this humble state and make them like his glorious body, using the power which enables him to bring everything under his control.


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So, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, my dear friends, keep standing firm in union with the Lord.


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I also request you, loyal Syzygus, to help these women; for they have worked hard proclaiming the Good News with me, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers whose names are in the Book of Life.


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Don't worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.


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Then God's <i>shalom</i>, passing all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with the Messiah Yeshua.


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In conclusion, brothers, focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.


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Keep doing what you have learned and received from me, what you have heard and seen me doing; then the God who gives <i>shalom </i>will be with you.


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In union with the Lord I greatly rejoice that now, after this long time, you have let your concern for me express itself again. Of course, you were concerned for me all along, but you had no opportunity to express it.


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Not that I am saying this to call attention to any need of mine; since, as far as I am concerned, I have learned to be content regardless of circumstances.


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I know what it is to be in want, and I know what it is to have more than enough- in everything and in every way I have learned the secret of being full and being hungry, of having abundance and being in need.


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And you Philippians yourselves know that in the early days of my work spreading the Good News, when I left Macedonia, not a single congregation shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving- only you.


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I am not seeking the gift; rather, I am looking for what will increase the credit balance of your account.


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I have been more than paid in full: I have been filled, since I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent- they are a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, one that pleases God well.


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Moreover, my God will fill every need of yours according to his glorious wealth, in union with the Messiah Yeshua.


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To: God's people in Colosse, faithful brothers in the Messiah: Grace to you and <i>shalom </i>from God our Father.


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For we have heard of your trust in the Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God's people.


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Both spring from the confident hope that you will receive what is stored up for you in heaven. You heard of this earlier in the message about the truth. This Good News


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has made its presence felt among you, just as it is also being fruitful and multiplying throughout the world in the same way as it has among you since the day you heard and understood the grace of God as it really is.


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You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-slave and a faithful worker for the Messiah on your behalf;


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Therefore, from the day we heard of it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all the wisdom and understanding which the Spirit gives;


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so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God.


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We pray that you will be continually strengthened with all the power that comes from his glorious might; so that you will be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully


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giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light.


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because in connection with him were created all things- in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities- they have all been created through him and for him.


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Also he is head of the Body, the Messianic Community- he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything.


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and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.


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In other words, you, who at one time were separated from God and had a hostile attitude towards him because of your wicked deeds,


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he has now reconciled in the Son's physical body through his death; in order to present you holy and without defect or reproach before himself-


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provided, of course, that you continue in your trusting, grounded and steady, and don't let yourselves be moved away from the hope offered in the Good News you heard. This is the Good News that has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven; and I, Sha'ul, have become a servant of it.


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I rejoice in my present sufferings on your behalf! Yes, I am completing in my own flesh what has been lacking of the Messiah's afflictions, on behalf of his Body, the Messianic Community.


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I became a servant of the Good News because God gave me this work to do for your benefit. The work is to make fully known the message from God,


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the secret hidden for generations, for ages, but now made clear to the people he has set apart for himself.


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To them God wanted to make known how great among the Gentiles is the glorious richness of this secret. And the secret is this: the Messiah is united with you people! In that rests your hope of glory!


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We, for our part, proclaim him; we warn, confront and teach everyone in all wisdom; so that we may present everyone as having reached the goal, united with the Messiah.


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For I want you to know how hard I work for you, for those in Laodicea, and for the rest of those who have not met me personally.


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My purpose is that they may be encouraged, that they may be joined together in love, and that they may have all the riches derived from being assured of understanding and fully knowing God's secret truth, which is- the Messiah!


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For although I am away from you physically, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I see the disciplined and resolute firmness of your trust in the Messiah.


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Remain deeply rooted in him; continue being built up in him and confirmed in your trust, the way you were taught, so that you overflow in thanksgiving.


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Watch out, so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, following human tradition which accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not accord with the Messiah.


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And it is in union with him that you have been made full- he is the head of every rule and authority.


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Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature's control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah,


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you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God's faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead.


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You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your "foreskin," your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins.


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He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake.


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Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake.


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So don't let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or <i>Rosh-Hodesh </i>or <i>Shabbat</i>.


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Don't let anyone deny you the prize by insisting that you engage in self-mortification or angel-worship. Such people are always going on about some vision they have had, and they vainly puff themselves up by their worldly outlook.


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They fail to hold to the Head, from whom the whole Body, receiving supply and being held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow.


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If, along with the Messiah, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, then why, as if you still belonged to the world, are you letting yourselves be bothered by its rules?-


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Such prohibitions are concerned with things meant to perish by being used [not by being avoided!], and they are based on man-made rules and teachings.


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They do indeed have the outward appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed religious observances, false humility and asceticism; but they have no value at all in restraining people from indulging their old nature.


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So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God.


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Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature- sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (which is a form of idolatry);


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and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator.


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The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything.


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Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.


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Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.


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and let the <i>shalom </i>which comes from the Messiah be your heart's decision-maker, for this is why you were called to be part of a single Body. And be thankful-


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let the Word of the Messiah, in all its richness, live in you, as you teach and counsel each other in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude to God in your hearts.


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That is, everything you do or say, do in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.


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Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not serving only when they are watching you, to win their favor, but single-heartedly, fearing the Lord.


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Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not merely other people, but the Lord.


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Remember that as your reward, you will receive the inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah.


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Don't worry- whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for his wrong, and there is no favoritism shown.


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Include prayer for us, too, that God may open a door for us to proclaim the message about the secret of the Messiah- for that is why I am in prison.


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let your conversation always be gracious and interesting, so that you will know how to respond to any particular individual.


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Our dear brother Tychicus, who is a faithful worker and fellow-slave in the Lord, will give you all the news about me.


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I have sent him to you for this very reason- so that you might know how we are, and so that he might encourage you.


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I have sent him with Onesimus, the dear and faithful brother, who is one of you; they will tell you everything that has happened here.


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Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends greetings, as does Mark, Bar-Nabba's cousin, concerning whom you have received instructions- if he comes to you, welcome him.


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Yeshua, the one called Justus, also sends greetings. These three are among the Circumcised; and among my fellow workers for the Kingdom of God, only they have turned out to be a comfort to me.


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Epaphras sends greetings; he is one of you, a slave of the Messiah Yeshua who always agonizes in his prayer on your behalf, praying that you may stand firm, mature and fully confident, as you devote yourselves completely to God's will.


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Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, also to Nympha and the congregation that meets in her home.


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After this letter has been read to you, have it read also in the congregation of the Laodiceans; and you, in turn, are to read the letter that will come from Laodicea.


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From: Sha'ul, Sila and Timothy To: The Messianic Community of the Thessalonians, united with God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah: Grace to you and <i>shalom</i>.


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calling to mind before God our Father what our Lord Yeshua the Messiah has brought about in you- how your trust produces action, your love hard work, and your hope perseverance.


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that the Good News we brought did not become for you a matter only of words, but also one of power, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>and total conviction- just as you know how we lived for your sakes when we were with you.


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You, indeed, became imitators of us and of the Lord; so that even though you were going through severe troubles, you received the Word with joy from the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>.


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for the Lord's message sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere your trust toward God became known. The result is that we don't need to say anything;


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since they themselves keep telling us about the welcome we received from you and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive,


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and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God's judgment.


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On the contrary, although we had already suffered and been outraged in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage, united with our God, to tell you the Good News even under great pressure.


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For the appeal we make does not flow from error or from impure motives, neither do we try to trick people.


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Instead, since God has tested us and found us fit to be entrusted with Good News, this is how we speak: not to win favor with people but with God, who tests our hearts.


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For, as you know, never did we employ flattering talk, nor did we put on a false front to mask greed- God is witness.


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As emissaries of the Messiah, we could have made our weight felt; but instead, we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother feeding and caring for her children.


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We were so devoted to you that we were glad to share with you not only God's Good News but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.


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For you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship, how we worked night and day not to put a burden on any of you while we were proclaiming God's Good News to you.


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You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless our behavior was in the sight of you believers;


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we encouraged you and comforted you and appealed to you to lead lives worthy of God, who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.


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Another reason we regularly thank God is that when you heard the Word of God from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, God's Word, which is at work in you believers.


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For, brothers, you came to be imitators of God's congregations in Y'hudah that are united with the Messiah Yeshua- you suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who


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both killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing God and opposing all mankind


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by trying to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be delivered. Their object seems to be always to make their sins as bad as possible! But God's fury will catch up with them in the end.


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And as for us, brothers, when we were deprived of your company for a short time- in person, but not in thought- we missed you and tried hard to come and see you.


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For when our Lord Yeshua returns, what will be our hope, our joy, our crown to boast about? Won't it be you?


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and sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker for the Good News of the Messiah, to make you solid and encourage you in your trust;


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so that none of you would let these persecutions unsettle him. For you yourselves know that these are bound to come to us;


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even when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were about to be persecuted; and indeed it has happened, as you know.


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That is the reason why, after I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your trust. I was afraid that somehow the Tempter had tempted you, and our hard work had been wasted.


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But now Timothy has come to us from you, bringing good news about your trust and love, and telling us that you remember us well and are always longing to see us, just as we long to see you.


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Because of this, brothers, in spite of all our trouble and distress, we were comforted over you- because of your trust;


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Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you or express to our God all the joy we feel because of you?


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Night and day we pray as hard as we can that we will be able to see you face to face and supply whatever shortcomings there may be in your trust.


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And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed, toward everyone, just as we do toward you;


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so that he may give you the inner strength to be blameless, by reason of your holiness, when you stand before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all his angels.


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Therefore, brothers, just as you learned from us how you had to live in order to please God, and just as you are living this way now, we ask you- indeed, united with the Lord Yeshua, we urge you- to keep doing so more and more.


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No one should wrong his brother in this matter or take advantage of him, because the Lord punishes all who do such things- as we have explained to you before at length.


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Therefore, whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not a man but God, indeed, the One who gives you the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, which is his.


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Concerning love for the brothers we do not need to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other;


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and you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do it even more.


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Also, make it your ambition to live quietly, to mind your own business and to earn your living by your own efforts- just as we told you.


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Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become sad the way other people


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do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died.


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When we say this, we base it on the Lord's own word: we who remain alive when the Lord comes will certainly not take precedence over those who have died.


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For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God's <i>shofar</i>; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise;


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then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.


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But you have no need to have anything written to you, brothers, about the times and dates when this will happen;


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When people are saying, "Everything is so peaceful and secure," then destruction will suddenly come upon them, the way labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there is no way they will escape.


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for you are all people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We don't belong to the night or to darkness,


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But since we belong to the day, let us stay sober, putting on trust and love as a breastplate and the hope of being delivered as a helmet.


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For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah,


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We ask you, brothers, to respect those who are working hard among you, those who are guiding you in the Lord and confronting you in order to help you change.


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Treat them with the highest regard and love because of the work they are doing. Live at peace among yourselves;


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but we urge you, brothers, to confront those who are lazy, your aim being to help them change, to encourage the timid, to assist the weak, and to be patient with everyone.


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See that no one repays evil for evil; on the contrary, always try to do good to each other, indeed, to everyone.


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In everything give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with the Messiah Yeshua.


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May the God of <i>shalom </i>make you completely holy- may your entire spirit, soul and body be kept blameless for the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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From: Sha'ul, Sila and Timothy To: The Messianic Community of the Thessalonians, united with God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah:


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We have to keep thanking God for you always, brothers, as is appropriate; because your trust continues to grow greater, and the love you each have for one another continues to increase.


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Therefore, we boast about you in the congregations of God because of your perseverance and trust in all the persecutions and troubles you are going through.


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This is clear evidence that God's judgment is just; and as a result, you will be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which you are suffering.


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and to give rest along with us to you who are being troubled, when the Lord Yeshua is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels


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in a fiery flame. Then he will punish those who don't know God, that is, those who don't listen to the Good News of our Lord Yeshua and obey it.


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They will suffer the just penalty of eternal destruction, far away from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might.


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On that Day, when he comes to be glorified by his holy people and admired by all who have trusted, you will be among them, because you trusted our witness to you.


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With this in view, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill by his power every good purpose of yours and every action stemming from your trust.


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In this way, the name of our Lord Yeshua will be glorified in you, and you in him, in accordance with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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But in connection with the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to meet him, we ask you, brothers,


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not to be easily shaken in your thinking or anxious because of a spirit or a spoken message or a letter supposedly from us claiming that the Day of the Lord has already come.


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Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until after the Apostasy has come and the man who separates himself from <i>Torah </i>has been revealed, the one destined for doom.


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He will oppose himself to everything that people call a god or make an object of worship; he will put himself above them all, so that he will sit in the Temple of God and proclaim that he himself is God.


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For already this separating from <i>Torah </i>is at work secretly, but it will be secretly only until he who is restraining is out of the way.


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Then the one who embodies separation from <i>Torah </i>will be revealed, the one whom the Lord Yeshua will slay with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the glory of his coming.


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When this man who avoids <i>Torah </i>comes, the Adversary will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders.


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He will enable him to deceive, in all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the love of the truth that could have saved them.


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The result will be that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned.


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But we have to keep thanking God for you always, brothers whom the Lord loves, because God chose you as firstfruits for deliverance by giving you the holiness that has its origin in the Spirit and the faithfulness that has its origin in the truth.


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He called you to this through our Good News, so that you could have the glory of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.


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Therefore, brothers, stand firm; and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, whether we spoke them or wrote them in a letter.


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And may our Lord Yeshua the Messiah himself and God our Father, who has loved us and by his grace given us eternal comfort and a good hope,


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Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and receive honor, just as it did with you;


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Yes, united with the Lord we are confident about you, that you are doing the things we are telling you to do, and that you will keep on doing them.


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Now, in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we command you, brothers, to stay away from any brother who is leading a life of idleness, a life not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.


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We did not accept anyone's food without paying; on the contrary, we labored and toiled, day and night, working so as not to be a burden to any of you.


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It was not that we hadn't the right to be supported, but so that we could make ourselves an example to imitate.


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We command such people- and in union with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we urge them- to settle down, get to work, and earn their own living.


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Furthermore, if anyone does not obey what we are saying in this letter, take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed.


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But don't consider him an enemy; on the contrary, confront him as a brother and try to help him change.


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Now may the Lord of <i>shalom </i>himself give you <i>shalom </i>always in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.


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The greeting in my own handwriting: From Sha'ul. This is the mark of genuineness in every letter, this is what my handwriting looks like.


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From: Sha'ul, an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua by command of God our deliverer and the Messiah Yeshua our hope,


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To: Timothy, a true son because of your trust: Grace, mercy and <i>shalom </i>from God the Father and the Messiah Yeshua our Lord.


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As I counseled you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus, so that you may order certain people who are teaching a different doctrine to stop.


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Have them stop devoting their attention to myths and never-ending genealogies; these divert people to speculating instead of doing God's work, which requires trust.


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The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust.


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They want to be teachers of <i>Torah</i>, but they understand neither their own words nor the matters about which they make such emphatic pronouncements.


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We know that the <i>Torah </i>is good, provided one uses it in the way the <i>Torah </i> itself intends.


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We are aware that <i>Torah </i>is not for a person who is righteous, but for those who are heedless of <i>Torah </i>and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, wicked and worldly, for people who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers,


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the sexually immoral- both heterosexual and homosexual- slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone who acts contrary to the sound teaching


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that accords with the Good News of the glorious and blessed God. This Good News was entrusted to me;


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and I thank the one who has given me strength, the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, that he considered me trustworthy enough to put me in his service,


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even though I used to be a man who blasphemed and persecuted and was arrogant! But I received mercy because I had acted in unbelief, not understanding what I was doing.


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So here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted: the Messiah came into the world to save sinners, and I'm the number one sinner!


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But this is precisely why I received mercy- so that in me, as the number one sinner, Yeshua the Messiah might demonstrate how very patient he is, as an example to those who would later come to trust in him and thereby have eternal life.


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So to the King- eternal, imperishable and invisible, the only God there is- let there be honor and glory for ever and ever! <i>Amen</i>.


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This charge, son Timothy, I put to you, in keeping with the prophecies already made about you, so that by these prophecies you may fight the good fight,


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armed with trust and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, some have made shipwreck of their trust;


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among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander. I have turned them over to the Adversary, so that they will learn not to insult God.


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First of all, then, I counsel that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all human beings,


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including kings and all in positions of prominence; so that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives, being godly and upright in everything.


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For God is one; and there is but one Mediator between God and humanity, Yeshua the Messiah, himself human,


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who gave himself as a ransom on behalf of all, thus providing testimony to God's purpose at just the right time.


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This is why I myself was appointed a proclaimer, even an emissary- I am telling the truth, not lying!- a trustworthy and truthful teacher of the <i>Goyim</i>.


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Therefore, it is my wish that when the men pray, no matter where, they should lift up hands that are holy- they should not become angry or get into arguments.


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Likewise, the women, when they pray, should be dressed modestly and sensibly in respectable attire, not with elaborate hairstyles and gold jewelry, or pearls, or expensive clothes.


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Rather, they should adorn themselves with what is appropriate for women who claim to be worshipping God, namely, good deeds.


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but I do not permit a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over him; rather, she is to remain at peace.


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Also it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who, on being deceived, became involved in the transgression.


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Nevertheless, the woman will be delivered through childbearing, provided that she continues trusting, loving and living a holy life with modesty.


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Here is a statement you can trust: anyone aspiring to be a congregation leader is seeking worthwhile work.


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A congregation leader must be above reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, orderly, hospitable and able to teach.


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He must not drink excessively or get into fights; rather, he must be kind and gentle. He must not be a lover of money.


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for if a man can't manage his own household, how will he be able to care for God's Messianic Community?


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He must not be a new believer, because he might become puffed up with pride and thus fall under the same judgment as did the Adversary.


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Furthermore, he must be well regarded by outsiders, so that he won't fall into disgrace and into the Adversary's trap.


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Likewise, the <i>shammashim </i>must be of good character, people whose word can be trusted. They must not give themselves to excessive drinking or be greedy for dishonest gain.


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And first, let them be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them be appointed <i>shammashim</i>.


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For those who serve well as <i>shammashim </i>gain good standing for themselves and much boldness in the trust that comes through Yeshua the Messiah.


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so that if I am delayed, you may know how one should behave in the household of God, which is the Messianic Community of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.


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Great beyond all question is the formerly hidden truth underlying our faith: He was manifested physically and proved righteous spiritually, seen by angels and proclaimed among the nations, trusted throughout the world and raised up in glory to heaven.


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The Spirit expressly states that in the <i>acharit-hayamim </i> some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.


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Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron.


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They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.


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If you present all this to the brothers, you will be serving the Messiah Yeshua well; it will show that you have digested the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have followed.


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For although physical exercise does have some value, godliness is valuable for everything, since it holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come.


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(indeed, it is for this that we toil and strive): we have our hope set on a living God who is the deliverer of all humanity, especially of those who trust.


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Don't let anyone look down on you because of your youth; on the contrary, set the believers an example in your speech, behavior, love, trust and purity.


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Do not neglect your gift, which you were given through a prophecy when the body of elders gave you <i>s'mikhah</i>.


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Be diligent about this work, throw yourself into it, so that your progress may be clear to everyone.


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Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching, continue in it, for by so doing you will deliver both yourself and those who hear you.


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Do not rebuke an older man sharply, but appeal to him as you would to a father; treat younger men like brothers,


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But if a widow has children or grandchildren, first let them learn to do their religious duty to their own family and thus repay some of the debt they owe their forebears, for this is what is acceptable in the sight of God.


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Now the widow who is really in need, the one who has been left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.


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Moreover, anyone who does not provide for his own people, especially for his family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.


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Let a widow be enrolled on the list of widows only if she is more than sixty years old, was faithful to her husband,


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and is known for her good deeds- as one who has reared her children well, showed hospitality, washed the feet of God's people, helped those in trouble, and engaged in all kinds of good work.


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But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when they begin to feel natural passions that alienate them from the Messiah, they want to get married.


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Besides that, they learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and not only idle, but gossips and busybodies, saying things they shouldn't.


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Therefore, I would rather the young widows get married, have children and take charge of their homes, so as to give the opposition no occasion for slandering us.


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If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, she should provide relief for them- the congregation shouldn't be burdened, so that it may help the widows who are really in need.


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The leaders who lead well should be considered worthy of double honor, especially those working hard at communicating the Word and at teaching.


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For the <i> Tanakh </i>says, "You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain," in other words, "The worker deserves his wages."


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Before God, the Messiah Yeshua and the chosen angels, I solemnly charge you to observe these instructions, not pre-judging and not doing anything out of favoritism.


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Do not be hasty in granting <i>s'mikhah </i>to anyone, and do not share in other people's sins- keep yourself pure.


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Stop drinking water; instead, use a little wine for the sake of your digestion and because of your frequent illnesses.


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The sins of some people are obvious and go ahead of them to judgment, but the sins of others follow afterwards.


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Those who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as worthy of full respect, so that the name of God and the teaching will not be brought into disrepute.


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And those who have believing masters are not to show them less respect on the ground that they are brothers; on the contrary, they should serve all the more diligently, since those benefiting from their service are believers whom they love. Teach and exhort people about these things.


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If anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness,


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he is swollen with conceit and understands nothing. Instead, he has a morbid desire for controversies and word-battles, out of which come jealousy, dissension, insults, evil suspicions,


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and constant wrangling among people whose minds no longer function properly and who have been deprived of the truth, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches.


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Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction.


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For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.


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But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness.


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Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses.


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I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua, who in his witness to Pontius Pilate gave the same good testimony,


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His appearing will be brought about in its own time by the blessed and sole Sovereign, who is King of kings and Lord of lords,


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who alone is immortal, who dwells in unapproachable light that no human being has ever seen or can see- to him be honor and eternal power. <i>Amen</i>.


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As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.


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In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life.


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Oh, Timothy! Keep safe what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from the ungodly babblings and the argumentative opposition of what is falsely called "knowledge."


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For many who promise this "knowledge" have missed the mark, as far as the faith is concerned. Grace be with you.


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From: Sha'ul, an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua by God's will, which holds forth a promise of life through being united with Messiah Yeshua


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To: Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and <i>shalom </i>from God the Father and the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.


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I give thanks to God, whom, like my forbears, I worship with a clean conscience, as I regularly remember you in my prayers night and day.


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I recall your sincere trust, the same trust that your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice had first; and I am convinced that you too now have this trust.


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For this reason, I am reminding you to fan the flame of God's gift, which you received through <i>s'mikhah </i>from me.


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So don't be ashamed of bearing testimony to our Lord or to me, his prisoner. On the contrary, accept your share in suffering disgrace for the sake of the Good News. God will give you the strength for it,


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since he delivered us and called us to a life of holiness as his people. It was not because of our deeds, but because of his own purpose and the grace which he gave to us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He did this before the beginning of time,


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but made it public only now through the appearing of our Deliverer, the Messiah Yeshua, who abolished death and, through the Good News, revealed life and immortality.


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It was for this Good News that I was appointed a proclaimer, emissary and teacher of the <i> Goyim</i>;


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and this is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, because I know him in whom I have put my trust, and I am persuaded that he can keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me.


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Follow the pattern of the sound teachings you have heard from me, with trust and the love which is yours in the Messiah Yeshua.


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Keep safe the great treasure that has been entrusted to you, with the help of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>, who lives in us.


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You know that everyone in the province of Asia turned away from me, including Phygelus and Ermogenes.


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May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he was often a comfort to me and was not ashamed of my being in prison.


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May the Lord grant it to him to find mercy from <i>ADONAI </i>on that Day. And you know very well how much he helped me in Ephesus.


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And the things you heard from me, which were supported by many witnesses, these things commit to faithful people, such as will be competent to teach others also.


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No soldier on duty gets involved with civilian affairs, since he has to please his commanding officer.


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Remember Yeshua the Messiah, who was raised from the dead, who was a descendant of David. This is the Good News I proclaim,


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and for which I am suffering to the point of being bound in chains- but the Word of God is not bound in chains!


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Why do I persevere through it all? For the sake of those who have been chosen, so that they too may obtain the deliverance that comes through the Messiah Yeshua, with eternal glory.


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Keep reminding people of this, and charge them solemnly before the Lord not to engage in word-battles. They accomplish nothing useful and are a catastrophe for the hearers!


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Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth.


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they have missed the mark, as far as the truth is concerned, by saying that our resurrection has already taken place; and they are overturning some people's faith.


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Nevertheless, God's firm foundation stands, stamped with these words: "The Lord knows his own," and, "Let everyone who claims he belongs to the Lord stand apart from wrongdoing."


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In a large house there are dishes and pots not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. That is, some are meant for honorable use and some for dishonorable.


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If a person keeps himself free of defilement by the latter, he will be a vessel set aside for honorable use by the master of the house and ready for every kind of good work.


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So, flee the passions of youth; and, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart, pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love and peace.


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and a slave of the Lord shouldn't fight. On the contrary, he should be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and not resentful when mistreated.


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Also he should be gentle as he corrects his opponents. For God may perhaps grant them the opportunity to turn from their sins, acquire full knowledge of the truth,


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come to their senses and escape the trap of the Adversary, after having been captured alive by him to do his will.


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People will be self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,


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For some of them worm their way into homes and get control of weak-willed women who are heaped with sins and swayed by various impulses,


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In the same way as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moshe, so also these people oppose the truth. They are people with corrupted minds, whose trust cannot pass the test.


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However, they won't get very far; because everyone will see how stupid they are, just as happened with those two.


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But you, you have closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose in life, trust, steadfastness, love and perseverance-


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as well as the persecutions and sufferings that came my way in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.


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while evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.


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But you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, recalling the people from whom you learned it;


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and recalling too how from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can give you the wisdom that leads to deliverance through trusting in Yeshua the Messiah.


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All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living;


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I solemnly charge you before God and the Messiah Yeshua, who will judge the living and the dead when he appears and establishes his Kingdom:


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proclaim the Word! Be on hand with it whether the time seems right or not. Convict, censure and exhort with unfailing patience and with teaching.


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For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching, but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear.


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But you, remain steady in every situation, endure suffering, do the work that a proclaimer of the Good News should, and do everything your service to God requires.


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For as for me, I am already being poured out on the altar; yes, the time for my departure has arrived.


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All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, "the Righteous Judge," will award to me on that Day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.


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For Demas, because he has fallen in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone off to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia; Titus has gone to Dalmatia-


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only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, because he is a very useful helper in my work.


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When you come, bring the coat which I left with Carpus in Troas, also the scrolls and especially the parchments.


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Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm; the Lord will render to him according to his works;


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The first time I had to present my defense, no one stood by me; everyone deserted me- may it not be counted against them.


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But the Lord stood by me and gave me power to proclaim the full message for all the <i> Goyim </i>to hear, and I was rescued from the lion's mouth.


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The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. <i>Amen</i>.


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Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.


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From: Sha'ul, God's slave and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, sent to promote among God's chosen people the trust and knowledge of truth which lead to godliness


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and which are based on the certain hope of eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised that life before the beginning of time


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but made public this word of his in its own season through a proclamation with which I have been entrusted by order of God, our Deliverer.


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To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share: Grace and <i>shalom </i>from God the Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer.


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The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city- those were my instructions.


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A leader must be blameless, husband to one wife, with believing children who do not have a reputation for being wild or rebellious.


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For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God's affairs, must be blameless- he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain.


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On the contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness, uprightness, holiness and self-control.


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He must hold firmly to the trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.


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For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people's minds with their worthless and misleading talk.


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They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain.


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Even one of the Cretans' own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons"-


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and it's true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust


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To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure- even their minds and consciences have been defiled.


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They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.


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Tell the older men to be serious, sensible, self-controlled and sound in their trust, love and perseverance.


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Likewise, tell the older women to behave the way people leading a holy life should. They shouldn't be slanderers or slaves to excessive drinking. They should teach what is good,


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to be self-controlled and pure, to take good care of their homes and submit to their husbands. In this way, God's message will not be brought into disgrace.


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and in everything set them an example yourself by doing what is good. When you are teaching, have integrity and be serious;


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let everything you say be so wholesome that an opponent will be put to shame because he will have nothing bad to say about us.


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or pilfering. On the contrary, they should demonstrate complete faithfulness always, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Deliverer more attractive.


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It teaches us to renounce godlessness and worldly pleasures, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives now, in this age;


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while continuing to expect the blessed fulfillment of our certain hope, which is the appearing of the <i>Sh'khinah </i>of our great God and the appearing of our Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah.


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He gave himself up on our behalf in order to free us from all violation of <i>Torah </i> and purify for himself a people who would be his own, eager to do good.


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These are the things you should say. Encourage and rebuke with full authority; don't let anyone look down on you.


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Remind people to submit to the government and its officials, to obey them, to be ready to do any honorable kind of work,


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For at one time, we too were foolish and disobedient, deceived and enslaved by a variety of passions and pleasures. We spent our lives in evil and envy; people hated us, and we hated each other.


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he delivered us. It was not on the ground of any righteous deeds we had done, but on the ground of his own mercy. He did it by means of the <i>mikveh </i>of rebirth and the renewal brought about by the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>,


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He did it so that by his grace we might come to be considered righteous by God and become heirs, with the certain hope of eternal life.


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You can trust what I have just said, and I want you to speak with confidence about these things, so that those who have put their trust in God may apply themselves to doing good deeds. These are both good in themselves and valuable to the community.


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But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights about the <i>Torah</i>; because they are worthless and futile.


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When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you. Do your best to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.


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Do your best to help Zenas the <i>Torah </i>expert and Apollos with their arrangements for travelling, so that they will lack nothing.


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And have our people learn to apply themselves to doing good deeds that meet genuine needs, so that they will not be unproductive.


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All who are with me send you greetings. Give our greetings to our friends in the faith. Grace be with you all.


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From: Sha'ul, a prisoner for the sake of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy To: Our dear fellow-worker Philemon,


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along with sister Apphia, our fellow-soldier Archippus and the congregation that gathers in your home:


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I pray that the fellowship based on your commitment will produce full understanding of every good thing that is ours in union with the Messiah.


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For your love has given me much joy and encouragement. Brother, you have refreshed the hearts of God's people.


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Therefore, I would not hesitate, in union with the Messiah, to direct you to do the thing you ought to do.


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But since I Sha'ul, am the kind of person I am, an old man and now for the Messiah Yeshua's sake a prisoner besides, I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.


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His name means "useful," and although he was once useless to you, he has now become most useful- not only to you but also to me;


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I would dearly have loved to keep him with me, in order for him to serve me in your place while I am in prison because of the Good News.


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But I didn't want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do for me may be voluntary and not forced.


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Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a brief period was so that you could have him back forever,


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no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, as a dear brother. And that he is, especially to me. But how much dearer he must be to you, both humanly and in union with the Lord!


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I, Sha'ul, write with my own hand. I will repay it. (I won't mention, of course, that you owe me your very life.)


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Trusting that you will respond positively, I write knowing that you will indeed do more than I am asking.


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One more thing: please get a room ready for me. For I hope that through the prayers of you all God will give me a chance to visit you.


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But now, in the <i>acharit-hayamim</i>, he has spoken to us through his Son, to whom he has given ownership of everything and through whom he created the universe.


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This Son is the radiance of the <i>Sh'khinah</i>, the very expression of God's essence, upholding all that exists by his powerful word; and after he had, through himself, made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of <i> HaG'dulah BaM'romim</i>.


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For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Also, God never said of any angel, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son."


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And again, when God brings his Firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."


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Indeed, when speaking of angels, he says,"... who makes his angels winds and his servants fiery flames";


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but to the Son, he says, "Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; you rule your Kingdom with a scepter of equity;


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you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy in preference to your companions";


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and, "In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth; heaven is the work of your hands.


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and you will fold them up like a coat. Yes, they will be changed like clothing, but you remain the same, your years will never end."


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Moreover, to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?


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Therefore, we must pay much more careful heed to the things we have heard, so that we will not drift away.


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For if the word God spoke through angels became binding, so that every violation and act of disobedience received its just deserts in full measure,


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then how will we escape if we ignore such a great deliverance? This deliverance, which was first declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him;


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while God also bore witness to it with various signs, wonders and miracles, and with gifts of the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>which he distributed as he chose.


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For it was not to angels that God subjected the <i>'olam haba</i>- which is what we are talking about.


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And there is a place where someone has given this solemn testimony: "What is mere man, that you concern yourself with him? or the son of man, that you watch over him with such care?


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you put everything in subjection under his feet." In subjecting everything to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. However, at present, we don't see everything subjected to him- at least, not yet.


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But we do see Yeshua- who indeed was made for a little while lower than the angels- now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God's grace he might taste death for all humanity.


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For in bringing many sons to glory, it was only fitting that God, the Creator and Preserver of everything, should bring the Initiator of their deliverance to the goal through sufferings.


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For both Yeshua, who sets people apart for God, and the ones being set apart have a common origin- this is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers


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when he says, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."


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Also, "I will put my trust in him,..." and then it goes on, "Here I am, along with the children God has given me."


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Therefore, since the children share a common physical nature as human beings, he became like them and shared that same human nature; so that by his death he might render ineffective the one who had power over death (that is, the Adversary)


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Indeed, it is obvious that he does not take hold of angels to help them; on the contrary, "He takes hold of the seed of Avraham."


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This is why he had to become like his brothers in every respect- so that he might become a merciful and faithful <i>cohen gadol </i>in the service of God, making a <i> kapparah </i>for the sins of the people.


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For since he himself suffered death when he was put to the test, he is able to help those who are being tested now.


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Therefore, brothers whom God has set apart, who share in the call from heaven, think carefully about Yeshua, whom we acknowledge publicly as God's emissary and as <i>cohen gadol</i>.


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But Yeshua deserves more honor than Moshe, just as the builder of the house deserves more honor than the house.


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Also, Moshe was faithful <i>in </i>all God's house, as a servant giving witness to things God would divulge later.


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But the Messiah, as Son, was faithful <i>over </i>God's house. And we are that house of his, provided we hold firmly to the courage and confidence inspired by what we hope for.


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don't harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel on that day in the Wilderness when you put God to the test.


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Therefore, I was disgusted with that generation- I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, they have not understood how I do things';


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Watch out, brothers, so that there will not be in any one of you an evil heart lacking trust, which could lead you to apostatize from the living God!


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Instead, keep exhorting each other every day, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceit of sin.


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For we have become sharers in the Messiah, provided, however, that we hold firmly to the conviction we began with, right through until the goal is reached.


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Now where it says, "Today, if you hear God's voice, don't harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel,"


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who were the people who, after they heard, quarreled so bitterly? All those whom Moshe brought out of Egypt.


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And with whom was God disgusted for forty years? Those who sinned- yes, they fell dead in the Wilderness!


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Therefore, let us be terrified of the possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest remains, any one of you might be judged to have fallen short of it;


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for Good News has also been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them. But the message they heard didn't do them any good, because those who heard it did not combine it with trust.


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For it is we who have trusted who enter the rest. It is just as he said, "And in my anger, I swore that they would not enter my rest." He swore this even though his works have been in existence since the founding of the universe.


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For there is a place where it is said, concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."


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Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter it, and those who received the Good News earlier did not enter,


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he again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David, so long afterwards, in the text already given, "Today, if you hear God's voice, don't harden your hearts."


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Therefore, let us do our best to enter that rest; so that no one will fall short because of the same kind of disobedience.


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See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword- it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.


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Before God, nothing created is hidden, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.


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Therefore, since we have a great <i>cohen gadol </i>who has passed through to the highest heaven, Yeshua, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we acknowledge as true.


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For we do not have a <i>cohen gadol </i>unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that he did not sin.


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Therefore, let us confidently approach the throne from which God gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.


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For every <i>cohen gadol </i>taken from among men is appointed to act on people's behalf with regard to things concerning God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.


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He can deal gently with the ignorant and with those who go astray, since he too is subject to weakness.


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Also, because of this weakness, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as those of the people.


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So neither did the Messiah glorify himself to become <i>cohen gadol</i>; rather, it was the One who said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father."


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Also, as he says in another place, "You are a <i>cohen </i>forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek."


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During Yeshua's life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver him from death; and he was heard because of his godliness.


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And after he had been brought to the goal, he became the source of eternal deliverance to all who obey him,


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We have much to say about this subject, but it is hard to explain, because you have become sluggish in understanding.


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For although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the very first principles of God's Word all over again! You need milk, not solid food!


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Anyone who has to drink milk is still a baby, without experience in applying the Word about righteousness.


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But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil.


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Therefore, leaving behind the initial lessons about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of turning from works that lead to death, trusting God,


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and instruction about washings, <i>s'mikhah</i>, the resurrection of the dead and eternal punishment.


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For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the <i>Ruach HaKodesh</i>,


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and then have fallen away- it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt.


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For the land that soaks up frequent rains and then brings forth a crop useful to its owners receives a blessing from God;


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but if it keeps producing thorns and thistles, it fails the test and is close to being cursed; in the end, it will be burned.


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Now even though we speak this way, dear friends, we are confident that you have the better things that come with being delivered.


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For God is not so unfair as to forget your work and the love you showed for him in your past service to his people- and in your present service too.


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However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized;


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so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised.


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For when God made his promise to Avraham, he swore an oath to do what he had promised; and since there was no one greater than himself for him to swear by, he swore by himself


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Now people swear oaths by someone greater than themselves, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute.


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Therefore, when God wanted to demonstrate still more convincingly the unchangeable character of his intentions to those who were to receive what he had promised, he added an oath to the promise;


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so that through two unchangeable things, in neither of which God could lie, we, who have fled to take a firm hold on the hope set before us, would be strongly encouraged.


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We have this hope as a sure and safe anchor for ourselves, a hope that goes right on through to what is inside the <i>parokhet</i>,


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where a forerunner has entered on our behalf, namely, Yeshua, who has become a <i>cohen gadol </i>forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.


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This Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, a <i>cohen </i>of God <i>Ha'Elyon</i>, met Avraham on his way back from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him;


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also Avraham gave him a tenth of everything. Now first of all, by translation of his name, he is "king of righteousness"; and then he is also king of Shalem, which means "king of peace."


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There is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth or death; rather, like the Son of God, he continues as a <i>cohen </i>for all time.


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Now the descendants of Levi who became <i>cohanim </i>have a commandment in the <i>Torah </i>to take a tenth of the income of the people, that is, from their own brothers, despite the fact that they too are descended from Avraham.


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But Malki-Tzedek, even though he was not descended from Levi, took a tenth from Avraham. Also, he blessed Avraham, the man who received God's promises;


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and it is beyond all dispute that the one who blesses has higher status than the one who receives the blessing.


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Moreover, in the case of the <i>cohanim</i>, the tenth is received by men who die; while in the case of Malki-Tzedek, it is received by someone who is testified to be still alive.


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One might go even further and say that Levi, who himself receives tenths, paid a tenth through Avraham;


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Therefore, if it had been possible to reach the goal through the system of <i>cohanim </i> derived from Levi (since in connection with it, the people were given the <i> Torah</i>), what need would there have been for another, different kind of <i> cohen</i>, the one spoken of as to be compared with Malki-Tzedek and not to be compared with Aharon?


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For if the system of <i>cohanim </i>is transformed, there must of necessity occur a transformation of <i>Torah</i>.


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The one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar;


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for everyone knows that our Lord arose out of Y'hudah, and that Moshe said nothing about this tribe when he spoke about <i>cohanim</i>.


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one who became a <i>cohen </i>not by virtue of a rule in the <i>Torah </i>concerning physical descent, but by virtue of the power of an indestructible life.


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(for the <i> Torah </i>did not bring anything to the goal); and, on the other hand, a hope of something better is introduced, through which we are drawing near to God.


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What is more, God swore an oath. For no oath was sworn in connection with those who become <i>cohanim </i>now;


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but Yeshua became a <i>cohen </i>by the oath which God swore when he said to him, "<i>ADONAI </i>has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a <i>cohen </i>forever.'"


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Moreover, the present <i>cohanim </i>are many in number, because they are prevented by death from continuing in office.


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and consequently, he is totally able to deliver those who approach God through him; since he is alive forever and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf.


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This is the kind of <i>cohen gadol </i>that meets our need- holy, without evil, without stain, set apart from sinners and raised higher than the heavens;


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one who does not have the daily necessity, like the other <i>cohanim g'dolim</i>, of offering up sacrifices first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; because he offered one sacrifice, once and for all, by offering up himself.


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For the <i> Torah </i>appoints as <i>cohanim g'dolim </i>men who have weakness; but the text which speaks about the swearing of the oath, a text written later than the <i> Torah</i>, appoints a Son who has been brought to the goal forever.


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Here is the whole point of what we have been saying: we do have just such a <i>cohen gadol </i>as has been described. And he does sit at the right hand of <i>HaG'dulah </i>in heaven.


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There he serves in the Holy Place, that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one erected not by human beings but by <i>ADONAI</i>.


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For every <i> cohen gadol </i>is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so this <i> cohen gadol </i>too has to have something he can offer.


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Now if he were on earth, he wouldn't be a <i>cohen </i>at all, since there already are <i> cohanim </i>offering the gifts required by the <i>Torah</i>.


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But what they are serving is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly original; for when Moshe was about to erect the Tent, God warned him, "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain."


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But now the work Yeshua has been given to do is far superior to theirs, just as the covenant he mediates is better. For this covenant has been given as <i>Torah </i>on the basis of better promises.


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Indeed, if the first covenant had not given ground for faultfinding, there would have been no need for a second one.


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For God does find fault with the people when he says, "'See! The days are coming,' says <i> ADONAI</i>, 'when I will establish over the house of Isra'el and over the house of Y'hudah a new covenant.


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"'It will not be like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by their hand and led them forth out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, did not remain faithful to my covenant; so I, for my part, stopped concerning myself with them,' says <i>ADONAI.</i>


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"'For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days,' says <i>ADONAI</i>: 'I will put my <i>Torah </i>in their minds and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.


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"'None of them will teach his fellow-citizen or his brother, saying, "Know <i>ADONAI</i>!" For all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest,


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By using the term, "new," he has made the first covenant "old"; and something being made old, something in the process of aging, is on its way to vanishing altogether.


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A tent was set up, the outer one, which was called the Holy Place; in it were the <i> menorah</i>, the table and the Bread of the Presence.


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which had the golden altar for burning incense and the Ark of the Covenant, entirely covered with gold. In the Ark were the gold jar containing the <i>man</i>, Aharon's rod that sprouted and the stone Tablets of the Covenant;


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and above it were the <i>k'ruvim </i>representing the <i>Sh'khinah</i>, casting their shadow on the lid of the Ark- but now is not the time to discuss these things in detail.


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With things so arranged, the <i>cohanim </i>go into the outer tent all the time to discharge their duties;


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but only the <i>cohen hagadol </i>enters the inner one; and he goes in only once a year, and he must always bring blood, which he offers both for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people.


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By this arrangement, the <i>Ruach HaKodesh </i>showed that so long as the first Tent had standing, the way into the Holiest Place was still closed.


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This symbolizes the present age and indicates that the conscience of the person performing the service cannot be brought to the goal by the gifts and sacrifices he offers.


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For they involve only food and drink and various ceremonial washings- regulations concerning the outward life, imposed until the time for God to reshape the whole structure.


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But when the Messiah appeared as <i>cohen gadol </i>of the good things that are happening already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not man-made (that is, it is not of this created world),


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he entered the Holiest Place once and for all. And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever.


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For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity;


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then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God!


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It is because of this death that he is mediator of a new covenant [or will]. Because a death has occurred which sets people free from the transgressions committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.


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After Moshe had proclaimed every command of the <i>Torah </i>to all the people, he took the blood of the calves with some water and used scarlet wool and hyssop to sprinkle both the scroll itself and all the people;


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In fact, according to the <i>Torah</i>, almost everything is purified with blood; indeed, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.


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Now this is how the copies of the heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these.


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For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God.


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Further, he did not enter heaven to offer himself over and over again, like the <i>cohen hagadol </i>who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own;


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for then he would have had to suffer death many times- from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, he has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of himself.


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so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him.


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For the <i>Torah </i>has in it a shadow of the good things to come, but not the actual manifestation of the originals. Therefore, it can never, by means of the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, bring to the goal those who approach the Holy Place to offer them.


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Otherwise, wouldn't the offering of those sacrifices have ceased? For if the people performing the service had been cleansed once and for all, they would no longer have sins on their conscience.


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This is why, on coming into the world, he says, "It has not been your will to have an animal sacrifice and a meal offering; rather, you have prepared for me a body.


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Then I said, 'Look! In the scroll of the book it is written about me. I have come to do your will.'"


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In saying first, "You neither willed nor were pleased with animal sacrifices, meal offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings," things which are offered in accordance with the <i>Torah</i>;


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and then, "Look, I have come to do your will"; he takes away the first system in order to set up the second.


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It is in connection with this will that we have been separated for God and made holy, once and for all, through the offering of Yeshua the Messiah's body.


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Now every <i>cohen </i>stands every day doing his service, offering over and over the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.


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But this one, after he had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God,


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For by a single offering he has brought to the goal for all time those who are being set apart for God and made holy.


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" 'This is the covenant which I will make with them after those days,' says <i>ADONAI</i>: 'I will put my <i>Torah </i>on their hearts, and write it on their minds...,'"


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So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua.


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He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the <i>parokhet</i>, by means of his flesh.


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Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting- with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.


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Let us continue holding fast to the hope we acknowledge, without wavering; for the One who made the promise is trustworthy.


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And let us keep paying attention to one another, in order to spur each other on to love and good deeds,


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not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but, rather, encouraging each other. And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching.


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For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,


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Someone who disregards the <i>Torah </i>of Moshe is put to death without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses.


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Think how much worse will be the punishment deserved by someone who has trampled underfoot the Son of God; who has treated as something common the blood of the covenant which made him holy; and who has insulted the Spirit, giver of God's grace!


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For the One we know is the One who said, "Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay," and then said, "<i>ADONAI </i>will judge his people."


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But remember the earlier days, when, after you had received the light, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.


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Sometimes you were publicly disgraced and persecuted, while at other times you stood loyally by those who were treated this way.


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For you shared the sufferings of those who had been put in prison. Also when your possessions were seized, you accepted it gladly; since you knew that what you possessed was better and would last forever.


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For you need to hold out; so that, by having done what God wills, you may receive what he has promised.


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But the person who is righteous will live his life by trusting, and if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."


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However, we are not the kind who shrink back and are destroyed; on the contrary, we keep trusting and thus preserve our lives!


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By trusting, we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.


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By trusting, Hevel offered a greater sacrifice than Kayin; because of this, he was attested as righteous, with God giving him this testimony on the ground of his gifts. Through having trusted, he still continues to speak, even though he is dead.


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By trusting, Hanokh was taken away from this life without seeing death- "He was not to be found, because God took him away"- for he has been attested as having been, prior to being taken away, well pleasing to God.


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And without trusting, it is impossible to be well pleasing to God, because whoever approaches him must trust that he does exist and that he becomes a Rewarder to those who seek him out.


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By trusting, Noach, after receiving divine warning about things as yet unseen, was filled with holy fear and built an ark to save his household. Through this trusting, he put the world under condemnation and received the righteousness that comes from trusting.


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By trusting, Avraham obeyed, after being called to go out to a place which God would give him as a possession; indeed, he went out without knowing where he was going.


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By trusting, he lived as a temporary resident in the Land of the promise, as if it were not his, staying in tents with Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, who were to receive what was promised along with him.


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For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God.


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By trusting, he received potency to father a child, even when he was past the age for it, as was Sarah herself; because he regarded the One who had made the promise as trustworthy.


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Therefore this one man, who was virtually dead, fathered descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the grains of the sand on the seashore.


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All these people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what had been promised. They had only seen it and welcomed it from a distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth.


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but as it is, they aspire to a better fatherland, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called <i>their </i>God, for he has prepared for them a city.


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By trusting, Avraham, when he was put to the test, offered up Yitz'chak as a sacrifice. Yes, he offered up his only son, he who had received the promises,


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For he had concluded that God could even raise people from the dead! And, figuratively speaking, he did so receive him.


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By trusting, Ya'akov, when he was dying, blessed each of Yosef's sons, leaning on his walking-stick as he bowed in prayer.


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By trusting, Yosef, near the end of his life, remembered about the Exodus of the people of Isra'el and gave instructions about what to do with his bones.


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By trusting, the parents of Moshe hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they weren't afraid of the king's decree.


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He chose being mistreated along with God's people rather than enjoying the passing pleasures of sin.


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He had come to regard abuse suffered on behalf of the Messiah as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes fixed on the reward.


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By trusting, he obeyed the requirements for the <i>Pesach</i>, including the smearing of the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Isra'el.


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By trusting, they walked through the Red Sea as through dry land; when the Egyptians tried to do it, the sea swallowed them up.


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By trusting, the walls of Yericho fell down- after the people had marched around them for seven days.


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By trusting, Rachav the prostitute welcomed the spies and therefore did not die along with those who were disobedient.


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What more should I say? There isn't time to tell about Gid'on, Barak, Shimshon, Yiftach, David, Sh'mu'el and the prophets;


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who, through trusting, conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, received what was promised, shut the mouths of lions,


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quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, had their weakness turned to strength, grew mighty in battle and routed foreign armies.


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Women received back their dead resurrected; other people were stretched on the rack and beaten to death, refusing to be ransomed, so that they would gain a better resurrection.


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They were stoned, sawed in two, murdered by the sword; they went about clothed in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, mistreated,


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wandering about in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground! The world was not worthy of them!


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All of these had their merit attested because of their trusting. Nevertheless, they did not receive what had been promised,


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because God had planned something better that would involve us, so that only with us would they be brought to the goal.


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So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment- that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement- and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us,


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looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua- who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.


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Yes, think about him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you won't grow tired or become despondent.


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Also you have forgotten the counsel which speaks with you as sons: "My son, don't despise the discipline of <i>ADONAI </i>or become despondent when he corrects you.


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Regard your endurance as discipline; God is dealing with you as sons. For what son goes undisciplined by his father?


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Furthermore, we had physical fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them; how much more should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!


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For they disciplined us only for a short time and only as best they could; but he disciplines us in a way that provides genuine benefit to us and enables us to share in his holiness.


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Now, all discipline, while it is happening, does indeed seem painful, not enjoyable; but for those who have been trained by it, it later produces its peaceful fruit, which is righteousness.


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and make a level path for your feet; so that what has been injured will not get wrenched out of joint but rather will be healed.


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See to it that no one misses out on God's grace, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and thus contaminates many,


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and that no one is sexually immoral, or godless like Esav, who in exchange for a single meal gave up his rights as the firstborn.


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For you know that afterwards, when he wanted to obtain his father's blessing, he was rejected; indeed, even though he sought it with tears, his change of heart was to no avail.


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For you have not come to a tangible mountain, to an ignited fire, to darkness, to murk, to a whirlwind,


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to the sound of a <i>shofar</i>, and to a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further message be given to them-


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for they couldn't bear what was being commanded them, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it is to be stoned to death";


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On the contrary, you have come to Mount Tziyon, that is, the city of the living God, heavenly Yerushalayim; to myriads of angels in festive assembly;


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to a community of the firstborn whose names have been recorded in heaven; to a Judge who is God of everyone; to spirits of righteous people who have been brought to the goal;


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to the mediator of a new covenant, Yeshua; and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better things than that of Hevel.


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See that you don't reject the One speaking! For if those did not escape who rejected him when he gave divine warning on earth, think how much less we will escape if we turn away from him when he warns from heaven.


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Even then, his voice shook the earth; but now, he has made this promise: "One more time I will shake not only the earth, but heaven too!"


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And this phrase, "one more time," makes clear that the things shaken are removed, since they are created things, so that the things not shaken may remain.


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Therefore, since we have received an unshakeable Kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may offer service that will please God, with reverence and fear.


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but don't forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels.


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Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.


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Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.


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Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, "I will never fail you or abandon you."


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Therefore, we say with confidence, "<i>ADONAI </i>is my helper; I will not be afraid- what can a human being do to me?"


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Remember your leaders, those who spoke God's message to you. Reflect on the results of their way of life, and imitate their trust-


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Do not be carried away by various strange teachings; for what is good is for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. People who have made these the focus of their lives have not benefited thereby.


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For the <i> cohen hagadol </i>brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.


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So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood.


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Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually. For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.


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Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives, as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.


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Keep praying for us, for we are certain that we have a clear conscience and want to conduct ourselves properly in everything we do.


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The God of <i>shalom </i>brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Yeshua, by the blood of an eternal covenant.


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May that God equip you with every good thing you need to do his will; and may he do in us whatever pleases him, through Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory forever and ever. <i>Amen</i>.


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Now I urge you, brothers, to bear with my message of exhortation; for I have written you only briefly.


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Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, I will bring him with me when I come to see you.


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From: YaвЂ™akov, a slave of God and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah To: The Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora: <i>Shalom</i>!


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But let perseverance do its complete work; so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.


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Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach; and it will be given to him.


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But let him ask in trust, doubting nothing; for the doubter is like a wave in the sea being tossed and driven by the wind.


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But let the rich brother boast about his being humbled; since, like a wildflower, he will pass away.


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For just as the sun rises with the <i>sharav </i>and dries up the plant, so that its flower falls off and its beauty is destroyed, so too the rich person going about his business will wither away.


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How blessed is the man who perseveres through temptation! For after he has passed the test, he will receive as his crown the Life which God has promised to those who love him.


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No one being tempted should say, "I am being tempted by God." For God cannot be tempted by evil, and God himself tempts no one.


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Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire.


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Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.


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Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father who made the heavenly lights; with him there is neither variation nor darkness caused by turning.


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Having made his decision, he gave birth to us through a Word that can be relied upon, in order that we should be a kind of firstfruits of all that he created.


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Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry;


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So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives.


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For whoever hears the Word but doesnвЂ™t do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror,


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But if a person looks closely into the perfect <i>Torah</i>, which gives freedom, and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does.


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Anyone who thinks he is religiously observant but does not control his tongue is deceiving himself, and his observance counts for nothing.


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The religious observance that God the Father considers pure and faultless is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being contaminated by the world.


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My brothers, practice the faith of our Lord Yeshua, the glorious Messiah, without showing favoritism.


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Suppose a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and fancy clothes, and also a poor man comes in dressed in rags.


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If you show more respect to the man wearing the fancy clothes and say to him, "Have this good seat here," while to the poor man you say, "You, stand over there," or, "Sit down on the floor by my feet,"


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then arenвЂ™t you creating distinctions among yourselves, and havenвЂ™t you made yourselves into judges with evil motives?


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Listen, my dear brothers, hasnвЂ™t God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and to receive the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?


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If you truly attain the goal of Kingdom <i>Torah</i>, in conformity with the passage that says, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.


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But if you show favoritism, your actions constitute sin, since you are convicted under the<i>Torah </i>as transgressors.


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For a person who keeps the whole <i>Torah</i>, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all.


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For the One who said, "DonвЂ™t commit adultery," also said, "DonвЂ™t murder." Now, if you donвЂ™t commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the <i>Torah</i>.


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For judgment will be without mercy toward one who doesnвЂ™t show mercy; but mercy wins out over judgment.


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What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such "faith" able to save him?


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and someone says to him, "<i>Shalom</i>! Keep warm and eat hearty!" without giving him what he needs, what good does it do?


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But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions!


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You believe that "God is one"? Good for you! The demons believe it too- the thought makes them shudder with fear!


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WasnвЂ™t <i>Avraham avinu </i>declared righteous because of actions when he offered up his son YitzвЂ™chak on the altar?


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and the passage of the <i>Tanakh </i>was fulfilled which says, "<b>Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.</b>"*(*<a href="Gen 15:6">Gen 15:6</a>) He was even called GodвЂ™s friend.


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Likewise, wasnвЂ™t Rachav the prostitute also declared righteous because of actions when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another route?


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Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely.


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For we all stumble in many ways; if someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who can bridle his whole body.


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And think of a ship- although it is huge and is driven by strong winds, yet the pilot can steer it wherever he wants with just a small rudder.


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So too the tongue is a tiny part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how a little fire sets a whole forest ablaze!


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Yes, the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. The tongue is so placed in our body that it defiles every part of it, setting ablaze the whole of our life; and it is set on fire by Gei-Hinnom itself.


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With it we bless <i>ADONAI</i>, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God.


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Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isnвЂ™t right for things to be this way.


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Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers? or a grapevine, figs? Neither does salt water produce fresh.


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Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his good way of life, by actions done in the humility that grows out of wisdom.


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But if you harbor in your hearts bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, donвЂ™t boast and attack the truth with lies!


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This wisdom is not the kind that comes down from above; on the contrary, it is worldly, unspiritual, demonic.


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For where there are jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be disharmony and every foul practice.


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But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure, then peaceful, kind, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.


