Now John wore clothing made from camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

And Jesus answered him, "You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey.

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

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

for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!" But they said, "What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!"

The chief priests took the silver and said, "It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money."

For this reason that field has been called the "Field of Blood" to this day.

When Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, "I am innocent of this man's blood. You take care of it yourselves!"

In reply all the people said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

John wore a garment made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

Then he began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey.

He said to them, "This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many.

"We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.'"

They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep, and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against that house, it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!"

because he loves our nation, and even built our synagogue."

But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.

Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.

So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs!

so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

Then he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

They will say, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish!'

For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.

And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.]

Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.

But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately.

This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so that in their own language they called that field Hakeldama, that is, "Field of Blood.")

And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David our forefather, 'Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot foolish things?

saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us!"

But Solomon built a house for him.

Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place?

but Saul learned of their plot against him. They were also watching the city gates day and night so that they could kill him.

The angel said to him, "Fasten your belt and put on your sandals." Peter did so. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your cloak and follow me."

but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.

When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!"

where he stayed for three months. Because the Jews had made a plot against him as he was intending to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all.

Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.

And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, "The Holy Spirit says this: 'This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"

But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality."

And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing nearby, approving, and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.'

When I was informed there would be a plot against this man, I sent him to you at once, also ordering his accusers to state their charges against him before you.

The local inhabitants showed us extraordinary kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain and was cold.

"Their feet are swift to shed blood,

Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God's wrath.

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

And in this way I desire to preach where Christ has not been named, so as not to build on another person's foundation,

If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward.

Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me."

For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!"

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving according to human standards.

Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.

But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God's law.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,

and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross -- through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing.

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity,

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep."

And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood.

Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own,

For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.