Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

“Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

And He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”

And Mary said:
“My soul exalts the Lord,

and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.

Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.

It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.

And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,
Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales

When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.

And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;

And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul;

And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

but taking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again if God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.

And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

When we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara;

and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him.

Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.”

And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.

And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.

But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

They also honored us with many marks of respect; and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed.

At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,

and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.

For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;

Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.