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."

Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate, but ran back in and told them that Peter was standing at the gate.

When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Immediately an angel of the Lord struck Herod down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.

For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him.

but the one whom God raised up did not experience decay.

yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy."

And God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,

When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this,

Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures,

When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, "These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too,

and said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met together.

You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house,

For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.

Those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

Paul replied, "I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.'"

They did not find me arguing with anyone or stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city,

So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought.

When his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the evil deeds I had suspected.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.

When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.

What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God?

He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba, Father."

Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

What shall we say then? -- that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,

but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it.

For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger."

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."

I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.

For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.

For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God.

For who concedes you any superiority? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?

And you are proud! Shouldn't you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you?

For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present.

In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.

These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did.

And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.

For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.

Did the word of God begin with you, or did it come to you alone?

Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.

If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.

Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?

Now I appeal to God as my witness, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him -- for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

I had no relief in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and set out for Macedonia.

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

For even if I made you sad by my letter, I do not regret having written it (even though I did regret it, for I see that my letter made you sad, though only for a short time).

So then, even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong, or on account of the one who was wronged, but to reveal to you your eagerness on our behalf before God.

For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means. They did so voluntarily,

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

as it is written: "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little."

We did this as a precaution so that no one should blame us in regard to this generous gift we are administering.

For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

I urged Titus to visit you and I sent our brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way?

For I did not receive it or learn it from any human source; instead I received it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being,

nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia, and then returned to Damascus.

I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running -- or had not run -- in vain.

But we did not surrender to them even for a moment, in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all.

and though my physical condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, as though I were Christ Jesus himself!

He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will --

He did this when he revealed to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,

when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace,

But you did not learn about Christ like this,

who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

Nevertheless, you did well to share with me in my trouble.

in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you).

For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,

For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.

For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed -- and you did in fact believe our testimony.

For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline among you,

and we did not eat anyone's food without paying. Instead, in toil and drudgery we worked night and day in order not to burden any of you.

I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I remember you in my prayers as I do constantly night and day.

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him in keeping with his deeds.

However, without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be out of compulsion, but from your own willingness.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my son! Today I have fathered you"? And in another place he says, "I will be his father and he will be my son."

For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels.