Sin's wage is death, but God's gift is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.

until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

So let a man think of us as Christ's servants, and stewards of God's mysteries.

For in God's sight this world's wisdom is folly. Scripture tells of-'One who catches the wise in their own craftiness,'

If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need—how can God’s love reside in him?

They are planted in the LORD's house. They will flourish in our God's courts.

God's words were these--'Abraham's descendants shall live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of our God’s vengeance;
to comfort all who mourn,

that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Yet grace [God’s undeserved favor] was given to each one of us [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and abundant] gift.

Any man from Aaron the priest's offspring in whom is a physical defect shall not come near to present offerings made by fire to Yahweh; a physical defect [is] in him; he shall not come near to present his God's food.

For we seek not only God's approval of our integrity, but man's also.

Let it not be in acts of eye-service as if you had but to please men, but as Christ's bondservants who are doing God's will from the heart.

and sent Timothy our brother and God's minister in the service of Christ's Good News, that he might help you spiritually and encourage you in your faith;

For a Savior has been born today in David's city [i.e., Bethlehem], who is Christ the Lord [i.e., God's specially chosen one].

Now it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ [i.e., God's, specially chosen one].

They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.

Then we left the Ahava River for Jerusalem on the twelfth day of the first month. Our God's protection was with us, and he delivered us from the enemy's power and from ambush along the way.

[Eventually] this Word became a human being and lived among us [Note: The word "lived" here refers to pitching a temporary tent]. (And we saw His splendor; such splendor as belongs to the Father's only Son), full of God's favor and truth.

"Then [Note: This event answers to the "immediately" of Matt. 24:29, and suggests the next major event on God's calendar] there will be [supernatural] signs [evident] in the sun and moon and stars. And on earth [there will be] distress among nations; they will be perplexed by the roaring of the ocean's churning waves. [Note: Probably this is figurative language for highly agitated conditions on earth].

for they loved men's praise more than God's praise.

So they sent to Him their disciples together with the Herodians; who said, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and that you faithfully teach God's truth; and that no fear of man misleads you, for you are not biased by men's wealth or rank.

who now testifies to what is God's word and Jesus Christ's testimony ??to what he saw.

For they exchanged God's truth for the [devil's] lie, and worshiped and served what was created instead of the Creator, who is to be praised forever. May it be so.

For the law brings [God's] wrath [i.e., because of man's failure to obey it perfectly], but where there is no law, there is no [responsibility for] sin.

so that you, along with all the saints [i.e., God's holy people], will be [spiritually] strong enough to grasp how wide and long and high and deep [Christ's love is];

It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart [i.e., you are dear to me], for you people are sharing in God's unearned favor with me [Note: Paul here refers to his ministry], both in my imprisonment and in my defense and confirmation of the Gospel [i.e., in my efforts to give proof of the Gospel's truth].

And most of the brothers in the Lord's [service], through my imprisonment, gained confidence to speak out God's message with greater courage and without fear.

So, I endure everything for the elect's sake [i.e., God's people], so that they can obtain the salvation which comes through Christ Jesus, with [its] never ending splendor.

So, for this reason, He had to become like His brothers in every way [i.e., except that He never sinned], so that He could become a merciful and faithful Head Priest in things related to God's [service], [and] that He could provide a means of purifying [Lev. 16:30] for people's sins [i.e., make atonement for them].

Then the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to wage war against the rest of the woman's offspring, who obey God's commandments and who remain true to their testimony about Jesus. {\o Rev 12:18} Then the dragon stood on the seashore. [Note: Some manuscripts say, "I stood"].

and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of the priest's office forever, because he was jealous for his God's sake and made an atonement for the children of Israel.'"

The wind [of God’s relentless wrath] has wrapped up Israel in its wings,
And [in captivity] they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices [to calves, to sun, to moon, to stars, and to pagan gods].

and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God's growth.

to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God's word may not be blasphemed.

Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived?

I say to you, This man went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other: for everyone who makes himself high will be made low and whoever makes himself low will be made high.

I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God's wrath is finished.

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God's creation, says these things:

The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God's will remains forever.

choosing rather to share ill treatment with God's people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time;

who once were not a people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have God's Son does not have the life.

in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God's word is not chained.

For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.

They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who do not have God's seal on their foreheads.

For God's son Jesus Christ which was preached among you by us - that is to say, by me and Silvanus and Timothy - was not "yea" and "nay": but in him it was "Yea."

On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it.

For the overseer must be blameless, as God's steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;

This hast thou reckoned for judgment: Thou hast said -- 'My righteousness is more than God's?'

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,

Whoever trusts in Him is never to come up for judgment, but whoever does not trust in Him has already received his sentence, because he has not trusted in the name of God's only Son.

For those days will be a time of distress, the like of which has not occurred from the beginning of God's creation until now-- and never will again.

And, had not the Lord put a limit to those days, not a single soul would escape; but, for the sake of God's own chosen People, he did limit them.

For false Christs and false Prophets will arise, and display signs and marvels, to lead astray, were it possible, even God's People.

As for God's chosen people who are in the land, and the leading officials I admired so much --

Who doth make me as in months past, As in the days of God's preserving me?

Indeed, with your help I can charge against an army; by my God's power I can jump over a wall.

I am ever pressing on toward the goal, for the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

“Listen to us, lord. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”

Jesus told her, "I told you that if you believed you would see God's glory, didn't I?"

And without argument, great is the secret of religion: He who was seen in the flesh, who was given God's approval in the spirit, was seen by the angels, of whom the good news was given among the nations, in whom the world had faith, who was taken up in glory.

They did far more than I hoped, for first in obedience to God's will, they gave themselves to the Lord, and to me.

For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper],
And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all wither and decay like a leaf,
And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor, toward destruction].

The people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Sacrificing [to idols] in gardens and making offerings with incense on bricks [instead of at the designated altar];

For the Lord says this, “Behold, I extend peace to her (Jerusalem) like a river,
And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
And you will be nursed, you will be carried on her hip and [playfully] rocked on her knees.

Do you think that I did wrong in degrading myself to uplift you, because I preached God's good news to you without any compensation?

It will be in those days when you have [repented and] multiplied and increased in the land,” says the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will not come to mind, nor will they [seriously] remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again [for instead of the ark, which symbolized My presence, I will be present].

And the angel said to her, Have no fear, Mary, for you have God's approval.

Did God's message start from you Corinthians? Or are you the only people it has reached?

For I am the least important of the apostles, and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I once persecuted God's church.

About the collection for God's people, I want you to do as I told the churches of Galatia to do.

Now I urge you, brothers??ou know that the family of Stephanas was the first to be converted in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people??16 I want you to enlist under such leaders, and under anyone who joins with you and works hard.

And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

I have overthrown among you, like God's overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

When they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued courageously to speak God's message.

So with great power the apostles continued to give their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's favor rested richly on them all.

So God's message continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem continued to grow rapidly; a large number, even of priests, continued to surrender to the faith.

As ordered, they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the sanctuary of God's Temple in Jerusalem, and the king, his officials, his wives, and mistresses drank from them.

So he said, "Look! I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand."

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward if you listen to the Lord your God’s commands I am giving you today and are careful to follow them.

Now, as Peter was going here and there among them all, he finally went down to God's people who lived at Lydda.

And to Apphia, our sister, and to Archippus, our brother in God's army, and to the church in your house:

So at once I sent for you, and you have been kind enough to come. So now we are all here in God's presence to listen to anything that the Lord has commanded you to say."

Now the apostles and the brothers all over Judea heard that the heathen too had accepted God's message.

Because if the word which came through the angels was fixed, and in the past every evil act against God's orders was given its full punishment;

Let us then, though we still have God's word that we may come into his rest, go in fear that some of you may be unable to do so.

So that as it is clear that some have to go in, and that the first hearers of the good news were not able to go in because they went against God's orders,

Because of this, let us have a strong desire to come into that rest, and let no one go after the example of those who went against God's orders.

When they reached Salamis, they began to preach God's message in the Jewish synagogues. They had John with them as their assistant.

He was an intimate friend of the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul and in this way tried to hear God's message.

And though he was a Son, through the pain which he underwent, the knowledge came to him of what it was to be under God's orders;

For David, after having served God's purpose in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his forefathers, and so he did experience decay,

And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.

Of Levi he said,

“Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man [Aaron],
Whom You tested and proved at Massah,
With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah;

A psalm of David, written to get God's attention. O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger! Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury!

What we do see is Jesus, who was made for a time a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, in order that through God's grace he might taste death for every man.