and he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the faith-righteousness which he had while he was in uncircumcision; in order that he might be the father of all who believe, even though they are uncircumcised; so that righteousness might be imputed to them.

For Abraham, hoping against hope, had faith to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So numberless shall your descendants be.

and was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform.

Through him also we have had our access into this grace in which we have taken our stand, and are exulting in hope of the glory of God.

Thus, then, sin came into the world through one man, and through sin came death and so death spread to all men, because all had sinned.

Nevertheless, from Adam to Moses death reigned as king, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression. Now Adam is a type of Him who was to come.

What harvest-fruit then had you at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary I should not have become acquainted with sin had it not been for the Law; for except the Law had repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not lust," I should never have known the sin of lust.

But when sin had gained a vantage-ground, by means of the commandment, it stirred up within me all manner of lust; for where there is no law, sin is dead.

For sin, when it had gained a vantage-ground through the commandment, beguiled me, and through it slew me.

It is not, however, as though God's word had failed! For they are not all Israel who have sprung from Israel;

and even though they were still unborn, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election, not of works, but of Him who called,

And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory?

Even as in an earlier passage, Isaiah says, Except the Lord of Sabbath had us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and should have fared like Gomorrah.

No, it is God's wisdom that I utter, that hidden wisdom which God had decreed before the world began, unto our glory.

None of the rulers of the present age understands it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

For who makes you a differ, brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why are you boasting as if you had not received it?

Indeed, brothers, the time that remains to us has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none,

and when he had given thanks, he broke it, saying, "This is my body, broken for you; this do in memory of me."

For the very first thing I taught you was that I had myself been taught, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture,

Indeed, I had in myself, and still have, the sentence of death, in order that I might not rely on myself, but on God who raises the dead to life.

For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, far more is the ministry of righteousness radiant in glory.

For even after I reached Macedonia, my flesh had no rest, but I was troubled on every hand. Without were fights; within were, fears.

and not alone by his coming, but also by the comfort you had been to him. For he told me of your eager longing, of your penitence, and of your zeal on my behalf, so that I was happier still.

Even if I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret; though I did regret it when I saw that my letter had caused you pain, even for a time.

So then, even if I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer, or of him who had been wronged, but to make clear to yourselves in the sight of God your earnest care for me.

And this not as I had expected, but in accordance with the will of God, they first gave themselves to God and to me.

With the result that I have been begging Titus that, as he had been the one to begin the work with you, so he should complete among you this grace also.

even as it is written, He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little did not lack.

With them I am sending our brother of whose zeal I have often had proof in many ways, and who is now zealous because of his great confidence in you.

I have said formerly, and I now forewarn you as when I was present the second time, so now when I am absent the second time, so now when I am absent, saying to those who had sinned before, and to all the rest, "If I come again, I will not spare,"

But when God who had set me apart from my very birth,

and had called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach his gospel among the Gentiles, without consulting a human being,

or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return came back to Damascus.

Yet there were false brethren who had crept in to spy out the freedom we enjoy in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us again.

But those in authority??hat they once were makes no difference to me; God is no respecter of persons??hose I say who were in authority had no additions to make my message.

On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter has with the gospel for the circumcised

and when they recognized the grace which had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, then thought to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and to me the right hand of fellowship. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews.

To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not; for if a law had been given which could make alive, then righteousness would actually have come from law;

But once, when you Gentiles had no knowledge of God, you were slaves to gods which have no real being.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman;

who, though from the beginning he had the nature of God, did not reckon equality with God something to be forcibly retained,

More than this, after he had shone himself in human form, he humbled himself in his obedience even to death; yes, and to death on a cross.

And indeed he was sick nigh unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also so that I should not have sorrow upon sorrow.

And you very well know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I had left Macedonia, no church but yourselves had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving.

For others, of their own accord, tell about the welcome I had from you, and how you turned to God from your idols, to be slaved of a true and living God,

for you remember that although I had already borne ill-treatment and insult at Philippi, I took courage in my God to tell you the gospel of God, in the face of much opposition.

So in my fond affection it was my joy to give you, not only the gospel of God, but my very life also, because you had become dear to me.

So, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that my labor had been in vain.

although I had formerly been a blasphemer and a persecutor and a doer of outrage. But I obtained mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.

I left you in Crete for this reason, that you might set right the things left unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every city as I had instructed you;

He saved us, not because of any deeds that we had done in righteousness, But because of his own pity for us. He saved us by that washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit

Therefore, since the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also similarly partook of the same, in order that through death he might render powerless him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

And might deliver those who through fear of death had been subject to life-long bondage.

And with whom was he grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, and whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that they should never enter into his rest, if not to those who had proved faithless?

But this man who had no Levitical genealogy actually took tithes of Abraham, and blessed him to whom the promises belong.

For although those priests became such without an oath, He had an oath form God who said to him, The Lord hath sworn and will not change, Thou art a priest forever.

For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second.

Now even the first covenant had its ordinances of public worship, and its sanctuary, a material one.

For after every commandment according to the law had been spoken by Moses to the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.

Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshippers having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sin.

For you did sympathize with the prisoners, and you did take joyfully the confiscation of your goods; conscious that you had for yourselves greater, even lasting possessions.

For by it men of old times had witness borne to them.

By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice more acceptable than that of Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and through it he, although he is dead, still speaks.

By faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. Before his translation he had witness borne to him that he pleased God.

By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, although she was past the age for child-bearing, because she counted Him faithful who had promised;

And if they had cherished the memory of that land from which they went out, they would have found an opportunity to return;

By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, was on the point of offering up Isaac; yes, he who had received the promise was about to offer up his only son,

of whom it had been said, It is through Isaac that your posterity will be traced.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled seven days.

By faith Rahab, the harlot, perished not with the disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

Yet, though these all had witness borne to them by their faith, they received not the promise;

since it was for us that God had in store some better thing, so that apart from us they should not be perfected.

who in old times had been disobedient, when God's longsuffering was waiting in the days of Noah, while an ark was building, in which a few persons??ight in number??ere saved by water.)

Do not think it strange, beloved, that a fiery ordeal has come to test you, as though some surprising thing had befallen you.

For we were not following cunningly devised fables, when we told you of the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his Majesty.

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, nay, and old commandment, which you have had from the beginning. That old commandment is the message to which you have listened.

They came forth from us, but they did not belong to us. If they had belonged to us they would certainly have remained with us, but they went out that they might be manifest that they all are not of us.

And now I am entreating you, Lady, not as though I were writing some new commandment to you, but one which we have had from the beginning, let us love one another.

The first creature was like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man's, and the fourth creature was like an eagle flying.

Then I beheld a Lamb standing as if slain in the midst of the throne and of the four Living Creatures, and in the midst of the Elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes (which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth).

When he took the book, the four Living Creatures and the four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb. And each had a harp and a golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And I saw, and lo, a white horse, and he who sat on him had a bow; and there was given him a crown; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third Living Creature say, "Come!" And I saw, and lo, a black horse! He who sat on him had a balance in his hand.

And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they bore.

And there was given to each one of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for yet a little time, until the number should be completed by their fellow slaves and their brethren who were about to be put to death as they had been.

and they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like lion's teeth,

and they had breastplates something like breastplates of iron; and the noise of their wings was like the noise of chariots, of many horses rushing into battle.

one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, "Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates."

and thus I saw the horses in the vision and their riders. They had breastplates of fire, "red as fire, dark blue as jacinth, and yellow as sulphur." The heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

In his hand he had a little book, open; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the land.

And the angel whom I had seen standing upon the sea and upon the land lifted up his right hand to heaven,

And the voice which I had heard from heaven, I heard again, speaking to me, and saying, "Go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel who stands upon the sea and upon the land."

I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet like honey; but when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter.

But the earth came to the rescue of the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had poured forth from his mouth.

Then I saw rising up out of the sea a beast who had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns he had ten diadems, and on his heads blasphemous titles.

And I saw that one of his heads seemed to have been mortally wounded, but its deadly wound had been healed. The whole earth was following the beast, wondering.

And I saw another beast ascending from the land; and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon;