David, after obediently doing God's will in his own time, 'fell asleep and was laid by the side of his ancestors, and did undergo corruption;

'Look, you despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I am doing a deed in your days--a deed which, though told you in full, you will never believe'."

'"After this I will return; and I will rebuild the House of David which has fallen--its very ruins I will rebuild, and will set it up once more;

We are accordingly sending Judas and Silas, and they will tell you by word of mouth what we are now writing.

That you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating the flesh of strangled animals, and from impurity. If you guard yourselves against such things, it will be well with you. Farewell.'

As he took his leave, "I will come back again to you, please God," and then set sail from Ephesus.

So that not only is this business of ours likely to fall into discredit, but there is the further danger that the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be thought nothing of, and that she herself will be deprived of her splendor--though all Roman Asia and the whole world worship her."

But if you want anything more, it will have to be settled in the regular Assembly.

And now, under spiritual constraint, I am here on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

And now, I tell you, I know that none of you will ever see my face again--you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom.

I know that, after my departure, merciless wolves will get in among you, who will not spare the flock;

And from among yourselves, too, men will arise, who will teach perversions of truth, so as to draw away the disciples after them.

He came to see us, and, taking Paul's girdle, and binding his own feet and hands with it, said: "This is what the Holy Spirit says--'The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound like this at Jerusalem by the Jews, and they will give him up to the Gentiles'."

So, as he would not be persuaded, we said no more to him, only adding--"The Lord's will be done."

Join these men, share their purification, and bear their expenses, so that they may shave their heads; and then all will see that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that, on the contrary, you yourself rule your life in obedience to the Jewish Law.

Then he said 'The God of our ancestors has appointed you to learn his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his lips;

And saw Jesus saying to me 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

But Jesus said to me 'Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away'."

Whereupon Paul turned to him and said: "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to try me in accordance with law, and yet, in defiance of law, order me to be struck?"

So we want you now, with the consent of the Council, to suggest to the Commanding Officer that he should bring Paul down before you, as though you intended to go more fully into his case; but, before he comes here, we will be ready to make away with him."

But do not let them persuade you, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, who have taken an oath that they will not eat or drink, till they have made away with him; and they are at this very moment in readiness, counting upon your promise."

"I will hear all you have to say as soon as your accusers have arrived." And he ordered Paul to be kept under guard in Herod's Government House.

And you will be able, by examining him on all these points, to satisfy yourself as to the charges which we are bringing against him."

And I have a hope that rests in God--a hope which they also cherish--that there will one day be a resurrection of good and bad alike.

Felix, however, adjourned the case--though he had a fairly accurate knowledge of all that concerned the Cause--with the promise: "When Lysias, the commanding Officer, comes down, I will give my decision in your case."

But, while Paul was speaking at length about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became terrified, and interrupted him--"Go for the present, but, when I find an opportunity, I will send for you again."

"My friends," he said, "I see that this voyage will be attended with injury and much damage, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives also."

Yet, even as things are, I urge you not to lose courage, for there will not be a single life lost among you--only the ship.

Therefore, courage, my friends! for I believe God, that everything will happen exactly as I have been told.

So I urge you to take something to eat; your safety depends upon it, for not one of you will lose even a hair of his head."

'Go to this nation and say--"You will hear with your ears without ever understanding, and, though you have eyes, you will see without ever perceiving."

Understand, then, that this Salvation of God was sent for the Gentiles; and they will listen."

You who judge those that do such things and yet are yourself guilty of them-do you suppose that you of all men will escape God's judgment?

Hard-hearted and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for yourself Wrath on the 'Day of Wrath,' when God's justice as a judge will be revealed;

For 'he will give to every man what his actions deserve.'

To those who, by perseverance in doing good, aim at glory, honor, and all that is imperishable, he will give Immortal Life;

Will fall upon every human being who persists in wrong-doing- -upon the Jew first, but also upon the Greek.

But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every one who does right-for the Jew first, but also for the Greek,

All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

It is not those who hear the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.

On the day when God passes judgment on men's inmost lives, as the Good News that I tell declares that he will do through Christ Jesus.

But, perhaps, you bear the name of 'Jew,' and are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

If, then, an uncircumcised man pays regard to the requirements of the Law, will not he, although not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?

Indeed, the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!

But what if our wrong-doing makes God's righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a man.) Heaven forbid!

For 'no human being will be pronounced righteous before God' as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.

Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is only one God, and he will pronounce those who are circumcised righteous as the result of faith, and also those who are uncircumcised on their showing the same faith.

Blessed the man whom the Lord will never regard as sinful!'

But also with reference to us. Our faith, too, will be regarded by God in the same light, if we have faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;

Even for an upright man scarcely any one will die. For a really good man perhaps some one might even dare to die.

For if, by reason of the offence of the one man, Death reigned through that one man, far more will those, upon whom God's loving- kindness and his gift of righteousness are lavished, find Life, and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ.

For, as through the disobedience of the one man the whole race was rendered sinful, so, too, through the obedience of the one, the whole race will be rendered righteous.

We know, indeed, that Christ, having once risen from the dead, will not die again. Death has power over him no longer.

If, then, during her husband's lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.

Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this Death?

And, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give Life even to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit living within you.

If you live in obedience to your earthly nature, you will inevitably die; but if, by the power of the Spirit, you put an end to the evil habits of the body, you will live.

Yet not without the hope that some day Nature, also, will be set free from enslavement to decay, and will attain to the freedom which will mark the Glory of the Children of God.

Yet he who searches all our hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because the pleadings of the Spirit for Christ's People are in accordance with his will.

God did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all; will he not, then, with him, freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against any of God's People? He who pronounces them righteous is God!

Who is there to separate us from the love of the Christ? Will trouble, or difficulty, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?

Nor Height, nor Depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord!

Nor, because they are Abraham's descendants, are they all his Children; but-'It is Isaac's children who will be called thy descendants.'

For these words are the words of a promise-'About this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.'

For his words to Moses are-'I will take pity on whom I take pity, and be merciful to whom I am merciful.'

Perhaps you will say to me-'How can any one still be blamed? For who withstands his purpose?'

This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved.

For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the world, fully and without delay.'

For Moses writes that, as for the righteousness which results from Law, 'those who practice it will find Life through it.'

But the righteousness which results from faith finds expression in these words--'Do not say to yourself "Who will go up into heaven?"'--which means to bring Christ down--'

Or "Who will go down into the depths below?"'--which means to bring Christ up from the dead.

But again I ask 'Did not the people of Israel understand? First there is Moses, who says--'I, the Lord, will stir you to rivalry with a nation which is no nation; Against an undiscerning nation I will arouse your anger.'

And, if their falling away has enriched the world, and their failure has enriched the Gentiles, how much more will result from their full restoration!

For, if their being cast aside has meant the reconciliation of the world, what will their reception mean, but Life from the dead?

Some, however, of the branches were broken off, and you, who were only a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and came to share with them the root which is the source of the richness of the cultivated olive.

But branches, you will say, were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.

For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

See, then, both the goodness and the severity of God--his severity towards those who fell, and his goodness towards you, provided that you continue to confide in that goodness; otherwise you, also, will be cut off.

And they, too, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has it in his power to graft them in again.

If you were cut off from your natural stock--a wild olive-- and were grafted, contrary to the course of nature, upon a good olive, much more will they--the natural branches--be grafted back into their parent tree.

Brothers, for fear that you should think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only till the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.

And then all Israel shall be saved. As Scripture says--'From Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

Do not conform to the fashion of this world; but be transformed by the complete change that has come over your minds, so that you may discern what God's will is--all that is good, acceptable, and perfect.

Never return injury for injury. Aim at doing what all men will recognize as honorable.

Never avenge yourselves, dear friends, but make way for the Wrath of God; for Scripture declares--'"It is for me to avenge, I will requite," says the Lord.'

Rather--'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him to drink. By doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.'

Let every one obey the supreme Authorities. For no Authority exists except by the will of God, and the existing Authorities have been appointed by God.

Therefore he who sets himself against the authorities is resisting God's appointment, and those who resist will bring a judgment upon themselves.

A good action has nothing to fear from Rulers; a bad action has. Do you want to have no reason to fear the Authorities? Then do what is good, and you will win their praise.

Who are you, that you should pass judgment on the servant of another? His standing or falling concerns his own master. And stand he will, for his Master can enable him to stand.

So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.

And that the Gentiles also may praise God for his mercy. As Scripture says--'Therefore will I make acknowledgment to thee among the Gentiles and sing in honor of thy Name.'

For I will not dare to speak of anything but what Christ has done through me to win the obedience of the Gentiles--

And I know that, when I come to you, it will be with a full measure of blessing from Christ.

And God, the giver of peace, will before long crush Satan under your feet. May the blessing of Jesus, our Lord, be with you.

From Paul, who has been called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, And from Sosthenes, our Brother.

And God himself will strengthen you to the end, so that at the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ you may be found blameless.

God will not fail you, and it is he who called you into communion with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.