As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.

There was a woman who was a notorious sinner in that city. When she learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume

and knelt at his feet behind him. She was crying and began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet over and over again, anointing them constantly with the perfume.

Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!"

So I'm telling you that her sins, as many as they are, have been forgiven, and that's why she has shown such great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little."

A woman was there who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. Although she had spent all she had on doctors, no one could heal her.

She came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel of his garment, and her bleeding stopped at once.

When the woman saw that she couldn't hide, she came forward trembling. Bowing down in front of him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched Jesus and how she had been instantly healed.

But when Jesus heard this, he told the synagogue leader, "Stop being afraid! Just believe, and she will get well."

Now everyone was crying and wailing for her. But Jesus said, "Stop crying! She's not dead. She's sleeping."

They laughed and laughed at him, because they knew she was dead.

So her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then Jesus directed that she be given something to eat.

She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and kept listening to what he was saying.

But Martha was worrying about all the things she had to do, so she came to him and asked, "Lord, you do care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself, don't you? Then tell her to help me."

The queen of the south will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look, something greater than Solomon is here!

so those living today will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that was shed since the foundation of the world,

A woman was there who had a spirit that had disabled her for eighteen years. She was hunched over and completely unable to stand up straight.

Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

"Or suppose a woman has ten coins and loses one of them. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it, doesn't she?

When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin that I lost!'

yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice. Otherwise, she will keep coming and wear me out.'"

because all the others contributed to the offering out of their surplus, but she, in her poverty, dropped in everything she had to live on."

Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told people,

"No one, sir," she replied. Then Jesus said, "I don't condemn you, either. Go home, and from now on don't sin anymore."

As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

"Yes, Lord," she told him. "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world."

When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you!"

As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

When the Jews who had been with her, consoling her in the house, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she had gone to the tomb to cry there.

As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and told him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died."

Mary took a litron of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus' feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Then Jesus said, "Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial,

When a woman is in labor she has pain, because her time has come. Yet when she has given birth to her child, she doesn't remember the agony anymore because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.

So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

Meanwhile, Mary stood crying outside the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked into the tomb.

She saw two angels in white clothes who were sitting down, one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus' body had been lying.

They asked her, "Lady, why are you crying?" She told them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him."

After she had said this, she turned around and noticed Jesus standing there, without realizing that it was Jesus.

Jesus asked her, "Dear lady, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she told him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

Jesus told her, "Mary!" She turned around and told him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means "Teacher").

So Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I've seen the Lord!" She also told them what he had told her.

So Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?" She answered, "Yes, that was the price."

She instantly fell down at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was known for her good actions and acts of charity that she was always doing.

At that time, she got sick and died. After they had washed her, they laid her in an upstairs room.

So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him upstairs. All the widows gathered around Peter, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter made them all go outside. After kneeling down, he prayed, turned to the body, and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

On recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she didn't open the gate but ran back inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.

The other people told her, "You're out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. Then they said, "It's his angel."

A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple goods, was listening to us. She was a worshiper of God, and the Lord opened her heart to listen carefully to what was being said by Paul.

When she and her family were baptized, she urged us, "If you are convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she continued to insist that we do so.

She would follow Paul and us and shout, "These men are servants of the Most High God and are proclaiming to you a way of salvation!"

She kept doing this for many days until Paul became annoyed, turned to her and told the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus the Messiah to come out of her!" And it came out that very moment.

There is a danger not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into disrepute and that she will be robbed of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her."

Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there, approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.'

They run swiftly to shed blood.

For a married woman is bound by the Law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband.

So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.

Welcome her in the Lord as is appropriate for saints, and provide her with anything she may need from you, for she has assisted many people, including me.

But if she does leave him, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. Likewise, a husband must not abandon his wife.

I (not the Lord) say to the rest of you: If a brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she is willing to live with him, he must not abandon her.

And if a woman has a husband who is an unbeliever and he is willing to live with her, she must not abandon him.

But if you do get married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. However, these people will experience trouble in this life, and I want to spare you from that.

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, that is, about how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your benefit, not to put a noose around your necks, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

However, in my opinion she will be happier if she stays as she is. And in saying this, I think that I, too, have God's Spirit.

So if a woman does not cover her head, she should cut off her hair. If it is a disgrace for a woman to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her own head.

Love is always patient; love is always kind; love is never envious or arrogant with pride. Nor is she conceited,

and she is never rude; she never thinks just of herself or ever gets annoyed. She never is resentful;

is never glad with sin; she's always glad to side with truth, and pleased that truth will win.

She bears up under everything; believes the best in all; there is no limit to her hope, and never will she fall.

Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery along with her children.

But the heavenly Jerusalem is the free woman, and she is our spiritual mother.

Moreover, in the area of teaching, I am not allowing a woman to instigate conflict toward a man. Instead, she is to remain calm.

even though she will be saved through the birth of the Child, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, along with good judgment.

A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband.

She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way.

If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.

By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful.

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had welcomed the spies with a greeting of peace.

Likewise, Rahab the prostitute was justified through actions when she welcomed the messengers and sent them away on a different road, wasn't she?

I gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her immorality.

They cried out in a loud voice, "Holy and true Sovereign, how long will it be before you judge and take revenge on those living on the earth who shed our blood?"

She was pregnant and was crying out from her labor pains, the agony of giving birth.

She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

However, the woman was given the two wings of a large eagle so that she could fly away from the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time.

Then another angel, a second one, followed him, saying, "Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has made all nations drink the wine, the wrath earned for her sexual sins."

The woman wore purple and scarlet clothes and was adorned with gold, gems, and pearls. In her hand she was holding a gold cup filled with detestable things and the impurities of her immorality.

He cried out in a powerful voice, "Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean bird, and a prison for every unclean and hated beast.

Do to her as she herself has done, and give her double for her deeds. Mix a double drink for her in the cup she mixed.

Just as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, inflict on her just as much torture and misery. In her heart she says, "I am a queen on a throne, not a widow. I will never see misery.'

For this reason, her diseases that result in death, misery, and famine will come in a single day. She will be burned up in a fire, because powerful is the Lord God who judges her."

Frightened by the torture that she experiences, they will stand far away and cry out, "How terrible, how terrible it is for that great city, the powerful city Babylon, because your judgment arrived in a single hour!"

She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen, dazzling and pure." (The fine linen represents the righteous deeds of the saints.)