Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar; Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Aram,

So the news about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were sick with various diseases, especially those who were suffering with torturing diseases; and he cured them.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You must not swear falsely, but you must perform your oaths as a religious duty.'

But I tell you not to swear at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne,

Never swear by your own head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.

And in stories, by way of comparison, He told them many things, as He continued to speak: "A sower went out to sow,

"Now listen closely to the story of the sower.

And He answered: "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man;

And he answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.

But be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known in exactly what part of the night the thief would come, he would have been on guard and would not have let his house be broken into.

Again he denied it, and even swore, "I do not know the man!"

and said, "Sir, we remember that that pretender said while He was living, 'After three days I will rise again.'

"Listen! A sower went out to sow.

The message is what the sower sows.

She was a heathen who spoke Greek and had been born in Syro-Phenicia. And she kept begging Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

the oath which He swore to our forefather Abraham,

This, the first census, was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and were trodden down, and the wild birds ate them up.

But be sure of this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

But he answered, 'Leave it, sir, just one more year, till I dig around it and manure it.

Then the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and still there is room.'

Now the first one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made two hundred more.'

The second one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made a hundred!'

But another one came in and said, 'Here is your twenty dollars, sir, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief.

And they said, 'Sir, he has two hundred already.'

When He rose from His prayer, He went to the disciples and found them asleep from sorrow.

She said to Him, "You have nothing to draw with, sir, and the well is deep. Where do you get your living water?

The woman said to Him, "Give me this water at once, sir, so I may never get thirsty again, nor have to come so far to draw water."

Now the reaper is already getting pay, for he is gathering a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.

The king's officer pleaded with Him, "Sir, come down at once before my child is dead!"

The sick man answered, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is moved, but while I am trying to get down, somebody else steps down ahead of me."

but I am sure that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

Then they said to Him, "Give us that bread always, sir!"

He answered, "Who is He, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in Him."

and they went to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and kept making this request of him, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."

because He was sure that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God,

but sorrow has taken complete possession of your hearts, because I have told you these things.

So you too are now in sorrow, but I am going to see you again, and then your hearts will be happy, and no one can rob you of your happiness.

I in union with them and you in union with me, so that they may be perfectly united, and the world may be sure that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

A bowl full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a stick and put it to His lips.

As soon as Jesus took the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Because she supposed it was the gardener, she said to Him, "If it was you, sir, who carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will remove Him."

He asked, "Who are you, sir?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

He stared at him and in terror asked, "What is it, sir?" The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your deeds of charity have gone up and been remembered before God.

But Peter said, "Never by any means, sir, for I have never eaten anything common, or not ceremonially cleansed."

But I answered, 'Never by any means, sir, for nothing common or not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.'

They sent this letter by them: "The apostles and elders as brothers send greeting to the brothers from among the heathen in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

He journeyed on through Syria and Cilicia and continued to strengthen the churches.

Now Paul stayed a considerable time longer in Corinth, and then bade the brothers goodbye and set sail for Syria, accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow.

where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews.

After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on our left, we sailed on for Syria, and put in at Tyre, for the ship was to unload her cargo there.

I answered, 'Who are you, Sir?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.'

'Who are you, Sir?' said I. 'I am Jesus,' the Lord said, 'whom you are persecuting.

and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness,

Because he never weakened in faith, he calmly contemplated his own vital powers as worn out (for he was about one hundred years old) and the inability of Sarah to bear a child,

For this is the language of the promise, "About this time next year I will come back, and Sarah will have a son."

So, after I have finished this matter and made sure of the results of this contribution for them, I shall come by you on my way to Spain.

And I feel sure that when I do come to you, I shall come with Christ's abundant blessing on me.

So, as to eating things that have been sacrificed to idols, we are sure that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One.

who comforts me in every sorrow I have, so that I can comfort people who are in sorrow with the comfort with which I am comforted by God.

If I am in sorrow, it is on behalf of your comfort and salvation; if I am comforted, it is for the comfort that is experienced by you in your patient endurance of the same sort of sufferings that I am enduring too.

For I do not want you to be uninformed about the sorrow that I suffered in Asia, because I was so crushed beyond any power to endure that I was in dire despair of life itself.

For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over.

For this slight and momentary sorrow continues to accumulate for me a solid and eternal glory far beyond any comparison,

I have the greatest confidence in you; I speak most highly of you. I am fully comforted; in the face of all my sorrow my cup is running over with joy.

For even after I had gotten to Macedonia, my frail, human nature could find no relief; I was crushed with sorrow at every turn -- fighting without and fears within.

For, although I did cause you sorrow by that letter, I do not now regret it; although I did regret it then. I see that the letter caused you sorrow only for a time.

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death.

For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.

He who always supplies the sower with seed and the eater with bread will supply you with seed and multiply it and enlarge the harvest which your deeds of charity yield.

In writing you this, I swear before God, I am telling you the solemn truth.

After that I went into the districts of Syria and Cilicia.

For you may be absolutely sure that no one who is sexually impure, immoral or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have a part in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Never in the slightest degree be frightened by your opponents, for such fearlessness will be strong evidence to them of their impending destruction, but to you a sure sign, and that from God, of your salvation.

For he was so sick that he was on the point of dying, but God took pity on him, and not only on him but on me too, to keep me from having one sorrow after another.

But you did me a kindness to share my sorrow with me.

on being reminded of your genuine faith, a faith that first found a home in the heart of your grandmother Lois, then in the heart of your mother Eunice, and now in yours too, I am sure.

This is why I am suffering so, but I am not ashamed of it, for I know whom I have trusted and I am absolutely sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

for you may be sure that such a man is crooked and sinful, even self-condemned.

I write you in perfect confidence in your compliance with my wish, because I am sure that you will do even more than I ask.

But in your case, my dearly loved friends, even though we speak in such a tone, we are sure of better things, yea, things that point to salvation.

By faith Sarah received strength to become pregnant, and actually gave birth to a child, although she was past the time of life for it, because she thought that He who made her the promise was to be trusted.

Pray for me, for I am sure that I have a clear conscience, and in everything I want to live a noble life.

Come now, you rich people, weep aloud and howl over the miseries that are sure to overtake you.

you may be sure that whoever brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man's soul from death, and cover up a multitude of sins.

In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials,

They were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah, for example, obeyed Abraham and called him master. You have become true daughters of hers, if you practice doing right and cease from every fear.

By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.

but whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. By this we can be sure that we are in union with Him:

Little children, it is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is Coming, and already many Antichrists have appeared; so we may be sure that it is the last hour.

By the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit we can be sure that we remain in union with Him and He in union with us.

This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God, by continuing to love God and to obey His commands.

See! I am going to lay her on a bed of sickness, and bring down to great and pressing sorrow those who practice immorality with her, unless they repent of their practices;

and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that they contain, the earth and all that it contains, and the sea and all that it contains, that there should be no more delay,

To the same degree in which she has lived in splendor and luxury, give her torture and tears. Because she is always boasting in her heart, 'I sit enthroned as queen; I am not a widow, I shall never experience any sorrow' --

and He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no death any longer, no sorrow, no crying, no pain. The first order of things has passed away."