and said, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, "'To His angels He will give orders concerning thee, and on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any moment thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.'"

"Begone, Satan!" Jesus replied; "for it is written, 'To the Lord thy God thou shalt do homage, and to Him alone shalt thou render worship.'"

What man is there among you, who if his son shall ask him for bread will offer him a stone?

"Alas for thee, Chorazin!" He cried. "Alas for thee, Bethsaida! For had the mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done in both of you, they would long ere now have repented, covered with sackcloth and ashes.

Only I tell you that it will be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of Judgement than for you.

And if Satan is expelling Satan, he has begun to make war on himself: how therefore shall his kingdom last?

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew into the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon.

"Have you never read in the Scriptures," said Jesus, "'The Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone: this Cornerstone came from the Lord, and is wonderful in our eyes'?

He who falls on this stone will be severely hurt; but he on whom it falls will be utterly crushed."

"You see all these?" He replied; "in solemn truth I tell you that there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be pulled down."

He then laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn in the solid rock, and after rolling a great stone against the door of the tomb he went home.

So they went and made the sepulchre secure, sealing the stone besides setting the guard.

But to their amazement there had been a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord had descended from Heaven, and had come and rolled back the stone, and was sitting upon it.

where He remained for forty days, tempted by Satan; and He was among the wild beasts, but the angels waited upon Him.

and from Judaea and Jerusalem and Idumaea and from beyond the Jordan and from the district of Tyre and Sidon there came to Him a vast crowd, hearing of all that He was doing.

So He called them to Him, and using figurative language He appealed to them, saying, "How is it possible for Satan to expel Satan?

So if Satan has risen in arms and has made war upon himself, stand he cannot, but meets his end.

Those who receive the seed by the way-side are those in whom the Message is sown, but, when they have heard it, Satan comes at once and carries away the Message sown in them.

Then He rose and left that place and went into the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. Here He entered a house and wished no one to know it, but He could not escape observation.

Returning from the neighbourhood of Tyre, He came by way of Sidon to the Lake of Galilee, passing through the district of the Ten Towns.

"Have you not read even this passage," He added, "'The stone which the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone:

"You see all these great buildings?" Jesus replied; "not one stone will be left here upon another--not thrown down."

He, having bought a sheet of linen, took Him down, wrapped Him in the sheet and laid Him in a tomb hewn in the rock; after which he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.

and they were saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

But then, looking up, they saw that the stone was already rolled back: for it was of immense size.

Then the Devil said to Him, "If you are God's Son, tell this stone to become bread."

and 'On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest at any moment thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.'"

With these He came down till He reached a level place, where there was a great crowd of His disciples, and a multitude of people from every part of Judaea, from Jerusalem, and from the sea-side district of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases;

"Alas for thee, Chorazin! Alas for thee, Bethsaida! For had the miracles been performed in Tyre and Sidon which have been performed in you, long ere now they would have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

However, for Tyre and Sidon it will be more endurable at the Judgement than for you.

"I saw Satan fall like a lightning-flash out of Heaven," He replied.

And what father is there among you, who, if his son asks for a slice of bread, will offer him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish offer him a snake?

And if Satan really has engaged in fierce conflict with himself, how shall his kingdom stand?--because you say that I expel demons by the power of Baal-zebul.

And this woman, daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan had bound for no less than eighteen years, was she not to be loosed from this chain because it is the Sabbath day?"

And they will dash thee to the ground and thy children within thee, and will not leave one stone upon another within thee; because thou hast not recognized the time of thy visitation."

And if we say, 'human,' the people will all stone us; for they are thoroughly convinced that John was a Prophet."

He looked at them and said, "What then does that mean which is written, "'The Stone which the builders rejected has been made the cornerstone'?

Every one who falls on that stone will be severely hurt, but on whomsoever it falls, he will be utterly crushed."

"As to these things which you now admire, the time is coming when there will not be one stone left here upon another which will not be pulled down."

Satan, however, entered into Judas (the man called Iscariot)

"Simon, Simon, I tell you that Satan has obtained permission to have all of you to sift as wheat is sifted.

But He Himself withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed repeatedly, saying,

But they found the stone rolled back from the tomb,

Now there were six stone jars standing there (in accordance with the Jewish regulations for purification)

Now, in the Law, Moses has ordered us to stone such women to death. But what do you say?"

When however they persisted with their question, He raised His head and said to them, "Let the sinless man among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

Thereupon they took up stones with which to stone Him, but He hid Himself and went away out of the Temple.

Again the Jews brought stones with which to stone Him.

Jesus remonstrated with them. "Many good deeds," He said, "have I shown you as coming from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?"

"For no good deed," the Jews replied, "are we going to stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God."

"Rabbi," exclaimed the disciples, "the Jews have just been trying to stone you, and do you think of going back there again?"

Jesus, however, again restraining His strong feeling, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone had been laid against the mouth of it.

"Take away the stone," said Jesus. Martha, the sister of the dead man, exclaimed, "Master, by this time there is a foul smell; for it is three days since he died."

So they removed the stone. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me.

Then, after Judas had received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. "Lose no time about it," said Jesus to him.

On the first day of the week, very early, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from it.

This Jesus is the Stone treated with contempt by you the builders, but it has been made the Cornerstone.

"Ananias," said Peter, "why has Satan taken possession of your heart, that you should try to deceive the Holy Spirit and dishonestly keep back part of the price paid you for this land?

Now the people of Tyre and Sidon had incurred Herod's violent displeasure. So they sent a large deputation to wait on him; and having secured the good will of Blastus, his treasurer, they begged the king to be friendly with them again, because their country was dependent on his for its food supply.

And when a hostile movement was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the sanction of their magistrates, to maltreat and stone them,

"But on my way, when I was now not far from Damascus, about noon a sudden blaze of light from Heaven shone round me.

that they may turn from darkness to light and from the obedience to Satan to God, in order to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in Me.'

The next day we put in at Sidon. There Julius treated Paul with thoughtful kindness and allowed him to visit his friends and profit by their generous care.

And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;

in agreement with the statement of Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at, and a rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith rests upon it shall never have reason to feel ashamed."

And before long, God the giver of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his body, that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.

And all this describes what some of you were. But now you have had every stain washed off: now you have been set apart as holy: now you have been pronounced free from guilt; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

for fear Satan should gain an advantage over us. For we are not ignorant of his devices.

For all can see that you are a letter of Christ entrusted to our care, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the ever-living God--and not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.

And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.

And judging by the stupendous grandeur of the revelations--therefore lest I should be over-elated there has been sent to me, like the agony of impalement, Satan's angel dealing blow after blow, lest I should be over-elated.

On this account we wanted to come to you--at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so--but Satan hindered us.

The appearing of the Lawless one will be attended by various miracles and tokens and delusive marvels--for so Satan works--

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

But, for fear I may be hindered, I now write, so that you may have rules to guide you in dealing with God's household. For this is what the Church of the ever-living God is, and it is the pillar and foundation-stone of the truth.

For already some of them have gone astray, following Satan.

Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and held in honour.

To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for unbelievers-- "A Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone,"

and "a Stone for the foot to strike against, and a Rock to stumble over." Their foot strikes against it because they are disobedient to God's Message, and to this they were appointed.

Your sufferings I know, and your poverty--but you are rich--and the evil name given you by those who say that they themselves are Jews, and are not, but are Satan's synagogue.

Satan's throne is there; and yet you are true to Me, and did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of Antipas My witness and faithful friend, who was put to death among you, in the place where Satan dwells.

"'Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. He who overcomes--to him I will give some of the hidden Manna, and a white stone; and--written upon the stone and known only to him who receives it-- a new name.'

But to you, the rest of you in Thyateira, all who do not hold this teaching and are not the people who have learnt the "deep things," as they call them (the deep things of Satan!)

I will cause some belonging to Satan's synagogue who say that they themselves are Jews, and are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall at your feet and know for certain that I have loved you.

But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not even then repent and leave the things they had made, so as to cease worshipping the demons, and the idols of gold and silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear, nor move.

Then a single angel of great strength took a stone which resembled a huge millstone, and hurled it into the sea, saying, "So shall Babylon, that great city, be violently hurled down and never again be found.

and bringing with it the glory of God. It shone with a radiance like that of a very precious stone--such as a jasper, bright and transparent.