Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




But when it was the good pleasure of God, by whom I was marked out even from my mother's body, through his grace, To give the revelation of his Son in me, so that I might give the news of him to the Gentiles; then I did not take the opinion of flesh and blood,



Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind: And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shade of his hand he has kept me; and he has made me like a polished arrow, keeping me in his secret place; And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom my glory will be seen; read more.
And I said, I have undergone weariness for nothing, I have given my strength for no purpose or profit: but still the Lord will take up my cause, and my God will give me my reward. And now, says the Lord, who made me his servant when I was still in my mother's body, so that I might make Jacob come back to him, and so that Israel might come together to him: and I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God became my strength.

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations.

Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches. If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change. Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value. read more.
Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God. If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it.

And may the God of peace himself make you holy in every way; and may your spirit and soul and body be free from all sin at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, by whom you have been marked out in his purpose, is unchanging and will make it complete.

Simon Peter, a servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who with us have a part in the same holy faith in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ: May grace and peace ever be increasing in you, in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; Because by his power he has given us everything necessary for life and righteousness, through the knowledge of him who has been our guide by his glory and virtue;


And now, says the Lord, who made me his servant when I was still in my mother's body, so that I might make Jacob come back to him, and so that Israel might come together to him: and I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God became my strength. It is not enough for one who is my servant to put the tribes of Jacob again in their place, and to get back those of Israel who have been sent away: my purpose is to give you as a light to the nations, so that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.

Up! let your face be bright, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is shining on you. For truly, the earth will be dark, and the peoples veiled in blackest night; but the Lord will be shining on you, and his glory will be seen among you. And nations will come to your light, and kings to your bright dawn.

That the Christ would go through pain, and being the first to come back from the dead, would give light to the people and to the Gentiles.


Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.

As peoples were surprised at him, And his face was not beautiful, so as to be desired: his face was so changed by disease as to be unlike that of a man, and his form was no longer that of the sons of men.

The Lord who takes up Israel's cause, even his Holy One, says to him whom men make sport of, who is hated by the nations, a servant of rulers: Kings will see and get up from their places, and chiefs will give worship: because of the Lord who keeps faith; even the Holy One of Israel who has taken you for himself.

And he will be for a holy place: but for a stone of falling and a rock of trouble to the two houses of Israel, and to the men of Jerusalem, for a net in which they may be taken. And numbers of them, falling on the stone, will be broken, and will be taken in the net.

And now, says the Lord, who made me his servant when I was still in my mother's body, so that I might make Jacob come back to him, and so that Israel might come together to him: and I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God became my strength.

Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled? For his growth was like that of a delicate plant before him, and like a root out of a dry place: he had no grace of form, to give us pleasure; Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him.

And Jesus, talking to them again in stories, said: