50 Bible Verses about Religion

Then Peter began to speak: "Now I understand that God shows no partiality. Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation.

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your most holy faith for your own benefit. Furthermore, continue to pray in the Holy Spirit. Remain in God's love as you look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, which brings eternal life.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge, your knowledge with self-control, your self-control with endurance, your endurance with godliness, your godliness with brotherly kindness, and your brotherly kindness with love. read more.
For if you possess these qualities, and if they continue to increase among you, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus told him, ""You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and most important commandment. read more.
The second is exactly like it: "You must love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."

Watch your step whenever you visit God's house, and come more ready to listen than to offer a fool's sacrifice, since fools never think they're doing evil.

Samuel said, "Does the LORD delight as much in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the LORD? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

For it is love that I seek, and not sacrifice; knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

since they deal only with food, drink, and various washings, which are required for the body until the time when things would be set right.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying God's commandments is everything.

Then they come to you as a group, sit down right in front of you as if they were my people, hear your words and then they don't do what you say because they're seeking only their own desires, they pursue ill-gotten profits, and they keep following their own self-interests. As far as they are concerned, you sing romantic songs with a beautiful voice and play a musical instrument well. They'll listen to what you have to say, but they won't put it into practice!

They claim to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

"Not everyone who keeps saying to me, "Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom from heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven.

A clay vessel plated with a thin veneer of silver that's what smooth lips with a wicked heart are.

"Why do you keep calling me "Lord, Lord,' but don't do what I tell you?

They will hold to an outward form of godliness but deny its power. Stay away from such people.

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

If you have died with the Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world?

Then the Lord said: "Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings.

They seek me day after day, and are eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practices righteousness and has not forsaken the justice of their God. "They ask me to reveal just decisions; they are eager to draw near to God.

The Lord replied to him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey and lead it out of its stall to give it some water?

He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.

because such people are not serving the Messiah our Lord, but their own desires. By their smooth talk and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Recognizing their wickedness, Jesus asked, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, yet you don't know how to interpret the present time?"

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.

Paul wanted this man to go with him, so he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who lived in that region, since everyone knew that Timothy's father was a Greek.

When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law.

Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what isn't lawful on Sabbath days?"

I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.

"Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD.

so that you may be able to choose what is best and be pure and blameless until the day when the Messiah returns,

So let's keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.

For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace especially toward you.

At least we are not commercializing God's word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah's name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."

For it is love that I seek, and not sacrifice; knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you to act with justice, to treasure the LORD's gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.

Let the conclusion of all of these thoughts be heard: Fear God and obey his commandments, for this is what it means to be human.

Meanwhile, the people had gathered by the thousands and were trampling on one another. Jesus began to speak first to his disciples. "Watch out for the yeast that is, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees!

They claim to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron.

In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

for as he thinks within himself, so he is. "Eat and drink!" he'll say to you, but his heart won't be with you.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

They don't eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)

So why do you test God by putting on the disciples' neck a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we could carry?

The Messiah has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop putting yourselves under the yoke of slavery again.

If you have died with the Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world?

yet he has not abandoned his witness: he continues to do good, to give you rain from heaven, to give you fruitful seasons, and to fill you with food and your hearts with joy."

"Ask the wild animals, and they'll teach you; the birds of the sky will tell you. Or ask the green plants of the earth and they'll teach you; let the fish in the sea tell you. Who among all of these doesn't know that the LORD's hand made them, read more.
and that the life of every living thing rests in his control, along with the breath of every living human being? The ear scrutinizes speech just as the palate tastes food." "Wisdom may be found in the company of the aged. Understanding comes with longevity. With God is wisdom and strength; counsel and understanding belongs to him. When he tears down, nobody rebuilds; when he incarcerates, nobody escapes. When he withholds water, rivers dry up; when he lets them loose, they'll flood the land. "With God are strength and sound wisdom; both the deceived and those who deceive are responsible to him.

He never asks, "Where is God, my Creator, who gives me songs in the night, who teaches us more than the earth's wild animals, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?' "They cry out there, but he doesn't answer because of the arrogance of those who practice evil.

The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and their expanse shows the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words their voice is not heard read more.
yet their message goes out into all the world, and their words to the ends of the earth. He has set up a tent for the sun in the heavens, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, or like a champion who rejoices at the beginning of a race. Its circuit is from one end of the sky to the other, and nothing is hidden from its heat.

For as I was walking around and looking closely at the objects you worship, I even found an altar with this written on it: "To an unknown god.' So I am telling you about the unknown object you worship. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in shrines made by human hands, and he isn't served by people as if he needed anything. He himself gives everyone life, breath, and everything else. read more.
From one man he made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth, fixing the seasons of the year and the national boundaries within which they live, so that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us. For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: ""Since we are his children, too.'

But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, "Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?"

as you teach others, do you fail to teach yourself? As you preach against stealing, do you steal?

The LORD told Abram, "You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land that I'm going to show you. I'll make a great nation of your descendants, I'll bless you, and I'll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you, but I'll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed." read more.
So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants he had acquired while living in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I'll give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Then two of the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the LORD. Abraham approached and asked, "Will you actually destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there? read more.
Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won't he?" The LORD said, "If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I'll forgive the whole place for their sake." Abraham answered, "Look, even though I am only dust and ashes, I've ventured to speak to my LORD. What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?" The LORD said, "I won't destroy it if I find 45 there." Abraham continued to speak to him, asking, "What if 40 are found there?" The LORD replied, "I won't do it for the sake of those 40." Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30." "Look," Abraham said, "I've presumed to speak to my LORD" so what if 20 are found there?" "For the sake of those 20," the LORD responded, "I won't destroy it." Finally, Abraham inquired, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "For the sake of those ten I won't destroy it." As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the LORD left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.

Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!" So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" read more.
He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols. Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi. Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed. Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he went up to burn incense on the altar that he had set up in Bethel, thus beginning the festival that he had made up out of his own heart for the Israelis.

The priests and descendants of Levi throughout Israel also supported him in their districts, because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the LORD. Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

"Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?

so do whatever they tell you and follow it, but stop doing what they do, because they don't do what they say.

So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense."

The priests and descendants of Levi throughout Israel also supported him in their districts, because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the LORD. Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

The person who says, "I have come to know him," but does not continually keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth has no place in that person.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It should not be like this, my brothers!

Meanwhile, Jacob had left Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night, when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it. read more.
And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, "I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I'm Isaac's God, too. I'm giving you and your descendants the ground on which you're sleeping. Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. Now pay attention! I'm here with you, and I'm going to be watching over you wherever you go. I'm going to bring you back to this land, because I won't ever leave you until I've accomplished what I've promised about you." Then Jacob woke up during the night and told himself, "Surely, the LORD is in this place and I never knew it!" In mounting terror, he cried out, "How scary this place is! This is nothing less than God's house and the gateway to heaven!" When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the stone that he had used for his pillow, set it up as a pillar, drenched it with oil, and named the place Beth-el, although previously the city had been named Luz. Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, and returns me safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God, this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."

And so Jacob was left alone, and he struggled with a man until daybreak. When the man realized that he hadn't yet won the struggle, he injured the socket of Jacob's thigh, dislocating it as he wrestled with him, and said, "Let me go, because the dawn has come." "I won't let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me." read more.
Then the man asked him, "What's your name?" "Jacob," he responded "Your name won't be Jacob anymore," the man replied, "but Israel, because you exerted yourself against both God and men, and you've emerged victorious." "Please," Jacob inquired, "Tell me your name." But he asked, "Why are you asking about my name?" And he blessed Jacob there. Jacob would later call that place Peniel, because "I saw God face to face, but my life was spared." The sun was rising above Jacob as he crossed over from Peniel, limping due to his wounded thigh. Therefore, to this day the Israelis do not eat the hip tendon that connects to the thigh socket, because he had injured the socket of the thigh where the tendon connected to Jacob's hip.

Hezekiah took the messages from the couriers, read them, went up to the LORD's Temple, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed in the presence of the LORD, "LORD God of Israel! You live between the cherubim! You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have fashioned the heavens and the earth. Turn your ear, LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, LORD, and observe! Listen to the message sent by Sennacherib to insult the living God! read more.
Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated nations and their territories, throwing their gods into the fire, since they weren't gods but rather were the product of men's handiwork wood and stone. And so they destroyed them. Now, LORD our God, I'm praying that you will deliver us from his control, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God!"

He did what the LORD considered to be right, according to everything that his ancestor David had done. He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass. He trusted the LORD God of Israel, and after him there were none like him among all the kings of Judah, read more.
because he depended on the LORD, not abandoning pursuit of him, and keeping the LORD's commands that he had commanded Moses. So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah prospered wherever he went, even when he rebelled against the king of Assyria, refusing to serve him.

the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed. Then Moses told himself, "I'll go over and see this remarkable sight. Why isn't the bush burning up?" When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am." read more.
"Do not come any closer," God said. "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, "I have certainly seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry caused by their slave masters. I really do understand their pain, so I have come down to deliver them from their domination by the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now, listen carefully! The cry of the Israelis has come to my attention about how severely the Egyptians have been oppressing them. So go! I am sending you to Pharaoh. Bring my people the Israelis out of Egypt." But Moses told God, "Who am I? How can I go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelis out of Egypt?" Then God said, "I certainly will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will serve God on this mountain." Moses told God, "Look! When I go to the Israelis and tell them, "The God of your ancestors sent me to you,' they'll say to me, "What is his name?' What should I say to them?" God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and then said, "Tell the Israelis: "I AM sent me to you.'" God also told Moses, "Tell the Israelis, "The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation. "Go and gather the elders of Israel. Tell them, "The LORD God of your ancestors, appeared to me the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and he said, "I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. I have said that I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey."' "The elders of Israel will listen to you, and then you and they are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now, let us take a three-day journey into the desert to sacrifice to the LORD our God.' I know that the king of Egypt won't allow you to go unless compelled to do so by force, so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do there. After that he will release you. I will grant this people public favor with the Egyptians, and as a result, when you leave you won't go empty-handed. Each woman is to ask her neighbor or any foreign woman in her house for articles of gold and for clothing, and use them to clothe your sons and daughters. You will plunder the Egyptians."

The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example set during his ancestor David's preliminary years by not pursuing the Baals. Instead, Jehoshaphat sought the God of his ancestors and obeyed his commands, unlike Israel. Therefore the LORD secured Jehoshaphat's kingdom under his control, with all of Judah paying him tribute, and Jehoshaphat became very wealthy and greatly respected. read more.
He remained committed to following the LORD, and he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah. During the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach throughout the cities of Judah. They were accompanied by the descendants of Levi, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah. These descendants of Levi were accompanied by the priests Elishama and Jehoram. They taught throughout Judah from a copy of the Book of the Law of the LORD that they took with them as they passed through all the cities of Judah, teaching among all the people.

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.

while Abel brought the best parts of some of the firstborn from his flock. The LORD looked favorably upon Abel and his offering, but he did not look favorably upon Cain and his offering. When Cain became very upset and depressed, the LORD asked Cain, "Why are you so upset? Why are you depressed? read more.
If you do what is appropriate, you'll be accepted, won't you? But if you don't do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?" Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the wilderness." When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Hezekiah did this throughout all of Judah, and he acted well, doing what the LORD his God considered to be right and true.

granting to my son Solomon to keep with a devoted heart your commands, your decrees, and your statutes, carrying out all of them, and that he may build the Temple for which I have made the preparations.

a beka a head (a beka is half a shekel, according to the standard used in the sanctuary) for everyone who went through the registration process from 20 years old and older. The total numbered 603,550 bekas.

The LORD told Moses, "When you take a census of the Israelis to register them, each is to give a ransom for himself to the LORD when they're registered so there won't be a plague among them when they're registered. This is what everyone who is registered is to give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel weighs 20 gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. read more.
All who are registered, 20 years of age and older, are to give a contribution to the LORD. The rich person is not to give more, nor is the poor person to give less than the half shekel, when you give a contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. You are to take the atonement money from the Israelis and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, and it is to be a memorial for the Israelis in the LORD's presence to make atonement for yourselves."

Later on, Jabez called on the God of Israel, asking him, ""whether you would bless me again and again, enlarge my territory, keep your power with me, keep me from evil, and keep me from harm!" And God granted what he had requested.

"You know that my father David was unable to build a temple dedicated to the LORD his God because he was busy fighting wars all around him until the LORD defeated his enemies. But now the LORD has given me rest all around, since I have neither foreign adversaries nor domestic crises. So now I'm planning to build a temple dedicated to the LORD my God, just as the LORD told my father when he said, "Your son, whom I will set on your throne to replace you, will build the Temple dedicated to me.'

After this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight.

Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily food and one of you tells them, "Go in peace! Stay warm and eat heartily." If you do not provide for their bodily needs, what good does it do?

But the angel told him, "Stop being afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! He has taken care of his people and has set them free. He has raised up a mighty Savior for us from the family of his servant David, read more.
just as he promised long ago through the mouth of his holy prophets that he would save us from our enemies and from the grip of all who hate us. He has shown mercy to our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham. He granted us deliverance from our enemies' grip so that we could serve him without fear and be holy and righteous before him all of our days. And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, because you will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his way and to give his people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, his light from on high has visited us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and in death's shadow, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."

you say, "I'm innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.'" "I'm about to bring charges against you because you say, "I haven't sinned.'

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first existed in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that this faith also exists in you.

and said, "Sir, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and suffers terribly. Often he falls into fire and often into water.

So Abraham responded to God, "If only Ishmael would live in constant awareness that you're always with him!"

Hannah did not go up because she had told her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I'll take him to appear in the LORD's presence and remain there forever."

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first existed in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that this faith also exists in you.

"If it is," Jehu replied, "Put out your hand." So Jehonadab stuck out his hand, and Jehu took him up to stand in his chariot. He told him, "Come with me and see my enthusiasm for the LORD!" So Jehu had Jehonadab ride in his chariot. When Jehu arrived in Samaria, he executed everyone who remained of Ahab's household in Samaria, until he had utterly destroyed Ahab in accordance with the message from the LORD that he spoke to Elijah. Then Jehu assembled all the people and announced to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot! read more.
Therefore summon all of Baal's prophets to me, including all his worshipers and all his priests. Don't leave even one out, because I've prepared a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever doesn't show up doesn't live!" But Jehu did this deceptively, intending to destroy Baal's worshippers. Jehu ordered, "Set aside a solemn assembly for Baal!" And so they proclaimed it. Jehu sent the proclamation throughout Israel, and all the Baal worshipers came. There wasn't a single man left who failed to come. When they entered Baal's temple, it was filled from one end to the other. Then Jehu ordered the one in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all of the worshipers of Baal." So he brought out garments for them. Jehu and Rechab's son Jehonadab entered Baal's temple, and Jehu told the Baal worshipers, "Look around and be sure that no servant of the LORD is here among you, but only worshipers of Baal." Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Meanwhile, Jehu had stationed 80 men outside, ordering them, "If any of these men whom I've brought into your control escape, the one who allows it will forfeit his life." As soon as he had completed the burnt offering, Jehu ordered the guards and the officers, "Go in and execute them. Don't let even one man escape." So they executed them with swords, and the guards and the officers threw the bodies out and proceeded into the inner room of Baal's temple, from which they brought out the sacred pillars and burned them. They also cut down the pillar to Baal, tore apart Baal's temple, and turned it into a latrine and it remains that way today. That's how Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel. Even so, Jehu never abandoned the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, regarding the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan. Nevertheless, the LORD told Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what I saw as the right thing to do by completing everything I had in mind regarding Ahab's dynasty, your sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."

If you think it's the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

communing with God and then he was there no longer, because God had taken him.

Now Sarah had said, "God has caused me to laugh, and all who hear about it will laugh with me."

Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!" So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" read more.
He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols. Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi. Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed. Then, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he went up to burn incense on the altar that he had set up in Bethel, thus beginning the festival that he had made up out of his own heart for the Israelis.

These are the family records of Noah: Noah was a righteous man. Blameless during his times, Noah communed with God.

They seek me day after day, and are eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practices righteousness and has not forsaken the justice of their God. "They ask me to reveal just decisions; they are eager to draw near to God.

who say, "Keep to yourself!' "Don't touch me!' and "I am too holy for you!' "Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day long.

"And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

When Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done.

For their rock isn't like our Rock, as even our enemies admit. Instead, their vine is from the vines of Sodom and the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, their clusters bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, a poisonous cobra.

At that hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized immediately.

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

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.

because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And so a large number of people was brought to the Lord.

They claim to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

Therefore, you have no excuse every one of you who judges. For when you pass judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

Now a man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. This man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the one who would comfort Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Led by the Spirit, he went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the Law, read more.
Simeon took the infant in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace according to your promise, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared for all people to see a light that will reveal salvation to unbelievers and bring glory to your people Israel." Jesus' father and mother kept wondering at the things being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and told Mary, his mother, "This infant is destined to cause many in Israel to fall and rise. Also, he will be a sign that will be opposed. Indeed, a sword will pierce your own soul, too, so that the inner thoughts of many people might be revealed."

Jabez enjoyed more honor than his relatives his mother named him Jabez, she said, "because I bore him in pain." Later on, Jabez called on the God of Israel, asking him, ""whether you would bless me again and again, enlarge my territory, keep your power with me, keep me from evil, and keep me from harm!" And God granted what he had requested.

"A certain Ananias, who was a devout man with respect to the Law and who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,

Then the father realized that this was the very hour when Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole family.

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, "We have found the Anointed One!" (which is translated "Messiah").

He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.

"Why do you keep calling me "Lord, Lord,' but don't do what I tell you?

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man perfectly well on the Sabbath?

After Jesus had finished saying all these things to the people who were there listening, he went to Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant's life. read more.
So they went to Jesus and begged him repeatedly, "He deserves to have this done for him, because he loves our people and built our synagogue for us." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, "Sir, stop troubling yourself, because I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. That's why I didn't presume to come to you. But just say the word, and let my servant be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. I say to one "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!" Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant in perfect health.

Because of this, the administrators and regional authorities tried to bring allegations of dereliction of duty in government affairs against Daniel, but they were unable to find any charges of corruption. Daniel was trustworthy, and no evidence of negligence or corruption could be found against him. So these men said, "We'll never find any basis for complaint against Daniel unless we build it on the requirements of his God." Then these administrators and regional authorities went as a group to the king and said this, "Your majesty, live forever! read more.
All of the royal administrators, prefects, regional authorities, scribes, and governors have concluded that the king should establish and enforce an edict that anyone who prays to any god or man for the next 30 days (except to you, your majesty) is to be thrown into the lions' pit. Therefore, your majesty, establish the decree and sign the written document so it can't be changed, in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians that can't be repealed." So King Darius signed the edict contained in the written document. When Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done. The conspirators then went as a group and found Daniel praying and seeking help before his God. So they approached the king and asked, "Didn't you sign an edict that for the next 30 days if anyone prays to any god or man, except to you, your majesty, he would be thrown into the lions' pit?" The king responded, "The decree has been established, in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians that can't be repealed." Then they told the king, "Daniel, who is one of the Judean exiles, pays no attention to you, your majesty, or to the written decree, since he is still praying three times a day." When the king heard this, he was greatly upset, because he was determined to make every effort to save Daniel before the sun set. But the men who had gone as a group to the king told him, "Remember, your majesty, that according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, any decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be repealed." At this point, the king ordered Daniel brought in and thrown into the lions' pit. The king spoke to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve constantly, will deliver you himself." A stone was brought and placed over the opening to the pit, and the king affixed a seal to it with his personal signet ring and with the signet rings of his officials so that no one would interfere with Daniel's situation. Then the king retired to his palace to spend the night fasting. He enjoyed no entertainment, and he couldn't sleep. The king got up at dawn and went quickly to the lions' pit. As he approached where Daniel was in the pit, he cried out to him in a voice filled with anguish, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve constantly, been able to deliver you from the lions?" Daniel replied to the king, "May your majesty live forever! My God sent his angel and sealed the mouths of the lions. They have not harmed me, proving that I'm innocent before him. Also against you, your majesty, I've committed no offense."

"Go home and tell what God has done for you." So the man left and kept proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said about him, "Look, a genuine Israeli, in whom there is no deceit!"

Moreover, the one who sent me is with me. He has never left me alone, because I always do what pleases him."

Now a man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. This man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the one who would comfort Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

Now the woman happened to be a Greek, born in Phoenicia in Syria. She kept asking him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby jumped in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

Then Mary said, "My soul praises the greatness of the Lord!

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to dine with Moses' father-in-law in the presence of God.

When their time of feasting had concluded, Job would rise early in the morning to send for them and consecrate them to God. He would offer a burnt offering for each one, because Job thought, "Perhaps my children sinned by cursing God in their hearts." Job did this time and again.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first existed in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that this faith also exists in you.

There once was a man in the land of Uz named Job. The man was blameless as well as upright. He feared God and kept away from evil.

When their time of feasting had concluded, Job would rise early in the morning to send for them and consecrate them to God. He would offer a burnt offering for each one, because Job thought, "Perhaps my children sinned by cursing God in their hearts." Job did this time and again.