#TITLE:Weymouth New Testament
#SHORT:Weymouth
#ID:9
#CATEGORY:BIBLE
#FOOTNOTES:1=loweralpha
#AUTOPARAGRAPH
#REM:29-Oct-2022,AC: Added more <word> tags.
#REM:26-Dec-2022,AC: Corrected Title Page and added preface
#REM:11-May-2023,AC: Added topic directives
#OUTLINE:1,Title Page
<h1>The Modern Speech New Testament</h1>
<h2>AN IDIOMATIC TRANSLATION INTO EVERY-DAY ENGLISH FROM THE TEXT OF "THE RESULTANT GREEK TESTAMENT"</h2>
<h3>BY THE LATE</h3>
<h2>RICHARD FRANCIS WEYMOUTH</h2>
<h3>M.A., D.LIT.</h3>

FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, AND FORMERLY HEADMASTER OF MILL HILL SCHOOL, EDITOR OF "THE RESULTANT GREEK TESTAMENT"

#OUTLINE:1,Preface
In accordance with modern English custom, ITALICS are used to indicate emphasis. Old Testament quotations are printed in small capitals.

<h2>PREFACE</h2>
THE Translation of the New Testament here offered to
English-speaking Christians is a bona fide translation made directly from the Greek, and is in no sense a revision. The plan adopted has been the following.

1. An earnest endeavour has been made (based upon more
than sixty years' study of both the Greek and English languages, 
besides much further familiarity gained by continual
teaching) to ascertain the exact meaning of every passage not only by the light that classical Greek throws on the language
used, but also by that which the Septuagint and the Hebrew
Scriptures afford; aid being sought too from Versions and
Commentators ancient and modern, and from the ample <i>et cetera of apparatus graininaticus</i> and theological and classical reviews and magazines - or rather, by means of occasional excursions into this vast prairie.

2. The sense thus seeming to have been ascertained, the next step has been to consider how it could be most accurately
and naturally exhibited in the English of the present day; in other words, how we can with some approach to probability suppose that the inspired writer himself would have expressed his thoughts, had he been writing in our age and country.<footnote:1>I am aware of what Professor Blackie has written on this subject (Aeschylus Pref., p. viii.); but the problem endeavoured to be solved in this Translation is as above stated.</footnote>

3. Lastly it has been evidently desirable to compare the results thus attained with the renderings of other scholars, especially of course with the Authorized and Revised Versions. But
alas, the great majority of even "new translations," so called,
are, in reality, only Tyndale's immortal work a little - often very little - modernized!

4. But in the endeavour to find in Twentieth Century English
a precise equivalent for a Greek word, phrase, or sentence there
are two dangers to be guarded against. There are a Scylla and a Charybdis. On the one hand there is the English of Society, on the other hand that of the utterly uneducated, each
of these <i>patois</i> having also its own special, though expressive, borderland which we name 'slang.' But all these salient angles
(as a professor of fortification might say) of our language are forbidden ground to the reverent translator of Holy Scripture.

5. But again, a <i>modern</i> translation - does this imply that no
words or phrases in any degree antiquated are to be admitted? Not so, for great numbers of such words and phrases are still in constant use. To be antiquated is not the same thing as to be obsolete or even obsolescent, and without at least a tinge of
antiquity it is scarcely possible that there should be that dignity of style that befits the sacred themes with which the Evangelists
and Apostles deal.

6. It is plain that this attempt to bring out the sense of the Sacred Writings naturally as well as accurately in present-day
English does not permit, except to a limited extent, the method
of literal rendering - the <i><latin>verbo verbiim reddere<english></i> at which Horace
shrugs his shoulders. Dr. Welldon, recently Bishop of Calcutta, in the Preface (p. vii.) to his masterly translation of the Niconiachean Ethics of Aristotle, writes, 'I have deliberately
rejected the principle of trying to translate the same Greek
word by the same word in English, and where circumstances seemed to call for it I have sometimes used two English words
to represent one word of the Greek;" - and he is perfectly
right. With a slavish literality delicate shades of meaning
cannot be reproduced, nor allowance be made for the influence of interwoven thought, or of the writer's ever shifting - not to say changing - point of view. An utterly ignorant or utterly
lazy man, if possessed of a little ingenuity, can with the help
of a dictionary and grammar give a word-for-word rendering, whether intelligible or not, and print 'Translation' on his title page. On the other hand it is a melancholy spectacle to see men of high ability and undoubted scholarship toil and struggle
at translation under a needless restriction to literality, as in intellectual handcuffs and fetters, when they might with advantage snap the bonds and fling them away, as Dr. Welldon has done: more melancholy still, if they are at the same time
racking their brains to exhibit the result of their labours -
splendid but idle philological <i><latin>tour de force<english></i> - what <i>was</i> English
nearly 300 years before.

7. Obviously any literal translation cannot but carry idioms of the earlier language into the later, where they will very probably not be understood;<footnote:1>A flagrant instance is the "having in a readiness" of <bcv=2Cor 10:6>2 Cor. x. 6,</bcv> A.V.. although in Tyndale we find "and are redy to take vengeaunce," and even Wiclif writes "and we lian redi to venge."</footnote> and more serious still is the evil when, as in the Jewish Greek of the N.T., the earlier language
of the two is itself composite and abounds in forms of speech
that belong to one earlier still. For the N.T. Greek, even in the writings of Luke, contains a large number of Hebrew
idioms; and a literal rendering into English cannot but partially veil, and in some degree distort, the true sense, even if it does not totally obscure it (and that too where perfect clearness should be attained, if possible), by this admixture of Hebrew as
well as Greek forms of expression.

8. It follows that the reader who is bent upon getting a literal rendering, such as he can commonly find in the R.V. or (often a better one) in Darby's <i>New Testament</i> should always be on
his guard against its strong tendency to mislead.

9. One point however can hardly be too emphatically stated.
It is not the present Translator's ambition to supplant the Versions already in general use, to which their intrinsic merit or long familiarity or both have caused all Christian minds so
lovingly to cling. His desire has rather been to furnish a
succinct and compressed running commentary (not doctrinal)
to be used side by side with its elder compeers. And yet there has been something of a remoter hope. It can scarcely be
doubted that some day the attempt will be renewed to produce
a satisfactory English Bible - one in some respects perhaps
(but assuredly with great and important deviations) on the lines of the Revision of 1581, or even altogether to supersede both
the A.V. and the R.V.; and it may be that the Translation here
offered will contribute some materials that may be built into that far grander edifice.

10. The Greek Text here followed is that given in the
Translator's <i>Resultant Greek Testament</i>, concerning which the reader will find information in a somewhat full notice at the end of this volume.

11. Of the Various Readings only those are here given
which seem the most important, and which affect the rendering
into English. They are in the footnotes, with V.L. (<latin>varia lectio<english>) prefixed. As to the chief modern critical editions full details
will be found in the <i>Resultant Greek Testament</i> while for the <i>original</i> authorities - MSS., Versions, Patristic quotations - the reader must of necessity consult the great works of Lachmann,
Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others, or the numerous monographs on separate Books.<footnote:1>Such as McClellan's Four Gospels; Westcott on John's Gospel, John's Epistles, and Hebreivs; Hackett on Acts; Lightfoot, and also Ellicott, on various Epistles; Mayor on James; Edwards on i Corinthians and Hebrews; Sanday and Headlam on Romans. Add to these Scrivener's very valuable Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T</footnote> In the margin of the R.V. a
distinction is made between readings supported by "a few
ancient authorities," "some ancient authorities," "many ancient
authorities," and so on. Such valuation is not attempted in
this work.

12. Considerable pains have been bestowed on the exact rendering of the tenses of the Greek verb; for by inexactness in
this detail the true sense cannot but be missed. That the Greek tenses do not coincide, and cannot be expected to coincide with those of the English verb; that - except in narrative - the aorist as a rule is <i>more</i> exactly represented in English by our perfect with " have " than by our simple past tense; and that in this particular the A.V. is in scores of instances more correct than the R.V.; the present Translator has contended (with arguments which some of the best scholars
in Britain and in America hold to be "unanswerable" and
"indisputable") in a pamphlet"* <i>On the Rendering into English
of the Greek Aorist and Perfect</i> as to which once more the reader is referred to the end of the volume. Even an outline of the argument cannot be given in a Preface such as this.

13. But he who would make a truly English translation
of a foreign book must not only select the right nouns,
adjectives, and verbs, insert the suitable prepositions and
auxiliaries, and triumph (if he can) over the seductions and
blandishments of idioms with which he has been familiar from his infancy, but which, though forcible or beautiful with
other surroundings, are for all that part and parcel of that other language rather than of English: he has also to beware
of <i>connecting his sentences</i> in an un-English fashion. Now a careful examination of a number of authors (including
Scottish, Irish, and American) yields some interesting results. Taking at haphazard a passage from each of fifty-six authors,
and counting on after some full stop till fifty finite verbs - i.e.
verbs in the indicative, imperative, or subjunctive mood
have been reached (each finite verb, as every schoolboy knows,
being the nucleus of one sentence or clause), it has been
found that the connecting links of the fifty-six times fifty sentences are about one third conjunctions, about one-third adverbs or relative and interrogative pronouns, while in the case of the remaining third there is what the grammarians
call an <i>asyndeton</i> - no formal grammatical connexion at all. But in the writers of the N.T. nearly two-thirds of the connecting links are conjunctions. It follows that in order to make the style of a translation true idiomatic English many
of these conjunctions must be omitted, and for others. adverbs,
etc., must be substituted. 

The two conjunctions <i>for</i> and <i>therefore</i> are discussed at some
length in two Appendices to the above-mentioned pamphlet on
the Aorist, to which the reader is referred.

14. The Notes, with but few exceptions, are not of the nature of a general commentary. Some, as already intimated,
refer to the readings here followed, but the great majority
are in vindication or explanation of the renderings given. Since the completion of this new version nearly two years
ago, ill-health has incapacitated the Translator from undertaking even the lightest work. He has therefore been obliged to entrust to other hands the labour of critically examining and
revising the manuscript and of seeing it through the press. This arduous task has been undertaken by Rev. Ernest Hampden-Cook, M.A., St. John's College, Cambridge, of Sandbach,
Cheshire, with some co-operation from one of the Translator's sons; and the Translator is under deep obligations to these two gentlemen for their kindness in the matter. He has also most cordially to thank Mr. Hampden-Cook for making the
existence of the work known to various members of the Old MILLHILLIANS' CLUB and other former pupils of the Translator, who in a truly substantial manner have manifested a generous
determination to enable the volume to see the light. Very
grateful does the Translator feel to them for this signal mark
of their friendship.

Mr. Hampden-Cook is responsible for the headings of the paragraphs, and at my express desire has inserted some additional notes.

I have further to express my gratitude to Rev. Frank Ballard,
M.A., B.Sc, Lond., at present of Sharrow, Sheffield, for some
very valuable assistance which he has most kindly given in connexion with the Introductions ro the several books.

I have also the pleasure of acknowledging the numerous
valuable and suggestive criticisms with which I have been
favoured on some parts of the work, by an old friend, Rev. Sydney Thelwall, B.A., of Leamington, a clergyman of the Church of England, whom I have known for many years as a painstaking and accurate scholar, a well-read theologian, and a
thoughtful and devout student of Scripture.

I am very thankful to Mr. H. L. Gethin, Mr. S. Hales, Mr.
J. A. Latham, and Rev. T. A. Seed, for the care with which
they have read the proof sheets.

And now this translation is humbly and prayerfully commended to God's gracious blessing.

R. F. W.<br>
Brentwood, Essex,<br>
England.

July 1902.

#OUTLINE:1,Matthew
#TOPIC:MATTHEW, GOSPEL
There are ample reasons for accepting the uniform tradition which from the earliest times has ascribed this Gospel to Levi
the son of Alphaeus, who seems to have changed his name to
'Matthew' on becoming a disciple of Jesus. Our infoimation
as to his subsequent life is very scanty. After the feast which
he made for his old friends (<bcv=Luke 5:29>Luke v. 29)</bcv> his name only appears
in the New Testament in the list of the twelve apostles. Early
Christian writers add httle to our knowledge of him, but his
life seems to have been quiet and somewhat ascetic. He is also generally represented as having died a natural death. Wbere his Gospel was written, or where he himself laboured, we cannot say. Not a little controversy has arisen as to the form in which his Gospel first appeared, that is, as to whether we have in the Greek MSS. an original document or a translation from an earlier Aramaic writing. Modern scholarship
inclines to the view that the book is not a translation, but was
probably written in Greek by Matthew himself, upon the basis
of a previously issued collection of "Logia" or discourses, to the existence of which Jerome, Eusebius, Origen, Pantaenus,
Irenaeus and Papias all testify. The date of the Gospel, as we
know it, is somewhat uncertain, but the best critical estimates
are included between 70 and 90, A.D. Perhaps, with Harnack, we may best adopt 75, A.D. The book was evidently intended
for Jewish converts, and exhibits Jesus as the God-appointed
Messiah and King, the fulfiller of the Law and of the highest
expectations of the Jewish nation. This speciality of aim
rather enhances than diminishes its general value. Renan
found reason for pronouncing it "the most important book of Christendom - the most important book which has ever been
written." Its aim is manifestly didactic rather than chronological.

#BCV:Matthew 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY MATTHEW</h1>
<b>The Names of Christ's Forefathers</b>
#BCV:Matthew 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 1:1">1</verse></font> The Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
#BCV:Matthew 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:2">2</verse></sup> Abraham was the father of Isaac; Isaac of Jacob; Jacob of Judah and his brothers.
#BCV:Matthew 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:3">3</verse></sup> Judah was the father (by Tamar)
#BCV:Matthew 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:4">4</verse></sup> Ram of Amminadab; Amminadab of Nahshon; Nahshon of Salmon;
#BCV:Matthew 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:5">5</verse></sup> Salmon (by Rahab)
#BCV:Matthew 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:6">6</verse></sup> Jesse of David--the King. David (by Uriah's widow)
#BCV:Matthew 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:7">7</verse></sup> Solomon of Rehoboam; Rehoboam of Abijah; Abijah of Asa;
#BCV:Matthew 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:8">8</verse></sup> Asa of Jehoshaphat; Jehoshaphat of Jehoram; Jehoram of Uzziah;
#BCV:Matthew 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:9">9</verse></sup> Uzziah of Jotham; Jotham of Ahaz; Ahaz of Hezekiah;
#BCV:Matthew 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:10">10</verse></sup> Hezekiah of Manasseh; Manasseh of Amon; Amon of Josiah;
#BCV:Matthew 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:11">11</verse></sup> Josiah of Jeconiah and his brothers at the period of the Removal to Babylon.
#BCV:Matthew 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:12">12</verse></sup> After the Removal to Babylon Jeconiah had a son Shealtiel; Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel;
#BCV:Matthew 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:13">13</verse></sup> Zerubbabel of Abiud; Abiud of Eliakim; Eliakim of Azor;
#BCV:Matthew 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:14">14</verse></sup> Azor of Zadok; Zadok of Achim; Achim of Eliud;
#BCV:Matthew 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:15">15</verse></sup> Eliud of Eleazar; Eleazar of Matthan; Matthan of Jacob;
#BCV:Matthew 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:16">16</verse></sup> and Jacob of Joseph the husband of Mary, who was the mother of JESUS who is called CHRIST.
#BCV:Matthew 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:17">17</verse></sup> There are therefore, in all, fourteen generations from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Removal to Babylon; and fourteen from the Removal to Babylon to the Christ.
#BCV:Matthew 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:18">18</verse></sup> The circumstances of the birth  of Jesus Christ were these. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they were united in marriage, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Matthew 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:19">19</verse></sup> But Joseph her husband, being a  kind-hearted man and unwilling publicly to disgrace her, had determined to release her privately from the betrothal.
#BCV:Matthew 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:20">20</verse></sup> But while he  was contemplating this step, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to bring home your wife Mary, for she is with child through the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Matthew 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:21">21</verse></sup> She will give birth to a Son, and you are to call His name  JESUS for He it is who will save His People from their sins."
#BCV:Matthew 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:22">22</verse></sup> All this took place in  fulfilment of what the Lord had spoken through the Prophet,
#BCV:Matthew 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:23">23</verse></sup> "Mark! The maiden will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call His name Immanuel" --a word which signifies 'God with us'.
#BCV:Matthew 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:24">24</verse></sup> When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded, and brought home his wife,
#BCV:Matthew 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 1:25">25</verse></sup> but did not live with her until she had given birth to  a son. The child's name he called JESUS.

#BCV:Matthew 2:0
<b>The Visit of the Magians</b>
#BCV:Matthew 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 2:1">2</verse></font> Now after the birth of Jesus, which took place at Bethlehem in Judaea  in the reign of King Herod,  excitement was produced in Jerusalem by the arrival of certain  Magi from the east,
#BCV:Matthew 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:2">2</verse></sup> inquiring, "Where is the newly born king of the Jews? For we have seen his Star in the east, and have come here to do him homage."
#BCV:Matthew 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:3">3</verse></sup> Reports of this soon reached the king, and greatly agitated not only him but all the people of Jerusalem.
#BCV:Matthew 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:4">4</verse></sup> So he assembled all the  High Priests and Scribes of the people, and  anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.
#BCV:Matthew 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:5">5</verse></sup> "At Bethlehem in Judaea," they replied; "for so it stands written in the words of the Prophet,
#BCV:Matthew 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:6">6</verse></sup><blockquote>"'And thou,  Bethlehem in the land of Judah, by no means the least honorable <word=are>art</word> thou among  princely places in Judah! For from thee shall come a prince--one who shall be the Shepherd of My People Israel.'"</blockquote>
#BCV:Matthew 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:7">7</verse></sup> Thereupon Herod sent privately for the Magi and ascertained from them the exact time  of the star's appearing.
#BCV:Matthew 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:8">8</verse></sup> He then directed them to go to Bethlehem, adding, "Go and make careful inquiry about the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and  do him homage."
#BCV:Matthew 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:9">9</verse></sup> After hearing what the king said, they went to Bethlehem, while,  strange to say, the star  they had seen in the east led them on until it came and stood over the place where the babe was.
#BCV:Matthew 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:10">10</verse></sup> When they saw the star, the sight filled them with intense joy.
#BCV:Matthew 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:11">11</verse></sup> So they entered the house; and when they  saw the babe  with His mother Mary, they prostrated themselves and did Him homage, and opening their treasure-chests offered gifts to Him--gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
#BCV:Matthew 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:12">12</verse></sup> But being  forbidden by God in a dream to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by a different route.
#BCV:Matthew 2:13
<b>The Escape to Egypt</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:13">13</verse></sup> When they were  gone, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise: take the babe and His mother and escape to Egypt, and remain there till I bring you word. For Herod is about to make search for the child in order to destroy Him."
#BCV:Matthew 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:14">14</verse></sup> So Joseph roused himself and took the babe and His mother by night and departed into Egypt.
#BCV:Matthew 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:15">15</verse></sup> There he remained till Herod's death, that what the Lord had said through the Prophet might be  fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."
#BCV:Matthew 2:16
<b>The Children at Bethlehem cruelly killed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:16">16</verse></sup> Then Herod, finding that the Magi had trifled with him, was furious, and sent and massacred all the boys under two years of age, in Bethlehem and all its neighbourhood, according to the date he had so carefully ascertained from the Magi.
#BCV:Matthew 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:17">17</verse></sup> Then were these words, spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah,  fulfilled,
#BCV:Matthew 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:18">18</verse></sup><blockquote> "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter lamentation: It was Rachel  bewailing her children, and she refused to be comforted because there were no more."</blockquote>
#BCV:Matthew 2:19
<b>The Return from Egypt</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:19">19</verse></sup> But after Herod's death an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said to him,
#BCV:Matthew 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:20">20</verse></sup> "Rise from sleep, and take the child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."
#BCV:Matthew 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:21">21</verse></sup> So he roused himself and took the child and His mother and came into the land of Israel.
#BCV:Matthew 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:22">22</verse></sup> But hearing that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod on the throne of Judaea, he was afraid to go there; and being instructed  by God in a dream he withdrew into Galilee,
#BCV:Matthew 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 2:23">23</verse></sup> and went and settled in a town called Nazareth, in order that these words spoken through the Prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a  Nazarene."
#BCV:Matthew 3:1
<b>John the Baptist preaches Judgement and Repentance.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 3:1">3</verse></font> About this time John  the Baptist made his appearance, preaching in the Desert of Judaea.
#BCV:Matthew 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:2">2</verse></sup> "Repent," he said, "for the Kingdom of the Heavens is now close at hand."
#BCV:Matthew 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:3">3</verse></sup> He it is who was spoken of through the Prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying aloud,  'In the desert prepare ye a road for the Lord: make His highway straight.'"
#BCV:Matthew 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:4">4</verse></sup> This man John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a loincloth of leather; and he lived upon locusts and wild honey.
#BCV:Matthew 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:5">5</verse></sup> Then large numbers of people went out to him--people from Jerusalem and from all Judaea, and from the whole of the Jordan valley--
#BCV:Matthew 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:6">6</verse></sup> and were baptized by him in the Jordan, making full confession of their sins.
#BCV:Matthew 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:7">7</verse></sup> But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he exclaimed, "O vipers'  brood, who has  warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
#BCV:Matthew 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:8">8</verse></sup> Therefore let your lives prove your  change of heart;
#BCV:Matthew 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:9">9</verse></sup> and  do not imagine that you can say  to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our forefather,' for I tell you that God can  raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.
#BCV:Matthew 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:10">10</verse></sup> And already the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree which does not produce good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire.
#BCV:Matthew 3:11
<b>He predicts the Appearing and Work of Jesus</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:11">11</verse></sup> I indeed am baptizing you  in water  on a profession of repentance; but He who is coming after me is mightier than I: His sandals I am not worthy to carry for a moment; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire.
#BCV:Matthew 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:12">12</verse></sup> His winnowing-shovel is in His hand, and He will make a thorough clearance of His threshing-floor, gathering His wheat into the storehouse, but  burning up the  chaff in unquenchable fire."
#BCV:Matthew 3:13
<b>Christ's double Baptism.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:13">13</verse></sup> Just at that time Jesus, coming from Galilee to the Jordan, presents Himself to John to be baptized by him.
#BCV:Matthew 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:14">14</verse></sup> John  protested. "It is I," he said, "who have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
#BCV:Matthew 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:15">15</verse></sup> "Let it be so on this occasion," Jesus replied; "for so we ought to fulfil every religious duty." Then he consented;
#BCV:Matthew 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:16">16</verse></sup> and Jesus was baptized, and immediately went up from the water.  At that moment the heavens  opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a  dove and alighting upon Him,
#BCV:Matthew 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 3:17">17</verse></sup> while a voice came from Heaven, saying, "This is My Son, the dearly loved, in whom is My delight."
#BCV:Matthew 4:1
<b>His terrible Experiences in the Desert.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 4:1">4</verse></font> At that time Jesus was  led up by the Spirit into the Desert in order to be tempted by the Devil.
#BCV:Matthew 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:2">2</verse></sup> There He fasted for forty days and nights; and after that He suffered from hunger.
#BCV:Matthew 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:3">3</verse></sup> So the Tempter came and said,  "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn into loaves."
#BCV:Matthew 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:4">4</verse></sup> "It is written," replied Jesus, "'It is not on bread alone that a man shall live, but on whatsoever God shall appoint.'"
#BCV:Matthew 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:5">5</verse></sup> Then the Devil took Him to the Holy City and caused Him to stand on the roof of the  Temple,
#BCV:Matthew 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:6">6</verse></sup> 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.'"
#BCV:Matthew 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:7">7</verse></sup> "Again it is written," replied Jesus,  "'Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.'"
#BCV:Matthew 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:8">8</verse></sup> Then the Devil took Him to the top of an exceedingly lofty mountain, from which he caused Him to see all the Kingdoms of the world and their splendour,
#BCV:Matthew 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:9">9</verse></sup> and said to Him, "All this I will give you,  if you will kneel down and do me homage."
#BCV:Matthew 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:10">10</verse></sup> "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.'"
#BCV:Matthew 4:11
<b>Christ goes Into Galilee.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:11">11</verse></sup> Thereupon the Devil left Him, and angels  at once came and ministered to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:12">12</verse></sup> Now when Jesus heard that John was  thrown into prison, He withdrew into Galilee,
#BCV:Matthew 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:13">13</verse></sup> and leaving Nazareth He went and settled at  Capernaum, a town by the  Lake on the frontiers of Zebulun and Naphtali,
#BCV:Matthew 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:14">14</verse></sup> in order that these words, spoken through the Prophet Isaiah, might be fulfilled,
#BCV:Matthew 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:15">15</verse></sup> "Zebulun's land and Naphtali's land; the road by the  Lake; the country beyond the Jordan;  Galilee of the Nations!
#BCV:Matthew 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:16">16</verse></sup> The people who were  dwelling in darkness have seen a brilliant light; and on those who were dwelling in the  region of the shadow of death, on them light has dawned."
#BCV:Matthew 4:17
<b>He begins to preach.  Four Disciples called.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:17">17</verse></sup> From that time Jesus began to preach. "Repent," He said, "for the Kingdom of the Heavens is now close at hand."
#BCV:Matthew 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:18">18</verse></sup> And walking along the shore of the Lake of Galilee He saw two brothers--Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew--throwing a drag-net into the Lake; for they were fishers.
#BCV:Matthew 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:19">19</verse></sup> And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
#BCV:Matthew 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:20">20</verse></sup> So they immediately left their nets and followed Him. As He went further on,
#BCV:Matthew 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:21">21</verse></sup> He saw two other brothers, James the son of  Zabdi and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zabdi mending their nets; and He called them.
#BCV:Matthew 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:22">22</verse></sup> And they at once left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
#BCV:Matthew 4:23
<b>His Preaching and Miracles throughout Galilee.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:23">23</verse></sup> Then Jesus  travelled through all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming  the Good News of the Kingdom, and curing every kind of disease and infirmity among the people.
#BCV:Matthew 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:24">24</verse></sup> Thus His fame spread through all Syria; and they brought all the sick to Him, the people who were  suffering from various diseases and pains--demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He cured them.
#BCV:Matthew 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 4:25">25</verse></sup> And great crowds followed Him, coming from Galilee, from the Ten Towns, from Jerusalem, and from beyond the district on the other side of the Jordan.
#BCV:Matthew 5:1
<b>The Sermon on the Hill.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 5:1">5</verse></font> Seeing the multitude of people, Jesus went up the Hill.  There He seated Himself, and when His disciples came to Him,
#BCV:Matthew 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:2">2</verse></sup> He proceeded to teach them, and said:
#BCV:Matthew 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:3">3</verse></sup> "Blessed are the  poor in spirit, for to them belongs the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:4">4</verse></sup> "Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be comforted.
#BCV:Matthew 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:5">5</verse></sup> "Blessed are  the meek, for they as heirs shall obtain possession of the earth.
#BCV:Matthew 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:6">6</verse></sup> "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied.
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:7">7</verse></sup> "Blessed are the compassionate, for they shall receive compassion.
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:8">8</verse></sup> "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
#BCV:Matthew 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:9">9</verse></sup> "Blessed are the peacemakers, for  it is they who will be recognized as sons of God.
#BCV:Matthew 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:10">10</verse></sup> "Blessed are those who have borne persecution in the cause of Righteousness, for to them belongs the Kingdom of the Heavens.
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:11">11</verse></sup> "Blessed are you when they have insulted and persecuted you, and have said every cruel thing about you falsely for my sake.
#BCV:Matthew 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:12">12</verse></sup> Be joyful and triumphant, because your reward is great in the Heavens; for so were the Prophets before you persecuted.
#BCV:Matthew 5:13
<b>Salt and Light.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:13">13</verse></sup> "*You* are the salt of the earth; but if salt has become  tasteless, in what way can it regain its saltness? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown away and trodden on by the passers by.
#BCV:Matthew 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:14">14</verse></sup> *You* are the light of the world; a town cannot be hid if built on a hill-top.
#BCV:Matthew 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:15">15</verse></sup> Nor is a lamp lighted to be put under a bushel, but on the lampstand; and then it gives light to all in the house.
#BCV:Matthew 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:16">16</verse></sup> Just so let your light shine before all men, in order that they may see  your holy lives and may give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 5:17
<b>The Law not repealed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:17">17</verse></sup> "Do not for a moment suppose that I have come to abrogate  the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abrogate them but to give them their completion.
#BCV:Matthew 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:18">18</verse></sup> Solemnly I tell you that until  Heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the Law until all has taken place.
#BCV:Matthew 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:19">19</verse></sup> Whoever therefore  breaks one of these least commandments and teaches  others to break them, will be called the least in the Kingdom of the Heavens; but whoever practises them and teaches them, he will be acknowledged as great in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:20">20</verse></sup> For I assure you that unless  your righteousness  greatly surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will certainly not find entrance into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 5:21
<b>Anger and Murder.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:21">21</verse></sup> "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'Thou shalt not commit murder', and whoever commits murder will be answerable to  the magistrate.
#BCV:Matthew 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:22">22</verse></sup> But I say to you that every one who becomes  angry with his brother shall be answerable to the magistrate; that whoever says to his brother  'Raca,' shall be answerable to the  Sanhedrin; and that whoever says, 'You  fool!' shall be liable to the  Gehenna of Fire.
#BCV:Matthew 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:23">23</verse></sup> If therefore when you are offering your gift upon the altar, you remember that your brother has a grievance against you,
#BCV:Matthew 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:24">24</verse></sup> leave your gift there before the altar, and go and make friends with your brother first, and then return and proceed to offer your gift.
#BCV:Matthew 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:25">25</verse></sup> Come to terms without delay with your opponent while you are yet with him on the way to the court; for fear he should obtain judgement from the magistrate against you, and the magistrate should give you in custody to the officer and you be thrown into prison.
#BCV:Matthew 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:26">26</verse></sup> I solemnly tell you that you will certainly not be released till you have paid the very last farthing.
#BCV:Matthew 5:27
<b>Adultery and Impure Thoughts.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:27">27</verse></sup> "You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'
#BCV:Matthew 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:28">28</verse></sup> But I tell you that whoever looks at a woman and cherishes lustful thoughts has already in his heart become guilty with regard to her.
#BCV:Matthew 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:29">29</verse></sup> If therefore your eye, even the right eye,  is a snare to you, tear it out and away with it; it is better for you that one member should be destroyed rather than that your whole body should be thrown into Gehenna.
#BCV:Matthew 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:30">30</verse></sup> And if your right hand  is a snare to you, cut it off and away with it; it is better for you that one member should be destroyed rather than that your whole body should go into Gehenna.
#BCV:Matthew 5:31
<b>The Sacredness of Marriage.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:31">31</verse></sup> "It was also said, 'If any man puts away his wife, let him give her a written notice of divorce.'
#BCV:Matthew 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:32">32</verse></sup> But I tell you that every man who puts away his wife except on the ground of  unfaithfulness causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries  her when so divorced commits adultery.
#BCV:Matthew 5:33
<b>Simple Truthfulness of Speech.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:33">33</verse></sup> "Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt perform thy vows to the Lord.'
#BCV:Matthew 5:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:34">34</verse></sup> But I tell you not to  swear at all; neither by Heaven, for it is God's throne;
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:35">35</verse></sup> nor by the earth, for it is the footstool under His feet; nor  by Jerusalem, for it is the City of the Great King.
#BCV:Matthew 5:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:36">36</verse></sup> And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
#BCV:Matthew 5:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:37">37</verse></sup> But  let your language be, 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no.' Anything in excess of this comes from the Evil one.
#BCV:Matthew 5:38
<b>All Revenge forbidden</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:38">38</verse></sup> "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.'
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:39">39</verse></sup> But I tell you not to resist a wicked man, but if any one  strikes you on the right  cheek, turn the other to him as well.
#BCV:Matthew 5:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:40">40</verse></sup> If any one wishes to go to law with you and to deprive you of your  under garment, let him take your outer one also.
#BCV:Matthew 5:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:41">41</verse></sup> And whoever shall compel you to  convey his goods one mile, go with him two.
#BCV:Matthew 5:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:42">42</verse></sup> To him who asks, give: from him who would borrow, turn not away.
#BCV:Matthew 5:43
<b>Love even the Wicked.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:43">43</verse></sup> "You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.'
#BCV:Matthew 5:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:44">44</verse></sup> But I command you all, love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors;
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:45">45</verse></sup> that so you may become true sons of your Father in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the wicked as well as the good, and sends rain upon those who do right and those who do wrong.
#BCV:Matthew 5:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:46">46</verse></sup> For if you love only those who love you, what reward have you earned? Do not even the tax-gatherers do that?
#BCV:Matthew 5:47
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:47">47</verse></sup> And if you salute only your near relatives, what praise is due to you? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
#BCV:Matthew 5:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 5:48">48</verse></sup> You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete.
#BCV:Matthew 6:1
<b>Do not parade your Goodness.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 6:1">6</verse></font> "But beware of doing your  good actions in the sight of men, in order to attract their gaze; if you do, there is no reward for you with your Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:2">2</verse></sup> When you give in charity, never blow a  trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and streets in order that their praises may be sung by men. I solemnly tell you that  they already have their reward.
#BCV:Matthew 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:3">3</verse></sup> But when you are giving in  charity, let not your left hand perceive what your right hand is doing,
#BCV:Matthew 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:4">4</verse></sup> that your charities may be in secret; and then your Father--He who sees in secret--will recompense you.
#BCV:Matthew 6:5
<b>Secret Prayer</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:5">5</verse></sup> "And when praying, you must not be like the hypocrites. They are fond of standing and praying in the synagogues or at the corners of the wider streets, in order that men may see them. I solemnly tell you that  they already have their reward.
#BCV:Matthew 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:6">6</verse></sup> But you, whenever you pray, go into your own room and shut the door: then pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father--He who sees in secret--will recompense you.
#BCV:Matthew 6:7
<b>Avoid useless Repetitions.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:7">7</verse></sup> "And when praying, do not use needless repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they expect to be listened to because of their multitude of words.
#BCV:Matthew 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:8">8</verse></sup> Do not,  however, imitate them; for  your Father knows what things you need before ever you ask Him.
#BCV:Matthew 6:9
<b>The Lord's Prayer.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:9">9</verse></sup> "In this manner therefore pray: 'Our Father who <word=are>art</word> in Heaven, may Thy name be kept holy;
#BCV:Matthew 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:10">10</verse></sup> let Thy kingdom come; let Thy  will be done, as in Heaven so on earth;
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:11">11</verse></sup> give us to-day our bread  for the day;
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:12">12</verse></sup> and forgive us our shortcomings, as we also have forgiven those who have  failed in their duty towards us;
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<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:13">13</verse></sup> and bring us not into temptation, but rescue us  from the Evil one.'
#BCV:Matthew 6:14
<b>Mutual Forgiveness an absolute Necessity.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:14">14</verse></sup> "For if you forgive others their offences, your Heavenly Father will forgive you also;
#BCV:Matthew 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:15">15</verse></sup> but if you do not forgive others their offences, neither will your Father forgive yours.
#BCV:Matthew 6:16
<b>Fast secretly and cheerfully.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:16">16</verse></sup> "When any of you fast, never assume gloomy looks as the hypocrites do; for they disfigure their faces in order that it may be evident to men that they are fasting. I solemnly tell you that they already have their reward.
#BCV:Matthew 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:17">17</verse></sup> But, whenever you fast, pour  perfume on your hair and wash your face,
#BCV:Matthew 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:18">18</verse></sup> that it may not be apparent to men that you are fasting, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father--He who sees in secret--will recompense you.
#BCV:Matthew 6:19
<b>Lay up Wealth in Heaven.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:19">19</verse></sup> "Do not lay up stores of wealth for yourselves on earth, where the moth and  wear-and-tear destroy, and where thieves  break in and steal.
#BCV:Matthew 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:20">20</verse></sup> But amass wealth for yourselves in Heaven, where neither the moth nor  wear-and-tear destroys, and where thieves do not  break in and steal.
#BCV:Matthew 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:21">21</verse></sup> For where your wealth is, there also will your heart be.
#BCV:Matthew 6:22
<b>Motives are of supreme Importance.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:22">22</verse></sup> "The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your  eyesight is good, your whole body will be 
well lighted;
#BCV:Matthew 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:23">23</verse></sup> but if your  eyesight is bad, your whole body will be dark. If however the very light within you is darkness, how dense must the darkness be!
#BCV:Matthew 6:24
<b>All Worry is forbidden to Christians.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:24">24</verse></sup> "No man can be the bondservant of two masters; for either he will dislike one and like the other, or he will attach himself to one and think slightingly of the other. You cannot be the bondservants both of God and of gold.
#BCV:Matthew 6:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:25">25</verse></sup> For this reason I charge you not to be over-anxious about your lives, inquiring what you are to eat or what you are to drink, nor yet about your bodies, inquiring what clothes you are to put on. Is not the life more precious than its food, and the body than its clothing?
#BCV:Matthew 6:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:26">26</verse></sup> Look at the birds which fly in the air: they do not sow or reap or store up in barns, but your Heavenly Father feeds them: are not you of much greater value than they?
#BCV:Matthew 6:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:27">27</verse></sup> Which of you by being over-anxious can add  a single foot to his height?
#BCV:Matthew 6:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:28">28</verse></sup> And why be anxious about clothing? Learn a lesson from the wild  lilies. Watch their growth. They neither  toil nor  spin,
#BCV:Matthew 6:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:29">29</verse></sup> and yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his magnificence could array himself like one of these.
#BCV:Matthew 6:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:30">30</verse></sup> And if God so clothes the wild herbage which to-day flourishes and to-morrow is thrown into the  oven, is it not much more certain that He will clothe you, you men of little faith?
#BCV:Matthew 6:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:31">31</verse></sup> Do not be  over-anxious, therefore, asking 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
#BCV:Matthew 6:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:32">32</verse></sup> For all these are questions that Gentiles are always asking;  but your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things--all of them.
#BCV:Matthew 6:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:33">33</verse></sup> But make His Kingdom and righteousness your chief aim, and then these things shall all be given you in addition.
#BCV:Matthew 6:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 6:34">34</verse></sup> Do not be  over-anxious, therefore, about to-morrow, for to-morrow will bring its own cares. Enough for each day are its own troubles.
#BCV:Matthew 7:1
<b>Criminals must not judge Criminals.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 7:1">7</verse></font> "Judge not, that you may not be judged;
#BCV:Matthew 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:2">2</verse></sup> for your own judgement will be dealt--and your own measure meted--to yourselves.
#BCV:Matthew 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:3">3</verse></sup> And why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, and not notice the beam which is in your own eye?
#BCV:Matthew 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:4">4</verse></sup> Or how say to your brother, 'Allow me to take the splinter out of your eye,' while the beam is in your own eye?
#BCV:Matthew 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:5">5</verse></sup> Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.
#BCV:Matthew 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:6">6</verse></sup> "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor throw your pearls to the swine; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and then turn and  attack you.
#BCV:Matthew 7:7
<b>Prayer.  A three-fold Promise.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:7">7</verse></sup> "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
#BCV:Matthew 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:8">8</verse></sup> For it is always he who asks that receives, he who seeks that finds, and he who knocks that has the door opened to him.
#BCV:Matthew 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:9">9</verse></sup> What man is there among you, who if his son shall ask him for bread will offer him a stone?
#BCV:Matthew 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:10">10</verse></sup> Or if the son shall ask him for a fish will offer him a snake?
#BCV:Matthew 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:11">11</verse></sup> If you then, imperfect as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
#BCV:Matthew 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:12">12</verse></sup> Everything, therefore, be it what it may, that you would have men do to you, do you also the same to them; for in this the Law and the Prophets are summed up.
#BCV:Matthew 7:13
<b>The Need of Intense Earnestness.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:13">13</verse></sup> "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the  gate and broad the road which leads to ruin, and many there are who enter by it;
#BCV:Matthew 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:14">14</verse></sup> because narrow is the gate and contracted the road which leads  to Life, and few are those who find it.
#BCV:Matthew 7:15
<b>Teachers to be judged by their Lives.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:15">15</verse></sup> "Beware of the false  teachers--men who come to you in sheep's fleeces, but beneath that disguise they are ravenous wolves.
#BCV:Matthew 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:16">16</verse></sup> By their fruits you will easily recognize them. Are grapes gathered from  thorns or figs from  brambles?
#BCV:Matthew 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:17">17</verse></sup> Just so every good tree produces good fruit, but a poisonous tree produces bad fruit.
#BCV:Matthew 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:18">18</verse></sup> A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a poisonous tree good fruit.
#BCV:Matthew 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:19">19</verse></sup> Every tree which does not yield good fruit is cut down and thrown aside for burning.
#BCV:Matthew 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:20">20</verse></sup> So by their fruits at any rate, you will easily recognize them.
#BCV:Matthew 7:21
<b>Real Obedience the only Path to Heaven.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:21">21</verse></sup> "Not every one who says to me, 'Master, Master,'  will enter the Kingdom of the Heavens, but only those who are obedient to my Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:22">22</verse></sup> Many will say to me on that day, "'Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name expelled demons, and in Thy name performed many mighty works?'
#BCV:Matthew 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:23">23</verse></sup> "And then I will tell them plainly, "'I never knew you: begone from me, you doers of  wickedness.'
#BCV:Matthew 7:24
<b>The utter Iselessness of mere Professions.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:24">24</verse></sup> "Every one who hears  these my teachings and acts upon them  will be found to resemble a wise man who builds his house upon rock;
#BCV:Matthew 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:25">25</verse></sup> and the heavy rain falls, the swollen torrents come, and the winds blow and beat against the house; yet it does not fall, for its foundation is on rock.
#BCV:Matthew 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:26">26</verse></sup> And every one who hears these my teachings and does not act upon them will be found to resemble a fool who builds his house upon sand.
#BCV:Matthew 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:27">27</verse></sup> The heavy rain descends, the swollen torrents come, and the winds blow and burst upon the house, and it falls; and disastrous is the fall."
#BCV:Matthew 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:28">28</verse></sup> When Jesus had concluded this discourse, the crowds were  filled with amazement at His teaching,
#BCV:Matthew 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 7:29">29</verse></sup> for He had been teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their Scribes taught.
#BCV:Matthew 8:1
<b>Christ cures a Leper.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 8:1">8</verse></font> Upon descending from the hill country He was followed by immense crowds.
#BCV:Matthew 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:2">2</verse></sup> And a leper came to Him, and throwing himself at His feet, said,  "Sir, if only you are willing you are able to cleanse me."
#BCV:Matthew 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:3">3</verse></sup> So Jesus put out His hand and touched him, and said, "I am willing: be cleansed." Instantly he was cleansed from his leprosy;
#BCV:Matthew 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:4">4</verse></sup> and Jesus said to him, "Be careful to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses appointed as evidence for them."
#BCV:Matthew 8:5
<b>A Roman Soldier's Slave restored.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:5">5</verse></sup> After His entry into Capernaum a  Captain came to Him, and entreated Him.
#BCV:Matthew 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:6">6</verse></sup> "Sir," he said, "my  servant at home is lying ill with paralysis, and is suffering great  pain."
#BCV:Matthew 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:7">7</verse></sup> "I will come and cure him," said Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:8">8</verse></sup> "Sir," replied the Captain, "I am not  a fit person to receive you under my roof: merely say  the word, and my servant will be cured.
#BCV:Matthew 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:9">9</verse></sup> For I myself am also  under authority, and have soldiers under me. To one I say 'Go,' and he goes, to another 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave 'Do this or that,' and he does it."
#BCV:Matthew 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:10">10</verse></sup> Jesus listened to this reply, and was astonished, and said to the people following Him, "I solemnly tell you that  in no Israelite have I found faith as great as this.
#BCV:Matthew 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:11">11</verse></sup> And I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west and will  recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Heavens,
#BCV:Matthew 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:12">12</verse></sup> while the natural heirs of the Kingdom will be driven out into the darkness outside: there will be  the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth."
#BCV:Matthew 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:13">13</verse></sup> And Jesus said to the Captain, "Go, and just as you have believed, so be it for you." And the servant recovered precisely at that time.
#BCV:Matthew 8:14
<b>Peter's Mother-in Law cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:14">14</verse></sup> After this Jesus went to the house of Peter, whose mother-in-law he  found ill in bed with fever.
#BCV:Matthew 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:15">15</verse></sup> He touched her hand and the fever left her: and then she  rose and  waited upon Him.
#BCV:Matthew 8:16
<b>Many others Miracles.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:16">16</verse></sup> In the evening many demoniacs were brought to Him, and with a word He expelled the demons; and He cured all the sick,
#BCV:Matthew 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:17">17</verse></sup> in order that this prediction of the Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, "He took on Him our weaknesses, and bore the burden of our diseases."
#BCV:Matthew 8:18
<b>New Disciples put to the Test.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:18">18</verse></sup> Seeing  great crowds about Him Jesus had given directions to cross to the other side of the Lake,
#BCV:Matthew 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:19">19</verse></sup> when  a Scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
#BCV:Matthew 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:20">20</verse></sup> "Foxes have holes," replied Jesus, "and birds have  nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
#BCV:Matthew 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:21">21</verse></sup> Another of the disciples said to Him, "Sir, allow me first to go and bury my father."
#BCV:Matthew 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:22">22</verse></sup> "Follow me," said Jesus, "and leave the  dead to bury their own dead."
#BCV:Matthew 8:23
<b>A Storm rebuked and subdued.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:23">23</verse></sup> Then He went on board a fishing-boat, and His disciples followed Him.
#BCV:Matthew 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:24">24</verse></sup> But  suddenly there arose a great storm on the Lake, so that the waves threatened to engulf the boat; but He was asleep.
#BCV:Matthew 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:25">25</verse></sup> So they came and woke Him, crying, "Master, save us, we are drowning!"
#BCV:Matthew 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:26">26</verse></sup> "Why are you so easily frightened," He replied, "you men of little faith?" Then He rose and reproved the winds and the waves, and there was a perfect calm;
#BCV:Matthew 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:27">27</verse></sup> and the men, filled with amazement, exclaimed, "What kind of man is this? for the very winds and waves obey him!"
#BCV:Matthew 8:28
<b>Two Gadarene Demoniacs cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:28">28</verse></sup> On His arrival at the other side, in the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him two men possessed by demons, coming  from among the tombs: they were so dangerously fierce that no one was able to pass that way.
#BCV:Matthew 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:29">29</verse></sup> They cried aloud, "What hast Thou to do with us, Thou Son of God? Hast Thou come here to torment us before the time?"
#BCV:Matthew 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:30">30</verse></sup> Now at some distance from them a vast herd of swine were feeding.
#BCV:Matthew 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:31">31</verse></sup> So the demons entreated Him. "If Thou drivest us out," they said, "send us into the herd of swine."
#BCV:Matthew 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:32">32</verse></sup> "Go," He replied. Then they came out from the men and went into the swine, whereupon the entire herd  instantly rushed down the cliff into the Lake and perished in the water.
#BCV:Matthew 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:33">33</verse></sup> The  swineherds fled, and went and told the whole story in the town, including what had happened to the demoniacs.
#BCV:Matthew 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 8:34">34</verse></sup> So at once the whole population came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they besought Him to leave their country.
#BCV:Matthew 9:1
<b>The Cure of a paralysed Man.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 9:1">9</verse></font> Accordingly He went on board, and crossing over came to  His own town.
#BCV:Matthew 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:2">2</verse></sup> Here they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a  bed. Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, my child; your sins are pardoned."
#BCV:Matthew 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:3">3</verse></sup> "Such language is impious," said some of the Scribes  among themselves.
#BCV:Matthew 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:4">4</verse></sup> Knowing their thoughts Jesus said, "Why are you cherishing evil thoughts in your hearts?
#BCV:Matthew 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:5">5</verse></sup> Why, which is easier? --to say, 'Your sins are pardoned,' or to say 'Rise up and walk'?
#BCV:Matthew 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:6">6</verse></sup> But, to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins" --He then says to the paralytic, "Rise, and take up your bed and go home."
#BCV:Matthew 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:7">7</verse></sup> And he got up, and went off home.
#BCV:Matthew 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:8">8</verse></sup> And the crowds were awe-struck when they saw it, and ascribed the glory to God who had  entrusted such power  to a man.
#BCV:Matthew 9:9
<b>The Call of Matthew.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:9">9</verse></sup> Passing on thence Jesus saw a man called Matthew  sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him,  "Follow me." And he arose, and followed Him.
#BCV:Matthew 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:10">10</verse></sup> And while He was reclining  at table, a large number of  tax-gathers and notorious sinners were of the party with Jesus and His disciples.
#BCV:Matthew 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:11">11</verse></sup> The Pharisees noticed this, and they inquired of His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with the tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"
#BCV:Matthew 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:12">12</verse></sup> He heard the question and replied, "It is not men in good health who require a doctor, but the sick.
#BCV:Matthew 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:13">13</verse></sup> But  go and learn what this means, 'It is mercy that I desire, not sacrifice'; for I did not come to appeal to the righteous, but to sinners."
#BCV:Matthew 9:14
<b>The Disciples' Neglect of fasting.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:14">14</verse></sup> At that time John's disciples came and asked Jesus, "Why do we and the Pharisees  fast, but your disciples do not?"
#BCV:Matthew 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:15">15</verse></sup> "Can the bridegroom's party mourn," He replied, "as long as the bridegroom is with them? But other days will come (when the Bridegroom has been taken from them)
#BCV:Matthew 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:16">16</verse></sup> No one ever mends an old cloak with a patch of newly woven cloth. Otherwise, the patch put on would tear away some of the old, and a worse hole would be made.
#BCV:Matthew 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:17">17</verse></sup> Nor do people pour new wine into old  wineskins. Otherwise, the skins would split, the wine  would escape, and the skins be destroyed. But they put new wine into fresh skins, and both are saved."
#BCV:Matthew 9:18
<b>Jair's dead Daughter.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:18">18</verse></sup> While He was thus speaking, a  Ruler came up and  profoundly bowing said, "My daughter is just dead; but come and put your hand upon her and she will return to life."
#BCV:Matthew 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:19">19</verse></sup> And Jesus rose and followed him, as did also His disciples.
#BCV:Matthew 9:20
<b>A permanent Invalid cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:20">20</verse></sup> But a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with haemorrhage came behind Him and  touched the  tassel of His cloak;
#BCV:Matthew 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:21">21</verse></sup> for she said to herself, "If I but touch His cloak, I shall be cured."
#BCV:Matthew 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:22">22</verse></sup> And Jesus turned and saw her, and said, "Take courage, daughter; your faith has  cured you." And the woman was restored to health from that moment.
#BCV:Matthew 9:23
<b>Jair's Child brought back to Life.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:23">23</verse></sup> Entering the Ruler's house, Jesus saw the flute-players and the  crowd loudly wailing,
#BCV:Matthew 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:24">24</verse></sup> and He said, "Go out of the room; the little girl is not dead, but asleep." And they laughed at Him.
#BCV:Matthew 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:25">25</verse></sup> When however the place was cleared of the crowd, Jesus went in, and on His taking the little girl by the hand, she  rose up.
#BCV:Matthew 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:26">26</verse></sup> And the report of this spread throughout all that district.
#BCV:Matthew 9:27
<b>Two blind Men receive Sight.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:27">27</verse></sup> As Jesus passed on, two blind men followed Him, shouting and saying, "Pity us, Son of David."
#BCV:Matthew 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:28">28</verse></sup> And when He had gone indoors, they came to Him. "Do you believe that I can do this?" He asked them. "Yes,  Sir," they replied.
#BCV:Matthew 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:29">29</verse></sup> So He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be to you."
#BCV:Matthew 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:30">30</verse></sup> Then their eyes were opened. And assuming a stern tone Jesus said to them, "Be careful to let no one know."
#BCV:Matthew 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:31">31</verse></sup> But they went out and published His fame in all that district.
#BCV:Matthew 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:32">32</verse></sup> And as they were leaving His presence a  dumb demoniac was brought to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 9:33
<b>A dumb Madman cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:33">33</verse></sup> When the demon was expelled, the dumb man could speak. And the crowds exclaimed in astonishment, "Never was such a thing seen in Israel."
#BCV:Matthew 9:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:34">34</verse></sup> But the Pharisees maintained, "It is  by the power of the Prince of the demons that he drives out the demons."
#BCV:Matthew 9:35
<b>Christ's Compassion for the common People.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:35">35</verse></sup> And Jesus continued His circuits through all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and curing every kind of disease and infirmity.
#BCV:Matthew 9:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:36">36</verse></sup> And when He saw the crowds He was touched with pity for them, because they were distressed and were fainting on the ground like sheep which have no shepherd.
#BCV:Matthew 9:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:37">37</verse></sup> Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the reapers are few;
#BCV:Matthew 9:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 9:38">38</verse></sup> therefore entreat the Owner of the Harvest to send out reapers into His  fields."
#BCV:Matthew 10:1
<b>He selects twelve Apostles.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 10:1">10</verse></font> Then He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over foul spirits, to drive them out; and to cure every kind of disease and infirmity.
#BCV:Matthew 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:2">2</verse></sup> Now the names of the twelve  Apostles were these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zabdi, and his brother John;
#BCV:Matthew 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:3">3</verse></sup> Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax-gatherer, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
#BCV:Matthew 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:4">4</verse></sup> Simon the  Cananaean, and Judas the  Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
#BCV:Matthew 10:5
<b>Their Mission to the common People.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:5">5</verse></sup> These twelve Jesus  sent on a mission, after giving them their instructions: "Go not," He said, "among the Gentiles, and enter no Samaritan town;
#BCV:Matthew 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:6">6</verse></sup> but, instead of that, go to the  lost sheep of Israel's race.
#BCV:Matthew 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:7">7</verse></sup> And as you go, preach and say, 'The Kingdom of the Heavens is close at hand.'
#BCV:Matthew 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:8">8</verse></sup> Cure the sick,  raise the dead to life, cleanse lepers, drive out demons: you have received without payment, give without payment.
#BCV:Matthew 10:9
<b>Their Food promised.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:9">9</verse></sup> "Provide no gold, nor even silver nor copper to carry in your pockets;
#BCV:Matthew 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:10">10</verse></sup> no bag for your journey, nor change of linen, nor shoes, nor stick; for the labourer deserves his food.
#BCV:Matthew 10:11
<b>Where they were to lodge.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:11">11</verse></sup> "Whatever town or village you enter, inquire for some good man; and make his house your home till you leave the place.
#BCV:Matthew 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:12">12</verse></sup> When you enter the house,  salute it;
#BCV:Matthew 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:13">13</verse></sup> and if the house deserves it, the peace you invoke shall come upon it. If not, your peace shall return to you.
#BCV:Matthew 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:14">14</verse></sup> And whoever refuses to receive you or even to listen to your Message, as you leave that house or town,  shake off the very dust  from your feet.
#BCV:Matthew 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:15">15</verse></sup> I solemnly tell you that it will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of Judgement than for that town.
#BCV:Matthew 10:16
<b>Cruel Persecution foretold.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:16">16</verse></sup> "Remember it is I who am sending you out, as sheep into the midst of wolves; prove yourselves as sagacious as serpents, and as innocent as  doves.
#BCV:Matthew 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:17">17</verse></sup> But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to appear before  Sanhedrins, and will flog you in their synagogues;
#BCV:Matthew 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:18">18</verse></sup> and you will even be put on trial before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles.
#BCV:Matthew 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:19">19</verse></sup> But when they have delivered you up, have  no anxiety as to how you shall speak or what you shall say; for at that very time it shall be given you what to say;
#BCV:Matthew 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:20">20</verse></sup> for it is not you who will speak: it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking  through you.
#BCV:Matthew 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:21">21</verse></sup> Brother will betray brother to death, and father, child; and children will rise against their own parents and will put them to death.
#BCV:Matthew 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:22">22</verse></sup> And you will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name; but he who holds out to  the End--he will be saved.
#BCV:Matthew 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:23">23</verse></sup> Whenever they persecute you in one town,  escape to the next; for I solemnly tell you that you will not have gone the round of all the towns of Israel  before the Son of Man comes.
#BCV:Matthew 10:24
<b>Like their Master they would suffer.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:24">24</verse></sup> "The  learner is never superior to his teacher, and the  servant is never superior to his  master.
#BCV:Matthew 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:25">25</verse></sup> Enough for the learner to be on a level with his teacher, and for the servant to be on a level with his master. If they have called the master of the house  Baal-zebul, how much more will they slander his servants?
#BCV:Matthew 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:26">26</verse></sup> Fear them not, however; there is nothing veiled which will not be uncovered, nor secret which will not become known.
#BCV:Matthew 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:27">27</verse></sup> What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what is whispered into your ear, proclaim upon the roofs of the houses.
#BCV:Matthew 10:28
<b>Yet they need not be afraid.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:28">28</verse></sup> "And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the  soul; but rather  fear him who is able to destroy both  soul and body in Gehenna.
#BCV:Matthew 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:29">29</verse></sup> Do not two sparrows sell for a  halfpenny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's leave.
#BCV:Matthew 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:30">30</verse></sup> But as for you, the very hairs on your heads are all numbered.
#BCV:Matthew 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:31">31</verse></sup> Away then with fear; you are more  precious than a multitude of sparrows.
#BCV:Matthew 10:32
<b>The vital Importance of Fidelity.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:32">32</verse></sup> "Every man who  acknowledges me before men I also  will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:33">33</verse></sup> But whoever disowns me before men I also will disown before my Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 10:34
<b>Conflict must precede Peace.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:34">34</verse></sup> "Do not suppose that I came to  bring peace to the earth: I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
#BCV:Matthew 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:35">35</verse></sup> For I came to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
#BCV:Matthew 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:36">36</verse></sup> and a man's own family will be his foes.
#BCV:Matthew 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:37">37</verse></sup> Any one who loves father or mother more than me  is not worthy of me, and any one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
#BCV:Matthew 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:38">38</verse></sup> and any one who does not take up his  cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me.
#BCV:Matthew 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:39">39</verse></sup> To save your  life is to lose it, and to lose your life for my sake is to save it.
#BCV:Matthew 10:40
<b>He gives the Apostles divine Authority.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:40">40</verse></sup> "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives Him who sent me.
#BCV:Matthew 10:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:41">41</verse></sup> Every one who receives a  prophet, because he is a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward, and every one who receives a righteous man, because he is a righteous man, will receive a righteous man's reward.
#BCV:Matthew 10:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 10:42">42</verse></sup> And whoever gives one of these  little ones  even a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple, I solemnly tell you that he will not lose his reward."
#BCV:Matthew 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 11:1">11</verse></font> When Jesus had concluded His instructions to His twelve disciples, He left in order to teach and to  proclaim His Message in the neighbouring towns.
#BCV:Matthew 11:2
<b>The Baptizer's sore Perplexity.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:2">2</verse></sup> Now John had heard in prison about the Christ's doings, and he sent  some of his disciples to inquire:
#BCV:Matthew 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:3">3</verse></sup> "Are you the Coming One, or is it a different person that we are to expect?"
#BCV:Matthew 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:4">4</verse></sup> "Go and report to John what you see and hear," replied Jesus;
#BCV:Matthew 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:5">5</verse></sup> "blind eyes  receive sight, and cripples walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf ears hear; the dead  are raised to life, and the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them;
#BCV:Matthew 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:6">6</verse></sup> and blessed is every one who does not stumble and fall because of my claims."
#BCV:Matthew 11:7
<b>Christ's Testimony as to John's Character and Work.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:7">7</verse></sup> When the messengers had taken their leave, Jesus proceeded to say to the multitude concerning John, "What did you go out into the Desert to gaze at? A reed waving in the wind?
#BCV:Matthew 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:8">8</verse></sup> But what did you go out to see? A man luxuriously dressed? Those who wear luxurious clothes are to be found in kings' palaces.
#BCV:Matthew 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:9">9</verse></sup> But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.
#BCV:Matthew 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:10">10</verse></sup> This is he of whom it is written, "'See I am sending My  messenger before Thy face, and he will make Thy road ready before Thee.'
#BCV:Matthew 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:11">11</verse></sup> "I solemnly tell you that among all of woman born no greater has ever been raised up than John the Baptist; yet one who is of lower rank in the Kingdom of the Heavens is greater than he.
#BCV:Matthew 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:12">12</verse></sup> But from  the time of John the Baptist till now, the Kingdom of the Heavens  has been suffering violent assault, and the violent have been seizing it by force.
#BCV:Matthew 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:13">13</verse></sup> For all the Prophets and the Law  taught until John.
#BCV:Matthew 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:14">14</verse></sup> And (if you are willing to receive it)
#BCV:Matthew 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:15">15</verse></sup> Listen, every one who has  ears!
#BCV:Matthew 11:16
<b>The Perversity of the Jews then living</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:16">16</verse></sup> "But to what shall I compare the present generation? It is like children sitting in the open places, who call  to their playmates.
#BCV:Matthew 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:17">17</verse></sup> "'We have played the flute to you,' they say, 'and you have not danced: we have sung dirges, and you have not beaten your breasts.'
#BCV:Matthew 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:18">18</verse></sup> "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.'
#BCV:Matthew 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:19">19</verse></sup> The Son of Man came  eating and drinking, and they exclaim, 'See this man! --given to gluttony and tippling, and a friend of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners!' And yet Wisdom  is vindicated by her  actions."
#BCV:Matthew 11:20
<b>Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capharnahum</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:20">20</verse></sup> Then began He to upbraid the towns where most of His mighty works had been done--because they had not repented.
#BCV:Matthew 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:21">21</verse></sup> "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.
#BCV:Matthew 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:22">22</verse></sup> Only I tell you that it will be more endurable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of Judgement than for you.
#BCV:Matthew 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:23">23</verse></sup> And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted even to Heaven? Even to  Hades shalt thou  descend. For had the mighty works been done in Sodom which have been done in thee, it would have remained until now.
#BCV:Matthew 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:24">24</verse></sup> Only I tell  you all, that it will be more endurable for the land of Sodom on the day of Judgement than for thee."
#BCV:Matthew 11:25
<b>Thanksgiving for the Success of the Seventy.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:25">25</verse></sup> About that time  Jesus exclaimed, "I heartily praise Thee, Father,  Lord of Heaven and of earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from sages and men of discernment, and hast unveiled them to babes.
#BCV:Matthew 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:26">26</verse></sup> Yes, Father, for such has been Thy gracious will.
#BCV:Matthew 11:27
<b>A sublime claim</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:27">27</verse></sup> "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one fully knows the Son except the Father, nor does any one fully know the Father except the Son and all to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
#BCV:Matthew 11:28
<b>A glorious invitation.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:28">28</verse></sup> "Come to me, all you toiling and burdened ones, and *I* will give you rest.
#BCV:Matthew 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:29">29</verse></sup> Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am  gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
#BCV:Matthew 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 11:30">30</verse></sup> For  it is good to bear my yoke, and my burden is light."
#BCV:Matthew 12:1
<b>A charge of Sabbath-breaking</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 12:1">12</verse></font> About that time Jesus passed on the Sabbath through the wheatfields; and His disciples  became hungry, and began to gather ears of wheat and eat them.
#BCV:Matthew 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:2">2</verse></sup> But the Pharisees saw it and said to Him, "Look! your disciples are doing what the Law forbids them to do on the Sabbath."
#BCV:Matthew 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:3">3</verse></sup> "Have you never read," He replied, "what David did when he and his men were hungry?
#BCV:Matthew 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:4">4</verse></sup> how he entered the House of God  and ate the Presented Loaves, which it was not lawful for him or his men to eat,  nor for any except the priests?
#BCV:Matthew 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:5">5</verse></sup> And have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the Temple  break the Sabbath without incurring guilt?
#BCV:Matthew 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:6">6</verse></sup> But I tell you that there is here  that which is greater than the Temple.
#BCV:Matthew 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:7">7</verse></sup> And if you knew what this means, 'It is mercy I desire, not sacrifice', you would not have condemned those who are without guilt.
#BCV:Matthew 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:8">8</verse></sup> For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath."
#BCV:Matthew 12:9
<b>A Paralytic restored on a Day of Rest.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:9">9</verse></sup> Departing thence  He went to their synagogue,
#BCV:Matthew 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:10">10</verse></sup> where there was a man with a shrivelled  arm. And they questioned Him,  "Is it right to cure people on the Sabbath?" Their intention was to bring a charge against Him.
#BCV:Matthew 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:11">11</verse></sup> "Which of you is there," He replied, "who, if he has but a single sheep and it falls into a hole on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
#BCV:Matthew 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:12">12</verse></sup> Is not a man, however, far superior to a sheep? Therefore it is right to do good on the Sabbath."
#BCV:Matthew 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:13">13</verse></sup> Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your arm." And he stretched it out, and it was restored quite sound like the other.
#BCV:Matthew 12:14
<b>A Plot to kill Jesus.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:14">14</verse></sup> But the Pharisees after leaving the synagogue consulted together against Him, how they might destroy Him.
#BCV:Matthew 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:15">15</verse></sup> Aware of this, Jesus departed elsewhere; and a great number of people followed Him, all of whom He cured.
#BCV:Matthew 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:16">16</verse></sup> But He gave them strict injunctions not to blaze abroad His doings,
#BCV:Matthew 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:17">17</verse></sup> that those words of the Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled,
#BCV:Matthew 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:18">18</verse></sup> "This is My servant whom I have chosen, My dearly loved One in whom My soul  takes pleasure. I will put My spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the nations.
#BCV:Matthew 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:19">19</verse></sup> He will not wrangle or raise His voice, nor will His voice be heard in the broadways.
#BCV:Matthew 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:20">20</verse></sup> A crushed reed He will not utterly break, nor will He quench the still smouldering wick, until He has led on Justice to victory.
#BCV:Matthew 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:21">21</verse></sup> And on His name shall the nations  rest their hopes."
#BCV:Matthew 12:22
<b>He replies to an infamous Slander.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:22">22</verse></sup> At that time a demoniac was brought to Him, blind and  dumb; and He cured him, so that the dumb man could speak and see.
#BCV:Matthew 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:23">23</verse></sup> And the crowds of people were all filled with amazement and said, "Can this be  the Son of David?"
#BCV:Matthew 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:24">24</verse></sup> The Pharisees heard it and said, "This man only expels demons by the power of Baal-zebul, the Prince of demons."
#BCV:Matthew 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:25">25</verse></sup> Knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Every kingdom in which civil war has raged suffers desolation; and every city or house in which there is internal strife will be brought low.
#BCV:Matthew 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:26">26</verse></sup> And if Satan is expelling Satan, he has  begun to make war on himself: how therefore shall his kingdom last?
#BCV:Matthew 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:27">27</verse></sup> And if it is by Baal-zebul's power that I expel the demons, by whose power do your  disciples expel them? They therefore shall be your judges.
#BCV:Matthew 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:28">28</verse></sup> But if it is by the power of the Spirit of God that I expel the demons, it is evident that the  Kingdom of God  has come upon you.
#BCV:Matthew 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:29">29</verse></sup> Again, how can any one enter the house of  a strong man and carry off his goods, unless first of all he masters and secures the strong man: then he will ransack his house.
#BCV:Matthew 12:30
<b>The Awfulness of rejecting the inward Light.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:30">30</verse></sup> "The man who is not with me is against me, and he who is not gathering with me is scattering abroad.
#BCV:Matthew 12:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:31">31</verse></sup> This is why I tell you that  men may find forgiveness for every other sin and impious word, but that for impious speaking against the Holy Spirit they shall find no forgiveness.
#BCV:Matthew 12:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:32">32</verse></sup> And whoever  shall speak against the Son of Man may obtain forgiveness; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, neither in this nor in the coming age shall he obtain forgiveness."
#BCV:Matthew 12:33
<b>The Pharisees declared to be rotten at Heart.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:33">33</verse></sup> "Either grant the tree to be wholesome and its fruit wholesome, or the tree poisonous and its fruit poisonous; for the tree is known by its fruit.
#BCV:Matthew 12:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:34">34</verse></sup> O vipers'  brood, how can you speak what is good when you are evil? For it is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.
#BCV:Matthew 12:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:35">35</verse></sup> A good man from his good store produces good things, and a bad man from his bad store produces bad things.
#BCV:Matthew 12:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:36">36</verse></sup> But I tell you that for every careless word that men shall speak they will be held accountable on the day of Judgement.
#BCV:Matthew 12:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:37">37</verse></sup> For each of you by his words shall be justified, or by his words shall be condemned."
#BCV:Matthew 12:38
<b>The Jews more guilty than the ancient Heathen.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:38">38</verse></sup> Then He was accosted by some of the Scribes and of the Pharisees who said, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign  given by you."
#BCV:Matthew 12:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:39">39</verse></sup> "Wicked and faithless generation!" He replied, "they clamour for a sign, but none shall be given to them except the sign of the Prophet Jonah.
#BCV:Matthew 12:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:40">40</verse></sup> For just as Jonah was  three days in the sea-monster's belly, so will the Son of Man be three days in the heart of the earth.
#BCV:Matthew 12:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:41">41</verse></sup> There will stand up men of Nineveh at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and mark! there is  One greater than Jonah here.
#BCV:Matthew 12:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:42">42</verse></sup> The Queen of the south will awake at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and mark! there is One greater than Solomon here.
#BCV:Matthew 12:43
<b>They would become utterly demoralised.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:43">43</verse></sup> "No sooner however has  the foul spirit gone out of the man, then he  roams about in places where there is no water, seeking rest but finding none.
#BCV:Matthew 12:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:44">44</verse></sup> Then he says, 'I will return to my house that I left;' and he comes and finds it unoccupied, swept clean, and  in good order.
#BCV:Matthew 12:45
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:45">45</verse></sup> Then he goes and brings back with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they come in and dwell there; and in the end that man's condition becomes worse than it was at first. So will it be also with  the present wicked generation."
#BCV:Matthew 12:46
<b>Christ's Relatives desire to speak to Him.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:46">46</verse></sup> While He was still addressing the people His mother and His brothers were standing on the edge of the crowd desiring to speak to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 12:47
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:47">47</verse></sup> So some one told Him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and desire to speak to you."
#BCV:Matthew 12:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:48">48</verse></sup> "Who is my mother?" He said to the man; "and who are my brothers?"
#BCV:Matthew 12:49
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:49">49</verse></sup> And pointing to His disciples He added, "See here are my mother and my brothers.
#BCV:Matthew 12:50
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 12:50">50</verse></sup> To obey my Father who is in Heaven--that is to be my brother and my sister and my mother."
#BCV:Matthew 13:1
<b>A Series of Parables.  "The Sower."</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 13:1">13</verse></font> That same day Jesus had left the house and was sitting on the shore of the Lake,
#BCV:Matthew 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:2">2</verse></sup> when a vast multitude of people crowded round Him. He therefore went on board a boat and sat there, while all the people stood on the shore.
#BCV:Matthew 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:3">3</verse></sup> He then spoke many things to them in  figurative language. "The sower  goes out," He said, "to sow.
#BCV:Matthew 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:4">4</verse></sup> As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up.
#BCV:Matthew 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:5">5</verse></sup> Some falls on rocky ground, where it has but scanty soil. It quickly shows itself above ground, because it has no depth of earth;
#BCV:Matthew 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:6">6</verse></sup> but when the sun is risen, it is scorched by the heat, and through having no root it withers up.
#BCV:Matthew 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:7">7</verse></sup> Some falls  among the thorns; but the thorns spring up and stifle it.
#BCV:Matthew 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:8">8</verse></sup> But a portion falls upon good ground, and  gives a return, some a hundred for one, some sixty, some thirty.
#BCV:Matthew 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:9">9</verse></sup> Listen, every one who has ears!"
#BCV:Matthew 13:10
<b>Why He spoke in Parables.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:10">10</verse></sup> (And His disciples  came and asked Him, "Why do you speak to them in figurative language?"
#BCV:Matthew 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:11">11</verse></sup> "Because," He replied, "while to you it is granted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of the Heavens, to them it is not.
#BCV:Matthew 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:12">12</verse></sup> For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but whoever has not, from him even what he has shall be taken away.
#BCV:Matthew 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:13">13</verse></sup> I speak to them in figurative language for this reason, that while looking they do not see, and while hearing they neither hear nor understand.
#BCV:Matthew 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:14">14</verse></sup> And in regard to them the prophecy of Isaiah is receiving signal fulfilment: "'You will hear and hear and by no means understand, and you will look and look and by no means see.
#BCV:Matthew 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:15">15</verse></sup> For this people's  mind  is stupefied, their hearing has become dull, and their eyes they have closed; to prevent their ever seeing with their eyes, or hearing with their ears, or understanding with their minds, and turning back,  so that I might heal them.'
#BCV:Matthew 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:16">16</verse></sup> "But as for you, blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
#BCV:Matthew 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:17">17</verse></sup> For I solemnly tell you that many Prophets and holy men have longed to see the sights you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the words you hear, and have not heard them.
#BCV:Matthew 13:18
<b>The Story of the Sower explained.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:18">18</verse></sup> "To you then I will explain the parable of the Sower.
#BCV:Matthew 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:19">19</verse></sup> When a man hears the Message concerning the Kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil one comes and catches away what has been sown in his heart. This is he who  has received the seed by the road-side.
#BCV:Matthew 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:20">20</verse></sup> He who  has received the seed on the rocky ground is the man who hears the Message and immediately receives it with joy.
#BCV:Matthew 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:21">21</verse></sup> It has struck no root, however, within him. He continues for a time, but when suffering comes, or persecution, because of the Message, he at once stumbles and falls.
#BCV:Matthew 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:22">22</verse></sup> He who  has received the seed among the thorns is the man who hears the Message, but the cares of the present age and the delusions of riches quite stifle the Message, and it becomes unfruitful.
#BCV:Matthew 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:23">23</verse></sup> But he who  has received the seed on good ground is he who hears and understands. Such hearers give a return, and yield one a hundred for one, another sixty, another thirty.")
#BCV:Matthew 13:24
<b>"The Wheat and the Darnel."</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:24">24</verse></sup> Another parable He put before them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said,  "may be compared to a man who has sown good seed in his field,
#BCV:Matthew 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:25">25</verse></sup> but  during the night his enemy comes, and over the first seed he sows darnel among the wheat, and goes away.
#BCV:Matthew 13:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:26">26</verse></sup> But when the blade shoots up and the grain is formed, then appears the darnel also.
#BCV:Matthew 13:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:27">27</verse></sup> "So the farmer's  men come and ask him, "'Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed on your land? Where then does the darnel come from?'
#BCV:Matthew 13:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:28">28</verse></sup> "'Some enemy has done this,' he said. "'Shall we go, and collect it?' the  men inquire.
#BCV:Matthew 13:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:29">29</verse></sup> "'No,' he replied, 'for fear that while collecting the darnel you should at the same time root up the wheat with it.
#BCV:Matthew 13:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:30">30</verse></sup> Leave both to grow together until the harvest, and at harvest-time I will direct the reapers, Collect the darnel  first, and make it up into bundles to burn it, but  bring  all the wheat into my barn.'"
#BCV:Matthew 13:31
<b>"The Mustard Seed."</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:31">31</verse></sup> Another parable He put before them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said, "is like a mustard-seed, which a man takes and sows in his ground.
#BCV:Matthew 13:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:32">32</verse></sup> It is  the smallest of all seeds, and yet when full-grown it is larger than any  herb and forms a tree, so that the birds come and build in its branches."
#BCV:Matthew 13:33
<b>"The Yeast."</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:33">33</verse></sup> Another parable He spoke to them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said, "is like  yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel of flour, for it to work there till the whole mass has risen."
#BCV:Matthew 13:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:34">34</verse></sup> All this Jesus spoke to the people in figurative language, and except in figurative language He spoke nothing to them,
#BCV:Matthew 13:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:35">35</verse></sup> in fulfilment of the saying of  the Prophet, "I will open my mouth in figurative language, I will utter things kept hidden since the creation of all things."
#BCV:Matthew 13:36
<b>"The Wheat and the Darnel."  Its meaning.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:36">36</verse></sup> When He had dismissed the people and had returned to the house, His disciples came to Him with the request, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel sown in the field."
#BCV:Matthew 13:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:37">37</verse></sup> "The sower of the good seed," He replied, "is the Son of Man;
#BCV:Matthew 13:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:38">38</verse></sup> the field is the world; the good seed--these are the  sons of the Kingdom; the darnel, the sons of the Evil one.
#BCV:Matthew 13:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:39">39</verse></sup> The enemy who sows the darnel is *the Devil*; the harvest is the  Close of the Age; the reapers are the angels.
#BCV:Matthew 13:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:40">40</verse></sup> As then the darnel is collected together and burnt up with fire, so will it be at the Close of the Age.
#BCV:Matthew 13:41
<b>"The Treasure found and buried."</b><Br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:41">41</verse></sup> The Son of Man will commission His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all  causes of sin and all who violate His laws;
#BCV:Matthew 13:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:42">42</verse></sup> and these they will throw into the fiery furnace. There will be  the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth.
#BCV:Matthew 13:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:43">43</verse></sup> Then will the righteous shine out  like the sun in  their Father's Kingdom. Listen, every one who has ears!
#BCV:Matthew 13:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:44">44</verse></sup> "The Kingdom of the Heavens is like treasure buried in the open country, which a man finds, but buries again, and, in his joy about it, goes and sells all he has and buys that piece of ground.
#BCV:Matthew 13:45
<b>"The one Pearl of surpassing Value."</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:45">45</verse></sup> "Again the Kingdom of the Heavens is like  a jewel merchant who is in quest of choice pearls.
#BCV:Matthew 13:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:46">46</verse></sup> He finds one most costly pearl; he goes away; and though it costs all he has, he buys it.
#BCV:Matthew 13:47
<b>"The Fisherman's Net."</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:47">47</verse></sup> "Again the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a draw-net let down into the sea, which encloses fish of all sorts.
#BCV:Matthew 13:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:48">48</verse></sup> When full, they haul it up on the beach, and sit down and collect the good fish in baskets, while  the worthless they throw away.
#BCV:Matthew 13:49
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:49">49</verse></sup> So will it be at the  Close of the Age. The angels will go forth and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
#BCV:Matthew 13:50
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:50">50</verse></sup> and will throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth."
#BCV:Matthew 13:51
<b>Learners must become Teachers.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:51">51</verse></sup> "Have you understood all this?" He asked. "Yes," they said.
#BCV:Matthew 13:52
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:52">52</verse></sup> "Therefore," He said, "remember that every Scribe well trained for the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a householder who brings out of his storehouse new things and old."
#BCV:Matthew 13:53
<b>A visit to Nazareth and its Synagogue.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:53">53</verse></sup> Jesus concluded this series of parables and then departed.
#BCV:Matthew 13:54
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:54">54</verse></sup> And He came into His own  country and proceeded to teach in their synagogue, so that they were filled with astonishment and exclaimed, "Where did he obtain such wisdom, and these wondrous powers?
#BCV:Matthew 13:55
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:55">55</verse></sup> Is not  this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judah?
#BCV:Matthew 13:56
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:56">56</verse></sup> And his sisters--are they not all living here among us? Where then did he get all this?"
#BCV:Matthew 13:57
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:57">57</verse></sup> So they  turned angrily away from Him. But Jesus said to them, "There is no prophet left without honour except in his own country and among his own  family."
#BCV:Matthew 13:58
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 13:58">58</verse></sup> And He performed but few mighty deeds there because of their want of faith.
#BCV:Matthew 14:1
<b>The Imprisonment and Murder of John the Baptist.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 14:1">14</verse></font> About that time Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
#BCV:Matthew 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:2">2</verse></sup> and he said to his courtiers, "This is John the Baptist: he has come back to life--and that is why these miraculous Powers are working in him."
#BCV:Matthew 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:3">3</verse></sup> For Herod had arrested John, and had put him in chains, and imprisoned him, for the sake of Herodias his brother Philip's wife,
#BCV:Matthew 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:4">4</verse></sup> because John had persistently said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."
#BCV:Matthew 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:5">5</verse></sup> And he would have liked to put him to death, but was afraid of the people, because they regarded John as a Prophet.
#BCV:Matthew 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:6">6</verse></sup> But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before all the company, and so pleased Herod
#BCV:Matthew 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:7">7</verse></sup> that with an oath he promised to give her whatever she asked.
#BCV:Matthew 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:8">8</verse></sup> So she, instigated by her mother, said, "Give me here on a dish the head of John the Baptist."
#BCV:Matthew 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:9">9</verse></sup> The king was deeply vexed, yet because of his repeated oath and of the guests at his table he ordered it to be given her,
#BCV:Matthew 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:10">10</verse></sup> and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
#BCV:Matthew 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:11">11</verse></sup> The head was brought on a dish and given to the young girl, and she took it to her mother.
#BCV:Matthew 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:12">12</verse></sup> Then John's disciples went and removed the body and buried  it, and came and informed Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 14:13
<b>A Crowd of more than 5,000 People fed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:13">13</verse></sup> Upon receiving these tidings, Jesus went away by boat to an uninhabited and secluded district; but the people heard of it and followed Him in crowds from the towns by land.
#BCV:Matthew 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:14">14</verse></sup> So Jesus  went out and saw an immense multitude, and felt compassion for them, and cured those of them who were out of health.
#BCV:Matthew 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:15">15</verse></sup> But when  evening was come, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is an uninhabited place, and the best of the day is now gone; send the people away to go into the villages and buy something to eat."
#BCV:Matthew 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:16">16</verse></sup> "They need not go away," replied Jesus; "you yourselves must give them something to eat."
#BCV:Matthew 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:17">17</verse></sup> "We have nothing here," they said, "but five loaves and a couple of fish."
#BCV:Matthew 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:18">18</verse></sup> "Bring them here to me," He said,
#BCV:Matthew 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:19">19</verse></sup> and He told all the people to sit down on the grass. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and after looking up to heaven and blessing them, He broke up the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples distributed them to the people.
#BCV:Matthew 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:20">20</verse></sup> So all ate, and were fully satisfied. The  broken portions that remained over they gathered up, filling twelve baskets.
#BCV:Matthew 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:21">21</verse></sup> Those who had eaten were about 5,000 adult men, without reckoning women and children.
#BCV:Matthew 14:22
<b>Jesus prays in Solitude.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:22">22</verse></sup> Immediately afterwards He made the disciples go on board the boat and cross to the opposite shore, leaving Him to dismiss the people.
#BCV:Matthew 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:23">23</verse></sup> When He had done this, He climbed the hill to pray in solitude.  Night came on, and he was there alone.
#BCV:Matthew 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:24">24</verse></sup> Meanwhile the boat was  far out on the Lake, buffeted and tossed by the waves, the wind being adverse.
#BCV:Matthew 14:25
<b>He walks on the Lake.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:25">25</verse></sup> But  towards daybreak He went to them, walking over the waves.
#BCV:Matthew 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:26">26</verse></sup> When the disciples saw Him walking on the waves, they were greatly alarmed. "It is a spirit," they exclaimed, and they cried out with terror.
#BCV:Matthew 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:27">27</verse></sup> But instantly Jesus spoke to them, and said, "There is no danger;  it is I; do not be afraid."
#BCV:Matthew 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:28">28</verse></sup> "Master," answered Peter, "if it is you, bid me come to you upon the water."
#BCV:Matthew 14:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:29">29</verse></sup> "Come," said Jesus. Then Peter climbed down from the boat and walked upon the water  to go to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 14:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:30">30</verse></sup> But when he  felt  the wind he  grew frightened, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Master, save me."
#BCV:Matthew 14:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:31">31</verse></sup> Instantly Jesus stretched out His hand and caught hold of him, saying to him, "O little faith, why did you doubt?"
#BCV:Matthew 14:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:32">32</verse></sup> So they climbed into the boat, and the wind lulled;
#BCV:Matthew 14:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:33">33</verse></sup> and the men on board fell down before him and said, "You are indeed God's Son."
#BCV:Matthew 14:34
<b>Miracles at Gennesaret.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:34">34</verse></sup> When they had quite crossed over, they put ashore at Gennesaret;
#BCV:Matthew 14:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:35">35</verse></sup> and the men of the place, recognizing Him, sent word into all the country round. So they brought all the sick to Him,
#BCV:Matthew 14:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 14:36">36</verse></sup> and they entreated Him that they might but touch the tassel of His outer garment; and all who did so were restored to perfect health.
#BCV:Matthew 15:1
<b>Real Purity an inward and spiritual THing.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 15:1">15</verse></font> Then there came to Jesus a party of Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem, who inquired,
#BCV:Matthew 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:2">2</verse></sup> "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders by not washing their hands  before meals?"
#BCV:Matthew 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:3">3</verse></sup> "Why do you, too," He retorted, "transgress God's commands  for the sake of  your tradition?
#BCV:Matthew 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:4">4</verse></sup> For God said, 'Honour thy father and thy mother'; and 'Let him who  reviles father or mother  be certainly put to death';
#BCV:Matthew 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:5">5</verse></sup> but you--this is what you say: 'If a man says to his father or mother, That is  consecrated, whatever it is, which otherwise you should have received from me--
#BCV:Matthew 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:6">6</verse></sup> he shall be absolved from honouring his father';  and so you have abrogated God's  Word for the sake of your tradition.
#BCV:Matthew 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:7">7</verse></sup> Hypocrites! well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
#BCV:Matthew 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:8">8</verse></sup> "'This is a People who honour Me with their lips, while their heart is far away from Me;
#BCV:Matthew 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:9">9</verse></sup> but it is in vain they worship Me, while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'"
#BCV:Matthew 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:10">10</verse></sup> Then, when He had called the people to Him, Jesus said, "Hear and understand.
#BCV:Matthew 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:11">11</verse></sup> It is not what goes into a man's mouth that  defiles him; but it is what comes out of his mouth--*that* defiles a man."
#BCV:Matthew 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:12">12</verse></sup> Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were greatly  shocked when they heard those words?"
#BCV:Matthew 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:13">13</verse></sup> "Every plant," He replied, "which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
#BCV:Matthew 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:14">14</verse></sup> Leave them alone. They are blind guides  of the blind; and if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into some  pit."
#BCV:Matthew 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:15">15</verse></sup> "Explain to us this figurative language," said Peter.
#BCV:Matthew 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:16">16</verse></sup> "Are even you," He answered, "still without intellingence?
#BCV:Matthew 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:17">17</verse></sup> Do you not understand that whatever enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is afterwards ejected from the body?
#BCV:Matthew 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:18">18</verse></sup> But the things that come out of the mouth proceed from the heart, and it is these that defile the man.
#BCV:Matthew 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:19">19</verse></sup> For out of the heart proceed wicked  thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech.
#BCV:Matthew 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:20">20</verse></sup> These are the things which defile the man; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile."
#BCV:Matthew 15:21
<b>A heathen Girl cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:21">21</verse></sup> Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew into the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon.
#BCV:Matthew 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:22">22</verse></sup> Here a Canaanitish woman of the district came out and  persistently cried out, "Sir, Son of David, pity me; my daughter is cruelly harassed by a demon."
#BCV:Matthew 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:23">23</verse></sup> But He answered her not a word. Then the disciples interposed, and begged Him, saying, "Send her away because she keeps crying behind us."
#BCV:Matthew 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:24">24</verse></sup> "I have only been sent to the  lost sheep of the house of Israel," He replied.
#BCV:Matthew 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:25">25</verse></sup> Then she  came and  threw herself at His feet and entreated Him. "O Sir, help me," she said.
#BCV:Matthew 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:26">26</verse></sup> "It is not right," He said, "to take the children's bread and throw it to the  dogs."
#BCV:Matthew 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:27">27</verse></sup> "Be it so, Sir," she said,  "for even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from their  masters' tables."
#BCV:Matthew 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:28">28</verse></sup> "O woman," replied Jesus, "great is your faith: be it done to you as you desire." And from that moment her daughter was restored to health.
#BCV:Matthew 15:29
<b>Many other Miracles.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:29">29</verse></sup> Again, moving thence, Jesus went along by the Lake of Galilee; and ascending  the hill, He  sat down there.
#BCV:Matthew 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:30">30</verse></sup> Soon great crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were crippled in feet or hands, blind or  dumb, and many besides, and they hastened to lay them at His feet. And He cured them,
#BCV:Matthew 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:31">31</verse></sup> so that the people were amazed to see the dumb speaking,  the maimed with their hands perfect, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they gave the glory to the God of Israel.
#BCV:Matthew 15:32
<b>A Crowd of more than 4,000 People fed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:32">32</verse></sup> But Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, "My heart yearns over this mass of people, for it is now  the third day that they have been with me and they have nothing to eat. I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they should faint on the road."
#BCV:Matthew 15:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:33">33</verse></sup> "Where can we," asked the disciples, "get bread enough in this remote place to satisfy so vast a multitude?"
#BCV:Matthew 15:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:34">34</verse></sup> "How many loaves have you?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they said, "and a few small fish."
#BCV:Matthew 15:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:35">35</verse></sup> So He bade all the people sit down on the ground,
#BCV:Matthew 15:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:36">36</verse></sup> and He took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks He broke them up and then distributed them to the disciples, and they to the people.
#BCV:Matthew 15:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:37">37</verse></sup> And they all ate and were satisfied. The broken portions that remained over they took up--seven full  hampers.
#BCV:Matthew 15:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:38">38</verse></sup> Those who ate were 4,000 adult men, without reckoning women and children.
#BCV:Matthew 15:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 15:39">39</verse></sup> He then dismissed the people, went on board the boat, and came into the district of Magadan.
#BCV:Matthew 16:1
<b>A Sign from Heaven.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 16:1">16</verse></font> Here the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Him; and, to make trial of Him, they asked Him to show them a sign  in the sky.
#BCV:Matthew 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:2">2</verse></sup> He replied,  "In the evening you say, 'It will be fine weather, for the sky is red;'
#BCV:Matthew 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:3">3</verse></sup> and in the morning, 'It will be rough weather to-day, for the sky is red and murky.' You learn how to distinguish the aspect of the heavens, but the signs of the times you cannot.
#BCV:Matthew 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:4">4</verse></sup> A wicked and faithless generation are eager for a sign; but none shall be given to them except the sign of Jonah." and He left them and went away.
#BCV:Matthew 16:5
<b>False Teaching compared to Yeast.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:5">5</verse></sup> When the disciples arrived at the other side  of the Lake, they found that they  had forgotten to bring any bread;
#BCV:Matthew 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:6">6</verse></sup> and when Jesus said to them, "See to it: beware of the  yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,"
#BCV:Matthew 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:7">7</verse></sup> they reasoned among themselves, saying,  "It is because we have not brought any bread."
#BCV:Matthew 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:8">8</verse></sup> Jesus perceived this and said, "Why are you reasoning among yourselves, you men of little faith, because  you have no bread?
#BCV:Matthew 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:9">9</verse></sup> Do you not yet understand? nor even remember the 5,000 and the five loaves, and how many basketfuls you carried away,
#BCV:Matthew 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:10">10</verse></sup> nor the 4,000 and the seven loaves, and how many hampers you carried away?
#BCV:Matthew 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:11">11</verse></sup> How is it you do not understand that it was not about bread that I spoke to you? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
#BCV:Matthew 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:12">12</verse></sup> Then they perceived that He had not warned them against bread-yeast, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
#BCV:Matthew 16:13
<b>Peter ackowledges Jesus as God's Messiah.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:13">13</verse></sup> When He arrived in the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus  questioned His disciples. "Who do people  say that the Son of Man is?" He asked.
#BCV:Matthew 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:14">14</verse></sup> "Some say John the Baptist," they replied; "others Elijah; others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets."
#BCV:Matthew 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:15">15</verse></sup> "But you, who do you say that I am?" He asked again.
#BCV:Matthew 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:16">16</verse></sup> "You," replied  Simon Peter, "are the Christ, the Son of the  ever-living God."
#BCV:Matthew 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:17">17</verse></sup> "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah," said Jesus; "for  mere human nature has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:18">18</verse></sup> And I declare to you that you are  Peter, and that upon this  Rock I will build my Church, and the  might of Hades shall not triumph over it.
#BCV:Matthew 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:19">19</verse></sup> I will give  you the keys of the Kingdom of the Heavens; and whatever you bind on earth shall  remain bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall remain loosed in Heaven."
#BCV:Matthew 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:20">20</verse></sup> Then He urged His disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ.
#BCV:Matthew 16:21
<b>Jesus predicts His own Death and Resurrection.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:21">21</verse></sup> From this time  Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He  must go to Jerusalem, and suffer much cruelty from the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day  be raised to life again.
#BCV:Matthew 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:22">22</verse></sup> Then Peter  took Him aside and began taking Him to task. "Master," he said,  "God forbid; this  will not be your lot."
#BCV:Matthew 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:23">23</verse></sup> But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me,  Adversary; you are a  hindrance to me, because your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but men's."
#BCV:Matthew 16:24
<b>Nor may His Followers refuse the Cross.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:24">24</verse></sup> Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.
#BCV:Matthew 16:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:25">25</verse></sup> For whoever desires to save his  life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake  shall find it.
#BCV:Matthew 16:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:26">26</verse></sup> Why, what benefit will it be to a man if he gains the whole world but  forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give  to buy back his life?
#BCV:Matthew 16:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:27">27</verse></sup> For the Son of Man is soon to come in the glory of the Father with  His angels, and then will He requite every man according to his actions.
#BCV:Matthew 16:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 16:28">28</verse></sup> I solemnly tell you that some of those who are standing here will certainly not taste death till they have  seen the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."
#BCV:Matthew 17:1
<b>The Transfiguration.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 17:1">17</verse></font> Six day later, Jesus took with Him Peter and the brothers James and John, and brought them up  a high mountain to a solitary place.
#BCV:Matthew 17:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:2">2</verse></sup> There in their presence His form underwent a change; His face shone like the sun, and His raiment became as white as the light.
#BCV:Matthew 17:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:3">3</verse></sup> And suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them conversing with Him.
#BCV:Matthew 17:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:4">4</verse></sup> Then Peter said to Jesus, "Master,  we are thankful to you that we are here. If you approve, I will put up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
#BCV:Matthew 17:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:5">5</verse></sup> He was still speaking when a luminous cloud  spread over them; and a voice was heard from within the cloud, which said, "This is My Son dearly beloved, in whom is My delight. Listen to Him."
#BCV:Matthew 17:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:6">6</verse></sup> On hearing this voice, the disciples fell on their faces and were filled with terror.
#BCV:Matthew 17:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:7">7</verse></sup> But Jesus came and touched them, and said, "Rouse yourselves and have no fear."
#BCV:Matthew 17:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:8">8</verse></sup> So they looked up, and saw no one but Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 17:9
<b>The Baptizer the second Elijah.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:9">9</verse></sup> As they were descending the mountain, Jesus laid a command upon them. "Tell no one," He said, "of the sight you have seen till the Son of Man has risen from among the dead."
#BCV:Matthew 17:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:10">10</verse></sup> "Why then," asked the disciples, "do the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?"
#BCV:Matthew 17:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:11">11</verse></sup> "Elijah was indeed to come," He replied, "and would reform everything.
#BCV:Matthew 17:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:12">12</verse></sup> But I tell you that he has already come, and they did not recognize him, but dealt with him as they chose. And before long the Son of Man will be treated by them in a similar way."
#BCV:Matthew 17:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:13">13</verse></sup> Then it dawned upon the disciples that it was John the Baptist about whom He had spoken to them.
#BCV:Matthew 17:14
<b>The maniac Boy cured.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:14">14</verse></sup> When they had returned to the people, there came to Him a man who fell on his knees before Him and besought Him.
#BCV:Matthew 17:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:15">15</verse></sup> "Sir," he said, "have pity on my son, for he is an epileptic and is very ill. Often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
#BCV:Matthew 17:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:16">16</verse></sup> I have brought him to your disciples, and they have not been able to cure him."
#BCV:Matthew 17:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:17">17</verse></sup> "O unbelieving and  perverse generation!" replied Jesus; "how long shall I be with you? how long shall I endure you? Bring him  to me."
#BCV:Matthew 17:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:18">18</verse></sup> Then Jesus reprimanded the demon, and it came out and left him; and the boy was cured from that moment.
#BCV:Matthew 17:19
<b>The immense Power of Faith.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:19">19</verse></sup> Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked Him, "Why could not we expel the demon?"
#BCV:Matthew 17:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:20">20</verse></sup> "Because your faith is so small," He replied; "for I solemnly declare to you that if you have faith  like a mustard-seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Remove from this place to that,' and it will remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
#BCV:Matthew 17:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:21">21</verse></sup> But an evil spirit of this kind is only driven out by prayer and fasting."
#BCV:Matthew 17:22
<b>Jesus again predicts His own Death and Resurrection.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:22">22</verse></sup> As they were  travelling about in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men;
#BCV:Matthew 17:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:23">23</verse></sup> they will put Him to death, but on the third day He will be raised to life again." And they were exceedingly distressed.
#BCV:Matthew 17:24
<b>He pays the Temple Tax.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:24">24</verse></sup> After their arrival at Capernaum the collectors of the half-shekel came and asked Peter, "Does not your Teacher pay  the half-shekel?"
#BCV:Matthew 17:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:25">25</verse></sup> "Yes," he replied, and then went into the house. But before he spoke a word Jesus said, "What think you, Simon? From whom do this world's kings receive customs or capitation tax? from their own children, or from others?"
#BCV:Matthew 17:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:26">26</verse></sup> "From others," he replied. "Then  the children go free," said Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 17:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 17:27">27</verse></sup> "However, lest we  cause them to sin, go and throw a hook into the Lake, and take the first fish that comes up. When you open its mouth, you will find a shekel in it: bring that coin and give it to them  for yourself and me."
#BCV:Matthew 18:1
<b>A Lesson in Humility.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 18:1">18</verse></font> Just  then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who  ranks higher than others in the Kingdom of the Heavens?"
#BCV:Matthew 18:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:2">2</verse></sup> So He called a young child to Him, and, bidding him stand in the midst of them,
#BCV:Matthew 18:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:3">3</verse></sup> said, "In solemn truth I tell you that unless you  turn and become like little children, you will in no case be admitted into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 18:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:4">4</verse></sup> Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this young child, he it is who  is superior to others in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 18:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:5">5</verse></sup> And whoever for my sake receives one young child such as this, receives me.
#BCV:Matthew 18:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:6">6</verse></sup> But whoever shall  occasion the fall of one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him to have a  millstone hung round his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
#BCV:Matthew 18:7
<b>'Beware of leading others into Sin.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:7">7</verse></sup> "Alas for the world because of causes of falling! They cannot but come, but alas for each man through whom they come!
#BCV:Matthew 18:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:8">8</verse></sup> If your hand or your foot is causing you to fall into sin, cut it off and away with it. It is better for you to enter  into Life crippled in hand or foot than to remain in possession of two sound hands or feet but be thrown into the fire  of the Ages.
#BCV:Matthew 18:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:9">9</verse></sup> And if your eye is causing you to fall into sin, tear it out and away with it; it is better for you to enter into Life with only one eye, than to remain in possession of two eyes but be thrown into the  Gehenna of fire.
#BCV:Matthew 18:10
<b>'Despise no one.  A straying Sheep is dear to its Owner.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:10">10</verse></sup> "Beware of ever despising one of these little ones, for I tell you that in Heaven  their angels  have continual access to my Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 18:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:11">11</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Matthew 18:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:12">12</verse></sup> What do you yourselves think? Suppose a man gets a hundred sheep and one of them strays away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go and look for the one that is straying?
#BCV:Matthew 18:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:13">13</verse></sup> And if he succeeds in finding it, in solemn truth I tell you that he rejoices over it more than he does over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray.
#BCV:Matthew 18:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:14">14</verse></sup> Just so it is not the will  of your Father in Heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
#BCV:Matthew 18:15
<b>How to treat a sinning fellow Christian.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:15">15</verse></sup> "If your brother  acts wrongly  towards you, go and point out his fault to him when only you and he are there. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
#BCV:Matthew 18:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:16">16</verse></sup> But if he will not listen to you, go again, and ask one or two to go with you, that every word spoken may be attested by two or three witnesses.
#BCV:Matthew 18:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:17">17</verse></sup> If he refuses to hear them, appeal to  the Church; and if he refuses to hear even  the Church,  regard him just as you regard a Gentile or a tax-gatherer.
#BCV:Matthew 18:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:18">18</verse></sup> I solemnly tell you that whatever you  as a Church bind on earth will in Heaven be held as bound, and whatever you loose on earth will in Heaven be held to be loosed.
#BCV:Matthew 18:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:19">19</verse></sup> I also solemnly tell you that if two of you here on earth agree together concerning anything whatever that they shall ask, the boon will come to them from my Father who is in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 18:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:20">20</verse></sup> For where there are two or three assembled in my name, there am I  in the midst of them."
#BCV:Matthew 18:21
<b>How often he is to be forgiven.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:21">21</verse></sup> At this point Peter came to Him with the question, "Master, how often shall my brother act wrongly towards me and I forgive him? seven times?"
#BCV:Matthew 18:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:22">22</verse></sup> "I do not say seven times," answered Jesus, "but  seventy times seven times.
#BCV:Matthew 18:23
<b>Mutual Forgiveness an absolute Necessity.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:23">23</verse></sup> "For this reason the Kingdom of the Heavens  may be compared to  a king who determined to have a settlement of accounts with his  servants.
#BCV:Matthew 18:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:24">24</verse></sup> But as soon as he began the settlement, one was brought before him who owed  10,000 talents,
#BCV:Matthew 18:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:25">25</verse></sup> and was unable to pay. So his  master ordered that he and his wife and children and everything that he had should be sold, and payment be made.
#BCV:Matthew 18:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:26">26</verse></sup> The servant therefore falling down, prostrated himself at his feet and entreated him. "'Only give me time,' he said, 'and I will pay you the whole.'
#BCV:Matthew 18:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:27">27</verse></sup> "Whereupon his master, touched with compassion, set him free and forgave him the  debt.
#BCV:Matthew 18:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:28">28</verse></sup> But no sooner had that servant gone out, than he met with one of his fellow servants who owed him 100  shillings; and seizing him by the throat and nearly strangling him he exclaimed, "'Pay me all you owe.'
#BCV:Matthew 18:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:29">29</verse></sup> "His fellow servant therefore fell at his feet and entreated him, "'Only give me time,' he said, 'and I will pay you.'
#BCV:Matthew 18:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:30">30</verse></sup> "He would not, however, but went and threw him into prison until he should pay what was due.
#BCV:Matthew 18:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:31">31</verse></sup> His fellow servants, therefore, seeing what had happened, were exceedingly angry; and they came and told their master without reserve all that had happened.
#BCV:Matthew 18:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:32">32</verse></sup> At once his master called him and said, "'Wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you entreated me:
#BCV:Matthew 18:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:33">33</verse></sup> ought not you also to have had pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'
#BCV:Matthew 18:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:34">34</verse></sup> "So his master, greatly incensed, handed him over to the  jailers until he should pay all he owed him.
#BCV:Matthew 18:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 18:35">35</verse></sup> "In the same way  my Heavenly Father will deal with you, if you do not all of you forgive one another from your hearts."
#BCV:Matthew 19:1
<b>Jesus crosses the Jordan.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 19:1">19</verse></font> When Jesus had finished these discourses, He removed from Galilee and came into that  part of Judaea which lay beyond the Jordan.
#BCV:Matthew 19:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:2">2</verse></sup> And a vast multitude followed him, and He cured them there.
#BCV:Matthew 19:3
<b>A Question about Divorce.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:3">3</verse></sup> Then came  some of the Pharisees to Him to put Him to the proof by the question, "Has a man a right to divorce his wife  whenever he chooses?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:4">4</verse></sup> "Have you not read," He replied, "that He who made them 'made them' from the beginning 'male and female,
#BCV:Matthew 19:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:5">5</verse></sup> and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and  be united to his wife, and the two shall be  one'?
#BCV:Matthew 19:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:6">6</verse></sup> Thus they are no longer two, but  'one'! What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
#BCV:Matthew 19:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:7">7</verse></sup> "Why then," said they, "did Moses command the husband to give her 'a written notice of divorce,' and so put her away?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:8">8</verse></sup> "Moses," He replied,  "in consideration of the  hardness of your nature permitted you to put away your wives, but it has not been so from the beginning.
#BCV:Matthew 19:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:9">9</verse></sup> And I tell you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except her unfaithfulness, and marries another woman,  commits adultery."
#BCV:Matthew 19:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:10">10</verse></sup> "If this is the case with a man in relation to his wife," said the disciples to Him, "it is better not to marry."
#BCV:Matthew 19:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:11">11</verse></sup> "It is not every man," He replied, "who can receive this teaching, but  only those on whom the grace has been bestowed.
#BCV:Matthew 19:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:12">12</verse></sup> There are men who from their birth have been disabled from marriage, others who have been so disabled by men, and others who have disabled themselves for the sake of the Kingdom of the Heavens. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
#BCV:Matthew 19:13
<b>Little Children welcomed and blessed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:13">13</verse></sup> Then young children were brought to Him for Him to put His hands on them and pray; but the disciples interfered.
#BCV:Matthew 19:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:14">14</verse></sup> Jesus however said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs."
#BCV:Matthew 19:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:15">15</verse></sup> So He laid His hands upon them and went away.
#BCV:Matthew 19:16
<b>The wealthy Ruler.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:16">16</verse></sup> "Teacher," said one man, coming up to Him, "what that is good shall I do in order to win the Life  of the Ages?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:17">17</verse></sup> "Why do you ask me," He replied, "about what is good? There is only One who is truly good. But if you desire to enter into Life, keep the Commandments."
#BCV:Matthew 19:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:18">18</verse></sup> "Which Commandments?" he asked. Jesus answered, "'Thou shalt not kill;' 'Thou shalt not commit adultery;' 'Thou shalt not steal;' 'Thou shalt not lie in giving evidence;'
#BCV:Matthew 19:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:19">19</verse></sup> Honour thy father and thy mother'; and 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thyself.'"
#BCV:Matthew 19:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:20">20</verse></sup> "All of these," said the young man, "I have  carefully kept. What do I still lack?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:21">21</verse></sup> "If you desire to be perfect," replied Jesus, "go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and come, follow me."
#BCV:Matthew 19:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:22">22</verse></sup> On hearing those words the young man went away much cast down; for he had much property.
#BCV:Matthew 19:23
<b>Wealth has serious Disadvantages.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:23">23</verse></sup> So Jesus said to His disciples, "I solemnly tell you that it is with difficulty that a rich man will enter the Kingdom of the Heavens.
#BCV:Matthew 19:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:24">24</verse></sup> Yes, I tell you, it is easier for a  camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Matthew 19:25
<b>Humble Usefulness is true Greatness.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:25">25</verse></sup> These words utterly amazed the disciples, and they asked, "Who then can be saved?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:26">26</verse></sup> Jesus looked at them and said, "With men this is impossible, but with God everything is possible."
#BCV:Matthew 19:27
<b>Self-Sacrifice for Christ makes us rich.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:27">27</verse></sup> Then Peter said to Jesus, "See, *we* have forsaken everything and followed you; what then will be *our* reward?"
#BCV:Matthew 19:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:28">28</verse></sup> "I solemnly tell you," replied Jesus, "that  in the New Creation, when the Son of Man has taken His seat on  His glorious throne, all of you who have followed me shall also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
#BCV:Matthew 19:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:29">29</verse></sup> And whoever has forsaken houses, or brothers or sisters, or father  or mother, or children or lands, for my sake, shall receive  many times as much and shall have as his inheritance the Life  of the Ages.
#BCV:Matthew 19:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 19:30">30</verse></sup> "But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.
#BCV:Matthew 20:1
<b>'The Vineyard Labourers.'</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 20:1">20</verse></font> "For the Kingdom of the Heavens is like  an employer who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard,
#BCV:Matthew 20:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:2">2</verse></sup> and having made an agreement with them for a shilling a day, sent them into his vineyard.
#BCV:Matthew 20:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:3">3</verse></sup> About nine o'clock he went out and saw others loitering in the market-place.
#BCV:Matthew 20:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:4">4</verse></sup> To these also he said, "'You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'
#BCV:Matthew 20:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:5">5</verse></sup> "So they went. Again about twelve, and about three o'clock, he went out and did the same.
#BCV:Matthew 20:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:6">6</verse></sup> And going out about five o'clock he found others loitering, and he asked them, "'Why  have you been standing here all day long, doing nothing?'
#BCV:Matthew 20:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:7">7</verse></sup> "'Because  no one has hired us,' they replied. "'You also, go into the vineyard,' he said.
#BCV:Matthew 20:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:8">8</verse></sup> "When evening came, the master said to his steward, "'Call the men and pay them their wages. Begin with the last set and finish with the first.'
#BCV:Matthew 20:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:9">9</verse></sup> "When those came who had begun at five o'clock, they received a shilling apiece;
#BCV:Matthew 20:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:10">10</verse></sup> and when the first came, they expected to get more, but they also each got  the shilling.
#BCV:Matthew 20:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:11">11</verse></sup> So when they had received it, they grumbled against the employer, saying,
#BCV:Matthew 20:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:12">12</verse></sup> "'These who came last  have done  only one hour's work, and  you have put them on a level with us who have worked the whole day and have borne the scorching heat.'
#BCV:Matthew 20:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:13">13</verse></sup> "'My friend,' he answered to one of them, 'I am doing you no injustice.  Did you not agree with me for a shilling?
#BCV:Matthew 20:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:14">14</verse></sup> Take your money and go. I choose to give this last comer just as much as I give you.
#BCV:Matthew 20:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:15">15</verse></sup> Have I not a right to do what I choose with my own property? Or are you envious because I am  generous?'
#BCV:Matthew 20:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:16">16</verse></sup> "So the last shall be first, and the first last."
#BCV:Matthew 20:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:17">17</verse></sup> Jesus was now going up to Jerusalem, and He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them,
#BCV:Matthew 20:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:18">18</verse></sup> "We are going up to Jerusalem, and there the Son of Man will be betrayed to the High Priests and Scribes. They will condemn Him to death,
#BCV:Matthew 20:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:19">19</verse></sup> and hand Him over to the Gentiles to be made sport of and scourged and crucified; and on the third day He  will be raised to life."
#BCV:Matthew 20:20
<b>A Request for worldly Honour.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:20">20</verse></sup> Then the mother of the sons of Zabdi came to Him with her sons, and knelt before Him to make a request of Him.
#BCV:Matthew 20:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:21">21</verse></sup> "What is it you desire?" He asked. "Command," she replied, "that these my two sons may sit one at your right hand and one at your left in  your Kingdom."
#BCV:Matthew 20:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:22">22</verse></sup> "None of you know what you are asking for," said Jesus; "can you drink  out of the cup  from which I am about to drink?" "We can," they replied.
#BCV:Matthew 20:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:23">23</verse></sup> "You shall drink out of my cup," He said, "but a seat at my right hand or at my left it is not for me to allot, but it belongs to those for whom it has been  prepared by my Father."
#BCV:Matthew 20:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:24">24</verse></sup> The  other ten heard of this, and their indignation was aroused  against the two brothers.
#BCV:Matthew 20:25
<b>Humble Usefulness is true Greatness</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:25">25</verse></sup> But Jesus called them to Him, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
#BCV:Matthew 20:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:26">26</verse></sup> Not so  shall it be among you; but whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant,
#BCV:Matthew 20:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:27">27</verse></sup> and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant;
#BCV:Matthew 20:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:28">28</verse></sup> just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as the  redemption-price  for many."
#BCV:Matthew 20:29
<b>Two blind Men receive Sight.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:29">29</verse></sup> As they were leaving Jericho, an immense crowd following Him,
#BCV:Matthew 20:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:30">30</verse></sup> two blind men sitting by the roadside heard that it was Jesus who was passing by, and cried aloud, "Sir, Son of David, pity us."
#BCV:Matthew 20:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:31">31</verse></sup> The people angrily tried to silence them, but they cried all the louder. "O Sir, Son of David, pity us," they said.
#BCV:Matthew 20:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:32">32</verse></sup> So Jesus stood still and called to them. "What shall I do for you?" He asked.
#BCV:Matthew 20:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:33">33</verse></sup> "Sir, let our eyes be opened," they replied.
#BCV:Matthew 20:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 20:34">34</verse></sup> Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
#BCV:Matthew 21:1
<b>An Ass and its Colt are borrowed.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 21:1">21</verse></font> When they were come near Jerusalem and had arrived at Bethphage and the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples on in front,
#BCV:Matthew 21:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:2">2</verse></sup> saying to them, "Go to the village you see facing you, and as you enter it you will find a she-ass tied up and a foal with her. Untie her and  bring them to me.
#BCV:Matthew 21:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:3">3</verse></sup> And if any one says anything to you, say,  'The Master needs them,' and he will at once send them."
#BCV:Matthew 21:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:4">4</verse></sup> This  took place in order that the Prophet's prediction might be fulfilled:
#BCV:Matthew 21:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:5">5</verse></sup> "Tell the  Daughter of Zion, 'See, thy King is coming  to thee, gentle,  and yet mounted on an ass, even on a colt the  foal of a beast of burden.'"
#BCV:Matthew 21:6
<b>Jesus rides into Jerusalem.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:6">6</verse></sup> So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them:
#BCV:Matthew 21:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:7">7</verse></sup> they brought the she-ass and the foal, and threw their outer garments on them. So He sat on them;
#BCV:Matthew 21:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:8">8</verse></sup> and most of the crowd kept spreading their garments along the road, while others  cut branches from the trees and  carpeted the road with them,
#BCV:Matthew 21:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:9">9</verse></sup> and the multitudes--some of the people preceding Him and some following--sang aloud,  "God save the Son of David! Blessings on Him who comes in the Lord's name! God in the highest Heavens save Him!"
#BCV:Matthew 21:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:10">10</verse></sup> When He thus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into commotion, every one inquiring, "Who is this?"
#BCV:Matthew 21:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:11">11</verse></sup> "This is Jesus, the Prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee," replied the crowds.
#BCV:Matthew 21:12
<b>The Traders driven from the Temple Courts.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:12">12</verse></sup> Entering  the Temple, Jesus drove out all who were buying and selling there, and overturned the money-changers' tables and the seats of the pigeon-dealers.
#BCV:Matthew 21:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:13">13</verse></sup> "It is written," He said, "'My House shall be called  the House of Prayer', but you are making it a robbers' cave."
#BCV:Matthew 21:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:14">14</verse></sup> And  the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple, and He cured them.
#BCV:Matthew 21:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:15">15</verse></sup> But when the High Priests and the Scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done and the children who were crying aloud in the Temple, "God save the Son of David," they were filled with indignation.
#BCV:Matthew 21:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:16">16</verse></sup> "Do you hear," they asked Him, "what these children are saying?" "Yes," He replied; "have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and of babes at the breast Thou hast brought forth the praise which is due'?"
#BCV:Matthew 21:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:17">17</verse></sup> So He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and passed the night there.
#BCV:Matthew 21:18
<b>An unfruitfull Fig Tree cursed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:18">18</verse></sup> Early in the morning  as He was on His way to return to the city He was hungry,
#BCV:Matthew 21:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:19">19</verse></sup> and seeing  a fig-tree on the road-side He went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. "On you," He said, "no fruit shall ever again grow." And immediately the fig-tree withered away.
#BCV:Matthew 21:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:20">20</verse></sup> When the disciples saw it they exclaimed in astonishment, "How instantaneously the fig-tree has withered away!"
#BCV:Matthew 21:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:21">21</verse></sup> "I solemnly tell you," said Jesus, "that if you have an unwavering faith, you shall not only perform such a miracle as this of the fig-tree, but that even if you say to this mountain, 'Be thou lifted up and hurled into the sea,' it shall be done;
#BCV:Matthew 21:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:22">22</verse></sup> and everything, whatever it be, that you ask for in your prayers, if you have faith, you shall obtain."
#BCV:Matthew 21:23
<b>The Leaders of the People silenced.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:23">23</verse></sup> He entered the Temple; and while He was teaching, the High Priests and the Elders of the people came to Him and asked Him, "By  what authority are you doing  these things? and who gave you this authority?"
#BCV:Matthew 21:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:24">24</verse></sup> "And I also have a question to ask *you*," replied Jesus, "and if you answer me, I in turn will tell you by what authority I do these things.
#BCV:Matthew 21:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:25">25</verse></sup> John's Baptism, whence was it? --had it a heavenly or a human origin?" So they debated the matter among themselves. "If we say 'a heavenly origin,'" they argued, "he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
#BCV:Matthew 21:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:26">26</verse></sup> and if we say 'a human origin' we have the people to fear, for they all hold John to have been a Prophet."
#BCV:Matthew 21:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:27">27</verse></sup> So they answered Jesus, "We do not know."  "Nor do I tell you," He replied, "by what authority I do these things."
#BCV:Matthew 21:28
<b>Disobedience, apparent of real?</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:28">28</verse></sup> "But give me your judgement. There was a man who had two  sons. He came to the elder of them, and said, "'My  son, go and work in the vineyard to-day.'
#BCV:Matthew 21:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:29">29</verse></sup> "'I will not,' he replied. "But afterwards he was sorry, and went.
#BCV:Matthew 21:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:30">30</verse></sup> He came to the second and spoke in the same manner. His answer was, "'I will go, Sir.' "But he did not go.
#BCV:Matthew 21:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:31">31</verse></sup> Which of the two did as his father desired?"  "The first," they said. "I solemnly tell you,' replied Jesus, "that the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners are entering the Kingdom of God  in front of you.
#BCV:Matthew 21:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:32">32</verse></sup> For John came to you observing all sorts of ritual, and you put no faith in him: the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners did put faith in him, and you, though you saw this example set you, were not even afterwards sorry so as to believe him.
#BCV:Matthew 21:33
<b>'The wiucked Vine-dressers.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:33">33</verse></sup> "Listen to another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, made a fence round it, dug a wine-tank in it, and built a strong lodge; then let the place to vine-dressers, and went abroad.
#BCV:Matthew 21:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:34">34</verse></sup> When vintage-time approached, he sent his  servants to the vine-dressers to receive his share of the  grapes;
#BCV:Matthew 21:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:35">35</verse></sup> but the vine-dressers seized the servants, and one they cruelly beat, one they killed, one they pelted with stones.
#BCV:Matthew 21:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:36">36</verse></sup> Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and these they treated in the same manner.
#BCV:Matthew 21:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:37">37</verse></sup> Later still he sent to them  his son,  saying, "'They will respect my son.'
#BCV:Matthew 21:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:38">38</verse></sup> "But the vine-dressers, when they saw the son, said to one another, "'Here is the heir: come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.'
#BCV:Matthew 21:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:39">39</verse></sup> "So they seized him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
#BCV:Matthew 21:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:40">40</verse></sup> When then the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers?"
#BCV:Matthew 21:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:41">41</verse></sup> "He will put the wretches to a wretched death," was the reply, "and will entrust the vineyard to other vine-dressers who will render the produce to him at the vintage season."
#BCV:Matthew 21:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:42">42</verse></sup> "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'?
#BCV:Matthew 21:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:43">43</verse></sup> "That, I tell you, is the reason why the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation  that will exhibit the power  of it.
#BCV:Matthew 21:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:44">44</verse></sup> He who  falls on this stone will be severely hurt; but he on whom it falls will be utterly crushed."
#BCV:Matthew 21:45
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:45">45</verse></sup> After listening to His parables the High Priests and the Pharisees perceived that He was speaking about them;
#BCV:Matthew 21:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 21:46">46</verse></sup> but though they were eager to lay hands upon Him, they were afraid of the people, for by them He was regarded as a Prophet.
#BCV:Matthew 22:1
<b>'The royal Wedding Feast.'</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 22:1">22</verse></font> Again Jesus spoke to them in figurative language.
#BCV:Matthew 22:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:2">2</verse></sup> "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said,  "may be compared to  a king who celebrated the marriage of his son,
#BCV:Matthew 22:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:3">3</verse></sup> and sent his  servants to call the invited guests to the wedding, but they were unwilling to come.
#BCV:Matthew 22:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:4">4</verse></sup> "Again he sent other servants with a message to those who were invited. "'My  breakfast is now ready," he said, 'my bullocks and fat cattle are killed, and every preparation is made: come to the wedding.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:5">5</verse></sup> "They however gave no heed, but went, one to his home in the country, another to his business;
#BCV:Matthew 22:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:6">6</verse></sup> and the rest seized the king's servants, maltreated them, and murdered them.
#BCV:Matthew 22:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:7">7</verse></sup> So the king's anger was stirred, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.
#BCV:Matthew 22:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:8">8</verse></sup> Then he said to his servants, "'The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were unworthy of it.
#BCV:Matthew 22:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:9">9</verse></sup> Go out therefore to the crossroads, and everybody you meet invite to the wedding.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:10">10</verse></sup> "So they went out into the roads and gathered together all they  could find, both bad and good, and the  banqueting hall was filled with guests.
#BCV:Matthew 22:11
<b>'A wrongly-dressed Guest.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:11">11</verse></sup> "Now the king came in to see the guests; and among them he discovered one who was not wearing a wedding-robe.
#BCV:Matthew 22:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:12">12</verse></sup> "'My friend,' he said, 'how is it that you came in here without a wedding robe?'
#BCV:Matthew 22:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:13">13</verse></sup> "The man  stood speechless. Then the king said to the servants, "'Bind him hand and foot and fling him into the darkness outside: there will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:14">14</verse></sup> "For there are many called, but few chosen."
#BCV:Matthew 22:15
<b>A Question about paying Tribute.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:15">15</verse></sup> Then the Pharisees went and consulted together how they might entrap Him in His conversation.
#BCV:Matthew 22:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:16">16</verse></sup> So they sent to Him their disciples together with the Herodians;  who said, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and that you faithfully teach God's truth; and that no fear of man misleads you, for you  are not biased by men's wealth or rank.
#BCV:Matthew 22:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:17">17</verse></sup> Give us your judgement therefore: is it allowable for us to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?"
#BCV:Matthew 22:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:18">18</verse></sup> Perceiving their wickedness, Jesus replied, "Why are you hypocrites trying to ensnare me?
#BCV:Matthew 22:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:19">19</verse></sup> Show me the tribute coin." And they brought Him a shilling.
#BCV:Matthew 22:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:20">20</verse></sup> "Whose likeness and inscription," He asked, "is this?"
#BCV:Matthew 22:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:21">21</verse></sup> "Caesar's," they replied. "Pay therefore," He rejoined, "what is Caesar's to Caesar; and what is God's to God."
#BCV:Matthew 22:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:22">22</verse></sup> They heard this, and were astonished; then left Him, and went their way.
#BCV:Matthew 22:23
<b>'A Woman who had had seven husbands.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:23">23</verse></sup> On the same day a party of Sadducees came to Him, contending that there is no resurrection. And they put this case to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 22:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:24">24</verse></sup> "Teacher," they said, "Moses enjoined, 'If a man die childless, his brother shall marry his widow, and raise up a family for him.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:25">25</verse></sup> Now we had among us seven brothers. The eldest of them married, but died childless, leaving his wife to his brother.
#BCV:Matthew 22:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:26">26</verse></sup> So also did the second and the third, down to the seventh,
#BCV:Matthew 22:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:27">27</verse></sup> till the woman also died, after surviving them all.
#BCV:Matthew 22:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:28">28</verse></sup> At the Resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? for they all married her."
#BCV:Matthew 22:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:29">29</verse></sup> The reply of Jesus was, "You are in error, through ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God.
#BCV:Matthew 22:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:30">30</verse></sup> For in the Resurrection, men neither marry nor are women given in marriage, but they are like  angels in Heaven.
#BCV:Matthew 22:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:31">31</verse></sup> But as to the Resurrection of the dead, have you never read what God says to you,
#BCV:Matthew 22:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:32">32</verse></sup> I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of dead, but of living men."
#BCV:Matthew 22:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:33">33</verse></sup> All the crowd heard this, and were filled with amazement at His teaching.
#BCV:Matthew 22:34
<b>Love, the supreme Law.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:34">34</verse></sup> Now the Pharisees came up when they heard that He  had silenced the Sadducees,
#BCV:Matthew 22:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:35">35</verse></sup> and one of them, an expounder of the Law, asked Him as a test question,
#BCV:Matthew 22:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:36">36</verse></sup> "Teacher,  which is the  greatest Commandment in the Law?"
#BCV:Matthew 22:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:37">37</verse></sup> "'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,'" He answered,  "'with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:38">38</verse></sup> This is the greatest and foremost Commandment.
#BCV:Matthew 22:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:39">39</verse></sup> And the second is similar to it: 'Thou shalt love thy fellow man  as much as thyself.'
#BCV:Matthew 22:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:40">40</verse></sup> The whole of the Law and the Prophets is summed up in these two Commandments."
#BCV:Matthew 22:41
<b>'David's Son' and 'David's Lord.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:41">41</verse></sup> While the Pharisees were still assembled there, Jesus put a question to them.
#BCV:Matthew 22:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:42">42</verse></sup> "What think you about the Christ," He said, "whose son is He?" "David's," they replied.
#BCV:Matthew 22:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:43">43</verse></sup> "How then," He asked, "does David,  taught by the Spirit, call Him Lord, when he says,
#BCV:Matthew 22:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:44">44</verse></sup> "'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I have put thy foes beneath thy feet'?
#BCV:Matthew 22:45
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:45">45</verse></sup> "If therefore David calls Him Lord, how can He be his son?"
#BCV:Matthew 22:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 22:46">46</verse></sup> No one could say a word in reply, nor from that day did any one venture again to put a question to Him.
#BCV:Matthew 23:1
<b>Preachers who did not practise.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 23:1">23</verse></font> Then Jesus addressed the crowds and His disciples.
#BCV:Matthew 23:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:2">2</verse></sup> "The Scribes," He said, "and the Pharisees  sit in the chair of Moses.
#BCV:Matthew 23:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:3">3</verse></sup> Therefore do and observe everything that they command you; but do not imitate their lives, for though they tell others what to do, they do not do it themselves.
#BCV:Matthew 23:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:4">4</verse></sup> Heavy  and cumbrous burdens they bind together and load men's shoulders with them, while as for themselves, not with one finger do they choose to lift them.
#BCV:Matthew 23:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:5">5</verse></sup> And everything they do they do with a view to being observed by men; for they widen their  phylacteries and make the tassels large,
#BCV:Matthew 23:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:6">6</verse></sup> and love the best seats at a dinner party or in the synagogues,
#BCV:Matthew 23:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:7">7</verse></sup> and like to be bowed to in places of public resort, and to be addressed by men as 'Rabbi.'
#BCV:Matthew 23:8
<b>Equality and Brotherhood among Christians.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:8">8</verse></sup> "As for you, do not accept the title of 'Rabbi,' for one alone is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.
#BCV:Matthew 23:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:9">9</verse></sup> And call no one on earth your Father, for One alone is your Father--the Heavenly Father.
#BCV:Matthew 23:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:10">10</verse></sup> And do not accept the name of 'leader,' for your Leader is one alone--the Christ.
#BCV:Matthew 23:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:11">11</verse></sup> He who is the greatest among you shall be your servant;
#BCV:Matthew 23:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:12">12</verse></sup> and one who exalts himself shall be abased, while one who abases himself shall be exalted.
#BCV:Matthew 23:13
<b>Stern but sorrowful Denunciations.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:13">13</verse></sup> "But alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you lock the door of the Kingdom of the Heavens against men; you yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those to enter who are seeking to do so.
#BCV:Matthew 23:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:14">14</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Matthew 23:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:15">15</verse></sup> "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you scour sea and land in order to win one convert--and when he is gained, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
#BCV:Matthew 23:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:16">16</verse></sup> "Alas for you, you blind guides, who say, "'Whoever swears by  the Sanctuary it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Sanctuary, is bound by the oath.'
#BCV:Matthew 23:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:17">17</verse></sup> "Blind fools!  Why, which is greater? --the gold, or the Sanctuary which has made the gold holy?
#BCV:Matthew 23:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:18">18</verse></sup> And you say, "'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering lying on it is bound by the oath.'
#BCV:Matthew 23:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:19">19</verse></sup> "You are blind! Why, which is greater? --the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
#BCV:Matthew 23:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:20">20</verse></sup> He who swears by the altar swears both by it and by everything on it;
#BCV:Matthew 23:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:21">21</verse></sup> he who swears by the Sanctuary swears both by it and by Him who  dwells in it;
#BCV:Matthew 23:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:22">22</verse></sup> and he who swears by Heaven swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.
#BCV:Matthew 23:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:23">23</verse></sup> "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay the tithe on mint, dill, and cumin, while you have neglected the weightier requirements of the Law--just judgement, mercy, and faithful dealing. These things you ought to have done, and yet you ought not to have left the others undone.
#BCV:Matthew 23:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:24">24</verse></sup> You blind guides, straining out the gnat while you gulp down the camel!
#BCV:Matthew 23:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:25">25</verse></sup> "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you wash clean the outside of the cup or dish, while within they are full of greed and  self-indulgence.
#BCV:Matthew 23:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:26">26</verse></sup> Blind Pharisee, first wash clean the inside of the cup  or dish, and then the outside will be clean also.
#BCV:Matthew 23:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:27">27</verse></sup> "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are just like whitewashed sepulchres, the outside of which pleases the eye, though inside they are full of dead men's bones and of all that is unclean.
#BCV:Matthew 23:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:28">28</verse></sup> The same is true of you: outwardly you seem to the human eye to be good and honest men, but, within, you are full of insincerity and  disregard of God's Law.
#BCV:Matthew 23:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:29">29</verse></sup> "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you repair the sepulchres of the Prophets and  keep in order the tombs of the righteous,
#BCV:Matthew 23:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:30">30</verse></sup> and your boast is, "'If we had lived in the time of our forefathers, we should not have been implicated with them in the murder of the Prophets.'
#BCV:Matthew 23:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:31">31</verse></sup> "So that you bear witness against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the Prophets.
#BCV:Matthew 23:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:32">32</verse></sup> Fill up the measure of your forefathers' guilt.
#BCV:Matthew 23:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:33">33</verse></sup> O serpents, O vipers' brood, how are you  to escape  condemnation to  Gehenna?
#BCV:Matthew 23:34
<b>The awful Wickedness of the Jews then living.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:34">34</verse></sup> "For this reason I am sending to you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will put to death--nay, crucify; some of them you will flog in your synagogues and chase from town to town;
#BCV:Matthew 23:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:35">35</verse></sup> that all the innocent blood  shed upon earth may come on you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah whom you murdered between the Sanctuary and the altar.
#BCV:Matthew 23:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:36">36</verse></sup> I tell you in solemn truth that all these things will come upon the present generation.
#BCV:Matthew 23:37
<b>Jesus grieves over Jerusalem.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:37">37</verse></sup> "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee! how often have I desired to gather thy children to me, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not come!
#BCV:Matthew 23:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:38">38</verse></sup> See, your house  will now be left to you  desolate!
#BCV:Matthew 23:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 23:39">39</verse></sup> For I tell you that you will never see me again until you say,  'Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
#BCV:Matthew 24:1
<b>Jesus predicts the Destruction of the Temple.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 24:1">24</verse></font> Jesus had left  the Temple and was going on His way, when His disciples came and called His attention to the Temple  buildings.
#BCV:Matthew 24:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:2">2</verse></sup> "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."
#BCV:Matthew 24:3
<b>Christ's return at the End of the Age.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:3">3</verse></sup> Afterwards He was on the Mount of Olives and was seated there when the disciples came to Him, apart from the others, and said, "Tell us when this will be; and what will be the sign of your  Coming and of the Close of the  Age?"
#BCV:Matthew 24:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:4">4</verse></sup> "Take care that no one misleads you," answered Jesus;
#BCV:Matthew 24:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:5">5</verse></sup> "for many will come  assuming my name and saying 'I am the Christ;' and they will mislead many.
#BCV:Matthew 24:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:6">6</verse></sup> And before long you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. Do not be alarmed, for such things must be; but the  End is not yet.
#BCV:Matthew 24:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:7">7</verse></sup> For nation will rise in arms against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places;
#BCV:Matthew 24:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:8">8</verse></sup> but all these miseries are but like the early pains of childbirth.
#BCV:Matthew 24:9
<b>Persecution, Apostasy, and world-wide Preaching.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:9">9</verse></sup> "At that time they will deliver you up to punishment and will put you to death; and you will be objects of hatred to all the nations because you are called by my name.
#BCV:Matthew 24:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:10">10</verse></sup> Then will many  stumble and fall, and they will betray one another and hate one another.
#BCV:Matthew 24:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:11">11</verse></sup> Many false prophets will rise up and lead multitudes astray;
#BCV:Matthew 24:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:12">12</verse></sup> and because of the prevalent  disregard of God's law the love of  the great majority will grow cold;
#BCV:Matthew 24:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:13">13</verse></sup> but those who stand firm to  the End shall be saved.
#BCV:Matthew 24:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:14">14</verse></sup> And  this Good News of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout  the whole world to set the evidence before all the  Gentiles; and then  the End will come.
#BCV:Matthew 24:15
<b>'The Abomination of Desolation.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:15">15</verse></sup> "When you have seen (to use the language of the Prophet Daniel)
#BCV:Matthew 24:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:16">16</verse></sup> "then let those who are in Judaea escape to the hills;
#BCV:Matthew 24:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:17">17</verse></sup> let him who is on the roof not go down to fetch what is in his house;
#BCV:Matthew 24:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:18">18</verse></sup> nor let him who is outside the city stay to pick up his outer garment.
#BCV:Matthew 24:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:19">19</verse></sup> And  alas for the women who at that time are with child or have infants!
#BCV:Matthew 24:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:20">20</verse></sup> "But pray that your flight may not be  in winter, nor on  the Sabbath;
#BCV:Matthew 24:21
<b>Unparalleled Distress.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:21">21</verse></sup> for it will be a time of great suffering, such as never has been from the beginning of the world till now, and assuredly  never will be again.
#BCV:Matthew 24:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:22">22</verse></sup> And if those days had not  been cut short, no one would escape; but for the sake of  God's own People those days  will be cut short.
#BCV:Matthew 24:23
<b>The wide Visibility of the Coming of Christ.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:23">23</verse></sup> "If at that time any one should say to you, 'See, here is the Christ!' or 'Here!' give no credence to it.
#BCV:Matthew 24:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:24">24</verse></sup> For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, displaying wonderful signs and prodigies, so as to deceive, were it possible, even God's own People.
#BCV:Matthew 24:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:25">25</verse></sup> Remember, I have forewarned you.
#BCV:Matthew 24:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:26">26</verse></sup> If therefore they should say to you, 'See, He is in the Desert!' do not go out there: or 'See, He is indoors in the room!' do not believe it.
#BCV:Matthew 24:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:27">27</verse></sup> For just as the lightning flashes in the east and is seen to the very west, so will be the Coming of the Son of Man.
#BCV:Matthew 24:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:28">28</verse></sup> Wherever the dead body is, there will the  vultures flock together.
#BCV:Matthew 24:29
<b>The Son of Man amid the Clouds.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:29">29</verse></sup> "But immediately after those times of distress the sun will  be darkened, the moon will not shed her light, the stars will fall from the firmament, and the  forces which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.
#BCV:Matthew 24:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:30">30</verse></sup> Then will appear the Sign of the Son of Man in the sky; and then will all the  nations of the earth lament, when they  see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky  with great power and glory.
#BCV:Matthew 24:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:31">31</verse></sup> And He will send out His angels  with a loud trumpet-blast, and they will  bring together His own People to Him from north, south, east and west--from one extremity of the world to the other.
#BCV:Matthew 24:32
<b>A definite Limit of Time.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:32">32</verse></sup> "Now learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branches have now become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you all know that summer is near.
#BCV:Matthew 24:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:33">33</verse></sup> So you also, when you see all these signs, may be sure that  He is near--at your very door.
#BCV:Matthew 24:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:34">34</verse></sup> I tell you in solemn truth that  the present generation will certainly not pass away without all these things having first taken place.
#BCV:Matthew 24:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:35">35</verse></sup> Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my words will not pass away.
#BCV:Matthew 24:36
<b>Uncertainty as to the exact Day.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:36">36</verse></sup> "But as to that day and the exact time no one knows--not even the angels of heaven,  nor the Son, but the Father alone.
#BCV:Matthew 24:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:37">37</verse></sup> For as it was in the time of Noah, so it will be at the Coming of the Son of Man.
#BCV:Matthew 24:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:38">38</verse></sup> At that time, before the Deluge, men were busy eating and drinking, taking wives or giving them, up to the very day when Noah entered the Ark,
#BCV:Matthew 24:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:39">39</verse></sup> nor did they realise any danger till the Deluge came and swept them all away; so will it be at the Coming of the Son of Man.
#BCV:Matthew 24:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:40">40</verse></sup> Then will two men be in the open country: one  will be  taken away, and one left behind.
#BCV:Matthew 24:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:41">41</verse></sup> Two women will be grinding at the mill: one  will be  taken away, and one left behind.
#BCV:Matthew 24:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:42">42</verse></sup> Be  on the alert therefore, for you do not know the day on which your Lord is coming.
#BCV:Matthew 24:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:43">43</verse></sup> But of this be assured, that if the master of the house had known the hour at which the robber was coming, he would have kept awake, and not have allowed his house to be broken into.
#BCV:Matthew 24:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:44">44</verse></sup> Therefore you also must be ready; for it is at a time when you do not expect Him that the Son of Man will come.
#BCV:Matthew 24:45
<b>Faithful and unfaithful Servants.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:45">45</verse></sup> "Who therefore is the loyal and intelligent  servant to whom his  master has entrusted the control of his household to give them their rations at the appointed time?
#BCV:Matthew 24:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:46">46</verse></sup> Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes shall find so doing!
#BCV:Matthew 24:47
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:47">47</verse></sup> In solemn truth I tell you that he will give him the management of all his wealth.
#BCV:Matthew 24:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:48">48</verse></sup> But if the man, being a bad servant, should say in his heart, 'My master is a long time in coming,'
#BCV:Matthew 24:49
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:49">49</verse></sup> and should begin to beat his fellow servants, while he eats and drinks with drunkards;
#BCV:Matthew 24:50
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:50">50</verse></sup> the master of that servant will arrive on a day when he is not expecting him and at an hour of which he has not been informed;
#BCV:Matthew 24:51
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 24:51">51</verse></sup> he will  treat him with the utmost severity and assign him a place among the  hypocrites: there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
#BCV:Matthew 25:1
<b>'Ten Bridesmaids.'</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 25:1">25</verse></font> "Then will the Kingdom of the Heavens  be found to be like ten bridesmaids who took their torches and went out to meet the bridegroom.
#BCV:Matthew 25:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:2">2</verse></sup> Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
#BCV:Matthew 25:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:3">3</verse></sup> For the foolish, when they took their torches, did not provide themselves with oil;
#BCV:Matthew 25:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:4">4</verse></sup> but the wise, besides their  torches, took oil in their  flasks.
#BCV:Matthew 25:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:5">5</verse></sup> The bridegroom was a long time in coming, so that meanwhile they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
#BCV:Matthew 25:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:6">6</verse></sup> But at midnight there is a loud cry, "'The bridegroom! Go out and meet him!'
#BCV:Matthew 25:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:7">7</verse></sup> "Then all those bridesmaids roused themselves and trimmed their torches.
#BCV:Matthew 25:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:8">8</verse></sup> "'Give us some of your oil,' said the foolish ones to the wise, 'for our torches are going out.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:9">9</verse></sup> "'But perhaps,' replied the wise, 'there will not be enough for all of us. Go to the shops rather, and buy some for yourselves.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:10">10</verse></sup> "So they went to buy. But meanwhile the bridegroom came; those bridesmaids who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
#BCV:Matthew 25:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:11">11</verse></sup> "Afterwards the other bridesmaids came and cried, "'Sir, Sir, open the door to us.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:12">12</verse></sup> "'In solemn truth I tell you,' he replied, 'I do not know you.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:13">13</verse></sup> "Keep awake therefore; for you know neither the day nor the hour.
#BCV:Matthew 25:14
<b>Privilege and Reponsibility.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:14">14</verse></sup> "Why, it is like a man who, when going on his travels, called his  bondservants and entrusted his property to their care.
#BCV:Matthew 25:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:15">15</verse></sup> To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one--to each according to his individual capacity; and then started from home.
#BCV:Matthew 25:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:16">16</verse></sup> Without delay the one who had received the five talents went and employed them in business, and gained five more.
#BCV:Matthew 25:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:17">17</verse></sup> In the same way he who had the two gained two more.
#BCV:Matthew 25:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:18">18</verse></sup> But the man who had received the one went and dug a hole and buried his  master's money.
#BCV:Matthew 25:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:19">19</verse></sup> "After a long lapse of time the master of those servants returned, and had a reckoning with them.
#BCV:Matthew 25:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:20">20</verse></sup> The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, and said, "'Sir, it was five talents that you entrusted to me: see, I have gained five more.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:21">21</verse></sup> "'You have done well,  good and  trustworthy servant,' replied his master; 'you have been trustworthy in the management of a little, I will put you in charge of much: share your master's joy.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:22">22</verse></sup> "The second, who had received the two talents, came and said, "'Sir, it was two talents you entrusted to me: see, I have gained two more.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:23">23</verse></sup> "'Good and trustworthy servant, you have done well,' his master replied; 'you have been trustworthy in the management of a little, I will put you in charge of much:  share your master's joy.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:24">24</verse></sup> "But, next, the man who had the one talent in his keeping came and said, "'Sir,  I knew you to be a severe man, reaping where you had not sown and garnering  what you had not winnowed.
#BCV:Matthew 25:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:25">25</verse></sup> So being afraid I went and buried your talent in the ground: there you have what belongs to you.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:26">26</verse></sup> "'You wicked and slothful servant,' replied his master, 'did you know that I reap where I have not sown, and garner what I have not winnowed?
#BCV:Matthew 25:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:27">27</verse></sup> Your duty then was to deposit my money in some bank, and so when I came I should have got back my property with interest.
#BCV:Matthew 25:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:28">28</verse></sup> So take away the talent from him, and give it to the man who has the ten.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:29">29</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Matthew 25:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:30">30</verse></sup> But as for this worthless servant, put him out into the darkness outside: *there* will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:31
<b>'The Sheep and the Goats.'</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:31">31</verse></sup> "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then will He sit upon His glorious throne,
#BCV:Matthew 25:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:32">32</verse></sup> and  all the nations will be gathered into His presence. And He will separate  them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
#BCV:Matthew 25:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:33">33</verse></sup> and will make the sheep stand at His right hand, and the goats at His left.
#BCV:Matthew 25:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:34">34</verse></sup> "Then the King will say to those at His right, "'Come, my Father's blessed ones, receive your inheritance of the Kingdom which has been  divinely intended for you ever since the creation of the world.
#BCV:Matthew 25:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:35">35</verse></sup> For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when I was thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was homeless, you gave me a welcome;
#BCV:Matthew 25:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:36">36</verse></sup> when I was ill-clad, you clothed me; when I was sick, you visited me; when I was in prison, you came to see me.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:37">37</verse></sup> "'When, Lord,' the righteous will reply, 'did we see  Thee hungry, and feed Thee; or thirsty, and give Thee drink?
#BCV:Matthew 25:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:38">38</verse></sup> When did we see Thee homeless, and give Thee a welcome? or ill-clad, and clothe Thee?
#BCV:Matthew 25:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:39">39</verse></sup> When did we see Thee sick or in prison, and come to see Thee?'
#BCV:Matthew 25:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:40">40</verse></sup> "But the King will answer them, "'In solemn truth I tell you that in so far as you rendered such services to one of the humblest of these my brethren, you rendered them to myself.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:41">41</verse></sup> "Then will He say to those at His left, "'Begone from me, with the curse resting upon you, into the Fire  of the Ages, which has been  prepared for the Devil and his angels.
#BCV:Matthew 25:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:42">42</verse></sup> For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat; when thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink;
#BCV:Matthew 25:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:43">43</verse></sup> when homeless, you gave me no welcome; ill-clad, you clothed me not; sick or in prison, you visited me not.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:44">44</verse></sup> "Then will they also answer, "'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or homeless or ill-clad or sick or in prison, and not come to serve Thee?'
#BCV:Matthew 25:45
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:45">45</verse></sup> "But he will reply, "'In solemn truth I tell you that in so far as you withheld such services from one of the humblest of these, you withheld them from me.'
#BCV:Matthew 25:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 25:46">46</verse></sup> "And these shall go away into the  Punishment  of the Ages, but the righteous into the Life  of the Ages."
#BCV:Matthew 26:1
<b>Once again Jesus predicts His Death.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 26:1">26</verse></font> When Jesus had ended all these discourses, He said to His disciples,
#BCV:Matthew 26:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:2">2</verse></sup> "You know that in  two days' time the Passover comes. And the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."
#BCV:Matthew 26:3
<b>The Plot to murder Him.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:3">3</verse></sup> Then the High Priests and Elders of the People assembled in the court of the palace of the High Priest Caiaphas,
#BCV:Matthew 26:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:4">4</verse></sup> and consulted how to get Jesus into their power by stratagem and put Him to death.
#BCV:Matthew 26:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:5">5</verse></sup> But they said, "Not during the Festival, lest there be a riot among the people."
#BCV:Matthew 26:6
<b>Affection's costly Gift.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:6">6</verse></sup> Now when Jesus was come to Bethany and was at the house of Simon the Leper,
#BCV:Matthew 26:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:7">7</verse></sup> a woman came to Him with a jar of very costly, sweet-scented ointment, which she poured over His head as He reclined at table.
#BCV:Matthew 26:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:8">8</verse></sup> "Why such waste?" indignantly exclaimed the disciples;
#BCV:Matthew 26:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:9">9</verse></sup> "for this might have been sold for a considerable sum, and the money given to the poor."
#BCV:Matthew 26:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:10">10</verse></sup> But Jesus heard it, and said to them, "Why are you vexing her? For she has done a most gracious act towards me.
#BCV:Matthew 26:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:11">11</verse></sup> The poor you always have with you, but me you have not always.
#BCV:Matthew 26:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:12">12</verse></sup> In pouring this ointment over me, her object was to prepare me for burial.
#BCV:Matthew 26:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:13">13</verse></sup> In solemn truth I tell you that wherever in the whole world this Good News shall be proclaimed, this deed of hers shall be spoken of in memory of her."
#BCV:Matthew 26:14
<b>The Treachery of Judas.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:14">14</verse></sup> At that time one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the High Priests
#BCV:Matthew 26:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:15">15</verse></sup> and said, "What are you willing to give me if I betray him to you?" So they weighed out to him thirty shekels,
#BCV:Matthew 26:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:16">16</verse></sup> and from that moment he was on the look out for an opportunity to betray Him.
#BCV:Matthew 26:17
<b>The Disciples prepare the Passover.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:17">17</verse></sup> On the first day of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus with the question, "Where shall we make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
#BCV:Matthew 26:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:18">18</verse></sup> "Go into the city," He replied, "to a certain man, and tell him, 'The Teacher says, My time is close at hand. It is at your house that I shall keep the Passover with my disciples.'"
#BCV:Matthew 26:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:19">19</verse></sup> The disciples did as Jesus directed them, and got the Passover ready.
#BCV:Matthew 26:20
<b>'The last Supper.' The Traitor indicated.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:20">20</verse></sup> When evening came, He  was at table with the twelve  disciples,
#BCV:Matthew 26:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:21">21</verse></sup> and the meal was proceeding, when Jesus said, "In solemn truth I tell you that one of you will betray me."
#BCV:Matthew 26:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:22">22</verse></sup> Intensely grieved they began one after another to ask Him, "Can it be I, Master?"
#BCV:Matthew 26:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:23">23</verse></sup> "The one who has dipped his fingers in the bowl with me," He answered, "is the man who will betray me.
#BCV:Matthew 26:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:24">24</verse></sup> The Son of Man is indeed going as is written concerning Him; but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been a happy thing for that man if he had  never been born."
#BCV:Matthew 26:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:25">25</verse></sup> Then Judas, the disciple who was betraying Him, asked, "Can it be I, Rabbi?"  "It is you," He replied.
#BCV:Matthew 26:26
<b>The memorial Meal instituted.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:26">26</verse></sup> During the meal Jesus took  a Passover biscuit, blessed it and broke it. He then gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take this and eat it: it  is my body."
#BCV:Matthew 26:27
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:27">27</verse></sup> And He  took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, "Drink from it, all of you;
#BCV:Matthew 26:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:28">28</verse></sup> for this is my blood which is to be poured out for many for the remission of sins--the blood which ratifies  the Covenant.
#BCV:Matthew 26:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:29">29</verse></sup> I tell you that I will never again take the produce of the vine till that day when I shall drink  the new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom."
#BCV:Matthew 26:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:30">30</verse></sup> So they sang  the hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
#BCV:Matthew 26:31
<b>Peter's Denial foretold.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:31">31</verse></sup> Then said Jesus, "This night all of you will stumble and fail in your fidelity to me; for it is written, 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered in all directions.'
#BCV:Matthew 26:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:32">32</verse></sup> But after I have risen to life again I will go before you into Galilee."
#BCV:Matthew 26:33
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:33">33</verse></sup> "All may stumble and fail," said Peter, "but I never will."
#BCV:Matthew 26:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:34">34</verse></sup> "In solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that this very night,  before the cock crows, you will three times disown me."
#BCV:Matthew 26:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:35">35</verse></sup> "Even if I must die with you," declared Peter, "I will never disown you." In like manner protested all the disciples.
#BCV:Matthew 26:36
<b>Christ's Agony in Gethsemane.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:36">36</verse></sup> Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And He said to the disciples, "Sit down here, whilst I go yonder and there pray."
#BCV:Matthew 26:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:37">37</verse></sup> And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zabdi. Then He began to be full of anguish and distress,
#BCV:Matthew 26:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:38">38</verse></sup> and He said to them, "My soul is  crushed with anguish to the very point of death; wait here, and keep awake with me."
#BCV:Matthew 26:39
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:39">39</verse></sup> Going forward a short distance He fell on His face and prayed. "My Father," He said, "if it is possible, let this  cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou willest."
#BCV:Matthew 26:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:40">40</verse></sup> Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and He said to Peter, "Alas, none of you could keep awake with me for even a single hour!
#BCV:Matthew 26:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:41">41</verse></sup> Keep awake, and pray that you may not enter into temptation:  the spirit is  right willing, but the  body is frail."
#BCV:Matthew 26:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:42">42</verse></sup> Again a second time He went away and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is impossible for this cup to pass without my drinking it, Thy will be done."
#BCV:Matthew 26:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:43">43</verse></sup> He came and again found them asleep, for  they were very tired.
#BCV:Matthew 26:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:44">44</verse></sup> So He left them, and went away once more and prayed a third time, again using the same words.
#BCV:Matthew 26:45
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:45">45</verse></sup> Then He came to the disciples and said, "Sleep on and rest. See, the moment is close at hand when the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men.
#BCV:Matthew 26:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:46">46</verse></sup> Rouse yourselves. Let us be going. My betrayer is close at hand."
#BCV:Matthew 26:47
<b>Judas brings armed Men.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:47">47</verse></sup> He had scarcely finished speaking when Judas came--one of the Twelve--accompanied by a great crowd of men armed with swords and bludgeons, sent by the High Priests and Elders of the People.
#BCV:Matthew 26:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:48">48</verse></sup> Now the betrayer had agreed upon a sign with them, to direct them. He had said, "The one whom I kiss is the man: lay hold of him."
#BCV:Matthew 26:49
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:49">49</verse></sup> So he went straight to Jesus and said,  "Peace to you, Rabbi!" And he kissed Him  eagerly.
#BCV:Matthew 26:50
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:50">50</verse></sup> "Friend," said Jesus,  "carry out your intention." Then they came and laid their hands on Jesus and seized Him firmly.
#BCV:Matthew 26:51
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:51">51</verse></sup> But one of those with Jesus drew his sword and struck the High Priest's  servant, cutting off his ear.
#BCV:Matthew 26:52
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:52">52</verse></sup> "Put back your sword again," said Jesus, "for all who  draw the sword shall perish by the sword.
#BCV:Matthew 26:53
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:53">53</verse></sup> Or do you suppose I cannot entreat my Father and He would instantly  send to my help more than twelve legions of angels?
#BCV:Matthew 26:54
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:54">54</verse></sup> In that case how are the Scriptures to be fulfilled which declare that thus it must be?"
#BCV:Matthew 26:55
<b>Jesus expostulates.  The Apostles flee</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:55">55</verse></sup> Then said Jesus to the crowds, "Have you come out as if to fight with a robber, with swords and bludgeons to apprehend me? Day after day I  have been sitting teaching in the Temple, and you did not arrest me.
#BCV:Matthew 26:56
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:56">56</verse></sup> But all this has taken place in order that the writings of the Prophets may be fulfilled." At this point the disciples all left Him and fled.
#BCV:Matthew 26:57
<b>Jesis arrested and taken to Caiaphas.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:57">57</verse></sup> But the officers who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the High Priest, at whose house the Scribes and the Elders had assembled.
#BCV:Matthew 26:58
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:58">58</verse></sup> And Peter kept following Him at a distance, till he came even to the court of the High Priest's palace, where he entered and sat down among the  officers to see the issue.
#BCV:Matthew 26:59
<b>False Testiomony and gross insults.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:59">59</verse></sup> Meanwhile the High Priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death;
#BCV:Matthew 26:60
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:60">60</verse></sup> but they could find none, although many false witnesses came forward. At length there came two
#BCV:Matthew 26:61
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:61">61</verse></sup> who testified, "This man said, 'I am able to pull down the Sanctuary of God and three days afterwards to build a new one.'"
#BCV:Matthew 26:62
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:62">62</verse></sup> Then the High Priest stood up and asked Him, "Have you no answer to make? What is it these men are saying in evidence against you?"
#BCV:Matthew 26:63
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:63">63</verse></sup> Jesus however remained silent. Again the High Priest addressed Him. "In the name of the  ever-living God," he said,  "I now put you on your oath. Tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God."
#BCV:Matthew 26:64
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:64">64</verse></sup> "I am He," replied Jesus. "But I tell you that,  later on, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Omnipotence, and coming on the clouds of the sky."
#BCV:Matthew 26:65
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:65">65</verse></sup> Then the High Priest tore his robes and exclaimed, "Impious language! What further need have we of witnesses! See, you have now heard the impiety.
#BCV:Matthew 26:66
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:66">66</verse></sup> What is your verdict?" "He deserves to die," they replied.
#BCV:Matthew 26:67
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:67">67</verse></sup> Then they spat in His face, and struck Him--some with the fist, some  with the open hand--
#BCV:Matthew 26:68
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:68">68</verse></sup> while they taunted Him, saying, "Christ,  prove yourself a Prophet by telling us who it was that struck you."
#BCV:Matthew 26:69
<b>Peter disowns his Master.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:69">69</verse></sup> Peter meanwhile was sitting outside in the court of the palace, when  one of the maidservants came over to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilaean."
#BCV:Matthew 26:70
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:70">70</verse></sup> He denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you mean."
#BCV:Matthew 26:71
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:71">71</verse></sup> Soon afterwards he went out and stood in the gateway, when another girl saw him, and said, addressing the people there,  "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene."
#BCV:Matthew 26:72
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:72">72</verse></sup> Again he denied it with an oath. "I do not know the man," he said.
#BCV:Matthew 26:73
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:73">73</verse></sup> A short time afterwards the people  standing there came and said to Peter, "Certainly you too are one of them, for your brogue shows it."
#BCV:Matthew 26:74
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:74">74</verse></sup> Then with curses and oaths he declared, "I do not know the man." Immediately a cock crowed,
#BCV:Matthew 26:75
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 26:75">75</verse></sup> and Peter recollected the words of Jesus, how He had said, "Before the cock crows you will three times disown me." And he went out and wept  aloud, bitterly.
#BCV:Matthew 27:1
<b>Christ is taken before the Roman Governor.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 27:1">27</verse></font> When morning came all the High Priests and the Elders of the people consulted together against Jesus to put Him to death;
#BCV:Matthew 27:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:2">2</verse></sup> and binding Him they led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the Governor.
#BCV:Matthew 27:3
<b>The Remorse and Despair of Judas.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:3">3</verse></sup> Then when Judas,  who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, smitten with remorse he brought back the thirty shekels to the High Priests and Elders
#BCV:Matthew 27:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:4">4</verse></sup> and said, "I have sinned, in betraying to death one who is innocent." "What does that matter to us?" they replied; it is your business."
#BCV:Matthew 27:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:5">5</verse></sup> Flinging the shekels into the Sanctuary he left the place, and went and hanged himself.
#BCV:Matthew 27:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:6">6</verse></sup> When the High Priests had gathered up the money they said, "It is illegal to put it into the Treasury, because it is the price of blood."
#BCV:Matthew 27:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:7">7</verse></sup> So after consulting together they spent the money in the purchase of the Potter's Field as a burial place for people not belonging to the city;
#BCV:Matthew 27:8
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:8">8</verse></sup> for which reason that piece of ground received the name, which it still bears, of 'the Field of Blood.'
#BCV:Matthew 27:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:9">9</verse></sup> Then were fulfilled the words spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah, "And I took the thirty shekels, the price of the prized one on whom Israelites had set a price,
#BCV:Matthew 27:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:10">10</verse></sup> and  gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me."
#BCV:Matthew 27:11
<b>Pilate questions Jesus.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:11">11</verse></sup> Meanwhile Jesus was brought before the Governor, and the latter put the question, "Are you the King of the Jews?"  "I am their King," He answered.
#BCV:Matthew 27:12
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:12">12</verse></sup> When however the High Priests and the Elders kept bringing their charges against Him, He said not a word in reply.
#BCV:Matthew 27:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:13">13</verse></sup> "Do you not hear," asked Pilate, "what a mass of  evidence they are bringing against you?"
#BCV:Matthew 27:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:14">14</verse></sup> But He made no reply to a single accusation, so that the Governor was greatly astonished.
#BCV:Matthew 27:15
<b>Jesus sentenced to Death.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:15">15</verse></sup> "Now it was the Governor's custom at the Festival to release some one prisoner, whomsoever the populace desired;
#BCV:Matthew 27:16
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:16">16</verse></sup> and at this time they had a notorious prisoner called  Barabbas.
#BCV:Matthew 27:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:17">17</verse></sup> So when they were now assembled Pilate appealed to them. "Whom shall I release to you," he said,  "Barabbas, or Jesus the so-called Christ?"
#BCV:Matthew 27:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:18">18</verse></sup> For he knew that it was from envious hatred that Jesus had been brought before him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:19">19</verse></sup> While he was sitting on the tribunal a message came to him from his wife. "Have nothing to do with that innocent man," she said, "for during the night I have suffered terribly in a dream through him."
#BCV:Matthew 27:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:20">20</verse></sup> The High Priests, however, and the Elders  urged the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to demand the death of Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 27:21
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:21">21</verse></sup> So when the Governor  a second time asked them, "Which of the two shall I release to you?" --they cried, "Barabbas!"
#BCV:Matthew 27:22
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:22">22</verse></sup> "What then," said Pilate, "shall I do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?" With one voice they shouted, "Let him be crucified!"
#BCV:Matthew 27:23
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:23">23</verse></sup> "Why, what crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they kept on furiously shouting, "Let him be crucified!"
#BCV:Matthew 27:24
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:24">24</verse></sup> So when he saw that he could gain nothing, but that on the contrary there was a riot threatening, he called for water and washed his hands in sight of them all, saying, "I am  not responsible for this murder: you must answer for it."
#BCV:Matthew 27:25
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:25">25</verse></sup> "His blood," replied all the people, "be on us and on our children!"
#BCV:Matthew 27:26
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:26">26</verse></sup> Then he released Barabbas to them, but Jesus he ordered to be  scourged, and gave Him up to be crucified.
#BCV:Matthew 27:27
<b>Jesus is again grossly insulted.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:27">27</verse></sup> Then the Governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and called together the whole  battalion  to make sport of Him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:28
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:28">28</verse></sup> Stripping off His garments, they put on Him a general's short  crimson cloak.
#BCV:Matthew 27:29
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:29">29</verse></sup> They twisted a wreath of thorny twigs and put it on His head, and they put a sceptre of cane in His right hand, and kneeling to Him they shouted in mockery,  "Long live the King of the Jews!"
#BCV:Matthew 27:30
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:30">30</verse></sup> Then they spat upon Him, and taking the cane they repeatedly struck Him on the head with it.
#BCV:Matthew 27:31
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:31">31</verse></sup> At last, having finished their sport, they took off the cloak, clothed Him again in His own garments, and led Him away for crucifixion.
#BCV:Matthew 27:32
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:32">32</verse></sup> Going out they met a Cyrenaean named Simon; whom they compelled to carry His cross,
#BCV:Matthew 27:33
<b>Jesus taken to Golgotha and crucified.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:33">33</verse></sup> and so they came to a place called Golgotha, which means 'Skull-ground.'
#BCV:Matthew 27:34
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:34">34</verse></sup> Here they gave Him a mixture of  wine and gall to drink, but having tasted it He refused to drink it.
#BCV:Matthew 27:35
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:35">35</verse></sup> After crucifying Him, they divided His garments among them by lot,
#BCV:Matthew 27:36
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:36">36</verse></sup> and sat down there on guard.
#BCV:Matthew 27:37
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:37">37</verse></sup> Over His head they placed a written statement of the charge against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
#BCV:Matthew 27:38
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:38">38</verse></sup> At the same time two robbers were crucified with Him, one at His right hand and the other at His left.
#BCV:Matthew 27:39
<b>The Crowd reviles Him.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:39">39</verse></sup> And the passers-by reviled Him. They shook their heads at Him
#BCV:Matthew 27:40
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:40">40</verse></sup> and said, "You who would pull down the Sanctuary and build a new one within three days, save yourself. If you are God's Son, come down from the cross."
#BCV:Matthew 27:41
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:41">41</verse></sup> In like manner the High Priests also, together with the Scribes and the Elders, taunted Him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:42
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:42">42</verse></sup> "He saved others," they said,  "himself he cannot save! He is the King of Israel! Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:43
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:43">43</verse></sup> His trust is in God: let God deliver him now, if He will have him; for he said, 'I am God's Son.'"
#BCV:Matthew 27:44
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:44">44</verse></sup> Insults of the same kind were heaped on Him even by the  robbers who were being crucified with Him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:45
<b>Jesus dies.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:45">45</verse></sup> Now from noon until three o'clock in the afternoon there was darkness over the whole  land;
#BCV:Matthew 27:46
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:46">46</verse></sup> but about three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
#BCV:Matthew 27:47
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:47">47</verse></sup> "The man is calling for Elijah," said some of the bystanders.
#BCV:Matthew 27:48
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:48">48</verse></sup> One of them ran forthwith, and filling a sponge with  sour wine put it on the end of a cane and offered it Him to drink;
#BCV:Matthew 27:49
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:49">49</verse></sup> while the rest said, "Let us see whether Elijah is coming to deliver him."
#BCV:Matthew 27:50
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:50">50</verse></sup> But Jesus uttered another loud cry and then yielded up His spirit.
#BCV:Matthew 27:51
<b>The Marvels which followed.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:51">51</verse></sup> Immediately the curtain of the Sanctuary  was torn in two  from top to bottom: the earth quaked; the rocks split;
#BCV:Matthew 27:52
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:52">52</verse></sup> the tombs opened; and many of God's people who were asleep in death  awoke.
#BCV:Matthew 27:53
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:53">53</verse></sup> And coming out of their tombs after Christ's resurrection they entered the holy city and showed themselves to many.
#BCV:Matthew 27:54
<b>The Soldiers are terrified.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:54">54</verse></sup> As for the Captain and the soldiers who were with Him keeping guard over Jesus, when they witnessed the earthquake and the other occurrences they were filled with terror, and exclaimed, "Assuredly he was God's Son."
#BCV:Matthew 27:55
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:55">55</verse></sup> And there were a number of women there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee ministering to His necessities;
#BCV:Matthew 27:56
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:56">56</verse></sup> among them being Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and  Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zabdi.
#BCV:Matthew 27:57
<b>Joseph buries Christ's Body.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:57">57</verse></sup> Towards sunset there came a wealthy inhabitant of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself also had become a disciple of Jesus.
#BCV:Matthew 27:58
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:58">58</verse></sup> He went to Pilate and begged to have the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
#BCV:Matthew 27:59
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:59">59</verse></sup> So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean sheet of fine linen.
#BCV:Matthew 27:60
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:60">60</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Matthew 27:61
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:61">61</verse></sup> Mary of Magdala and the other Mary were both present there, sitting opposite to the sepulchre.
#BCV:Matthew 27:62
<b>The High Priests take Precautions.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:62">62</verse></sup> On the next day, the day after the Preparation, the High Priests and the Pharisees came in a body to Pilate.
#BCV:Matthew 27:63
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:63">63</verse></sup> "Sir," they said, "we recollect that during his lifetime that impostor pretended that after two days he was to rise to life again.
#BCV:Matthew 27:64
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:64">64</verse></sup> So give orders for the sepulchre to be securely guarded till the third day, for fear his disciples should come by night and steal  the body, and then tell the people that he has come back to life; and so the last imposture will be more serious than the first."
#BCV:Matthew 27:65
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:65">65</verse></sup> "You can have a guard," said Pilate: "go and make all safe, as best you can."
#BCV:Matthew 27:66
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 27:66">66</verse></sup> So they went and made the sepulchre secure, sealing the stone besides setting the guard.
#BCV:Matthew 28:1
<b>The Women find the Tomb empty.</b><br>
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Matthew 28:1">28</verse></font> After the Sabbath, in the early dawn of the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary came to see the sepulchre.
#BCV:Matthew 28:2
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:2">2</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Matthew 28:3
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:3">3</verse></sup> His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.
#BCV:Matthew 28:4
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:4">4</verse></sup> For fear of him the guards trembled violently, and became like dead men.
#BCV:Matthew 28:5
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:5">5</verse></sup> But the angel said to the women, "As for you,  dismiss your fears. I know that it is Jesus that you are looking for--the crucified One.
#BCV:Matthew 28:6
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:6">6</verse></sup> He is not here: He has  come back to life, as He foretold. Come and see the place  where He lay.
#BCV:Matthew 28:7
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:7">7</verse></sup> And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is going before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him. Remember, I have told you."
#BCV:Matthew 28:8
<b>Jesus Himself meets them.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:8">8</verse></sup> They quickly left the tomb and ran, still terrified but full of unspeakable joy, to carry the news to His disciples.
#BCV:Matthew 28:9
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:9">9</verse></sup> And then suddenly they saw Jesus coming to meet them. "Peace be to you," He said. And they came and clasped His feet,  bowing to the ground before Him.
#BCV:Matthew 28:10
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:10">10</verse></sup> Then He said, "Dismiss all fear! Go and take word to my brethren to go into Galilee, and there they shall see me."
#BCV:Matthew 28:11
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:11">11</verse></sup> While they went on this errand, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the High Priests every detail of what had happened.
#BCV:Matthew 28:12
<b>The Jews bribe the terrified Sentries.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:12">12</verse></sup> So the latter held a conference with the Elders, and after consultation with them they heavily bribed the soldiers,
#BCV:Matthew 28:13
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:13">13</verse></sup> telling them to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole  his body while we were asleep."
#BCV:Matthew 28:14
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:14">14</verse></sup> "And if this," they added,  "is reported to the Governor, we will satisfy him and screen you from punishment."
#BCV:Matthew 28:15
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:15">15</verse></sup> So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this story was noised about among the Jews, and is current to this day.
#BCV:Matthew 28:16
<b>The Mission of the Apostles to the World.</b><br>
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:16">16</verse></sup> As for the eleven disciples, they proceeded into Galilee, to the hill where Jesus had arranged to meet them.
#BCV:Matthew 28:17
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:17">17</verse></sup> There they saw Him and  prostrated themselves before Him. Yet some doubted.
#BCV:Matthew 28:18
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:18">18</verse></sup> Jesus however came near and said to them, "All  power in Heaven and  over the earth has been given to me.
#BCV:Matthew 28:19
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:19">19</verse></sup> Go  therefore and make disciples of all the nations; baptize them  into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;
#BCV:Matthew 28:20
<sup><verse bcv="Matthew 28:20">20</verse></sup> and teach them to obey every command which I have given you. And remember, I am with you always, day by day, until the  Close of the  Age."

#OUTLINE:1,Mark
#TOPIC:MARK, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
<heading><h1>THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY MARK</h1>
This Gospel is at once the briefest and earliest of the four.
Its genuineness may be regarded as beyond question. Modern
research has only availed to confirm the ancient tradition that the author was Barnabas' cousin, "John whose surname was
Mark," who during Paul's first missionary tour, "departed from them" at Pamphylia, "and returned to Jerusalem" (see <bcv=Acts 12:12>Acts xii. 12,</bcv> 
<bcv=Acts 12:25>25;</bcv> <bcv=Acts 25:37>XV. 37,</bcv> <bcv=Acts 25:39>39;</bcv> <bcv=Col 4:10>Col. iv. 10;</bcv> <bcv=2Tim 4:11>2 Tim. iv. 11;</bcv> <bcv=Philem 1:24>Philem. 24;</bcv> <bcv=1Peter 5:13>I Peter v. 13).</bcv> His defection appeared to Paul sufficiently serious to warrant an emphatic refusal to take him with him on
a second tour, but in after years the breach was healed and we
find Mark with Paul again when he writes to Colossae, and he
is also mentioned approvingly in the second letter to Timothy.
As regards the date of this Gospel, scholars are now almost unanimous in fixing it between 63, A.D. and 70, A.D. Nor is there any valid reason for questioning the usual view that it was
written at Rome. Clement, Eusebius, Jerome and Epiphanius
are all one in asserting this to have been the case. That the book was mainly intended for Gentiles, and especially Romans,
seems probable not so much from external as from internal evidence. Latin forms not occurring in other Gospels, together
with explanations of Jewish terms and customs, and the omission of all reference to the Jewish Law, point in this direction. Its manifest vividness of narration and pictorial minuteness of observation bespeak the testimony of an eye-witness,
and the ancient assertion of Papias, quoted by Eusebius, that Mark was "the interpreter of Peter" is borne out by the Gospel
itself no less than by what we know of Mark and Peter from
the rest of the New Testament. In a real though not mechanical sense, this is "the Gospel of Peter," and its admitted
priority to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke affords substantial reason for ihe assumption that it is to some extent the source whence they derive their narratives, although Papias distinctly affirms that Mark made no attempt at giving a carefully
arranged history such as that at which Luke confessedly aimed.

<heading>In spite of the witness of most uncial MSS. and the valiant pleading of Dean Burgon and others, modern scholars are well nigh unanimous in asserting that the last twelve verses of this Gospel are an appendix. Yet the evidence for their authenticity is such that less cannot honestly be said than that they
"must have been of very early date," and that they embody "a
true apostolic tradition which may have been written by some
companion or successor of the original author."

#BCV:Mark 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY MARK</h1>
#BCV:Mark 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 1:1">1</verse></font> The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
#BCV:Mark 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:2">2</verse></sup> As  it is written in Isaiah the Prophet, "See, I am sending My messenger before Thee, Who will prepare Thy way";
#BCV:Mark 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:3">3</verse></sup> "The voice of one  crying aloud: 'In the Desert prepare a road for the Lord: Make His highways straight.'"
#BCV:Mark 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:4">4</verse></sup> So John  the Baptizer came, and was in the Desert proclaiming a baptism of  the penitent for forgiveness of sins.
#BCV:Mark 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:5">5</verse></sup> There went out to him people  of all classes from Judaea, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem of all ranks, and  were baptized by him  in the river Jordan, making open confession of their sins.
#BCV:Mark 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:6">6</verse></sup> As for John, his garment was of camel's hair, and he wore a loincloth of leather; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
#BCV:Mark 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:7">7</verse></sup> His announcement was, "There is One coming after me mightier than I--One whose sandal-strap I am unworthy to stoop down and unfasten.
#BCV:Mark 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:8">8</verse></sup> I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you  with the Holy Spirit."
#BCV:Mark 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:9">9</verse></sup> At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan;
#BCV:Mark 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:10">10</verse></sup> and  immediately on His coming up out of the water He saw an opening in the sky, and the Spirit like a  dove coming down  to Him;
#BCV:Mark 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:11">11</verse></sup> and a voice came from the sky, saying, "Thou <word=are>art</word> My Son dearly loved: in Thee is My delight."
#BCV:Mark 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:12">12</verse></sup> At once the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the Desert,
#BCV:Mark 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:13">13</verse></sup> where He remained for forty days, tempted by Satan; and He was among the wild beasts, but the angels waited upon Him.
#BCV:Mark 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:14">14</verse></sup> Then, after John had been  thrown into prison, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming God's Good News.
#BCV:Mark 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:15">15</verse></sup> "The time has fully come," He said, "and the Kingdom of God is close at hand: repent, and believe this Good News.
#BCV:Mark 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:16">16</verse></sup> One day, passing along the shore of the Lake of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, throwing their nets in the Lake; for they were fisherman.
#BCV:Mark 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:17">17</verse></sup> "Come and follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers for men."
#BCV:Mark 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:18">18</verse></sup> At once they left their nets and followed Him.
#BCV:Mark 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:19">19</verse></sup> Going on a little further He saw James the son of Zabdi and his brother John: they also were in the boat mending the nets, and He immediately called them.
#BCV:Mark 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:20">20</verse></sup> They  therefore left their father Zabdi in the boat with the hired men, and went and followed Him.
#BCV:Mark 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:21">21</verse></sup> So they came to Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath He went to the synagogue and began to teach.
#BCV:Mark 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:22">22</verse></sup> The people listened with amazement to His teaching--for there was authority about it: it was very different from that of the Scribes--
#BCV:Mark 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:23">23</verse></sup> when all at once, there in their synagogue, a man  under the power of a foul spirit screamed out:
#BCV:Mark 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:24">24</verse></sup> "What have you to do with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--God's Holy One."
#BCV:Mark 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:25">25</verse></sup> But Jesus reprimanded him, saying, "Silence! come out of him."
#BCV:Mark 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:26">26</verse></sup> So the foul spirit, after throwing the man into convulsions, came out of him with a loud cry.
#BCV:Mark 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:27">27</verse></sup> And all were  amazed and awe-struck, so they began to ask one another, "What does this mean? Here is a new sort of teaching--and a tone of authority! And even to foul spirits he issues orders and they obey him!"
#BCV:Mark 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:28">28</verse></sup> And His fame spread at once everywhere in all that part of Galilee.
#BCV:Mark 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:29">29</verse></sup> Then on leaving the synagogue  they came at once, with James and John, to the house of Simon and Andrew.
#BCV:Mark 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:30">30</verse></sup> Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill in bed with a fever, and without delay they informed Him about her.
#BCV:Mark 1:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:31">31</verse></sup> So He went to her, and taking her  hand He raised her to her feet: the fever left her, and she began to wait upon them.
#BCV:Mark 1:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:32">32</verse></sup> When it was evening, after sunset people came bringing Him all who were sick and the demoniacs;
#BCV:Mark 1:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:33">33</verse></sup> and the whole town was assembled at the door.
#BCV:Mark 1:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:34">34</verse></sup> Then He cured numbers of people who were ill with various diseases, and He drove out many demons; not allowing the demons to speak, because they knew  who He was.
#BCV:Mark 1:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:35">35</verse></sup> In the morning He rose early, while it was still quite dark, and leaving the house He went away to a solitary place and there prayed.
#BCV:Mark 1:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:36">36</verse></sup> And Simon and the others searched everywhere for Him.
#BCV:Mark 1:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:37">37</verse></sup> When they found Him they said, "Every one is looking for you."
#BCV:Mark 1:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:38">38</verse></sup> "Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns," He replied, "that I may proclaim my Message there also; because for that purpose I came from God."
#BCV:Mark 1:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:39">39</verse></sup> And He went through all Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and expelling the demons.
#BCV:Mark 1:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:40">40</verse></sup> One day there came a leper to Jesus entreating Him, and pleading on his knees. "If you are willing," he said, "you are able to cleanse me."
#BCV:Mark 1:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:41">41</verse></sup> Moved with pity Jesus reached out His hand and touched him. "I am willing," He said; "be cleansed."
#BCV:Mark 1:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:42">42</verse></sup> The leprosy at once  left him, and he was cleansed.
#BCV:Mark 1:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:43">43</verse></sup> Jesus at once sent him away, strictly charging him,
#BCV:Mark 1:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:44">44</verse></sup> and saying, "Be careful not to tell any one, but go and show yourself to the Priest, and for your purification present the offerings that Moses appointed as evidence for them."
#BCV:Mark 1:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 1:45">45</verse></sup> But the man, when he went out, began to tell every one and to publish the matter abroad, so that it was no longer possible for Jesus to go openly into  any town; but He had to remain outside in unfrequented places, where people came to Him from all parts.
#BCV:Mark 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 2:1">2</verse></font> After some days He entered Capernaum again, and it soon became known that He was at home;
#BCV:Mark 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:2">2</verse></sup> and such numbers of people came together that there was no longer room for them even round the door. He was speaking His Message to them,
#BCV:Mark 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:3">3</verse></sup> when there came a party of people bringing a paralytic--four men carrying him.
#BCV:Mark 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:4">4</verse></sup> Finding themselves unable, however, to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they untiled the roof just over His head, and after clearing an opening they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
#BCV:Mark 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:5">5</verse></sup> Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are pardoned."
#BCV:Mark 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:6">6</verse></sup> Now there were some of the Scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts.
#BCV:Mark 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:7">7</verse></sup> "Why does this man use such words?" they said; "he is blaspheming. Who can pardon sins but One--that is, God?"
#BCV:Mark 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:8">8</verse></sup> At once perceiving by His spirit that they were reasoning within themselves, Jesus asked them, "Why do you thus argue in your  minds?
#BCV:Mark 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:9">9</verse></sup> Which is easier?--to say to this paralytic, 'Your sins are pardoned,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your mat, and walk?'
#BCV:Mark 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:10">10</verse></sup> But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to pardon sins" --He turned to the paralytic, and said,
#BCV:Mark 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:11">11</verse></sup> "To you I say, 'Rise, take up your mat and go home.'"
#BCV:Mark 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:12">12</verse></sup> The man rose, and immediately under the eyes of all took up his mat and went out, so that they were all filled with astonishment, gave the glory to God, and said, "We never saw anything like this."
#BCV:Mark 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:13">13</verse></sup> Again He went out to the shore of the Lake, and the whole multitude kept coming to Him, and He taught them.
#BCV:Mark 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:14">14</verse></sup> And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting  at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." So he rose and followed Him.
#BCV:Mark 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:15">15</verse></sup> When He was  sitting at table in Levi's house, a large number of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners were at table with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many such who habitually followed Him.
#BCV:Mark 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:16">16</verse></sup> But when the Scribes of the Pharisee sect saw Him eating with the sinners and the tax-gatherers, they said to His disciples, "He is eating  and drinking with the tax-gatherers and sinners!"
#BCV:Mark 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:17">17</verse></sup> Jesus heard the words, and He said, "It is not the healthy who require a doctor, but the sick: I did not come to appeal to the righteous, but to sinners."
#BCV:Mark 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:18">18</verse></sup> (Now John's disciples and those of the Pharisees were  keeping a fast.)
#BCV:Mark 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:19">19</verse></sup> "Can a wedding party fast while the bridegroom is among them?" replied Jesus. "So long as they have the bridegroom with them, fasting is impossible.
#BCV:Mark 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:20">20</verse></sup> But a time will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast.
#BCV:Mark 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:21">21</verse></sup> No one mends an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. Otherwise, the patch put on would tear away from it--the new from the old--and a worse hole would be made.
#BCV:Mark 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:22">22</verse></sup> And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine would burst the skins, and both wine and skins would be lost. New wine needs fresh skins!"
#BCV:Mark 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:23">23</verse></sup> One Sabbath He was walking through the wheatfields when His disciples began to pluck the ears of wheat as they went.
#BCV:Mark 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:24">24</verse></sup> So the Pharisees said to Him, "Look! why are they doing what on the Sabbath is unlawful?"
#BCV:Mark 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:25">25</verse></sup> "Have you never read," Jesus replied, "what David did when the necessity arose and he and his men were hungry:
#BCV:Mark 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:26">26</verse></sup> how he entered the house of God  in the High-priesthood of Abiathar, and ate the Presented Loaves--which none but the priests are allowed to eat--and gave some to his men also?"
#BCV:Mark 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:27">27</verse></sup> And Jesus said to them: "The Sabbath was made for  man, not man for the Sabbath;
#BCV:Mark 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 2:28">28</verse></sup> so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
#BCV:Mark 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 3:1">3</verse></font> At another time, when He went to the synagogue, there was a man there with one arm shrivelled up.
#BCV:Mark 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:2">2</verse></sup> They closely watched Him to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath--so as to have a charge to bring against Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:3">3</verse></sup> "Come forward," said He to the man with the shrivelled arm.
#BCV:Mark 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:4">4</verse></sup> Then He asked them, "Are we allowed to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? to save a  life, or to destroy one?" They remained silent.
#BCV:Mark 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:5">5</verse></sup> Grieved and indignant at the hardening of their hearts, He looked round on them with anger, and said to the man, "Stretch out your arm." He stretched it out, and the arm was completely restored.
#BCV:Mark 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:6">6</verse></sup> But no sooner had the Pharisees left the synagogue than they held a consultation with the Herodians against Jesus, to devise some means of destroying Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:7">7</verse></sup> Accordingly Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the Lake, and a vast crowd of people from Galilee followed Him;
#BCV:Mark 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:8">8</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Mark 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:9">9</verse></sup> So He gave directions to His disciples to keep a small boat in constant attendance on Him because of the throng--to prevent their crushing Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:10">10</verse></sup> For He had cured many of the people, so that all who had any ailments pressed upon Him, to touch Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:11">11</verse></sup> And the foul spirits, whenever they saw Him, threw themselves down at His feet, screaming out: "You are the Son of God."
#BCV:Mark 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:12">12</verse></sup> But He many a time checked them, forbidding them to say who He was.
#BCV:Mark 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:13">13</verse></sup> Then He went up the hill; and those whom He Himself chose He called, and they came to Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:14">14</verse></sup> He appointed  twelve of them, that they might be with Him, and that He might also send them to proclaim His Message,
#BCV:Mark 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:15">15</verse></sup> with authority to expel the demons.
#BCV:Mark 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:16">16</verse></sup> These twelve were Simon (to whom He gave the surname of Peter)
#BCV:Mark 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:17">17</verse></sup> James the son of Zabdi and John the brother of James (these two He surnamed Boanerges, that is 'Sons of Thunder')
#BCV:Mark 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:18">18</verse></sup> Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the  Cananaean,
#BCV:Mark 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:19">19</verse></sup> and Judas Iscariot, the man who also betrayed Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:20">20</verse></sup> And He  went into a house. But again the crowd assembled, so that there was no opportunity for them even  to snatch a meal.
#BCV:Mark 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:21">21</verse></sup> Hearing of this,  His relatives came to seize Him by force, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
#BCV:Mark 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:22">22</verse></sup> The Scribes, too, who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has  Baal-zebul in him; and it is by the power of the Prince of the demons that he expels the demons."
#BCV:Mark 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:23">23</verse></sup> So He called them to Him, and using figurative language He appealed to them, saying, "How is it possible for Satan to expel Satan?
#BCV:Mark 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:24">24</verse></sup> For if civil war breaks out in a kingdom, nothing can make that kingdom last;
#BCV:Mark 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:25">25</verse></sup> and if a family splits into parties, that family cannot continue.
#BCV:Mark 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:26">26</verse></sup> So if Satan has risen in arms and has made war upon himself, stand he cannot, but meets his end.
#BCV:Mark 3:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:27">27</verse></sup> Nay, no one can go into a strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
#BCV:Mark 3:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:28">28</verse></sup> In solemn truth I tell you that all their sins may be pardoned to the sons of men, and all their blasphemies, however they may have blasphemed;
#BCV:Mark 3:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:29">29</verse></sup> but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, he remains  for ever unabsolved: he is guilty of  a sin  of the Ages."
#BCV:Mark 3:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:30">30</verse></sup> This was because they said, "He is possessed by a foul spirit."
#BCV:Mark 3:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:31">31</verse></sup> By this time His mother and His brothers arrive, and standing  outside they send a message to Him to call Him.
#BCV:Mark 3:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:32">32</verse></sup> Now a crowd was  sitting round Him; so they tell Him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, inquiring for you."
#BCV:Mark 3:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:33">33</verse></sup> "Who are my mother and my brothers?" He replied.
#BCV:Mark 3:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:34">34</verse></sup> And, fixing His eyes on the people who were sitting round Him in a circle, He said,
#BCV:Mark 3:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 3:35">35</verse></sup> "Here are my mother and my brothers. For wherever there is one who has been obedient to God, there is my brother--my sister--and my mother."
#BCV:Mark 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 4:1">4</verse></font> Once more He began to teach by the side of the Lake, and a vast multitude of people came together to listen to Him. He therefore went  on board the boat and sat there, a little way from the land; and all the people were on the shore close to the water.
#BCV:Mark 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:2">2</verse></sup> Then He proceeded to teach them many lessons in figurative language; and in His teaching He said,
#BCV:Mark 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:3">3</verse></sup> "Listen: the sower  goes out to sow.
#BCV:Mark 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:4">4</verse></sup> As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up.
#BCV:Mark 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:5">5</verse></sup> Some falls on the rocky ground where it finds but little earth, and it shoots up quickly because it has no depth of soil;
#BCV:Mark 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:6">6</verse></sup> but when the sun is risen, it is scorched, and through having no root it withers away.
#BCV:Mark 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:7">7</verse></sup> Some, again, falls among the thorns; and the thorns spring up and stifle it, so that it yields no crop.
#BCV:Mark 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:8">8</verse></sup> But some of the seed falls into good ground, and gives a return: it comes up and increases, and yields thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold."
#BCV:Mark 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:9">9</verse></sup> "Listen," He added, "every one who has ears to listen with!"
#BCV:Mark 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:10">10</verse></sup> When He was alone, the Twelve and the others who were about Him requested Him to explain His figurative language.
#BCV:Mark 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:11">11</verse></sup> "To you," He replied, "has been entrusted  the secret truth concerning the Kingdom of God; but to those others outside your number all this is spoken in figurative language;
#BCV:Mark 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:12">12</verse></sup> that "'They may look and look but not see, and listen and listen but not understand, lest perchance they should return and be pardoned.'"
#BCV:Mark 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:13">13</verse></sup> "Do you all miss the meaning of this parable?" He added; "how then will you understand the rest of my parables?"
#BCV:Mark 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:14">14</verse></sup> "What the sower sows is the Message.
#BCV:Mark 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:15">15</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Mark 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:16">16</verse></sup> In the same way those who  receive the seed on the rocky places are those who, when they have heard the Message, at once accept it joyfully,
#BCV:Mark 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:17">17</verse></sup> but they have no root within them. They last for a time; then, when suffering or persecution comes because of the Message, they  are immediately overthrown.
#BCV:Mark 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:18">18</verse></sup> Others there are who  receive the seed among the thorns: these are they who have heard the Message,
#BCV:Mark 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:19">19</verse></sup> but worldly cares and the deceitfulness of wealth and the excessive pursuit of other objects come in and stifle the Message, and it becomes unfruitful.
#BCV:Mark 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:20">20</verse></sup> Those, on the other hand, who  have received the seed on the good ground, are all who hear the Message and welcome it, and yield a return of thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold."
#BCV:Mark 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:21">21</verse></sup> He went on to say, "Is the lamp brought in in order to be put under the  bushel or under the bed? Is it not rather in order that it may be placed on the lampstand?
#BCV:Mark 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:22">22</verse></sup> Why, there is nothing hidden except with a view to its being ultimately disclosed, nor has anything been made a secret but that it may at last come to light.
#BCV:Mark 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:23">23</verse></sup> Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"
#BCV:Mark 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:24">24</verse></sup> He also said to them, "Take care what you hear. With what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and that with interest.
#BCV:Mark 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:25">25</verse></sup> For those who have will have more given them; and from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away."
#BCV:Mark 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:26">26</verse></sup> Another saying of His was this: "The Kingdom of God is as if a man scattered seed over the ground:
#BCV:Mark 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:27">27</verse></sup> he spends days and nights, now awake, now asleep, while the seed sprouts and grows tall, he knows not how.
#BCV:Mark 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:28">28</verse></sup> Of itself the land produces the crop--  first the blade, then the ear; afterwards the perfect grain is seen in the ear.
#BCV:Mark 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:29">29</verse></sup> But no sooner is the crop ripe, than he sends the  reapers, because the time of harvest has come."
#BCV:Mark 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:30">30</verse></sup> Another saying of His was this: "How are we to picture the Kingdom of God? or by what figure of speech shall we represent it?
#BCV:Mark 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:31">31</verse></sup> It is like a mustard-seed, which, when sown in the earth, is the smallest of all the seeds in the world;
#BCV:Mark 4:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:32">32</verse></sup> yet when sown it springs up and becomes larger than all the  herbs, and throws out great branches, so that the birds build under its shadow."
#BCV:Mark 4:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:33">33</verse></sup> With many such parables He used to speak the Message to them according to their capacity for receiving it.
#BCV:Mark 4:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:34">34</verse></sup> But except in figurative language He spoke nothing to them; while to His own disciples He expounded everything, in private.
#BCV:Mark 4:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:35">35</verse></sup> The same day, in the evening, He said to them, "Let us cross to the other side."
#BCV:Mark 4:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:36">36</verse></sup> So they got away from the crowd, and took Him--as He was--in the boat; and other boats accompanied Him.
#BCV:Mark 4:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:37">37</verse></sup> But a heavy squall came on, and the waves were now dashing into the boat, so that it was fast filling.
#BCV:Mark 4:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:38">38</verse></sup> But He Himself was in the stern asleep, with His head on the cushion: so they woke Him.  "Rabbi," they cried, "is it nothing to you that we are drowning?"
#BCV:Mark 4:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:39">39</verse></sup> So He roused Himself and rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, "Silence! Be still!" The wind sank, and a perfect calm set in.
#BCV:Mark 4:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:40">40</verse></sup> "Why are you so timid?" He asked; "have you still no faith?"
#BCV:Mark 4:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 4:41">41</verse></sup> Then they were filled with terror, and began to say to one another, "Who is this, then? For even wind and sea obey Him."
#BCV:Mark 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 5:1">5</verse></font> So they arrived at the opposite shore of the Lake, in the country of the Gerasenes.
#BCV:Mark 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:2">2</verse></sup> At once, on His landing, there came from the tombs to meet Him a man  possessed by a foul spirit.
#BCV:Mark 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:3">3</verse></sup> This man lived  among the tombs, nor could any one now secure him even with a chain;
#BCV:Mark 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:4">4</verse></sup> for many a time he had been left securely bound in fetters and chains, but afterwards the chains lay torn link from link, and the fetters in fragments, and there was no one strong enough to master him.
#BCV:Mark 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:5">5</verse></sup> And constantly, day and night, he remained among the tombs or on the hills, shrieking, and mangling himself with sharp stones.
#BCV:Mark 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:6">6</verse></sup> And when he saw Jesus in the distance, he ran and threw himself at His feet,
#BCV:Mark 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:7">7</verse></sup> crying out in a loud voice, "What hast Thou to do with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? In God's name I implore Thee not to torment me."
#BCV:Mark 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:8">8</verse></sup> For He  had said to him, "Foul spirit, come out of the man."
#BCV:Mark 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:9">9</verse></sup> Jesus also questioned him. "What is your name?" He said. "Legion," he replied, "for there are a host of us."
#BCV:Mark 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:10">10</verse></sup> And  he earnestly entreated Him not to send them away out of the country.
#BCV:Mark 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:11">11</verse></sup> Feeding there, on the mountain slope, was a great herd of swine.
#BCV:Mark 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:12">12</verse></sup> So they besought Jesus. "Send us to the swine," they said, "so that we may enter into them."
#BCV:Mark 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:13">13</verse></sup> He gave them leave; and the foul spirits came out and entered into the swine, and the herd--about 2,000 in number--rushed headlong down the cliff into the Lake and were drowned in the Lake.
#BCV:Mark 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:14">14</verse></sup> The swineherds fled, and spread the news in town and country. So the people came to see what it was that had happened;
#BCV:Mark 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:15">15</verse></sup> and when they came to Jesus, they beheld the demoniac quietly seated, clothed and of sane mind--the man who had had the legion; and they were awe-stricken.
#BCV:Mark 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:16">16</verse></sup> And those who had seen it told them the particulars of what had happened to the demoniac, and all about the swine.
#BCV:Mark 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:17">17</verse></sup> Then they began entreating Him to depart from their district.
#BCV:Mark 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:18">18</verse></sup> As He was embarking, the man who had been possessed asked permission to accompany Him.
#BCV:Mark 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:19">19</verse></sup> But He would not allow it. "Go home to your family," He said, "and report to them all that the Lord has done for you, and the mercy He has shown you."
#BCV:Mark 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:20">20</verse></sup> So the man departed, and related publicly everywhere in the Ten Towns all that Jesus had done for him; and all were astonished.
#BCV:Mark 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:21">21</verse></sup> When Jesus had re-crossed in the boat to the other side, a vast multitude came crowding to Him; and He was on the shore of the Lake,
#BCV:Mark 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:22">22</verse></sup> when there came one of the Wardens of the Synagogue--he was called  Jair--who, on beholding Him, threw himself at His feet,
#BCV:Mark 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:23">23</verse></sup> and besought Him with many entreaties. "My little daughter," he said, "is at the point of death: I pray you come and lay your hands upon her, that she may recover and live."
#BCV:Mark 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:24">24</verse></sup> And Jesus went with him. And a dense crowd followed Him, and thronged Him on all sides.
#BCV:Mark 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:25">25</verse></sup> Now a woman who for twelve years had suffered from haemorrhage,
#BCV:Mark 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:26">26</verse></sup> and had undergone many different treatments under a number of doctors and had spent all she had without receiving benefit but on the contrary growing worse,
#BCV:Mark 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:27">27</verse></sup> heard of Jesus. And she came in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak;
#BCV:Mark 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:28">28</verse></sup> for she said, "If I but touch His clothes, I shall be cured."
#BCV:Mark 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:29">29</verse></sup> In a moment the  flow of her blood ceased, and she felt in herself that her complaint was cured.
#BCV:Mark 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:30">30</verse></sup> Immediately Jesus, well knowing that healing power had gone  from within Him, turned round in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
#BCV:Mark 5:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:31">31</verse></sup> "You see the multitude pressing you on all sides," His disciples exclaimed, "and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
#BCV:Mark 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:32">32</verse></sup> But He continued looking about to see the person who had done this,
#BCV:Mark 5:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:33">33</verse></sup> until the woman, frightened and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and threw herself at His feet, and told Him all the truth.
#BCV:Mark 5:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:34">34</verse></sup> "Daughter," He said, "your faith has cured you: go in peace, and be free from your complaint."
#BCV:Mark 5:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:35">35</verse></sup> While He is yet speaking, men come from the house to the Warden, and say, "Your daughter  is dead: why trouble the  Rabbi further?"
#BCV:Mark 5:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:36">36</verse></sup> But Jesus,  overhearing the words, said to the Warden, "Do not be afraid; only have faith."
#BCV:Mark 5:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:37">37</verse></sup> And He allowed no one to accompany Him except Peter and the brothers James and John.
#BCV:Mark 5:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:38">38</verse></sup> So they come to the Warden's house. Here He gazes on a scene of uproar, with people  weeping aloud and wailing.
#BCV:Mark 5:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:39">39</verse></sup> He goes in. "Why all this outcry and loud weeping?" He asks; "the child is asleep, not dead."
#BCV:Mark 5:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:40">40</verse></sup> To this their reply is a scornful laugh. He, however, puts them all out, takes the child's father and mother and those He has brought with Him, and enters the room where the child lies.
#BCV:Mark 5:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:41">41</verse></sup> Then, taking her by the hand, He says to her, "Talitha, koum;" that is to say, "Little girl, I command you to wake!"
#BCV:Mark 5:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:42">42</verse></sup> Instantly the little girl rises to her feet and begins to walk (for she was twelve years old)
#BCV:Mark 5:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 5:43">43</verse></sup> but He gave strict injunctions that the matter should not be made known, and directed them to give her something to eat.
#BCV:Mark 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 6:1">6</verse></font> Leaving that place He came into His  own country, accompanied by His disciples.
#BCV:Mark 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:2">2</verse></sup> On the Sabbath He proceeded to teach in the synagogue; and many, as they heard Him, were astonished. "Where did he acquire all this?" they asked. "What is this wisdom that has been given to him? And what are  these marvellous miracles which his hands perform?
#BCV:Mark 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:3">3</verse></sup> Is not this the carpenter, Mary's son, the brother of James and Joses, Jude and Simon? And do not his sisters live here among us?" So they turned angrily away.
#BCV:Mark 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:4">4</verse></sup> But Jesus said to them, "There is no Prophet without honour except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own home."
#BCV:Mark 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:5">5</verse></sup> And He could not do any miracle there, except that He laid His hands on a few who were out of health and cured them; and
#BCV:Mark 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:6">6</verse></sup> He wondered at their unbelief.  So He went round the adjacent villages, teaching.
#BCV:Mark 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:7">7</verse></sup> Then summoning the Twelve to Him, He proceeded to send them out by twos, and gave them authority over the foul spirits.
#BCV:Mark 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:8">8</verse></sup> He charged them to take nothing  for the journey except a stick; no bread, no bag, and  not a penny in their  pockets,
#BCV:Mark 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:9">9</verse></sup> but to go wearing  sandals. "And do not," He said, "put on an extra under garment.
#BCV:Mark 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:10">10</verse></sup> Wherever you enter a house, make it your home till you leave that place.
#BCV:Mark 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:11">11</verse></sup> But wherever they will not receive you or listen to you, when you leave shake off the very dust from under your feet to bear witness concerning them."
#BCV:Mark 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:12">12</verse></sup> So they set out, and preached in order that men might repent.
#BCV:Mark 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:13">13</verse></sup> Many demons they expelled, and many invalids they anointed with oil and cured.
#BCV:Mark 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:14">14</verse></sup> King Herod heard of all this (for the name of Jesus had become widely known)
#BCV:Mark 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:15">15</verse></sup> Others asserted that He was Elijah. Others again said, "He is a Prophet, like one of the great Prophets."
#BCV:Mark 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:16">16</verse></sup> But when Herod heard of Him, he said, "The John, whom I beheaded,  has come back to life."
#BCV:Mark 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:17">17</verse></sup> For  Herod himself had sent and had had John arrested and had kept him in prison in chains, for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; because he had married her.
#BCV:Mark 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:18">18</verse></sup> For John had repeatedly told Herod, "You have no right to be living with your brother's wife."
#BCV:Mark 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:19">19</verse></sup> Therefore Herodias  hated him and wished to take his life, but could not;
#BCV:Mark 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:20">20</verse></sup> for Herod  stood in awe of John, knowing him to be an upright and holy man, and he protected him. After listening to him he  was in great perplexity, and yet he found a pleasure in listening.
#BCV:Mark 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:21">21</verse></sup> At length Herodias found her opportunity. Herod on his birthday gave a banquet to the nobles of his court and to the  tribunes and the principal people in Galilee,
#BCV:Mark 6:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:22">22</verse></sup> at which  Herodias's own daughter came in and danced, and so charmed Herod and his guests that he said to her, "Ask me for anything you please, and I will give it to you."
#BCV:Mark 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:23">23</verse></sup> He even swore to her, "Whatever you ask me for I will give you, up to half my kingdom."
#BCV:Mark 6:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:24">24</verse></sup> She at once went out and said to her mother: "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptizer," she replied.
#BCV:Mark 6:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:25">25</verse></sup> The girl immediately came in, in haste, to the King and made her request. "My desire is," she said, "that you will give me, here and now, on a dish, the head of John the Baptist."
#BCV:Mark 6:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:26">26</verse></sup> Then the King, though intensely sorry, yet for the sake of his oaths, and of his guests, would not break faith with her.
#BCV:Mark 6:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:27">27</verse></sup> He at once sent a soldier of his guard with orders to bring John's head. So he went and beheaded him in the prison,
#BCV:Mark 6:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:28">28</verse></sup> and brought his head on a dish and gave it to the young girl, who gave it to her mother.
#BCV:Mark 6:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:29">29</verse></sup> When John's disciples heard of it, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
#BCV:Mark 6:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:30">30</verse></sup> When the Apostles had re-assembled round Jesus, they reported to Him all they had done and all they had taught.
#BCV:Mark 6:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:31">31</verse></sup> Then He said to them, "Come away, all of you, to a quiet place, and rest awhile." For there were many coming and going, so that they had no time even for meals.
#BCV:Mark 6:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:32">32</verse></sup> Accordingly they sailed away in the boat to a solitary place apart.
#BCV:Mark 6:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:33">33</verse></sup> But the people saw them going, and many knew them; and coming by land they ran together there from all the neighbouring towns, and arrived before them.
#BCV:Mark 6:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:34">34</verse></sup> So when Jesus landed, He saw a vast multitude; and His heart was moved with pity for them, because they were like sheep which have no shepherd, and He proceeded to teach them many things.
#BCV:Mark 6:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:35">35</verse></sup> By this time it was late; so His disciples came to Him, and said, "This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late:
#BCV:Mark 6:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:36">36</verse></sup> send them away that they may go to the farms and villages near here and buy themselves something to eat."
#BCV:Mark 6:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:37">37</verse></sup> "Give them food yourselves," He replied. "Are we," they asked, "to go and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread and give them food?"
#BCV:Mark 6:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:38">38</verse></sup> "How many loaves have you?" He inquired; "go and see." So they found out, and said, "Five; and a couple of fish."
#BCV:Mark 6:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:39">39</verse></sup> So He directed them to make all sit down in companies on the green grass.
#BCV:Mark 6:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:40">40</verse></sup> And they sat down in  rows of hundreds and of fifties.
#BCV:Mark 6:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:41">41</verse></sup> Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and lifting His eyes to Heaven He blessed the food. Then He broke the loaves into portions which He went on handing to the disciples to distribute; giving pieces also of the two fish to them all.
#BCV:Mark 6:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:42">42</verse></sup> All ate and were fully satisfied.
#BCV:Mark 6:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:43">43</verse></sup> And they carried away broken portions enough to fill twelve baskets, besides pieces of the fish.
#BCV:Mark 6:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:44">44</verse></sup> Those who ate the bread were 5,000 adult men.
#BCV:Mark 6:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:45">45</verse></sup> Immediately afterwards He made His disciples go on board the boat and cross over to Bethsaida, leaving Him behind to dismiss the crowd.
#BCV:Mark 6:46
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:46">46</verse></sup> He then bade the people farewell, and went away up the hill to pray.
#BCV:Mark 6:47
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:47">47</verse></sup> When evening was come, the boat was half way across the Lake, while he Himself was on shore alone.
#BCV:Mark 6:48
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:48">48</verse></sup> But when He saw them distressed with rowing (for the wind was against them)
#BCV:Mark 6:49
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:49">49</verse></sup> They saw Him walking on the water, and thinking that it was a spirit they cried out;
#BCV:Mark 6:50
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:50">50</verse></sup> for they all saw Him and were terrified. He, however, immediately spoke to them. "There is no danger," He said; "it is I; be not alarmed."
#BCV:Mark 6:51
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:51">51</verse></sup> Then He went up to them on board the boat, and the wind lulled; and they were beside themselves with  silent amazement.
#BCV:Mark 6:52
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:52">52</verse></sup> For they had not  learned the lesson taught by the loaves, but their  minds were dull.
#BCV:Mark 6:53
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:53">53</verse></sup> Having crossed over they drew to land in Gennesaret and came  to anchor.
#BCV:Mark 6:54
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:54">54</verse></sup> But no sooner had they gone ashore than the people immediately recognized Him.
#BCV:Mark 6:55
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:55">55</verse></sup> Then they scoured the whole district, and began to bring Him the sick on their mats wherever they heard He was.
#BCV:Mark 6:56
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 6:56">56</verse></sup> And enter wherever He might--village or town or hamlet--they laid their sick in the open places, and entreated Him to let them touch were it but the tassel of His robe; and all, whoever touched Him, were restored to health.
#BCV:Mark 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 7:1">7</verse></font> Then  the Pharisees, with certain Scribes who had come from Jerusalem, came to Him in a body.
#BCV:Mark 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:2">2</verse></sup> They had noticed that some of His disciples were eating their food with 'unclean' (that is to say, unwashed)
#BCV:Mark 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:3">3</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:4">4</verse></sup> and when they come from market they will not eat without  bathing first; and they have a good many other customs which they have received traditionally and cling to, such as the rinsing of cups and pots and of bronze utensils,  and the washing of beds.)
#BCV:Mark 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:5">5</verse></sup> So the Pharisees and Scribes put the question to Him: "Why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the Elders, and eat their  food with unclean hands?"
#BCV:Mark 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:6">6</verse></sup> "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites," He replied; "as it is written, "'This People honour Me with their lips, while their hearts are far away from Me:
#BCV:Mark 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:7">7</verse></sup> But idle is their devotion while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'
#BCV:Mark 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:8">8</verse></sup> "You neglect God's Commandment: you hold fast to men's traditions."
#BCV:Mark 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:9">9</verse></sup> "Praiseworthy indeed!" He added, "to set at nought God's Commandment in order to observe your own traditions!
#BCV:Mark 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:10">10</verse></sup> For Moses said, 'Honour thy father and thy mother' and again, 'He who  curses father or mother, let him  die the death.'
#BCV:Mark 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:11">11</verse></sup> But *you* say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, It is a Korban (that is, a thing  devoted to God)
#BCV:Mark 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:12">12</verse></sup> And so you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother,
#BCV:Mark 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:13">13</verse></sup> thus nullifying God's precept by  your tradition which you have handed down. And many things of that kind you do."
#BCV:Mark 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:14">14</verse></sup> Then Jesus called the people to Him again. "Listen to me, all of you," He said, "and understand.
#BCV:Mark 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:15">15</verse></sup> There is nothing  outside a man which entering him can make him unclean; but it is the things which come out of a man that make him unclean."
#BCV:Mark 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:16">16</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:17">17</verse></sup> After He had left the crowd and gone indoors, His disciples began to ask Him about this figure of speech.
#BCV:Mark 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:18">18</verse></sup> "Have *you* also so little understanding?" He replied; "do you not understand that anything whatever that enters a man from outside cannot make him unclean,
#BCV:Mark 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:19">19</verse></sup> because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes away ejected from him?" By these words Jesus pronounced all kinds of food clean.
#BCV:Mark 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:20">20</verse></sup> "What comes out of a man," He added, "that it is which makes him unclean.
#BCV:Mark 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:21">21</verse></sup> For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
#BCV:Mark 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:22">22</verse></sup> covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly:
#BCV:Mark 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:23">23</verse></sup> all these wicked things come out from within and make a man unclean."
#BCV:Mark 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:24">24</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Mark 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:25">25</verse></sup> Forthwith a woman whose little daughter was possessed by a foul spirit heard of Him, and came and flung herself at His feet.
#BCV:Mark 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:26">26</verse></sup> She was a  Gentile woman, a Syro-phoenician by nation: and again and again she begged Him to expel the demon from her daughter.
#BCV:Mark 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:27">27</verse></sup> "Let the children first eat all they want," He said; "it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the  dogs."
#BCV:Mark 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:28">28</verse></sup> "True, Sir," she replied, "and yet the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
#BCV:Mark 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:29">29</verse></sup> "For those words of yours, go home," He replied; "the demon has gone out of your daughter."
#BCV:Mark 7:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:30">30</verse></sup> So she went home, and found the child  lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
#BCV:Mark 7:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:31">31</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Mark 7:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:32">32</verse></sup> Here they brought to Him a deaf man that stammered, on whom they begged Him to lay His hands.
#BCV:Mark 7:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:33">33</verse></sup> So Jesus taking him aside, apart from the crowd, put His fingers into his ears, and spat, and moistened his tongue;
#BCV:Mark 7:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:34">34</verse></sup> and looking up to Heaven  He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Open!")
#BCV:Mark 7:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:35">35</verse></sup> And the man's ears were opened, and his tongue became untied, and he began to speak perfectly.
#BCV:Mark 7:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:36">36</verse></sup> Then Jesus charged them to tell no one; but the more He charged them, all the more did they spread the news far and wide.
#BCV:Mark 7:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 7:37">37</verse></sup> The amazement was extreme.  "He succeeds in everything he attempts," they exclaimed; "he even makes deaf men hear and dumb men speak!"
#BCV:Mark 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 8:1">8</verse></font> About that time there was again an immense crowd, and they found themselves with nothing to eat. So He called His disciples to Him.
#BCV:Mark 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:2">2</verse></sup> "My heart yearns over the people," He said; "for this is now  the third day they have remained with me, and they have nothing to eat.
#BCV:Mark 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:3">3</verse></sup> If I were to send them home hungry, they would faint on the way, some of them having come a great distance."
#BCV:Mark 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:4">4</verse></sup> "Where can we possibly get bread here in this remote place to satisfy such a crowd?" answered His disciples.
#BCV:Mark 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:5">5</verse></sup> "How many loaves have you?" He asked. "Seven," they said.
#BCV:Mark 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:6">6</verse></sup> So He passed the word to the people to sit down on the ground. Then taking the seven loaves He blessed them, and broke them into portions and proceeded to give them to His disciples for them to distribute, and they distributed them to the people.
#BCV:Mark 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:7">7</verse></sup> They had also a few small fish. He blessed them, and He told His disciples to distribute these also.
#BCV:Mark 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:8">8</verse></sup> So the people ate an abundant meal; and what remained over they picked up and carried away--seven hampers of broken pieces.
#BCV:Mark 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:9">9</verse></sup> The number fed were about 4,000. Then He sent them away,
#BCV:Mark 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:10">10</verse></sup> and at once going on board with His disciples He came into the district of Dalmanutha.
#BCV:Mark 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:11">11</verse></sup> The Pharisees followed Him and began to dispute with Him, asking Him for a sign  in the sky, to make trial of Him.
#BCV:Mark 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:12">12</verse></sup> Heaving a deep and troubled sigh, He said, "Why do the men of to-day ask for a sign? In solemn truth I tell you that no sign will be given to the men of to-day."
#BCV:Mark 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:13">13</verse></sup> So He left them, went on board again, and came away to the other side.
#BCV:Mark 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:14">14</verse></sup> Now they had forgotten to take bread, nor had they more than a single loaf with them in the boat;
#BCV:Mark 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:15">15</verse></sup> and when He admonished them, "See to it, be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod,"
#BCV:Mark 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:16">16</verse></sup> they explained His words to one another by saying, "We have no bread!"
#BCV:Mark 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:17">17</verse></sup> He perceived what they were saying, and He said to them, "What is this discussion of yours about having no bread? Do you not yet see and understand? Are your minds so dull of comprehension?
#BCV:Mark 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:18">18</verse></sup> You have eyes! can you not see? You have ears! can you not hear? and  have you no memory?
#BCV:Mark 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:19">19</verse></sup> When I broke up the five loaves for the 5,000 men, how many baskets did you carry away full of broken portions?" "Twelve," they said.
#BCV:Mark 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:20">20</verse></sup> "And when the seven for the 4,000, how many hampers full of portions did you take away?" "Seven," they answered.
#BCV:Mark 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:21">21</verse></sup> "Do you not yet understand?"  He said.
#BCV:Mark 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:22">22</verse></sup> And they came to Bethsaida. And a blind man was brought to Jesus and they entreated Him to touch him.
#BCV:Mark 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:23">23</verse></sup> So He took the blind man by the  arm and brought him out of the village, and spitting into his eyes He put His hands on him and asked him, "Can you see anything?"
#BCV:Mark 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:24">24</verse></sup> He looked up and said, "I can see the people: I see them like trees--only walking."
#BCV:Mark 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:25">25</verse></sup> Then for the second time He put His hands on the man's eyes, and the man, looking steadily, recovered his sight and saw everything distinctly.
#BCV:Mark 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:26">26</verse></sup> So He sent him home, and added, "Do not even go into the village."
#BCV:Mark 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:27">27</verse></sup> From that place Jesus and His disciples went to the villages belonging to Caesarea Philippi. On the way He  began to ask His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
#BCV:Mark 8:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:28">28</verse></sup> "John the Baptist," they replied, "but others say Elijah, and others, that it is one of the Prophets."
#BCV:Mark 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:29">29</verse></sup> Then  He asked them pointedly, "But you yourselves, who do you say that I am?" "You are  the Christ," answered Peter.
#BCV:Mark 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:30">30</verse></sup> And He strictly forbad them to tell this about Him to any one.
#BCV:Mark 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:31">31</verse></sup> And now for the first time He told them, "The Son of Man  must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and after two days  rise to life."
#BCV:Mark 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:32">32</verse></sup> This He told them plainly; whereupon Peter took Him and began to remonstrate with Him.
#BCV:Mark 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:33">33</verse></sup> But turning round and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter. "Get behind me,  Adversary," He said, "for your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but men's."
#BCV:Mark 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:34">34</verse></sup> Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.
#BCV:Mark 8:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:35">35</verse></sup> For whoever is bent on securing his  life will lose it, but he who loses his  life for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will secure it.
#BCV:Mark 8:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:36">36</verse></sup> Why, what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and  forfeit his life?
#BCV:Mark 8:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:37">37</verse></sup> For what could a man give to buy back his life?
#BCV:Mark 8:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 8:38">38</verse></sup> Every one, however, who  has been ashamed of me and of my teachings in this  faithless and sinful age, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."
#BCV:Mark 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 9:1">9</verse></font> He went on to say, "In solemn truth I tell you that some of those who  are standing here will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Kingdom of God  already come  in power."
#BCV:Mark 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:2">2</verse></sup> Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and brought them alone, apart from the rest, up a high mountain; and in their presence His appearance underwent a change.
#BCV:Mark 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:3">3</verse></sup> His garments also became dazzling with brilliant whiteness--such whiteness as no bleaching on earth could give.
#BCV:Mark 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:4">4</verse></sup> Moreover there appeared to them Elijah accompanied by Moses; and the two were conversing with Jesus,
#BCV:Mark 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:5">5</verse></sup> when  Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi,  we are thankful to you that we are here. Let us put up three  tents--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
#BCV:Mark 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:6">6</verse></sup> For he knew not what  to say: they were filled with such awe.
#BCV:Mark 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:7">7</verse></sup> Then there came a cloud  spreading over them, and a voice issued from the cloud, "This is my Son, dearly loved: listen to Him."
#BCV:Mark 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:8">8</verse></sup> Instantly they looked round, and now they could no longer see any one, but themselves and Jesus.
#BCV:Mark 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:9">9</verse></sup> As they were coming down from the mountain, He very strictly forbad them to tell any one what they had seen "until after the Son of Man has risen from among the dead."
#BCV:Mark 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:10">10</verse></sup> So they kept the matter to themselves, although frequently asking one another what was meant by the rising from the dead.
#BCV:Mark 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:11">11</verse></sup> They also asked Him, "How is it that the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?"
#BCV:Mark 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:12">12</verse></sup> "Elijah," He replied, "does indeed come first and reforms everything; but how is it that it is written of the Son of Man that He will endure much suffering and be held in contempt?
#BCV:Mark 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:13">13</verse></sup> Yet I tell you that not only has Elijah come, but they have also done to him whatever they chose, as the Scriptures say about him."
#BCV:Mark 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:14">14</verse></sup> As they came to rejoin the disciples, they saw an immense crowd surrounding them and a party of Scribes disputing with them.
#BCV:Mark 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:15">15</verse></sup> Immediately the whole multitude on beholding Him were  astonished and awe-struck, and yet they ran forward and  greeted Him.
#BCV:Mark 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:16">16</verse></sup> "What is the subject you are discussing?" He asked them.
#BCV:Mark 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:17">17</verse></sup> "Rabbi," answered one of the crowd,  "I have brought you my son. He has a dumb spirit in him;
#BCV:Mark 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:18">18</verse></sup> and wherever it comes upon him, it  dashes him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth, and he is pining away. I  begged your disciples to expel it, but they had not the power."
#BCV:Mark 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:19">19</verse></sup> "O unbelieving generation!" replied Jesus; "how long must I be with you? how long must I have patience with you? Bring the boy to me."
#BCV:Mark 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:20">20</verse></sup> So they brought him to Jesus. And the spirit,  when he saw Jesus, immediately threw the youth into convulsions, so that he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
#BCV:Mark 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:21">21</verse></sup> Then Jesus asked the father, "How long has he been like this?" "From early childhood," he said;
#BCV:Mark 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:22">22</verse></sup> "and often it has thrown him into the fire  or into  pools of water to destroy him. But, if you possibly can, have pity on us and help us."
#BCV:Mark 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:23">23</verse></sup> "'If I possibly can!'" replied Jesus; "why, everything is possible to him who believes."
#BCV:Mark 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:24">24</verse></sup> Immediately the father  cried out, "I do believe: strengthen my weak faith."
#BCV:Mark 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:25">25</verse></sup> Then Jesus, seeing that an increasing crowd was running towards Him, rebuked the foul spirit, and said to it, "Dumb and deaf spirit, *I* command you, come out of him and never enter into him again."
#BCV:Mark 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:26">26</verse></sup> So with a loud cry he threw the boy into fit after fit, and came out. The boy looked as if he were dead, so that most of them said  he was dead;
#BCV:Mark 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:27">27</verse></sup> but Jesus took his hand and raised him up, and he stood on his feet.
#BCV:Mark 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:28">28</verse></sup> After the return of Jesus  to the house His disciples asked Him privately, "How is it that we could not expel the spirit?"
#BCV:Mark 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:29">29</verse></sup> "An evil spirit of this kind," He answered, "can only be driven out  by prayer."
#BCV:Mark 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:30">30</verse></sup> Departing thence they passed through Galilee, and He was unwilling that any one should know it;
#BCV:Mark 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:31">31</verse></sup> for He was teaching His disciples, and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and after being put to death, in three days He will rise to life again."
#BCV:Mark 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:32">32</verse></sup> They, however, did not understand what He meant, and were afraid to question Him.
#BCV:Mark 9:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:33">33</verse></sup> So they came to Capernaum; and when in the house He asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"
#BCV:Mark 9:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:34">34</verse></sup> But they remained silent; for on the way they had debated with one another who was the chief of them.
#BCV:Mark 9:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:35">35</verse></sup> Then sitting down He called the Twelve, and said to them, "If any one wishes to be first,  he must be last of all and servant of all."
#BCV:Mark 9:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:36">36</verse></sup> And taking a young child He made him stand in their midst, then threw His arms round him and said,
#BCV:Mark 9:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:37">37</verse></sup> "Whoever  for my sake receives one such young child as this, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not so much me as Him who sent me."
#BCV:Mark 9:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:38">38</verse></sup> "Rabbi,"  said John to Him, "we saw a  man making use of your name to expel demons, and we tried to hinder him,  on the ground that he did not follow us."
#BCV:Mark 9:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:39">39</verse></sup> "You should not have tried to hinder him," replied Jesus, "for there is no one who will use my name to perform a miracle and be able the next minute to speak evil of me.
#BCV:Mark 9:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:40">40</verse></sup> He who is not against us is for us;
#BCV:Mark 9:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:41">41</verse></sup> and whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, I solemnly tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.
#BCV:Mark 9:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:42">42</verse></sup> "And whoever shall occasion the fall of one of these little ones who  believe, he would be better off if, with a  millstone round his neck, he were  lying at the bottom of the sea.
#BCV:Mark 9:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:43">43</verse></sup> If your hand should  cause you to sin, cut it off: it would be better for you to enter into Life maimed, than remain in possession of both your hands and go away into Gehenna, into the  fire which cannot be put out.
#BCV:Mark 9:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:44">44</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 9:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:45">45</verse></sup> Or if your foot  should cause you to sin, cut it off: it would be better for you to enter into Life crippled, than remain in possession of both your feet and be thrown into Gehenna.
#BCV:Mark 9:46
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:46">46</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 9:47
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:47">47</verse></sup> Or if your eye  should cause you to sin, tear it out. It would be better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God half-blind than remain in possession of two eyes and be thrown into Gehenna,
#BCV:Mark 9:48
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:48">48</verse></sup> where their worm does not die and the fire does not go out.
#BCV:Mark 9:49
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:49">49</verse></sup> Every one,  however, will be salted  with fire.
#BCV:Mark 9:50
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 9:50">50</verse></sup> Salt is a good thing, but if the salt should become tasteless, what will you use to give it saltness? Have salt within you and live at peace with one another."
#BCV:Mark 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 10:1">10</verse></font> Soon on His feet once more, He enters the district of Judaea and crosses the Jordan: again the people flock to Him, and ere long, as was usual with Him, He was teaching them once more.
#BCV:Mark 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:2">2</verse></sup> Presently a party of Pharisees come to Him with the question--seeking to entrap Him, "May a man divorce his wife?"
#BCV:Mark 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:3">3</verse></sup> "What rule did Moses lay down for you?" He answered.
#BCV:Mark 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:4">4</verse></sup> "Moses," they said, "permitted a man to draw up a written notice of divorce, and to send his wife away."
#BCV:Mark 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:5">5</verse></sup> "It was in consideration of your stubborn hearts," said Jesus, "that Moses enacted this law for you;
#BCV:Mark 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:6">6</verse></sup> but from the beginning of the creation the rule was, 'Male and female did God make them.
#BCV:Mark 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:7">7</verse></sup> For this reason a man  shall leave his father and his mother, and  shall cling to his wife,
#BCV:Mark 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:8">8</verse></sup> and the two  shall be  one'; so that they are two no longer, but  'one.'
#BCV:Mark 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:9">9</verse></sup> What, therefore, God has joined together let not man separate."
#BCV:Mark 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:10">10</verse></sup> Indoors the disciples began questioning Jesus again on the same subject.
#BCV:Mark 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:11">11</verse></sup> He replied, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman, commits adultery against the first wife;
#BCV:Mark 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:12">12</verse></sup> and if a woman puts away her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
#BCV:Mark 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:13">13</verse></sup> One day people were bringing young children to Jesus for Him to touch them, but the disciples interfered.
#BCV:Mark 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:14">14</verse></sup> Jesus, however, on seeing this, was moved to indignation, and said to them, "Let the little children come to me: do not hinder them; for to those who are childlike the Kingdom of God belongs.
#BCV:Mark 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:15">15</verse></sup> In solemn truth I tell you that no one who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will by any possibility enter it."
#BCV:Mark 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:16">16</verse></sup> Then He  took them in His arms and blessed them lovingly,  one by one, laying His hands upon them.
#BCV:Mark 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:17">17</verse></sup> As He went out to resume His journey, there came  a man running up to Him, who knelt at His feet and asked, "Good Rabbi, what am I to do in order to inherit the Life  of the Ages?"
#BCV:Mark 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:18">18</verse></sup> "Why do you call me good?" asked Jesus in reply; "there is no one truly good except One--that is, God.
#BCV:Mark 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:19">19</verse></sup> You know the Commandments--'Do not murder;' 'Do not commit adultery;' 'Do not steal;' 'Do not lie in giving evidence;' 'Do not defraud;' 'Honour thy father and thy mother.'"
#BCV:Mark 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:20">20</verse></sup> "Rabbi," he replied, "all these Commandments I have carefully obeyed from my youth."
#BCV:Mark 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:21">21</verse></sup> Then Jesus looked at him and  loved him, and said, "One thing is lacking in you: go, sell all you possess and  give the proceeds to the poor, and you shall have riches in Heaven; and come and be a follower of mine."
#BCV:Mark 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:22">22</verse></sup> At these words his brow darkened, and he went away sad; for he was possessed of great wealth.
#BCV:Mark 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:23">23</verse></sup> Then looking round on His disciples Jesus said, "With how hard a struggle will the possessors of riches enter the Kingdom of God!"
#BCV:Mark 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:24">24</verse></sup> The disciples were  amazed at His words. Jesus, however,  said again, "Children, how hard a struggle is it  for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God!
#BCV:Mark 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:25">25</verse></sup> It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Mark 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:26">26</verse></sup> They were astonished beyond measure, and said to one another, "Who then *can* be saved?"
#BCV:Mark 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:27">27</verse></sup> Jesus looking on them said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for everything is possible with God."
#BCV:Mark 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:28">28</verse></sup> "Remember,"  said Peter to Him, "that we forsook everything and have become your followers."
#BCV:Mark 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:29">29</verse></sup> "In solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that there is no one who has forsaken house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father, or children or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the Good News,
#BCV:Mark 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:30">30</verse></sup> but will receive a hundred times as much now  in this present life--houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands--and persecution with them--and in the coming age the Life  of the Ages.
#BCV:Mark 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:31">31</verse></sup> But many who are now first will be last, and the last, first."
#BCV:Mark 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:32">32</verse></sup> They were still on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were full of wonder, and some, though they followed, did so with fear. Then, once more calling to Him the Twelve, He began to tell them what was about to happen to Him.
#BCV:Mark 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:33">33</verse></sup> "See," He said, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the High Priests and the Scribes. They will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles;
#BCV:Mark 10:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:34">34</verse></sup> they will insult Him in cruel sport, spit on Him,  scourge Him, and put Him to death; but on the third day He will rise to life again."
#BCV:Mark 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:35">35</verse></sup> Then James and John, the sons of Zabdi, came up to Him and said,  "Rabbi, we wish you would grant us  whatever request we make of you."
#BCV:Mark 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:36">36</verse></sup> "What would you have me do for you?" He asked.
#BCV:Mark 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:37">37</verse></sup> "Allow us," they replied, "to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left hand, in your glory."
#BCV:Mark 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:38">38</verse></sup> "You know not," said He, "what you are asking. Are you able to drink out of the  cup from which I am to drink, or to be baptized with the  baptism with which I am to be baptized?"
#BCV:Mark 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:39">39</verse></sup> "We are able," they replied. "Out of the cup," said Jesus, "from which I am to drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I am to be baptized you shall be baptized;
#BCV:Mark 10:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:40">40</verse></sup> but as to sitting at my right hand or at my left, that is not mine to give: it will be for those for whom it is reserved."
#BCV:Mark 10:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:41">41</verse></sup> The other ten, hearing of it, were at first highly indignant with James and John.
#BCV:Mark 10:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:42">42</verse></sup> Jesus, however, called them to Him and said to them, "You are aware how those who are deemed rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men make them feel their authority;
#BCV:Mark 10:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:43">43</verse></sup> but it is not to be so among you. No, whoever desires to be great among you must be your servant;
#BCV:Mark 10:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:44">44</verse></sup> and whoever desires to be first among you must be the bondservant of all.
#BCV:Mark 10:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:45">45</verse></sup> For the Son of Man also did not come to be waited upon, but to wait on others, and to give His  life as the redemption-price for a multitude of people."
#BCV:Mark 10:46
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:46">46</verse></sup> They came to Jericho; and as He was leaving that town--Himself and His disciples and a great crowd--Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus)
#BCV:Mark 10:47
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:47">47</verse></sup> Hearing that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, "Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me."
#BCV:Mark 10:48
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:48">48</verse></sup> Many angrily told him to leave off shouting; but he only cried out all the louder, "Son of David, have pity on me."
#BCV:Mark 10:49
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:49">49</verse></sup> Then Jesus stood still. "Call him," He said. So they called the blind man. "Cheer up," they said; "rise, he is calling you."
#BCV:Mark 10:50
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:50">50</verse></sup> The man flung away his outer garment, sprang to his feet, and came to Jesus.
#BCV:Mark 10:51
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:51">51</verse></sup> "What shall I do for you?"  said Jesus.  "Rabboni," replied the blind man, "let me  recover my sight."
#BCV:Mark 10:52
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 10:52">52</verse></sup> "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has cured you." Instantly he  regained his sight, and followed Him along the road.
#BCV:Mark 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 11:1">11</verse></font> When they were getting near Jerusalem and had arrived at Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on in front, with these instructions.
#BCV:Mark 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:2">2</verse></sup> "Go," He said, "to the village facing you, and immediately on entering it you will find an ass's foal tied up which no one has ever yet ridden: untie him and bring him here.
#BCV:Mark 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:3">3</verse></sup> And if any one asks you, 'Why are you doing that?' say, 'The Master needs it, and will send it back here without delay.'"
#BCV:Mark 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:4">4</verse></sup> So they went and found a young ass tied up at the front door of a house. They were untying it,
#BCV:Mark 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:5">5</verse></sup> when some of the bystanders called out, "What are you doing, untying the foal?"
#BCV:Mark 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:6">6</verse></sup> But on their giving the answer that Jesus had bidden them give, they let them take it.
#BCV:Mark 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:7">7</verse></sup> So they brought the foal to Jesus, and threw their outer garments over him; and Jesus mounted.
#BCV:Mark 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:8">8</verse></sup> Then many spread their outer garments to carpet the road, and others leafy branches which they had cut down  in the fields;
#BCV:Mark 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:9">9</verse></sup> while those who led the way and those who followed kept shouting "God save Him!" Blessed be He who comes in the Lord's name.
#BCV:Mark 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:10">10</verse></sup> Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our forefather David! God in the highest Heavens save Him!"
#BCV:Mark 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:11">11</verse></sup> So He came into Jerusalem and into  the Temple; and after looking round upon everything there, the hour being now late He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
#BCV:Mark 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:12">12</verse></sup> The next day, after they had left Bethany, He was hungry.
#BCV:Mark 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:13">13</verse></sup> But in the distance He saw a fig-tree in full leaf, and went to see whether perhaps He could find some figs on it. When however He came to it, He found nothing but leaves (for it was  not fig time)
#BCV:Mark 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:14">14</verse></sup> and He said to the tree, "Let no one ever again eat fruit from thee!" And His disciples heard this.
#BCV:Mark 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:15">15</verse></sup> They reached Jerusalem, and entering the Temple He began to drive out the buyers and sellers, and upset the money-changers' tables and the stools of the pigeon-dealers,
#BCV:Mark 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:16">16</verse></sup> and would not allow any one to carry  anything through the Temple.
#BCV:Mark 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:17">17</verse></sup> And He remonstrated with them. "Is it not written," He said, "'My House shall be called The House of Prayer for all the nations?' But you  have made it what it now is--a robbers' cave."
#BCV:Mark 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:18">18</verse></sup> This the High Priests and Scribes heard, and they began to devise means to destroy Him. For they were afraid of Him, because of the deep impression produced on all the people by His teaching.
#BCV:Mark 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:19">19</verse></sup> When evening came on, Jesus and His disciples used to leave the city.
#BCV:Mark 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:20">20</verse></sup> In the early morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree withered to the roots;
#BCV:Mark 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:21">21</verse></sup> and Peter, recollecting, said to Him, "Look, Rabbi, the fig-tree which you cursed is withered up."
#BCV:Mark 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:22">22</verse></sup> Jesus said to them, "Have faith in God.
#BCV:Mark 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:23">23</verse></sup> In solemn truth I tell you that if any one shall say to this mountain, 'Remove, and hurl thyself into the sea,' and has no doubt about it in his heart, but stedfastly believes that what he says will happen, it shall be granted him.
#BCV:Mark 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:24">24</verse></sup> That is why I tell you, as to whatever you pray and make request for, if you believe that you have received it it shall be yours.
#BCV:Mark 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:25">25</verse></sup> But whenever you stand praying, if you have a grievance against any one, forgive it, so that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your offences."
#BCV:Mark 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:26">26</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:27">27</verse></sup> They came again to Jerusalem; and as He was walking in the Temple, the High Priests, Scribes and Elders came to Him
#BCV:Mark 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:28">28</verse></sup> and asked,  "By what authority are you doing these things? and who gave you authority to do them?"
#BCV:Mark 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:29">29</verse></sup> "And I will put a question to you," replied Jesus; "answer me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
#BCV:Mark 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:30">30</verse></sup> John's Baptism--was it of Heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."
#BCV:Mark 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:31">31</verse></sup> So they debated the matter with one another. "Suppose we say, 'Heavenly,'" they argued, "he will ask, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
#BCV:Mark 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:32">32</verse></sup> Or should we say, 'human?'" They were afraid of the people; for all agreed in holding John to have been really a Prophet.
#BCV:Mark 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 11:33">33</verse></sup> So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." "Nor do I tell you," said Jesus, "by what authority I do these things."
#BCV:Mark 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 12:1">12</verse></font> Then He began to speak to them in figurative language. "There was once a man," He said, "who planted a vineyard, fenced it round, dug a pit for the wine-tank, and built a strong lodge. Then he let the place to vine-dressers and went abroad.
#BCV:Mark 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:2">2</verse></sup> At vintage-time he sent one of his servants to receive from the vine-dressers a share of the grapes.
#BCV:Mark 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:3">3</verse></sup> But they seized him, beat him cruelly and sent him away empty-handed.
#BCV:Mark 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:4">4</verse></sup> Again he sent to them another servant: and as for him, they  wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully.
#BCV:Mark 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:5">5</verse></sup> Yet a third he sent, and him they killed. And he sent many besides, and them also they ill-treated, beating some and killing others.
#BCV:Mark 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:6">6</verse></sup> He had still one left whom he could send, a dearly-loved son: him last of all he sent, saying, "'They will treat my son with respect.'
#BCV:Mark 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:7">7</verse></sup> "But those men--the vine-dressers--said to one another, "'Here is the heir: come, let us kill him, and then the property will one day be ours.'
#BCV:Mark 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:8">8</verse></sup> "So they took him and killed him, and flung  his body outside the vineyard.
#BCV:Mark 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:9">9</verse></sup> What, therefore, will the owner of the vineyard do?" "He will come and put the vine-dressers to death," they said; "and will give the vineyard to others."
#BCV:Mark 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:10">10</verse></sup> "Have you not read even this passage," He added, "'The stone which the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone:
#BCV:Mark 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:11">11</verse></sup> this Cornerstone came from the Lord, and is wonderful in our esteem?'"
#BCV:Mark 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:12">12</verse></sup> And they kept looking out for an opportunity to seize Him, but were afraid of the people; for they saw that in this parable He had referred to *them*. So they left Him and went away.
#BCV:Mark 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:13">13</verse></sup> Their next step was to send to Him some of the Pharisees and of Herod's partisans to entrap Him in conversation.
#BCV:Mark 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:14">14</verse></sup> So they came to Him.  "Rabbi," they said, "we know that you are a truthful man and you do not fear any one; for you do not recognize human distinctions, but teach God's way truly. Is it allowable to pay poll-tax to Caesar, or not?
#BCV:Mark 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:15">15</verse></sup> Shall we pay, or shall we refuse to pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, replied, "Why try to ensnare me? Bring me a shilling for me to look at."
#BCV:Mark 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:16">16</verse></sup> They brought one; and He asked them, "Whose is this likeness and this inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied.
#BCV:Mark 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:17">17</verse></sup> "What is Caesar's," replied Jesus, "pay to Caesar--and what is God's, pay to God." And they wondered exceedingly at Him.
#BCV:Mark 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:18">18</verse></sup> Then came to Him a party of Sadducees, a sect which denies that there is any Resurrection; and they proceeded to question Him.
#BCV:Mark 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:19">19</verse></sup> "Rabbi," they said, "Moses made it a law for us: 'If a man's brother should die and leave a wife, but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.'
#BCV:Mark 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:20">20</verse></sup> There were once seven brothers, the eldest of whom married a wife, but at his death left no family.
#BCV:Mark 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:21">21</verse></sup> The second married her, and died, leaving no family; and the third did the same.
#BCV:Mark 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:22">22</verse></sup> And so did the rest of the seven, all dying childless. Finally the woman also died.
#BCV:Mark 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:23">23</verse></sup> At the Resurrection whose wife will she be? For they all seven married her."
#BCV:Mark 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:24">24</verse></sup> "Is not this the cause of your error," replied Jesus--"your ignorance alike of the Scriptures and of the power of God?
#BCV:Mark 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:25">25</verse></sup> For when they have risen from among the dead, men do not marry and women are not given in marriage, but they are as angels are in Heaven.
#BCV:Mark 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:26">26</verse></sup> But as to the dead, that they  rise to life, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?'
#BCV:Mark 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:27">27</verse></sup> He is not the God of dead, but of living men. You are in grave error."
#BCV:Mark 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:28">28</verse></sup> Then one of the Scribes, who had heard them disputing and well knew that Jesus had given them an answer to the point, and a forcible one, came forward and asked Him, "Which is the chief of all the Commandments?"
#BCV:Mark 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:29">29</verse></sup> "The chief Commandment," replied Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
#BCV:Mark 12:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:30">30</verse></sup> and thou shalt love the Lord thy God  with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind, and thy whole strength.'
#BCV:Mark 12:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:31">31</verse></sup> "The second is this: 'Thou shalt love thy  fellow man as thou lovest thyself.' "Other Commandment greater than these there is none."
#BCV:Mark 12:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:32">32</verse></sup> So the Scribe said to Him, "Rightly, in very truth, Rabbi, have you said that He stands alone, and there is none but He;
#BCV:Mark 12:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:33">33</verse></sup> and To love Him with all one's heart, with all one's understanding, and with all one's strength, and to love one's fellow man no less than oneself, is far better than all our whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices."
#BCV:Mark 12:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:34">34</verse></sup> Perceiving that the Scribe had answered wisely Jesus said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." No one from that time forward ventured to put any question to Him.
#BCV:Mark 12:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:35">35</verse></sup> But, while teaching in the Temple, Jesus asked, "How is it the Scribes say that the Christ is a son of David?
#BCV:Mark 12:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:36">36</verse></sup> David himself said, taught by the Holy Spirit, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until  I have made thy foes a footstool under thy feet.'
#BCV:Mark 12:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:37">37</verse></sup> "David himself calls Him 'Lord:' how then can He be his son?" And the mass of people found pleasure in listening to Jesus.
#BCV:Mark 12:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:38">38</verse></sup> Moreover in the course of His teaching He said,  "Be on your guard against the Scribes who like to walk about in long robes and to be bowed to in places of public resort,
#BCV:Mark 12:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:39">39</verse></sup> and to occupy the best seats  in the synagogues and at dinner parties,
#BCV:Mark 12:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:40">40</verse></sup> and who swallow up the property of widows and then mask their wickedness by making long prayers: these men will receive far heavier punishment."
#BCV:Mark 12:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:41">41</verse></sup> Having taken a seat opposite the Treasury, He observed how the people were dropping money into the Treasury, and that many of the wealthy threw in large sums.
#BCV:Mark 12:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:42">42</verse></sup> But there came one poor widow and dropped in two farthings, equal in value to a halfpenny.
#BCV:Mark 12:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:43">43</verse></sup> So He called His disciples to Him and said, "In solemn truth I tell you that this widow, poor as she is, has thrown in more than all the other contributors to the Treasury;
#BCV:Mark 12:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 12:44">44</verse></sup> for they have all contributed out of what they could well spare, but she out of her need has thrown in all she possessed--all she had to live on."
#BCV:Mark 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 13:1">13</verse></font> As He was leaving the Temple, one of His disciples exclaimed, "Look,  Rabbi,  what wonderful stones!  what wonderful buildings!"
#BCV:Mark 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:2">2</verse></sup> "You see all these great buildings?" Jesus replied;  "not one stone will be left here upon another--not thrown down."
#BCV:Mark 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:3">3</verse></sup> He was sitting  on the Mount of Olives opposite to the Temple, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew, apart from the others asked Him,
#BCV:Mark 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:4">4</verse></sup> "Tell us, When will these things be? and what will be the sign when all these predictions are on the point of being fulfilled?"
#BCV:Mark 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:5">5</verse></sup> So Jesus began to say to them: "Take care that no one misleads you.
#BCV:Mark 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:6">6</verse></sup> Many will come  assuming my name and saying, 'I am He;' and they will mislead many.
#BCV:Mark 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:7">7</verse></sup> But when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed: come they must, but the End is not yet.
#BCV:Mark 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:8">8</verse></sup> For nation  will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These miseries are but like the early pains of childbirth.
#BCV:Mark 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:9">9</verse></sup> "You yourselves must be on your guard. They will deliver you up to Sanhedrins; you will be brought into synagogues and cruelly beaten; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to be witnesses to them for me.
#BCV:Mark 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:10">10</verse></sup> But the proclamation of the Good News must be carried to all the Gentiles  before the End comes.
#BCV:Mark 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:11">11</verse></sup> When however they are marching you along under arrest, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but speak what is given you when the time comes; for it will not be you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Mark 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:12">12</verse></sup> "Brother will betray brother to be killed, and fathers will betray children; and children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
#BCV:Mark 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:13">13</verse></sup> You will be objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name, but those who stand firm to the End will be saved.
#BCV:Mark 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:14">14</verse></sup> "As soon, however, as you see the Abomination of Desolation standing where  he ought not" --let the reader observe these words--"then let those in Judaea  escape to the hills;
#BCV:Mark 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:15">15</verse></sup> let him who is on the roof not come down and enter the house to fetch anything out of it;
#BCV:Mark 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:16">16</verse></sup> and let not him who is in the field turn back to pick up his outer garment.
#BCV:Mark 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:17">17</verse></sup> And alas for the women who at that time are with child or have infants!
#BCV:Mark 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:18">18</verse></sup> "But pray that it may not come in the winter.
#BCV:Mark 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:19">19</verse></sup> For those will be times of suffering the like of which has never been from the  first creation of God's world until now, and assuredly  never will be again;
#BCV:Mark 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:20">20</verse></sup> and but for the fact that the Lord has cut short those days, no one would escape; but for the sake of His own People whom He has chosen for Himself He has cut short the days.
#BCV:Mark 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:21">21</verse></sup> "At that time if any one says to you, 'See, here is the Christ!' or 'See, He is there!' do not believe it.
#BCV:Mark 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:22">22</verse></sup> For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, displaying signs and prodigies with a view to lead astray--if indeed that were possible--even God's own People.
#BCV:Mark 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:23">23</verse></sup> But as for yourselves, be on your guard: I have forewarned you of everything.
#BCV:Mark 13:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:24">24</verse></sup> "At that time, however, after that distress, the sun will  be darkened and the moon will not shed her light;
#BCV:Mark 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:25">25</verse></sup> the stars will be seen falling from the firmament, and the  forces which are in the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.
#BCV:Mark 13:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:26">26</verse></sup> And then will they see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
#BCV:Mark 13:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:27">27</verse></sup> Then He will send forth the angels and gather together His chosen People from north, south, east and west, from the remotest parts of the earth and the sky.
#BCV:Mark 13:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:28">28</verse></sup> "Learn from the fig-tree the lesson it teaches. As soon as its branch has become soft and it is bursting into leaf, you know that summer is near.
#BCV:Mark 13:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:29">29</verse></sup> So also do you, when you see these things happening, be sure that  He is near, at your very door.
#BCV:Mark 13:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:30">30</verse></sup> I tell you in solemn truth that  the present generation will certainly not pass away without all these things having first taken place.
#BCV:Mark 13:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:31">31</verse></sup> Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my words will not pass away.
#BCV:Mark 13:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:32">32</verse></sup> "But as to that day or the exact time no one knows--not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
#BCV:Mark 13:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:33">33</verse></sup> Take care, be on the alert,  and pray; for you do not know when it will happen.
#BCV:Mark 13:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:34">34</verse></sup> It is like a man living abroad who has left his house, and given the management to his  servants--to each one his special duty--and has ordered the porter to keep awake.
#BCV:Mark 13:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:35">35</verse></sup> Be wakeful therefore, for you know not when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at cock-crow, or at dawn.
#BCV:Mark 13:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:36">36</verse></sup> Beware lest He should arrive unexpectedly and find you asleep.
#BCV:Mark 13:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 13:37">37</verse></sup> Moreover, what I say to you I say to all--Be wakeful!"
#BCV:Mark 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 14:1">14</verse></font> It was now  two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the High Priests and Scribes were bent on finding how to seize Him by stratagem and put Him to death.
#BCV:Mark 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:2">2</verse></sup> But they said, "Not on the Festival-day, for fear there should be a riot among the people."
#BCV:Mark 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:3">3</verse></sup> Now when He was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper, while He was at table, there came a woman with a jar of  pure, sweet-scented ointment very costly: she broke the jar and poured the ointment over His head.
#BCV:Mark 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:4">4</verse></sup> But there were some who said indignantly among themselves, "Why has the ointment been thus wasted?
#BCV:Mark 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:5">5</verse></sup> For that ointment might have been sold for  fifteen pounds or more,  and the money have been given to the poor." And they were exceedingly angry with her.
#BCV:Mark 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:6">6</verse></sup> But Jesus said, "Leave her alone: why are you troubling her? She has done a most gracious act towards me.
#BCV:Mark 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:7">7</verse></sup> For you always have the poor among you, and whenever you choose you can do acts of kindness to them; but me you have not always.
#BCV:Mark 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:8">8</verse></sup> What she could she did: she has perfumed my body in preparation for my burial.
#BCV:Mark 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:9">9</verse></sup> And I solemnly tell you that wherever in the whole world the Good News shall be proclaimed, this which she has done shall also be told in remembrance of her."
#BCV:Mark 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:10">10</verse></sup> But Judas Iscariot,  already mentioned as one of the Twelve, went to the High Priests to betray Jesus to them.
#BCV:Mark 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:11">11</verse></sup> They gladly listened to his proposal, and promised to give him a sum of money. So he looked out for an opportunity to betray Him.
#BCV:Mark 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:12">12</verse></sup> On the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread--the day for killing the Passover lamb--His disciples asked Him, "Where shall we go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"
#BCV:Mark 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:13">13</verse></sup> So He sent two of His disciples with instructions, saying, "Go into the city, and you will meet  a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him,
#BCV:Mark 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:14">14</verse></sup> and whatever house he enters, tell the master of the house, 'The  Rabbi asks, Where is my  room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?'
#BCV:Mark 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:15">15</verse></sup> Then he will himself show you a large room upstairs, ready furnished: there make preparation for us."
#BCV:Mark 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:16">16</verse></sup> So the disciples went out and came to the city, and found everything just as He had told them; and they got the Passover ready.
#BCV:Mark 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:17">17</verse></sup> When it was evening, He came with the Twelve.
#BCV:Mark 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:18">18</verse></sup> And while they were at table Jesus said, "I solemnly tell you that one of you will betray me--one who is eating with me."
#BCV:Mark 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:19">19</verse></sup> They were filled with sorrow, and began asking Him, one by one, "Not I, is it?"
#BCV:Mark 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:20">20</verse></sup> "It is one of the Twelve," He replied; "he who is dipping his fingers in the dish with me.
#BCV:Mark 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:21">21</verse></sup> For the Son of Man is going His way as it is written about Him; but alas for the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been a happy thing for that man, had he never been born."
#BCV:Mark 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:22">22</verse></sup> Also during the meal He took a Passover biscuit, blessed it, and broke it. He then gave it to them, saying,  "Take this, it is my body."
#BCV:Mark 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:23">23</verse></sup> Then He  took the cup, gave thanks, and handed it to them, and they all of them drank  from it.
#BCV:Mark 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:24">24</verse></sup> "This is my blood," He said, "which is to be poured out on behalf of many--the blood  which makes  the Covenant sure.
#BCV:Mark 14:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:25">25</verse></sup> I solemnly tell you that never again will I taste the produce of the vine till I shall drink the new wine in the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Mark 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:26">26</verse></sup> After singing  a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
#BCV:Mark 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:27">27</verse></sup> Then said Jesus to them, "All of you are about to stumble and fall, for it is written, 'I will strike down the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered in all directions.'
#BCV:Mark 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:28">28</verse></sup> But after I have risen to life again I will go before you into Galilee."
#BCV:Mark 14:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:29">29</verse></sup> "All may stumble and fall," said Peter, "yet I never will."
#BCV:Mark 14:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:30">30</verse></sup> "I solemnly tell you," replied Jesus, "that to-day--this night--before the cock crows twice, you yourself will three times disown me."
#BCV:Mark 14:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:31">31</verse></sup> "Even if I must die with you," declared Peter again and again, "I will never disown you." In like manner protested also all the disciples.
#BCV:Mark 14:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:32">32</verse></sup> So they came to a place called Gethsemane. There He said to His disciples, "Sit down here till I have prayed."
#BCV:Mark 14:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:33">33</verse></sup> Then He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be full of terror and distress,
#BCV:Mark 14:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:34">34</verse></sup> and He said to them, "My heart is oppressed with anguish to the very point of death: wait here and keep awake."
#BCV:Mark 14:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:35">35</verse></sup> Going forward a short distance He threw Himself upon His face and prayed repeatedly that, if it was possible,  He might be spared that time of agony;
#BCV:Mark 14:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:36">36</verse></sup> and He said, "Abba!  my Father! all things are possible for Thee:  take this  cup of suffering away from me: and yet not what I desire, but what Thou desirest."
#BCV:Mark 14:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:37">37</verse></sup> Then He came and found them asleep, and He said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Had you not strength to keep awake a single hour?
#BCV:Mark 14:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:38">38</verse></sup> Be wakeful, all of you, and keep on praying, that you may not come into temptation:  the spirit is right willing, but the body is frail."
#BCV:Mark 14:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:39">39</verse></sup> He again went away and prayed, using the very same words.
#BCV:Mark 14:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:40">40</verse></sup> When He returned He again found them asleep, for they were very tired; and they knew not how to answer Him.
#BCV:Mark 14:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:41">41</verse></sup> A third time He came, and then He said, "Sleep on and rest. Enough! the hour has come. Even now they are betraying the Son of Man into the hands of sinful men.
#BCV:Mark 14:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:42">42</verse></sup> Rouse yourselves, let us be going: my betrayer is close at hand."
#BCV:Mark 14:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:43">43</verse></sup> Immediately, while He was still speaking,  Judas, one of the Twelve, came and with him a crowd of men armed with swords and cudgels, sent by the High Priests and Scribes and Elders.
#BCV:Mark 14:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:44">44</verse></sup> Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. "The one I kiss," he said, "is the man: lay hold of him, and take him safely away."
#BCV:Mark 14:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:45">45</verse></sup> So he came, and going straight to Jesus he said, "Rabbi!" and kissed Him with seeming affection;
#BCV:Mark 14:46
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:46">46</verse></sup> whereupon they laid hands on Him and held Him firmly.
#BCV:Mark 14:47
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:47">47</verse></sup> But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck a blow at the High Priest's  servant, cutting off his ear.
#BCV:Mark 14:48
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:48">48</verse></sup> "Have you come out," said Jesus, "with swords and cudgels to arrest me, as if you had to fight with a robber?
#BCV:Mark 14:49
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:49">49</verse></sup> Day after day I used to be among you in the Temple teaching, and you never seized me. But  this is happening in order that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.'
#BCV:Mark 14:50
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:50">50</verse></sup> Then His friends all forsook Him and fled.
#BCV:Mark 14:51
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:51">51</verse></sup> One youth indeed did follow Him,  wearing only a  linen cloth round his bare body. Of him they laid hold,
#BCV:Mark 14:52
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:52">52</verse></sup> but he left the linen cloth in their hands and fled  without it.
#BCV:Mark 14:53
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:53">53</verse></sup> So they led Jesus away to the High Priest, and  with him there assembled all the High Priests, Elders, and Scribes.
#BCV:Mark 14:54
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:54">54</verse></sup> Peter followed Jesus at a distance, as far as the outer court of the High Priest's palace. But there he remained sitting among the  officers, and warming himself  by the fire.
#BCV:Mark 14:55
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:55">55</verse></sup> Meanwhile the High Priests and the entire Sanhedrin were endeavouring to get evidence against Jesus in order to put Him to death, but could find none;
#BCV:Mark 14:56
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:56">56</verse></sup> for though many gave false testimony against Him, their statements did not tally.
#BCV:Mark 14:57
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:57">57</verse></sup> Then some came forward as witnesses and falsely declared,
#BCV:Mark 14:58
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:58">58</verse></sup> "We have heard him say, 'I will pull down this Sanctuary built by human hands, and three days afterwards I will erect another built without hands.'"
#BCV:Mark 14:59
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:59">59</verse></sup> But not even in this shape was their testimony consistent.
#BCV:Mark 14:60
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:60">60</verse></sup> At last the High Priest stood up, and advancing into the midst of them all, asked Jesus, "Have you no answer to make? What is the meaning of all this that these witnesses allege against you?"
#BCV:Mark 14:61
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:61">61</verse></sup> But He remained silent, and gave no reply. A second time the High Priest questioned Him. "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" he said.
#BCV:Mark 14:62
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:62">62</verse></sup> "I am," replied Jesus, "and  you and others will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the  divine Power, and coming amid the clouds of the sky."
#BCV:Mark 14:63
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:63">63</verse></sup> Rending his garments the High Priest exclaimed, "What need have we of witnesses after that?
#BCV:Mark 14:64
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:64">64</verse></sup> You all heard his impious words. What is your judgement?" Then with one voice they condemned Him as deserving of death.
#BCV:Mark 14:65
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:65">65</verse></sup> Thereupon some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, while striking Him with their fists and crying,  "Prove that you are a prophet." The  officers too  struck Him with  open hands as they took Him in charge.
#BCV:Mark 14:66
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:66">66</verse></sup> Now while Peter was below in the quadrangle, one of the High Priest's maidservants came,
#BCV:Mark 14:67
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:67">67</verse></sup> and seeing Peter warming himself she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus, the Nazarene."
#BCV:Mark 14:68
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:68">68</verse></sup> But he denied it, and said,  "I don't know--I don't understand--What do you mean?" And then he went out into the outer court.  Just then a cock crowed.
#BCV:Mark 14:69
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:69">69</verse></sup> Again the maidservant saw him, and again began to say to the people standing by, "He is one of them."
#BCV:Mark 14:70
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:70">70</verse></sup> A second time he repeatedly denied it. Soon afterwards the bystanders again accused Peter, saying, "You are surely one of them, for you too are a Galilaean."
#BCV:Mark 14:71
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:71">71</verse></sup> But he broke out into curses and oaths, declaring, "I know nothing of the man you are talking about."
#BCV:Mark 14:72
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 14:72">72</verse></sup> No sooner had he spoken than a cock crowed for the second time, and Peter recollected the words of Jesus, "Before the cock crows twice, you will three times disown me." And as he thought of it, he  wept aloud.
#BCV:Mark 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 15:1">15</verse></font> At earliest dawn, after the High Priests had held a consultation with the Elders and Scribes, they and the entire Sanhedrin bound Jesus and took Him away and handed Him over to Pilate.
#BCV:Mark 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:2">2</verse></sup> So Pilate questioned Him. "Are *you* the King of the Jews?" he asked. "I am," replied Jesus.
#BCV:Mark 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:3">3</verse></sup> Then, as the High Priests went on heaping accusations on Him,
#BCV:Mark 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:4">4</verse></sup> Pilate again and again asked Him, "Do you make no reply? Listen to the many charges they are bringing against you."
#BCV:Mark 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:5">5</verse></sup> But Jesus made no further answer: so that Pilate wondered.
#BCV:Mark 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:6">6</verse></sup> Now at the Festival it was customary for Pilate to release to the Jews any one prisoner whom they might beg off from punishment;
#BCV:Mark 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:7">7</verse></sup> and at this time a man named Barabbas was in prison among the insurgents--persons who in the insurrection had committed murder.
#BCV:Mark 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:8">8</verse></sup> So the people came crowding up, asking Pilate to grant them the usual favour.
#BCV:Mark 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:9">9</verse></sup> "Shall I release for you the King of the Jews?" answered Pilate.
#BCV:Mark 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:10">10</verse></sup> For he could see that it was out of sheer spite that the High Priests had handed Him over.
#BCV:Mark 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:11">11</verse></sup> But the High Priests urged on the crowd to obtain Barabbas's release in preference;
#BCV:Mark 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:12">12</verse></sup> and when Pilate again asked them, "What then shall I do to the man you call King of the Jews?"
#BCV:Mark 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:13">13</verse></sup> they once more shouted out, "Crucify Him!"
#BCV:Mark 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:14">14</verse></sup> "Why, what crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they vehemently shouted, "Crucify Him!"
#BCV:Mark 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:15">15</verse></sup> So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the mob, released Barabbas for them, and after scourging Jesus handed Him over for crucifixion.
#BCV:Mark 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:16">16</verse></sup> Then the soldiers led Him away into the court of the Palace (the Praetorium)
#BCV:Mark 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:17">17</verse></sup> they arrayed Him in crimson, placed on His head a wreath of thorny twigs which they had twisted,
#BCV:Mark 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:18">18</verse></sup> and went on to salute Him with shouts of "Long live the King of the Jews."
#BCV:Mark 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:19">19</verse></sup> Then they began to beat Him on the head with a  cane, to spit on Him, and to do Him homage on bended knees.
#BCV:Mark 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:20">20</verse></sup> At last, having finished their sport, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.
#BCV:Mark 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:21">21</verse></sup> One Simon, a Cyrenaean, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing along, coming from the country: him they compelled to carry His cross.
#BCV:Mark 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:22">22</verse></sup> So they brought Him to the place called Golgotha, which, being translated, means 'Skull-ground.'
#BCV:Mark 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:23">23</verse></sup> Here they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He refused it.
#BCV:Mark 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:24">24</verse></sup> Then they crucified Him. This done, they divided His garments among them, drawing lots to decide what each should take.
#BCV:Mark 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:25">25</verse></sup> It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified Him.
#BCV:Mark 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:26">26</verse></sup> Over His head was the notice in writing of the charge against Him: THE KING OF THE JEWS.
#BCV:Mark 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:27">27</verse></sup> And together with Jesus they crucified two robbers, one at His right hand and one at His left.
#BCV:Mark 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:28">28</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Mark 15:29
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:29">29</verse></sup> And all the passers-by reviled Him. They shook their heads at Him and said, "Ah! you who were for destroying the Sanctuary and building a new one in three days,
#BCV:Mark 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:30">30</verse></sup> come down from the cross and save yourself."
#BCV:Mark 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:31">31</verse></sup> In the same way the High Priests also, as well as the Scribes, kept on scoffing at Him, saying to one another, "He has  saved others:  himself he cannot save!
#BCV:Mark 15:32
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:32">32</verse></sup> This Christ, the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even the men who were being crucified with Him heaped insults on Him.
#BCV:Mark 15:33
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:33">33</verse></sup> At noon there came a darkness over the whole land, lasting till three o'clock in the afternoon.
#BCV:Mark 15:34
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:34">34</verse></sup> But at three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Elohi, Elohi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
#BCV:Mark 15:35
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:35">35</verse></sup> Some of the bystanders, hearing Him, said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah!"
#BCV:Mark 15:36
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:36">36</verse></sup> Then a man ran to fill a sponge with  sour wine, and he put it on the end of a cane and placed it to His lips, saying at the same time, "Wait! let us see whether Elijah will come and take him down."
#BCV:Mark 15:37
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:37">37</verse></sup> But Jesus uttered a loud cry and yielded up His spirit.
#BCV:Mark 15:38
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:38">38</verse></sup> And the curtain in the Sanctuary  was torn in two, from top to bottom.
#BCV:Mark 15:39
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:39">39</verse></sup> And when the  Centurion who stood in front of the cross saw that He was dead, he exclaimed, "This man was indeed God's Son."
#BCV:Mark 15:40
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:40">40</verse></sup> There were also a party of women looking on from a distance; among them being both Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James the Little and of Joses, and Salome--
#BCV:Mark 15:41
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:41">41</verse></sup> all of whom in the Galilaean days  had habitually been with Him and cared for Him, as well as many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.
#BCV:Mark 15:42
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:42">42</verse></sup> Towards sunset, as it was the Preparation--that is, the day preceding the Sabbath--
#BCV:Mark 15:43
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:43">43</verse></sup> Joseph of Arimathaea came, a  highly respected member of the  Council, who himself also was living in expectation of the Kingdom of God. He summoned up courage to go in to see Pilate and beg for the body of Jesus.
#BCV:Mark 15:44
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:44">44</verse></sup> But Pilate could hardly believe that He was already dead. He called, however, for the Centurion and inquired whether He had been long dead;
#BCV:Mark 15:45
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:45">45</verse></sup> and having ascertained the fact he granted the body to Joseph.
#BCV:Mark 15:46
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:46">46</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Mark 15:47
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 15:47">47</verse></sup> Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was put.
#BCV:Mark 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Mark 16:1">16</verse></font> When the Sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, in order to come and anoint  His body.
#BCV:Mark 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:2">2</verse></sup> So, very soon after sunrise on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb;
#BCV:Mark 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:3">3</verse></sup> and they were saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"
#BCV:Mark 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:4">4</verse></sup> But then, looking up, they saw that the stone was already rolled back:  for it was of immense size.
#BCV:Mark 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:5">5</verse></sup> Upon entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at their right hand, clothed in a long white robe. They were astonished and terrified.
#BCV:Mark 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:6">6</verse></sup> But he said to them, "Do not be terrified. It is Jesus you are looking for--the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has  come back to life: He is not here: this is the place where they laid Him.
#BCV:Mark 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:7">7</verse></sup> But go and tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee: and that there you will see Him, as He told you."
#BCV:Mark 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:8">8</verse></sup> So they came out, and fled from the tomb, for they were greatly agitated and surprised; and they said not a word to any one, for they were afraid.
#BCV:Mark 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:9">9</verse></sup> But He rose to life early on the first day of the week, and appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom He had expelled seven demons.
#BCV:Mark 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:10">10</verse></sup> She went and brought the tidings to those who had been with Him, as they were mourning and weeping.
#BCV:Mark 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:11">11</verse></sup> But they, when they were told that He was alive and that she had seen Him, could not believe it.
#BCV:Mark 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:12">12</verse></sup> Afterwards He showed Himself in another form to two of them as they were walking, on their way into the country.
#BCV:Mark 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:13">13</verse></sup> These, again, went and told the news to the rest; but not even them did they believe.
#BCV:Mark 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:14">14</verse></sup> Later still He showed Himself to the Eleven themselves whilst they were at table, and He upbraided them with their unbelief and obstinacy in not having believed those who had seen Him alive.
#BCV:Mark 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:15">15</verse></sup> Then He said to them, "Go the whole world over, and proclaim the Good News to all  mankind.
#BCV:Mark 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:16">16</verse></sup> He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
#BCV:Mark 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:17">17</verse></sup> And signs shall attend those who believe, even such as these. By making use of my name they shall expel demons. They shall speak  new languages.
#BCV:Mark 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:18">18</verse></sup> They shall take up venomous snakes, and if they drink any deadly poison it shall do them no harm whatever. They shall lay their hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover."
#BCV:Mark 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:19">19</verse></sup> So the Lord  Jesus after having thus spoken to them was taken up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
#BCV:Mark 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Mark 16:20">20</verse></sup> But they went out and made proclamation everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming their Message by the signs which accompanied it.

#OUTLINE:1,Luke
#TOPIC:LUKE, GOSPEL
<heading><h1>THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY LUKE</h1>
Modern research has abundantly confirmed the ancient tradition that the anonymous author of the third Gospel is none
other than "Luke the beloved physician" and the narrator of the "Acts of the Apostles" (see <bcv=col 4:14>Col. iv. 14;</bcv> <bcv=2Tim 4:11>2 Tim. iv. 11;</bcv>
<bcv=Philem 1:24>Philem, 24).</bcv> Even Renan acknowledges this, and the objections of a few extremists appear to have been sufficiently answered. The question of date is not easy to settle. The main
problem is whether the book was written before or after the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70, A.D. Not a few scholars whose
views merit great respect still think that it preceded that event, but the majority of critics believe otherwise. Three principal dates have been suggested, 63, A.D., 80, A.D., 100, a.d. If we
accept 80, A.D., we shall be in substantial accord with Harnack,
McGiffert, and Plummer, who fairly represent the best consensus of modern opinion. There is no evidence as to where
this Gospel was composed, although its general style suggests
the influence of some Hellenic centre. Its special characteristics are unmistakably plain. It is not only written in purer Greek than the other Gospels, but is manifestly the most
historic and artistic. It has also the widest outlook, having
obviously been compiled for Gentiles in general and, apparently,
for Greeks in particular. The author was evidently an educated man and probably a physician, and was also a close
observer. Eighteen of the parables and six of the miracles found here are not recorded in the other Gospels. It has been
well said that those "portions of the Gospel narrative which
Luke alone has preserved for us, are among the most beautiful treasures which we possess, and we owe them in a great measure to his desire to make his collection as full as possible."
There is no ground for doubting that Theophilus was a real person. He was probably a typical Gentile convert. Luke's
object, however, was rather to write history than construct an
"apology," and for this reason his order is generally chronological. His Gospel is often termed, and not without reason
"the Gospel of Paul." Luke's close association with the great apostle - an association to which both the record in the Acts and also the Pauline letters bear testimony - at once
warrants and explains the ancient assumption that we have here a writing as truly coloured by the influence of Paul as that of Mark was by Peter. The degree of this influence has been a matter of great debate. But that this is especially the Gospel
of gratuitous and universal salvation is patent to every thoughtful reader. Its integrity has been placed beyond dispute by
recent controversy. Marcion's recension of Luke's Gospel in 140, A.D.,. was undoubtedly a mutilation of the original.

#BCV:Luke 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY LUKE</h1>
#BCV:Luke 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 1:1">1</verse></font> Seeing that many have attempted to draw up a narrative of the facts which are  received with full assurance among us
#BCV:Luke 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:2">2</verse></sup> on the authority of those who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and were devoted to  the service of the divine Message,
#BCV:Luke 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:3">3</verse></sup> it has seemed right to me also, after careful investigation of the facts from their commencement, to write for you, most noble Theophilus, a connected account,
#BCV:Luke 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:4">4</verse></sup> that you may fully know the truth of the things which you have been taught by word of mouth.
#BCV:Luke 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:5">5</verse></sup> There was in the time of Herod, the king of Judaea, a priest of the name of  Zechariah, belonging to the class of  Abijah. He had a wife who was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was  Elizabeth.
#BCV:Luke 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:6">6</verse></sup> They were both of them upright before God, blamelessly obeying all the Lord's precepts and ordinances.
#BCV:Luke 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:7">7</verse></sup> But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and both of them were far advanced in life.
#BCV:Luke 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:8">8</verse></sup> Now while he was doing priestly duty before God in the prescribed course of his class,
#BCV:Luke 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:9">9</verse></sup> it fell to his lot--according to the custom of the priesthood--to go into the Sanctuary of the Lord and burn the incense;
#BCV:Luke 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:10">10</verse></sup> and the whole multitude of the people were outside praying, at the hour of incense.
#BCV:Luke 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:11">11</verse></sup> Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense;
#BCV:Luke 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:12">12</verse></sup> and Zechariah on seeing him was  agitated and terrified.
#BCV:Luke 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:13">13</verse></sup> But the angel said to him,  "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your petition has been heard: and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call his name John.
#BCV:Luke 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:14">14</verse></sup> Gladness and exultant joy shall be yours, and many will rejoice over his birth.
#BCV:Luke 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:15">15</verse></sup> For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; no wine or fermented drink shall he ever drink; but he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from the very hour of his birth.
#BCV:Luke 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:16">16</verse></sup> Many of the descendants of Israel will he turn to the Lord their God;
#BCV:Luke 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:17">17</verse></sup> and he will be His forerunner in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn fathers' hearts to the children, and cause the rebellious to walk in the wisdom of the upright, to make a people perfectly ready for the lord."
#BCV:Luke 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:18">18</verse></sup> "By what proof," asked Zechariah, "shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far advanced in years."
#BCV:Luke 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:19">19</verse></sup> "I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God," answered the angel, "and I have been sent to talk with you and tell you this good news.
#BCV:Luke 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:20">20</verse></sup> And now you will be dumb and unable to speak until the day when this has taken place; because you did not believe my words--words which will be fulfilled at their appointed time."
#BCV:Luke 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:21">21</verse></sup> Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were surprised that he stayed so long in the Sanctuary.
#BCV:Luke 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:22">22</verse></sup> When, however, he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they knew that he must have seen a vision in the Sanctuary; but he kept making signs to them and continued dumb.
#BCV:Luke 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:23">23</verse></sup> When his days of service were at an end, he went to his home;
#BCV:Luke 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:24">24</verse></sup> and in course of time his wife Elizabeth conceived, and kept herself secluded five months.
#BCV:Luke 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:25">25</verse></sup> "Thus has the Lord dealt with me," she said, "now that He has  graciously taken away my reproach among men."
#BCV:Luke 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:26">26</verse></sup> Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called  Nazareth,
#BCV:Luke 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:27">27</verse></sup> to a maiden betrothed to a man of the name of Joseph, a descendant of David. The maiden's name was  Mary.
#BCV:Luke 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:28">28</verse></sup> So Gabriel went into the house and said to her, "Joy be to you, favoured one! the Lord is  with you."
#BCV:Luke 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:29">29</verse></sup> She was greatly  agitated at his words, and wondered what such a greeting meant.
#BCV:Luke 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:30">30</verse></sup> But the angel said,  "Do not be frightened, Mary, for you have found favour with God.
#BCV:Luke 1:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:31">31</verse></sup> You will conceive in your womb and bear a son; and you are to call His name  JESUS.
#BCV:Luke 1:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:32">32</verse></sup> He will be great and He will be called 'Son of the Most High.' And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His forefather David;
#BCV:Luke 1:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:33">33</verse></sup> and He will be King over the House of Jacob for the Ages, and of His Kingdom there will be no end."
#BCV:Luke 1:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:34">34</verse></sup> "How can this be," Mary replied, "seeing that I have no husband?"
#BCV:Luke 1:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:35">35</verse></sup> The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for this reason your holy  offspring will be called 'the Son of God.'
#BCV:Luke 1:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:36">36</verse></sup> And see, your relative Elizabeth--she also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
#BCV:Luke 1:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:37">37</verse></sup> For no promise from God will be  impossible of fulfilment."
#BCV:Luke 1:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:38">38</verse></sup> "I am the Lord's  maidservant," Mary replied; "may it be with me in accordance with your words!" And then the angel left her.
#BCV:Luke 1:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:39">39</verse></sup> Not long after this, Mary rose up and went  in haste into the hill country to a town in Judah.
#BCV:Luke 1:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:40">40</verse></sup> Here she came to the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth;
#BCV:Luke 1:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:41">41</verse></sup> and as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the babe leapt within her. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
#BCV:Luke 1:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:42">42</verse></sup> and uttered a loud  cry of joy.  "Blest among women are you," she said, "and the offspring of your body is blest!
#BCV:Luke 1:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:43">43</verse></sup> But why is this honour done me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
#BCV:Luke 1:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:44">44</verse></sup> For, the moment your greeting reached my ears, the babe within me leapt for joy.
#BCV:Luke 1:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:45">45</verse></sup> And blessed is she  who has believed,  for the word spoken to her from the Lord shall be fulfilled."
#BCV:Luke 1:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:46">46</verse></sup> Then Mary said: "My soul extols the Lord,
#BCV:Luke 1:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:47">47</verse></sup> And my spirit  triumphs in God my  Saviour;
#BCV:Luke 1:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:48">48</verse></sup> Because He has not turned from His maidservant in her lowly position; For from this time forward all generations will account me happy,
#BCV:Luke 1:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:49">49</verse></sup> Because the mighty One has done great things for me--Holy is His name!--
#BCV:Luke 1:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:50">50</verse></sup> And His compassion is, generation after generation, Upon those who fear Him.
#BCV:Luke 1:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:51">51</verse></sup> He  has manifested His supreme strength. He has scattered those who were haughty in the thoughts of their hearts.
#BCV:Luke 1:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:52">52</verse></sup> He has cast monarchs down from their thrones, And exalted men of low estate.
#BCV:Luke 1:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:53">53</verse></sup> The hungry He has satisfied with choice gifts, But the rich He has sent empty-handed away.
#BCV:Luke 1:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:54">54</verse></sup> His servant Israel He has helped,  Remembering His compassion--
#BCV:Luke 1:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:55">55</verse></sup> In fulfillment of His promises to our forefathers--For Abraham and his posterity for ever."
#BCV:Luke 1:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:56">56</verse></sup> So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned home.
#BCV:Luke 1:57
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:57">57</verse></sup> Now when Elizabeth's full time was come, she gave birth to a son;
#BCV:Luke 1:58
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:58">58</verse></sup> and her neighbours and relatives heard how the Lord  had had great compassion on her; and they rejoiced with her.
#BCV:Luke 1:59
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:59">59</verse></sup> And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and were going to call him Zechariah, after his father.
#BCV:Luke 1:60
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:60">60</verse></sup> His mother, however, said, "No, he is to be called John."
#BCV:Luke 1:61
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:61">61</verse></sup> "There is not one of your family," they said, "who has that name."
#BCV:Luke 1:62
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:62">62</verse></sup> They asked his father by signs what he wished him to be called.
#BCV:Luke 1:63
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:63">63</verse></sup> So he asked for a writing-tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all wondered.
#BCV:Luke 1:64
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:64">64</verse></sup> Instantly his mouth and his tongue were set free, and he began to speak and bless God.
#BCV:Luke 1:65
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:65">65</verse></sup> And all who lived round about them were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judaea reports of all these things were spread abroad.
#BCV:Luke 1:66
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:66">66</verse></sup> All who heard the story treasured it in their memories. "What then will this child be?" they said. For the lord's hand was indeed with him.
#BCV:Luke 1:67
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:67">67</verse></sup> And Zechariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke in a rapture of praise.
#BCV:Luke 1:68
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:68">68</verse></sup> "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel," he said, "Because He  has not forgotten His people but has effected redemption for them,
#BCV:Luke 1:69
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:69">69</verse></sup> And has raised up  a mighty Deliverer for us In the house of David His servant--
#BCV:Luke 1:70
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:70">70</verse></sup> As He has spoken  from all time by the lips of His holy Prophets--
#BCV:Luke 1:71
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:71">71</verse></sup> To deliver us from our foes and from the power of all who hate us.
#BCV:Luke 1:72
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:72">72</verse></sup> He dealt pitifully with our forefathers, And remembered His holy covenant,
#BCV:Luke 1:73
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:73">73</verse></sup> The oath which He swore to Abraham our forefather,
#BCV:Luke 1:74
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:74">74</verse></sup> To grant us to be rescued from the power of our foes And so render worship to Him free from fear,
#BCV:Luke 1:75
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:75">75</verse></sup> In  piety and uprightness before Him all our days.
#BCV:Luke 1:76
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:76">76</verse></sup> And you moreover, O child, shall be called Prophet of the Most High; For you shall go on in front before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,
#BCV:Luke 1:77
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:77">77</verse></sup> To give to His People a knowledge of  salvation In the forgiveness of their sins,
#BCV:Luke 1:78
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:78">78</verse></sup> Through the tender compassion of our God, Through which the daybreak from on high  will come to us,
#BCV:Luke 1:79
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:79">79</verse></sup> Dawning on those who now  dwell in the darkness and shadow of death--To direct our feet into the path of peace."
#BCV:Luke 1:80
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 1:80">80</verse></sup> And the child grew and became strong in character, and lived in the  Desert till the time came for him to appear publicly to Israel.
#BCV:Luke 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 2:1">2</verse></font> Just at this time an edict was issued by Caesar Augustus for the  registration of  the whole Empire.
#BCV:Luke 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:2">2</verse></sup> It was the first registration made during the governorship of Quirinius in Syria;
#BCV:Luke 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:3">3</verse></sup> and all went to be registered--every one to the town to which he belonged.
#BCV:Luke 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:4">4</verse></sup> So Joseph went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judaea, to David's town of Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
#BCV:Luke 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:5">5</verse></sup> to have himself registered together with Mary, who was betrothed to him and was with child.
#BCV:Luke 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:6">6</verse></sup> But while they were there, her full time came,
#BCV:Luke 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:7">7</verse></sup> and she gave birth to her first-born son, and wrapped Him round, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the  inn.
#BCV:Luke 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:8">8</verse></sup> Now there were shepherds in the same part of the country, keeping watch over their sheep by night  in the open fields,
#BCV:Luke 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:9">9</verse></sup> when suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them; and they were filled with terror.
#BCV:Luke 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:10">10</verse></sup> But the angel said to them, "Put away all fear; for I am bringing you good news of great joy--joy for all the People.
#BCV:Luke 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:11">11</verse></sup> For a  Saviour who is the Anointed Lord is born to you to-day, in the town of David.
#BCV:Luke 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:12">12</verse></sup> And this is the token for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
#BCV:Luke 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:13">13</verse></sup> And immediately there was with the angel a multitude of the army of Heaven praising God and saying,
#BCV:Luke 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:14">14</verse></sup> "Glory be to God in the highest Heavens, And on earth peace among  men who please Him!"
#BCV:Luke 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:15">15</verse></sup> Then, as soon as the angels had left them and returned to Heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go over as far as Bethlehem and see this that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."
#BCV:Luke 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:16">16</verse></sup> So they made haste and came and found Mary and Joseph, with the babe lying in the manger.
#BCV:Luke 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:17">17</verse></sup> And when they saw the child, they told what had been said to them about Him;
#BCV:Luke 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:18">18</verse></sup> and all who listened were astonished at what the shepherds told them.
#BCV:Luke 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:19">19</verse></sup> But Mary treasured up all these things, often dwelling on them in her mind.
#BCV:Luke 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:20">20</verse></sup> And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen in accordance with the announcement made to them.
#BCV:Luke 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:21">21</verse></sup> When eight days had passed and the time for circumcising Him had come, He was called JESUS, the name given Him by the angel before His conception in the womb.
#BCV:Luke 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:22">22</verse></sup> And when the days for their purification appointed by the Law of Moses had passed, they took Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord--
#BCV:Luke 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:23">23</verse></sup> as it is written in the Law of the Lord: "Every first-born male shall be called holy to the Lord."
#BCV:Luke 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:24">24</verse></sup> And they also offered a sacrifice as commanded in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of  turtle doves or two young pigeons."
#BCV:Luke 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:25">25</verse></sup> Now there was a man in Jerusalem of the name of Symeon, an upright and God-fearing man, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
#BCV:Luke 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:26">26</verse></sup> To him it had been revealed by the Holy Spirit that he should  not see death until he had seen the Lord's Anointed One.
#BCV:Luke 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:27">27</verse></sup> Led by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do with regard to Him according to the custom of the Law,
#BCV:Luke 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:28">28</verse></sup> he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
#BCV:Luke 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:29">29</verse></sup> "Now, O Sovereign Lord, Thou dost send Thy servant away in peace, in fulfilment of Thy word,
#BCV:Luke 2:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:30">30</verse></sup> Because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
#BCV:Luke 2:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:31">31</verse></sup> Which Thou hast made ready in the sight of all nations--
#BCV:Luke 2:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:32">32</verse></sup> A light  to shine upon the Gentiles, And the glory of Thy people Israel."
#BCV:Luke 2:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:33">33</verse></sup> And while the child's father and mother were wondering at the words of Symeon concerning Him,
#BCV:Luke 2:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:34">34</verse></sup> Symeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, "This child  is appointed for the falling and the  uprising of many in Israel and for a token to be spoken against;
#BCV:Luke 2:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:35">35</verse></sup> and a sword will pierce through your own soul also; that the reasonings  in many hearts may be  revealed."
#BCV:Luke 2:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:36">36</verse></sup> There was also  Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, belonging to the tribe of Asher. She was of a very great age, having had after her maidenhood seven years of married life,
#BCV:Luke 2:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:37">37</verse></sup> and then being a widow  of eighty-four years. She was never absent from the Temple, but worshipped, by day and by night, with fasting and prayer.
#BCV:Luke 2:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:38">38</verse></sup> And coming up just at that moment, she gave thanks to God, and spoke about the child to all who were expecting the  deliverance of Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 2:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:39">39</verse></sup> Then, as soon as they had accomplished all that the Law required, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
#BCV:Luke 2:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:40">40</verse></sup> And the child grew and became strong and full of wisdom, and the favour of God rested upon Him.
#BCV:Luke 2:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:41">41</verse></sup> Now His parents used to go up year by year to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover.
#BCV:Luke 2:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:42">42</verse></sup> And when He was twelve years old they went up as was customary at the time of the Feast, and,
#BCV:Luke 2:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:43">43</verse></sup> after staying the full number of days, when they started back home the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not discover this,
#BCV:Luke 2:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:44">44</verse></sup> but supposing Him to be in the travelling company, they proceeded a day's journey. Then they searched up and down for Him among their relatives and acquaintances;
#BCV:Luke 2:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:45">45</verse></sup> but being unable to find Him they returned to Jerusalem, making anxious inquiry for Him.
#BCV:Luke 2:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:46">46</verse></sup> On the third day they found Him in  the Temple sitting among the  Rabbis, both listening to them and asking them  questions,
#BCV:Luke 2:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:47">47</verse></sup> while all who heard Him were astonished at His intelligence and at  the answers He gave.
#BCV:Luke 2:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:48">48</verse></sup> When they saw Him, they were smitten with amazement, and His mother said to Him, "My child, why have you behaved thus to us? Your father and I have been searching for you in anguish."
#BCV:Luke 2:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:49">49</verse></sup> "Why is it that you have been searching for me?" He replied; "did you not know that it is my duty  to be engaged upon my Father's business?"
#BCV:Luke 2:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:50">50</verse></sup> But they did not understand the significance of these words.
#BCV:Luke 2:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:51">51</verse></sup> Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was always obedient to them; but His mother carefully treasured up all these  incidents in her memory.
#BCV:Luke 2:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 2:52">52</verse></sup> And as Jesus grew older He gained in both wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
#BCV:Luke 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 3:1">3</verse></font> Now in the fifteenth year of the  reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judaea, Herod Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias Tetrarch of Abilene,
#BCV:Luke 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:2">2</verse></sup> during the High-priesthood of  Annas and Caiaphas, a message from God came  to John, the son of Zechariah, in the Desert.
#BCV:Luke 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:3">3</verse></sup> John went into all the district about the Jordan proclaiming a baptism  of the penitent for the forgiveness of sins;
#BCV:Luke 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:4">4</verse></sup> as it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying aloud! 'In the Desert prepare ye a road for the Lord: make His highway straight.
#BCV:Luke 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:5">5</verse></sup> Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill levelled down, the crooked places shall be turned into straight roads, and the rugged ways into smooth;
#BCV:Luke 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:6">6</verse></sup> and then shall all mankind see God's salvation.'"
#BCV:Luke 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:7">7</verse></sup> Accordingly John used to say to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, "O vipers'  brood, who has  warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
#BCV:Luke 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:8">8</verse></sup> Live lives which shall prove your change of heart; and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our forefather,' for I tell you that God can  raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.
#BCV:Luke 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:9">9</verse></sup> And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree  which fails to yield good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire."
#BCV:Luke 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:10">10</verse></sup> The crowds repeatedly asked him, "What then are we to do?"
#BCV:Luke 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:11">11</verse></sup> "Let the man who has two  coats," he answered, "give one to the man who has none; and let the man who has food share it with others."
#BCV:Luke 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:12">12</verse></sup> There came also a party of tax-gatherers to be baptized, and they asked him,  "Rabbi, what are we to do?"
#BCV:Luke 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:13">13</verse></sup> "Do not exact more than the legal amount," he replied.
#BCV:Luke 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:14">14</verse></sup> The soldiers also once and again inquired of him, "And we, what are we to do?" His answer was, "Neither intimidate any one nor lay false charges; and be content with your pay."
#BCV:Luke 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:15">15</verse></sup> And while the people were in suspense and all were debating in their minds whether John might possibly be the Anointed One,
#BCV:Luke 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:16">16</verse></sup> he answered the question by saying to them all, "As for me, I am baptizing you with water, but One mightier than I is coming, whose very sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten: He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.
#BCV:Luke 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:17">17</verse></sup> His winnowing-shovel is in His hand to clear out His threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into His storehouse; but the chaff He will burn up in fire unquenchable."
#BCV:Luke 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:18">18</verse></sup> With many exhortations besides these he declared the Good News to the people.
#BCV:Luke 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:19">19</verse></sup> But Herod the Tetrarch, being repeatedly rebuked by him about Herodias his brother's wife, and about all the wicked deeds that he had done,
#BCV:Luke 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:20">20</verse></sup> now added this to crown all the rest, that he threw John into prison.
#BCV:Luke 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:21">21</verse></sup> Now when  all the people  had been baptized, and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the sky opened,
#BCV:Luke 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:22">22</verse></sup> and the Holy Spirit came down in bodily shape, like a dove, upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, "Thou <word=are>art</word> My Son, dearly loved: in Thee  is My delight."
#BCV:Luke 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:23">23</verse></sup> And  He--Jesus--when He began His ministry, was about thirty years old. He was  the son (it was supposed)
#BCV:Luke 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:24">24</verse></sup> son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph,
#BCV:Luke 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:25">25</verse></sup> son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai,
#BCV:Luke 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:26">26</verse></sup> son of Mahath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda,
#BCV:Luke 3:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:27">27</verse></sup> son of Johanan, son of Resa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri,
#BCV:Luke 3:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:28">28</verse></sup> son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er,
#BCV:Luke 3:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:29">29</verse></sup> son of Joshua, son of Eliezar, son of Jorim, son of Maththat, son of Levi,
#BCV:Luke 3:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:30">30</verse></sup> son of Symeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, son of
#BCV:Luke 3:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:31">31</verse></sup> Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David,
#BCV:Luke 3:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:32">32</verse></sup> son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Salmon, son of Nahshon,
#BCV:Luke 3:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:33">33</verse></sup> son of Amminadab,  son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah,
#BCV:Luke 3:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:34">34</verse></sup> son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor,
#BCV:Luke 3:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:35">35</verse></sup> son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah,
#BCV:Luke 3:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:36">36</verse></sup> son of Cainan, son of Arpachshad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech,
#BCV:Luke 3:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:37">37</verse></sup> son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Kenan,
#BCV:Luke 3:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 3:38">38</verse></sup> son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.
#BCV:Luke 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 4:1">4</verse></font> Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led about  by the Spirit in the Desert for forty days,
#BCV:Luke 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:2">2</verse></sup> tempted all the while by the Devil. During those days He ate nothing, and at the close of them He suffered from hunger.
#BCV:Luke 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:3">3</verse></sup> Then the Devil said to Him,  "If you are God's Son, tell this stone to become bread."
#BCV:Luke 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:4">4</verse></sup> "It is written," replied Jesus, "'It is not on bread alone that a man shall live.'"
#BCV:Luke 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:5">5</verse></sup> The Devil next led Him up and caused Him to see  at a glance all the kingdoms of the world.
#BCV:Luke 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:6">6</verse></sup> And the Devil said to Him, "To you will I give all this authority and  this splendour; for it has been handed over to me, and on whomsoever I will I bestow it.
#BCV:Luke 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:7">7</verse></sup> If therefore you do homage to me, it shall all be yours.'
#BCV:Luke 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:8">8</verse></sup> Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'To the Lord thy God thou shalt do homage, and to Him alone shalt thou render worship.'"
#BCV:Luke 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:9">9</verse></sup> Then he brought Him to Jerusalem and caused Him to stand on the roof of the Temple, and said to Him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down from here; for it is written,
#BCV:Luke 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:10">10</verse></sup> He will give orders to His angels concerning thee, to guard thee safely;'
#BCV:Luke 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:11">11</verse></sup> and 'On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest at any moment thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.'"
#BCV:Luke 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:12">12</verse></sup> The reply of Jesus was, "It is said, 'Thou shalt not put the Lord they God to the proof.'"
#BCV:Luke 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:13">13</verse></sup> So the Devil, having  fully tried  every kind of temptation on Him, left Him  for a time.
#BCV:Luke 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:14">14</verse></sup> Then Jesus returned in the Spirit's power to Galilee; and His fame spread through all the adjacent districts.
#BCV:Luke 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:15">15</verse></sup> And  He proceeded to teach in their synagogues, winning praise from all.
#BCV:Luke 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:16">16</verse></sup> He came to Nazareth also, where He had been brought up; and, as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
#BCV:Luke 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:17">17</verse></sup> And there was handed to Him the  book of the Prophet Isaiah, and, opening the book, He found the place where it was written,
#BCV:Luke 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:18">18</verse></sup> "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim Good News to the poor; He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners of war and recovery of sight to the blind: to send away free those whom tyranny has crushed,
#BCV:Luke 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:19">19</verse></sup> to proclaim the year of acceptance with the Lord."
#BCV:Luke 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:20">20</verse></sup> And rolling up the book, He returned it to the attendant, and  sat down--to speak. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
#BCV:Luke 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:21">21</verse></sup> Then He proceeded to say to them, "To-day is this Scripture fulfilled in your hearing."
#BCV:Luke 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:22">22</verse></sup> And they all  spoke well of Him, wondering at the  sweet words of kindness which fell from His lips, while they asked one another, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
#BCV:Luke 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:23">23</verse></sup> "Doubtless," said He, "you will quote to me the proverb, 'Physician, cure yourself: all that we hear that you have done  at Capernaum, do here also in your native place.'"
#BCV:Luke 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:24">24</verse></sup> "I tell you  in solemn truth," He added, "that no Prophet is welcomed among his own people.
#BCV:Luke 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:25">25</verse></sup> But I tell you in truth that there was many a widow in Israel in the time of Elijah, when  there was no rain for three years and six months and there came a severe famine over all the land;
#BCV:Luke 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:26">26</verse></sup> and yet to not one of them was Elijah sent:  he was only sent to a widow at Zarephath in the Sidonian country.
#BCV:Luke 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:27">27</verse></sup> And there was also many a leper in Israel in the time of the Prophet Elisha, and yet not one of them was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian was."
#BCV:Luke 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:28">28</verse></sup> Then all in the synagogue, while listening to these words, were filled with fury.
#BCV:Luke 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:29">29</verse></sup> They rose, hurried Him outside the town, and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, to throw Him down the cliff;
#BCV:Luke 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:30">30</verse></sup> but He passed through the midst of them and went His way.
#BCV:Luke 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:31">31</verse></sup> So He came down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, where He frequently taught the people on the Sabbath days.
#BCV:Luke 4:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:32">32</verse></sup> And they were greatly impressed by His teaching, because He spoke with the language of authority.
#BCV:Luke 4:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:33">33</verse></sup> But in the synagogue there was a man  possessed by the spirit of a foul demon. In a loud voice he cried out,
#BCV:Luke 4:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:34">34</verse></sup> "Ha! Jesus the Nazarene, what have you to do with us? I know who you are--God's Holy One!"
#BCV:Luke 4:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:35">35</verse></sup> But Jesus rebuked the demon. "Silence!" He exclaimed; "come out of him." Upon this, the demon hurled the man into the midst of them, and came out of him without doing him any harm.
#BCV:Luke 4:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:36">36</verse></sup> All were astonished and awe-struck; and they asked one another, "What sort of language is this? For with authority and real power He gives orders to the foul spirits and they come out."
#BCV:Luke 4:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:37">37</verse></sup> And the talk about Him spread into every part of the neighbouring country.
#BCV:Luke 4:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:38">38</verse></sup> Now when He rose and left the synagogue He went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was  suffering from an acute attack of fever; and they consulted Him about her.
#BCV:Luke 4:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:39">39</verse></sup> Then standing over her He  rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she at once rose and waited on them.
#BCV:Luke 4:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:40">40</verse></sup> At sunset all who had friends suffering from any illness brought them to Him, and He laid His hands on them all, one by one, and cured them.
#BCV:Luke 4:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:41">41</verse></sup> Demons also came out of many, loudly calling out, "You are the Son of God." But He rebuked them and forbad them to speak, because they knew Him to be  the Christ.
#BCV:Luke 4:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:42">42</verse></sup> Next morning, at daybreak, He left the town and went away to a solitary place; but the people flocked out to find Him, and, coming to the place where He was, they endeavoured to detain Him that He might not leave them.
#BCV:Luke 4:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:43">43</verse></sup> But He said to them, "I have to tell the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because for this purpose I was sent."
#BCV:Luke 4:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 4:44">44</verse></sup> And  for some time He preached in the synagogues in  Galilee.
#BCV:Luke 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 5:1">5</verse></font> On one occasion the crowd was pressing on Him and listening to God's Message, while He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
#BCV:Luke 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:2">2</verse></sup> He, however, saw two fishing-boats drawn up on the beach (for the men had gone away from them and were washing the nets)
#BCV:Luke 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:3">3</verse></sup> and going on board one of them, which was Simon's He asked him to push out a little from land. Then He sat down and taught the crowd of people from the boat.
#BCV:Luke 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:4">4</verse></sup> When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon,  "Push out into deep water, and  let down your nets for a haul."
#BCV:Luke 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:5">5</verse></sup> "Rabbi," replied Peter, "all night long we have worked hard and caught nothing; but at your command I will let down the nets."
#BCV:Luke 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:6">6</verse></sup> This they did, and enclosed a vast number of fish; and their nets began to break.
#BCV:Luke 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:7">7</verse></sup> So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came, and they filled both the boats so that they almost sank.
#BCV:Luke 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:8">8</verse></sup> When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master,  leave my boat, for I am a sinful man."
#BCV:Luke 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:9">9</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Luke 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:10">10</verse></sup> and so were Simon's partners James and John, the sons of Zabdi.)
#BCV:Luke 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:11">11</verse></sup> Then, after bringing their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
#BCV:Luke 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:12">12</verse></sup> On another occasion, when He was in one of the towns, there was a man there covered with leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, threw himself at His feet and implored Him, saying, "Sir, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean."
#BCV:Luke 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:13">13</verse></sup> Reaching out His hand and touching him, Jesus said, "I am willing; be cleansed!" And instantly the leprosy left him.
#BCV:Luke 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:14">14</verse></sup> He ordered him to tell no one. "But go," He said, "show yourself to the Priest, and make the offering for your purification which Moses appointed, as evidence for them."
#BCV:Luke 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:15">15</verse></sup> But all the more the report about Him spread abroad, and great multitudes crowded to hear Him and to be cured of their diseases;
#BCV:Luke 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:16">16</verse></sup> but Jesus Himself constantly withdrew into the Desert and there prayed.
#BCV:Luke 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:17">17</verse></sup> One day He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law  sitting there who had come from every village in Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present  for Him to cure people.
#BCV:Luke 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:18">18</verse></sup> And a party of men came carrying a palsied man on a bed, and they endeavoured to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:19">19</verse></sup> But when they could find no way of doing so because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiling--bed and all--into the midst, in front of Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:20">20</verse></sup> He saw their faith and said to him,  "Friend, your sins are  forgiven."
#BCV:Luke 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:21">21</verse></sup> Then the Scribes and Pharisees began to cavil, asking, "Who is  this, uttering blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
#BCV:Luke 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:22">22</verse></sup> Well aware of their reasonings, Jesus answered their questions by asking in turn,  "What is this that you are debating in your hearts?
#BCV:Luke 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:23">23</verse></sup> Which is easier? --to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?
#BCV:Luke 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:24">24</verse></sup> But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --Turning to the paralytic He said, "I bid you, Rise, take up your bed, and go home."
#BCV:Luke 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:25">25</verse></sup> Instantly he stood up in their presence, took up the mattress on which he had been lying, and went away to his home, giving glory to God.
#BCV:Luke 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:26">26</verse></sup> Amazement seized them all. "Glory to God!" was the abiding feeling. Yet fear flashed through their minds and they said, "We have seen strange things to-day."
#BCV:Luke 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:27">27</verse></sup> After this He went out and noticed a tax-gatherer, Levi by name, sitting at the Toll office; and He said to him, "Follow me."
#BCV:Luke 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:28">28</verse></sup> He rose, left everything, and followed Him.
#BCV:Luke 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:29">29</verse></sup> Levi also gave a great entertainment at his house in honour of Jesus, and there was a large party of tax-gatherers and others at table with them.
#BCV:Luke 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:30">30</verse></sup> This led the Pharisees and Scribes of their party to expostulate with His disciples and ask, "Why are you eating and drinking with these tax-gatherers and notorious sinners?"
#BCV:Luke 5:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:31">31</verse></sup> But Jesus replied to them, "It is not men in good health who require a physician, but the sick.
#BCV:Luke 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:32">32</verse></sup> I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners."
#BCV:Luke 5:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:33">33</verse></sup> Again they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and pray, as do also those of the pharisees; but yours eat and drink."
#BCV:Luke 5:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:34">34</verse></sup> "Can you compel the bridal party to fast," replied Jesus, "so long as they have the bridegroom among them?
#BCV:Luke 5:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:35">35</verse></sup> But a time for this will come, when the Bridegroom has been taken away from them: then, at that time, they will fast."
#BCV:Luke 5:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:36">36</verse></sup> He also spoke in figurative language to them. "No one," He said, "tears a piece from a new garment to mend an old one. Otherwise he would not only spoil the new, but the patch from the new would not match the old.
#BCV:Luke 5:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:37">37</verse></sup> Nor does any one pour new wine into old wine-skins. Otherwise the new wine would burst the skins, the wine itself would be spilt, and the skins be destroyed.
#BCV:Luke 5:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:38">38</verse></sup> But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
#BCV:Luke 5:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 5:39">39</verse></sup> Nor does any one after drinking old wine wish for new; for he says, 'The old is  better.'"
#BCV:Luke 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 6:1">6</verse></font> Now on the  second-first Sabbath while He was passing through the wheatfields, His disciples were plucking the ears and rubbing them with their hands to eat the grain.
#BCV:Luke 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:2">2</verse></sup> And some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what the Law forbids on the Sabbath?"
#BCV:Luke 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:3">3</verse></sup> "Have you  never read so much as this," answered Jesus--"what David did when he and his followers were hungry;
#BCV:Luke 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:4">4</verse></sup> how he entered the house of God and took and ate the Presented Loaves and gave some to his followers--loaves which none but the Priests are allowed to eat?"
#BCV:Luke 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:5">5</verse></sup> "The Son of Man," He added, "is Lord of the Sabbath  also."
#BCV:Luke 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:6">6</verse></sup> On another Sabbath He had gone to the synagogue and was teaching there; and in the congregation was a man whose right arm was withered.
#BCV:Luke 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:7">7</verse></sup> The Scribes and the Pharisees were on the watch to see whether He would cure him on the Sabbath that they might be able to bring an accusation against Him.
#BCV:Luke 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:8">8</verse></sup> He knew their thoughts, and said to the man with the withered arm, "Rise, and  stand there in the middle." And he rose and stood there.
#BCV:Luke 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:9">9</verse></sup> Then Jesus said to them, "I put it to you all whether we are allowed to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil; to save a life, or to destroy it."
#BCV:Luke 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:10">10</verse></sup> And looking round upon them all He said to the man, "Stretch out your arm." He did so, and the arm was restored.
#BCV:Luke 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:11">11</verse></sup> But they were filled with madness, and began to discuss with one another what they should do to Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:12">12</verse></sup> About that time He went out on one occasion into the  hill country to pray; and He remained all night in  prayer to God.
#BCV:Luke 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:13">13</verse></sup> When it was day, He called His disciples; and He selected from among them twelve, whom He also named Apostles.
#BCV:Luke 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:14">14</verse></sup> These were Simon, to whom also He  had given the name of Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;
#BCV:Luke 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:15">15</verse></sup> Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot;
#BCV:Luke 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:16">16</verse></sup> James's relative Judas, and Judas Iscariot who proved to be a traitor.
#BCV:Luke 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:17">17</verse></sup> 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;
#BCV:Luke 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:18">18</verse></sup> and those who were tormented by foul spirits were cured.
#BCV:Luke 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:19">19</verse></sup> The whole crowd were eager to touch Him, because power went forth from him and cured every one.
#BCV:Luke 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:20">20</verse></sup> Then fixing His eyes upon His disciples, Jesus said to them, "Blessed are you poor, because the Kingdom of God is yours.
#BCV:Luke 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:21">21</verse></sup> "Blessed are you who hunger now, because your hunger shall be satisfied. "Blessed are you who now weep aloud, because you shall laugh.
#BCV:Luke 6:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:22">22</verse></sup> "Blessed are you when men shall hate you and exclude you from their society and insult you, and spurn your very names as evil things, for the Son of Man's sake.
#BCV:Luke 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:23">23</verse></sup> "Be glad at such a time, and dance for joy; for your reward is great in Heaven; for that is just the way their forefathers behaved to the Prophets!
#BCV:Luke 6:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:24">24</verse></sup> "But  alas for you rich men, because you already have your consolation!
#BCV:Luke 6:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:25">25</verse></sup> "Alas for you who now have plenty to eat, because you will be hungry! "Alas for you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep aloud!
#BCV:Luke 6:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:26">26</verse></sup> "Alas for you when men shall all have spoken well of you; for that is just the way their forefathers behaved to the false Prophets!
#BCV:Luke 6:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:27">27</verse></sup> "But to you who are listening to me I say, Love your enemies; seek the welfare of those who hate you;
#BCV:Luke 6:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:28">28</verse></sup> bless those who curse you; pray for those who revile you.
#BCV:Luke 6:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:29">29</verse></sup> To him who gives you a blow on one side of the face offer the other side also; and to him who is robbing you of your outer garment refuse not the under one also.
#BCV:Luke 6:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:30">30</verse></sup> To every one who asks, give; and from him who takes away your property, do not demand it back.
#BCV:Luke 6:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:31">31</verse></sup> And behave to your fellow men just as you would have them behave to you.
#BCV:Luke 6:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:32">32</verse></sup> "If you love those who love you, what credit is it to you? Why, even bad men love those who love them.
#BCV:Luke 6:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:33">33</verse></sup> And if you are  kind to those who are kind to you, what credit is it to you?  Even bad men act thus.
#BCV:Luke 6:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:34">34</verse></sup> And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is it to you? Even bad men lend to their fellows so as to receive back an equal amount.
#BCV:Luke 6:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:35">35</verse></sup> Nevertheless love your enemies, be beneficent; and lend without hoping for any repayment. Then your recompense shall be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
#BCV:Luke 6:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:36">36</verse></sup> Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.
#BCV:Luke 6:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:37">37</verse></sup> "Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned;  pardon, and you shall be  pardoned;
#BCV:Luke 6:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:38">38</verse></sup> give, and gifts shall be bestowed on you. Full measure, pressed, shaken down, and running over, shall they pour into your laps; for with the same measure that you use they shall measure to you in return."
#BCV:Luke 6:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:39">39</verse></sup> He also spoke to them in figurative language. "Can a blind man lead a blind man?" He asked; "would not both fall into the ditch?
#BCV:Luke 6:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:40">40</verse></sup> There is no disciple who is superior to his teacher; but every one whose instruction is complete will be like his teacher.
#BCV:Luke 6:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:41">41</verse></sup> "And why look at the splinter in your brother's eye instead of giving careful attention to the beam in your own?
#BCV:Luke 6:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:42">42</verse></sup> How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take that splinter out of your eye,' when all the while you yourself do not see the beam in your own eye? Vain pretender! take the beam out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother's eye.
#BCV:Luke 6:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:43">43</verse></sup> "There is no good tree that yields unsound fruit, nor again any unsound tree that yields good fruit.
#BCV:Luke 6:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:44">44</verse></sup> Every tree is known by its own fruit. It is not from thorns that men gather figs, nor from the bramble that they can get a bunch of grapes.
#BCV:Luke 6:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:45">45</verse></sup> A good man from the good stored up in his heart brings out what is good; and an evil man from the evil stored up brings out what is evil; for from the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
#BCV:Luke 6:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:46">46</verse></sup> "And why do you all call me 'Master, Master' and yet not do what I tell you?
#BCV:Luke 6:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:47">47</verse></sup> Every one who comes to me and listens to my words and puts them in practice, I will show you whom he is like.
#BCV:Luke 6:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:48">48</verse></sup> He is like a man building a house, who  digs and goes deep, and lays the foundation on the rock; and when a flood comes, the torrent bursts upon that house, but is unable to shake it, because it is securely built.
#BCV:Luke 6:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 6:49">49</verse></sup> But he who has heard and not practised is like a man who has built a house upon the soft soil without a foundation, against which the torrent bursts, and immediately it collapses, and terrible is the wreck and ruin of that house."
#BCV:Luke 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 7:1">7</verse></font> After He had finished teaching all these things  in the hearing of the people, He went into Capernaum.
#BCV:Luke 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:2">2</verse></sup> Here the  servant of a certain Captain, a man dear to his master, was ill and at the point of death;
#BCV:Luke 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:3">3</verse></sup> and the Captain, hearing about Jesus, sent to Him some of the Jewish Elders, begging Him to come and  restore his servant to health.
#BCV:Luke 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:4">4</verse></sup> And they, when they came to Jesus, earnestly entreated Him, pleading, "He deserves to have this favour granted him,
#BCV:Luke 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:5">5</verse></sup> for he loves our nation, and at his own expense he built our synagogue for us."
#BCV:Luke 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:6">6</verse></sup> Then Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the Captain sent friends to Him with the message: "Sir, do not trouble to come.  I am not worthy of having you come under my roof;
#BCV:Luke 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:7">7</verse></sup> and therefore I did not deem myself worthy to come to you. Only speak the word, and  let my  young man be cured.
#BCV:Luke 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:8">8</verse></sup> For I too am a man obedient to authority, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this or that,' and he does it."
#BCV:Luke 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:9">9</verse></sup> Jesus listened to the Captain's message and was astonished at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I tell you that not even in Israel have I found faith like that."
#BCV:Luke 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:10">10</verse></sup> And the friends who had been sent, on returning to the house, found the servant in perfect health.
#BCV:Luke 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:11">11</verse></sup> Shortly afterwards He went to a town called Nain, attended by  His disciples and a great crowd of people.
#BCV:Luke 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:12">12</verse></sup> And just as He reached the gate of the town, they happened to be bringing out for burial a dead man who was his mother's only son; and she was a widow; and a great number of the townspeople were with her.
#BCV:Luke 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:13">13</verse></sup> The Lord saw her, was moved with pity for her, and said to her, "Do not weep."
#BCV:Luke 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:14">14</verse></sup> Then He went close and touched the bier, and the bearers halted. "Young man," He said, "I command you, wake!"
#BCV:Luke 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:15">15</verse></sup> The dead man sat up and began to speak; and He restored him to his mother.
#BCV:Luke 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:16">16</verse></sup> All were awe-struck, and they gave glory to God--some saying, "A Prophet, a great Prophet, has  risen up among us." Others said, "God has not forgotten His People."
#BCV:Luke 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:17">17</verse></sup> And the report of what Jesus had done spread through the whole of Judaea and in all the surrounding districts.
#BCV:Luke 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:18">18</verse></sup> John's disciples brought him an account of all these things;
#BCV:Luke 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:19">19</verse></sup> so John called two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord. "Are you the Coming One?" he asked, "or is there  another that we are to expect?"
#BCV:Luke 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:20">20</verse></sup> The men came to Jesus and said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this question: 'Are you the Coming One, or is there another that we are to expect?'"
#BCV:Luke 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:21">21</verse></sup> He immediately cured many of diseases, severe pain, and evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave the gift of sight.
#BCV:Luke 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:22">22</verse></sup> Then He answered the messengers, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. Blind men  receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are purified, deaf persons hear, the dead are  raised to life, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them.
#BCV:Luke 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:23">23</verse></sup> And blessed is every one who does not stumble and fall because of my claims."
#BCV:Luke 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:24">24</verse></sup> When John's messengers were gone, He proceeded to say to the multitude concerning John, "What did you go out into the Desert to gaze at? A reed waving in the wind?
#BCV:Luke 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:25">25</verse></sup> But what did you go out to see? A man wearing luxurious clothes? People who are gorgeously dressed and live in luxury are found in palaces.
#BCV:Luke 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:26">26</verse></sup> But what did you go out to see? A Prophet? Aye, I tell you, and far more than a Prophet.
#BCV:Luke 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:27">27</verse></sup> John is the man about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending My messenger before thy face, and he shall make ready thy way before thee.'
#BCV:Luke 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:28">28</verse></sup> "I tell you that among all of women born there is not one greater than John. Yet one who is of lower rank in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.
#BCV:Luke 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:29">29</verse></sup> And all the people, including the tax-gatherers, when they listened to him upheld the righteousness of God, by being baptized with John's baptism.
#BCV:Luke 7:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:30">30</verse></sup> But the Pharisees and expounders of the Law have frustrated  God's purpose as to their own lives, by refusing to be  baptized.
#BCV:Luke 7:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:31">31</verse></sup> "To what then shall I compare the men of the present generation, and what do they resemble?
#BCV:Luke 7:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:32">32</verse></sup> They are like children sitting in the public square and calling out to one another, 'We have played the flute to you, and you have not danced: we have sung dirges, and you have not shown sorrow.'
#BCV:Luke 7:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:33">33</verse></sup> For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!'
#BCV:Luke 7:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:34">34</verse></sup> The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, there is a man who is overfond of eating and drinking--he is a friend of tax-gatherers and notorious sinners!'
#BCV:Luke 7:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:35">35</verse></sup> But wisdom  is justified by all  who are truly wise."
#BCV:Luke 7:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:36">36</verse></sup> Now one of the Pharisees  repeatedly invited Him to a meal at his house; so He entered the house and reclined at the table.
#BCV:Luke 7:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:37">37</verse></sup> And there was a woman in the town who was a notorious sinner. Having learnt that Jesus  was at table in the Pharisee's house she brought a flask of perfume,
#BCV:Luke 7:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:38">38</verse></sup> and, standing  behind close to His feet, weeping, began to wet His feet with her tears; and with her hair she wiped the tears away again, while she lovingly kissed His feet and poured the perfume over them.
#BCV:Luke 7:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:39">39</verse></sup> Noticing this, the Pharisee, His host, said to himself,  "This man, if he were really a Prophet, would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him--and would know that she is an immoral woman."
#BCV:Luke 7:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:40">40</verse></sup> In answer to  his thoughts Jesus said to him, "Simon, I have a word to say to you."  "Rabbi, say on," he replied.
#BCV:Luke 7:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:41">41</verse></sup> "There were once two men in debt to one money-lender," said Jesus; "one owed him five hundred shillings and the other fifty.
#BCV:Luke 7:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:42">42</verse></sup> But neither of them could pay anything; so he freely forgave them both. Tell me, then, which of them will love him most?"
#BCV:Luke 7:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:43">43</verse></sup> "I suppose," replied Simon, "the one to whom he forgave most." "You have judged rightly," Jesus rejoined.
#BCV:Luke 7:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:44">44</verse></sup> Then turning towards the woman He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house: you gave me no water for my feet; but she has made my feet wet with her tears, and then wiped the tears away with her hair.
#BCV:Luke 7:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:45">45</verse></sup> No kiss did you give me; but she from the moment I came in has not left off tenderly kissing my feet.
#BCV:Luke 7:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:46">46</verse></sup> No oil did you pour even on my head; but she has poured perfume upon my feet.
#BCV:Luke 7:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:47">47</verse></sup> This is the reason why I tell you that her sins, her many sins,  are forgiven--because she has loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."
#BCV:Luke 7:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:48">48</verse></sup> And He said to her, "Your sins  are forgiven."
#BCV:Luke 7:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:49">49</verse></sup> Then the other guests began to say to themselves, "Who can this man be who even forgives sins?"
#BCV:Luke 7:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 7:50">50</verse></sup> But He said to the woman, "Your faith has  cured you:  go, and be at peace."
#BCV:Luke 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 8:1">8</verse></font> Shortly after this He visited town after town, and village after village, proclaiming His Message and telling  the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him,
#BCV:Luke 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:2">2</verse></sup> and certain women whom He had  delivered from evil spirits and various diseases--Mary of Magdala, out of whom seven demons had come,
#BCV:Luke 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:3">3</verse></sup> and  Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many other women, all of whom contributed to  the support of Jesus and His Apostles.
#BCV:Luke 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:4">4</verse></sup> And when a great crowd was assembling, and was receiving additions from one town after another, He spoke a parable to them.
#BCV:Luke 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:5">5</verse></sup> "The sower," He said,  "goes out to sow his seed; and as he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and is trodden upon, or the birds of the air come and peck it up.
#BCV:Luke 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:6">6</verse></sup> Another part drops upon the rock, and after growing up it withers away for want of moisture.
#BCV:Luke 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:7">7</verse></sup> Another part falls among the thorns, and the thorns grow up with it and stifle it.
#BCV:Luke 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:8">8</verse></sup> But some of the seed falls into good ground, and grows up and yields a return of a hundred for one." While thus speaking, He cried aloud and said, "Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"
#BCV:Luke 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:9">9</verse></sup> The disciples  proceeded to ask Him what this parable meant.
#BCV:Luke 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:10">10</verse></sup> "To you," He replied, "it is granted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but all others are taught by parables, in order that they may see and yet not see, and may hear and yet not understand.
#BCV:Luke 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:11">11</verse></sup> The meaning of the parable is as follows. The seed is God's Message.
#BCV:Luke 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:12">12</verse></sup> Those by the way-side are those who have heard, and then the Devil comes and carries away the Message from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
#BCV:Luke 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:13">13</verse></sup> Those on the rock are the people who on hearing the Message receive it joyfully; but they have no root: for a time they believe, but when trial comes they fall away.
#BCV:Luke 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:14">14</verse></sup> That which fell among the thorns means those who have heard, but as they go on their way, the Message is stifled by the anxieties, wealth and gaieties of time, and they yield nothing in perfection.
#BCV:Luke 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:15">15</verse></sup> But as for that in the good ground, it means those who, having listened to the Message with open  minds and in a right spirit, hold it fast, and patiently yield a return.
#BCV:Luke 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:16">16</verse></sup> "When any one lights a lamp, he does not cover it with a vessel or hide it under  a couch; he puts it on  a lampstand, that people who enter the room may see the light.
#BCV:Luke 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:17">17</verse></sup> There is nothing hidden, which shall not be openly seen; nor anything secret, which shall not be known and come into the light of day.
#BCV:Luke 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:18">18</verse></sup> Be careful, therefore, how you hear; for whoever has anything, to him more shall be given, and whoever has nothing, even that which he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."
#BCV:Luke 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:19">19</verse></sup> Then came to Him His mother and His brothers, but could not get near Him for the crowd.
#BCV:Luke 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:20">20</verse></sup> But He was told, "Your mother and brothers are standing on the edge of the crowd, and want to see you."
#BCV:Luke 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:21">21</verse></sup> "My mother and my brothers," He replied, "are  these who hear God's Message and obey it."
#BCV:Luke 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:22">22</verse></sup> One day He went on board a boat--both He and his disciples; and He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the Lake." So they set sail.
#BCV:Luke 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:23">23</verse></sup> During the passage He fell asleep, and there came down a squall of wind on the Lake, so that  the boat began to fill and they were in deadly peril.
#BCV:Luke 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:24">24</verse></sup> So they came and woke Him, crying,  "Rabbi, Rabbi, we are drowning." Then He roused Himself and rebuked the wind and the surging of the water, and they ceased and there was a calm.
#BCV:Luke 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:25">25</verse></sup> "Where is your faith?" He asked them. But they were filled with terror and amazement, and said to one another, "Who then is this? for He gives orders both to wind and waves, and they obey Him."
#BCV:Luke 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:26">26</verse></sup> Then they put in to shore in the country of the  Gerasenes, which lies opposite to Galilee.
#BCV:Luke 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:27">27</verse></sup> Here, on landing, He was met by one of the townsmen who was possessed by demons--for a long time he had not put on any garment, nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs.
#BCV:Luke 8:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:28">28</verse></sup> When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? Do not torture me, I beseech you."
#BCV:Luke 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:29">29</verse></sup> For already He  had been commanding the foul spirit to come out of the man. For  many a time it had seized and held him, and they had repeatedly put him in chains and fetters and kept guard over him, but he used to break the chains to pieces, and, impelled by the demon, to escape into the Desert.
#BCV:Luke 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:30">30</verse></sup> "What is your name?" Jesus asked him. "Legion," he replied--because a great number of demons had entered into him;
#BCV:Luke 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:31">31</verse></sup> and they besought Him not to command them to be gone into the  Bottomless Pit.
#BCV:Luke 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:32">32</verse></sup> Now there was  a great herd of swine there feeding on the hill-side; and the demons begged Him to give them leave to go into them, and He gave them leave.
#BCV:Luke 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:33">33</verse></sup> The demons  came out of the man and left him, and entered into the swine; and the herd rushed violently over the cliff into the Lake and were drowned.
#BCV:Luke 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:34">34</verse></sup> The swineherds, seeing what had happened, fled and reported it both in town and country;
#BCV:Luke 8:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:35">35</verse></sup> whereupon the people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were terrified.
#BCV:Luke 8:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:36">36</verse></sup> And those who had seen it told them how the demoniac was cured.
#BCV:Luke 8:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:37">37</verse></sup> Then the whole population of the Gerasenes and of the adjacent districts begged Him to depart from them; for  their terror was great. So He went on board and returned.
#BCV:Luke 8:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:38">38</verse></sup> But the man from whom the demons had gone out earnestly asked permission to go with Him; but He sent him away.
#BCV:Luke 8:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:39">39</verse></sup> "Return home," He said, "and tell there all that God has done for you." So he went and published through the whole town all that Jesus had done for him.
#BCV:Luke 8:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:40">40</verse></sup> Now when Jesus  was returning, the people gave Him a warm welcome; for they had all been looking out for Him.
#BCV:Luke 8:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:41">41</verse></sup> Just then there came a man named Jair, a Warden of the Synagogue, who threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and entreated Him to come to his house;
#BCV:Luke 8:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:42">42</verse></sup> for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. And as He went, the dense throng crowded on Him.
#BCV:Luke 8:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:43">43</verse></sup> And a woman who for twelve years had been afflicted with haemorrhage--and had spent on doctors all she had, but  none of them had been able to cure her--
#BCV:Luke 8:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:44">44</verse></sup> came close behind Him and touched the tassel of His robe; and instantly her flow of blood stopped.
#BCV:Luke 8:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:45">45</verse></sup> "Who is it touched me?" Jesus asked. And when all denied having done so, Peter and the rest said, "Rabbi, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing on you."
#BCV:Luke 8:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:46">46</verse></sup> "Some one has touched me," Jesus replied, "for  I feel that power has gone out from me."
#BCV:Luke 8:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:47">47</verse></sup> Then the woman, perceiving that she had not escaped notice, came trembling, and throwing herself down at His feet she stated before all the people the reason why she had touched Him and how she was instantly cured.
#BCV:Luke 8:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:48">48</verse></sup> "Daughter," said He, "your faith has cured you; go, and be at peace."
#BCV:Luke 8:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:49">49</verse></sup> While He was still speaking, some one came to the Warden of the Synagogue from his house and said, "Your daughter is dead; trouble the  Rabbi no further."
#BCV:Luke 8:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:50">50</verse></sup> Jesus heard the words and said to him, "Have no fear. Only believe, and she shall be restored to life."
#BCV:Luke 8:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:51">51</verse></sup> So He came to the house, but allowed no one to go in with Him but Peter and John and James and the girl's father and mother.
#BCV:Luke 8:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:52">52</verse></sup> The people were all weeping aloud and beating their breasts for her; but He said, "Leave off wailing; for she is not dead, but asleep."
#BCV:Luke 8:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:53">53</verse></sup> And they jeered at Him, knowing that she was dead.
#BCV:Luke 8:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:54">54</verse></sup> He, however, took her by the hand and called aloud, "Child, awake!"
#BCV:Luke 8:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:55">55</verse></sup> And her spirit returned, and instantly she stood up; and He directed them to give her some food.
#BCV:Luke 8:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 8:56">56</verse></sup> Her parents were  astounded; but He forbad them to mention the matter to any one.
#BCV:Luke 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 9:1">9</verse></font> Then calling the Twelve together He conferred on them power and authority over all the demons and to cure diseases;
#BCV:Luke 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:2">2</verse></sup> and sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to cure  the sick.
#BCV:Luke 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:3">3</verse></sup> And He commanded them, "Take nothing for your journey; neither stick nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have an extra under garment.
#BCV:Luke 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:4">4</verse></sup> Whatever house you enter, make that your home, and from it start afresh.
#BCV:Luke 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:5">5</verse></sup> Wherever they refuse to receive you, as you leave that town shake off the very dust from your feet as a protest against them."
#BCV:Luke 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:6">6</verse></sup> So they departed and visited village after village, spreading the Good News and performing cures everywhere.
#BCV:Luke 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:7">7</verse></sup> Now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was going on; and he was bewildered because of its being said by some that John had come back to life,
#BCV:Luke 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:8">8</verse></sup> by others that Elijah had appeared, and by others that some one of the ancient Prophets had come back to life.
#BCV:Luke 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:9">9</verse></sup> And Herod said, "John I have beheaded; but who is this, of whom I hear such reports?" And he sought for an opportunity of seeing Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:10">10</verse></sup> The Apostles, on their return, related to Jesus all they had done. Then He took them and withdrew to a quiet retreat,  to a town called Bethsaida.
#BCV:Luke 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:11">11</verse></sup> But the immense crowd, aware of this, followed Him; and receiving them kindly He proceeded to speak to them of the Kingdom of God, and those who needed to be restored to health, He cured.
#BCV:Luke 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:12">12</verse></sup> Now when the day began to decline, the Twelve came to Him and said, "Send the people away, that they may go to the villages and farms round about and find lodging and a supply of food; because here we are in an uninhabited district."
#BCV:Luke 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:13">13</verse></sup> "You yourselves," He said, "must give them food." "We have nothing," they replied, "but five loaves and a couple of fish, unless indeed we were to go and buy provisions for all this host of people."
#BCV:Luke 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:14">14</verse></sup> But He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in parties of about fifty each."
#BCV:Luke 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:15">15</verse></sup> They did so, making them all, without exception, sit down.
#BCV:Luke 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:16">16</verse></sup> Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to Heaven He blessed them and broke them into portions which He gave to the disciples  to distribute to the people.
#BCV:Luke 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:17">17</verse></sup> So they ate and were fully satisfied, all of them; and what they had remaining over was gathered up, twelve baskets of fragments.
#BCV:Luke 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:18">18</verse></sup> One day when He was praying by Himself the disciples were present; and He asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?"
#BCV:Luke 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:19">19</verse></sup> "John the Baptist," they replied; "but others say Elijah; and others that some one of the ancient Prophets has come back to life."
#BCV:Luke 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:20">20</verse></sup> "But you," He asked, "who do you say that I am?" "God's  Anointed One," replied Peter.
#BCV:Luke 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:21">21</verse></sup> And Jesus strictly forbad them to tell this to any one;
#BCV:Luke 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:22">22</verse></sup> and He said, "The Son of Man must suffer much cruelty, be rejected by the Elders and High Priests and Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day  be raised to life again."
#BCV:Luke 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:23">23</verse></sup> And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him  ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.
#BCV:Luke 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:24">24</verse></sup> For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it.
#BCV:Luke 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:25">25</verse></sup> Why, what benefit is it to a man to have gained the whole world, but to have lost or  forfeited his own self.
#BCV:Luke 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:26">26</verse></sup> For whoever shall have been ashamed of me and my teachings, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own and the Father's glory and in that of the holy angels.
#BCV:Luke 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:27">27</verse></sup> I tell you truly that there are some of those who stand here who will certainly not taste death  till they have seen the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Luke 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:28">28</verse></sup> It was about eight days after this that Jesus, taking with Him Peter, John, and James, went  up the mountain to pray.
#BCV:Luke 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:29">29</verse></sup> And while He was praying the appearance of His face underwent a change, and His clothing became white and  radiant.
#BCV:Luke 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:30">30</verse></sup> And suddenly there were two men conversing with Him, who were Moses and Elijah.
#BCV:Luke 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:31">31</verse></sup> They  came in glory, and kept speaking about His death, which He was so soon to undergo in Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:32">32</verse></sup> Now Peter and the others were weighed down with sleep; but, keeping themselves awake all through, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him.
#BCV:Luke 9:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:33">33</verse></sup> And when they were preparing to depart from Him, Peter said to Jesus,  "Rabbi, we are thankful to you that we are here. Let us put up three tents--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what he was saying.
#BCV:Luke 9:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:34">34</verse></sup> But while he was thus speaking, there came a cloud which  spread over them; and they were awe-struck when  they had entered into the cloud.
#BCV:Luke 9:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:35">35</verse></sup> Then there came a voice from within the cloud: "This is My Son, My Chosen One: listen to Him."
#BCV:Luke 9:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:36">36</verse></sup> After this voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept it to themselves, and said not a word to any one at that time about what they had seen.
#BCV:Luke 9:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:37">37</verse></sup> On the following day, when they were come down from the mountain, a great crowd came to meet Him;
#BCV:Luke 9:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:38">38</verse></sup> and a man from the crowd called out,  "Rabbi,  I beg you to pity my son, for he is my only child.
#BCV:Luke 9:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:39">39</verse></sup> At times a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him, and makes him foam at the mouth, and  does not leave him till it has well-nigh covered him with bruises.
#BCV:Luke 9:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:40">40</verse></sup> I entreated your disciples to expel the spirit, but they could not."
#BCV:Luke 9:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:41">41</verse></sup> "O unbelieving and perverse generation!" replied Jesus; "how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here to me."
#BCV:Luke 9:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:42">42</verse></sup> Now while the youth was coming, the spirit  dashed him to the ground and cruelly convulsed him. But Jesus  rebuked the foul spirit, and cured the youth and gave him back to his father.
#BCV:Luke 9:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:43">43</verse></sup> And all were awe-struck at the  mighty power of God. And while every one was expressing wonder at all that He was doing, He said to his disciples,
#BCV:Luke 9:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:44">44</verse></sup> "As for you, store these my sayings in your  memory; for, before long, the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men."
#BCV:Luke 9:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:45">45</verse></sup> But they did not understand His meaning: it was  veiled from them that they might not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
#BCV:Luke 9:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:46">46</verse></sup> Now there arose a dispute among them, which of them was to be the greatest.
#BCV:Luke 9:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:47">47</verse></sup> And Jesus,  knowing the reasoning that was in their hearts, took a young child and made him stand by His side
#BCV:Luke 9:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:48">48</verse></sup> and said to them,  "Whoever  for my sake receives this little child, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives Him who sent me. For the lowliest among you all--he is the  greatest."
#BCV:Luke 9:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:49">49</verse></sup> "Rabbi," replied John, "we have seen a man making use of your name to expel demons; and we forbad him, because he does not come with us."
#BCV:Luke 9:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:50">50</verse></sup> "Do not forbid him," said Jesus, "for he who is not against you is on your side."
#BCV:Luke 9:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:51">51</verse></sup> Now when the time drew near for Him to be received up again into Heaven, He proceeded with fixed purpose towards Jerusalem, and sent messengers before Him.
#BCV:Luke 9:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:52">52</verse></sup> They went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for Him.
#BCV:Luke 9:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:53">53</verse></sup> But the people there would not receive Him, because He was evidently going to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 9:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:54">54</verse></sup> When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Master, do you wish us to order fire to come down from Heaven and  consume them?"
#BCV:Luke 9:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:55">55</verse></sup> But He turned and rebuked them.
#BCV:Luke 9:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:56">56</verse></sup> And they went to another village.
#BCV:Luke 9:57
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:57">57</verse></sup> And, as they proceeded on their way, a man came to Him and said, "I will follow you wherever you go."
#BCV:Luke 9:58
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:58">58</verse></sup> "The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the air have  nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
#BCV:Luke 9:59
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:59">59</verse></sup> "Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied, "allow me first to go and bury my  father."
#BCV:Luke 9:60
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:60">60</verse></sup> "Leave the dead," Jesus rejoined, "to bury their own dead; but you must go and announce far and wide  the coming of the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Luke 9:61
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:61">61</verse></sup> "Master," said yet another, "I will follow you; but allow me first to go and say good-bye to my friends at home."
#BCV:Luke 9:62
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 9:62">62</verse></sup> Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the plough, and then looks behind him, is  fit for the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:Luke 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 10:1">10</verse></font> After this the Lord appointed  seventy  others, and sent them before Him, by twos, to go to every town or place which He Himself intended to visit.
#BCV:Luke 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:2">2</verse></sup> And He addressed them thus:  "The harvest is abundant, but the reapers are few: therefore entreat the Owner of the harvest to send out more reapers into His  fields. And now go.
#BCV:Luke 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:3">3</verse></sup> Remember that I am sending you out as lambs into the midst of wolves.
#BCV:Luke 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:4">4</verse></sup> Carry no purse, bag, nor change of shoes; and  salute no one on your way."
#BCV:Luke 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:5">5</verse></sup> "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!'
#BCV:Luke 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:6">6</verse></sup> And if there is a  lover of peace there, your peace shall rest  upon it; otherwise come back upon you.
#BCV:Luke 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:7">7</verse></sup> And  in that same house stay, eating and drinking at their table; for the labourer deserves his wages. Do not move from one house to another.
#BCV:Luke 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:8">8</verse></sup> "And whatever town you come to and they receive you, eat what they put before you.
#BCV:Luke 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:9">9</verse></sup> Cure the sick in that town, and tell them, "'The Kingdom of God is now at your door.'
#BCV:Luke 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:10">10</verse></sup> "But whatever town you come to and they will not receive you, go out into the broader streets and say,
#BCV:Luke 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:11">11</verse></sup> "'The very dust of your town that hangs about us we wipe off as a protest. Only be sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.'
#BCV:Luke 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:12">12</verse></sup> "I tell you that it will be more endurable for Sodom on the great day than for that town.
#BCV:Luke 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:13">13</verse></sup> "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.
#BCV:Luke 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:14">14</verse></sup> However, for Tyre and Sidon it will be more endurable at the Judgement than for you.
#BCV:Luke 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:15">15</verse></sup> And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be lifted high as Heaven? Thou shalt be driven down as low as Hades.
#BCV:Luke 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:16">16</verse></sup> "He who listens to you listens to me; and he who  disregards you disregards me, and he who disregards me disregards Him who sent me."
#BCV:Luke 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:17">17</verse></sup> When the Seventy returned, they exclaimed joyfully, "Master, even the demons submit to us  when we utter your name."
#BCV:Luke 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:18">18</verse></sup> "I saw Satan  fall like a lightning-flash out of Heaven," He replied.
#BCV:Luke 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:19">19</verse></sup> "I have given you  power to tread serpents and scorpions underfoot, and to trample on all the power of the Enemy; and in no case shall anything do you harm.
#BCV:Luke 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:20">20</verse></sup> Nevertheless rejoice not at this, that the spirits submit to you; but rejoice that your names are registered in Heaven."
#BCV:Luke 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:21">21</verse></sup> On that  same occasion Jesus was filled by the Holy Spirit with  rapturous joy. "I give Thee fervent thanks," He exclaimed, "O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from sages and men of understanding, and hast revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for such has been Thy gracious will.
#BCV:Luke 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:22">22</verse></sup> All things are delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, nor who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son may choose to reveal  Him."
#BCV:Luke 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:23">23</verse></sup> And He turned towards His disciples and said to them apart, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!
#BCV:Luke 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:24">24</verse></sup> For I tell you that many Prophets and kings have desired to see the things you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things you hear, and have not heard them."
#BCV:Luke 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:25">25</verse></sup> Then an expounder of the Law stood up to test Him with a question.  "Rabbi," he asked, "what shall I do to inherit the Life of the Ages?"
#BCV:Luke 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:26">26</verse></sup> "Go to the Law," said Jesus; "what is written there? how does it read?"
#BCV:Luke 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:27">27</verse></sup> "'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,'" he replied,  "'with thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole strength, and thy whole mind; and thy fellow man as much as thyself.'"
#BCV:Luke 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:28">28</verse></sup> "A right answer," said Jesus; "do that, and you shall live."
#BCV:Luke 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:29">29</verse></sup> But he, desiring to justify himself, said, "But what is meant by my 'fellow man'?"
#BCV:Luke 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:30">30</verse></sup> Jesus replied, "A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell among robbers, who after both stripping and beating him went away, leaving him half dead.
#BCV:Luke 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:31">31</verse></sup> Now a priest happened to be going down that way, and on seeing him passed by on the other side.
#BCV:Luke 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:32">32</verse></sup> In like manner a Levite also came to the place, and seeing him passed by on the other side.
#BCV:Luke 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:33">33</verse></sup> But a certain Samaritan, being on a journey, came where he lay, and seeing him was moved with pity.
#BCV:Luke 10:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:34">34</verse></sup> He went to him, and dressed his wounds with oil and wine and bound them up. Then placing him on his own  mule he brought him to an  inn, where he bestowed every care on him.
#BCV:Luke 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:35">35</verse></sup> The next day he took out two shillings and gave them to the innkeeper. "'Take care of him,' he said, 'and whatever further expense you are put to, I will repay it you at my next visit.'
#BCV:Luke 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:36">36</verse></sup> "Which of those three seems to you to have acted  like a fellow man to him who fell among the robbers?"
#BCV:Luke 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:37">37</verse></sup> "The one who showed him pity," he replied. "Go," said Jesus, "and act in the same way."
#BCV:Luke 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:38">38</verse></sup> As they pursued their journey He came to a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house.
#BCV:Luke 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:39">39</verse></sup> She had a sister called Mary, who seated herself  at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.
#BCV:Luke 10:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:40">40</verse></sup> Martha meanwhile was  busy and distracted in waiting at table, and she  came and said, "Master, do you not care that my sister  is leaving me to do all the waiting? Tell her to assist me."
#BCV:Luke 10:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:41">41</verse></sup> "Martha, Martha," replied Jesus, "you are anxious and worried about a multitude of things;
#BCV:Luke 10:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 10:42">42</verse></sup> and yet  only one thing is really necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion and she shall not be deprived of it."
#BCV:Luke 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 11:1">11</verse></font> At one place where He was praying, when He  rose from His knees one of His disciples said to Him, "Master, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
#BCV:Luke 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:2">2</verse></sup> So He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Father may Thy name be kept holy; let Thy Kingdom come;
#BCV:Luke 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:3">3</verse></sup> give us day after day our bread for the day;
#BCV:Luke 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:4">4</verse></sup> and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive every one who  fails in his duty to us; and bring us not into temptation.'"
#BCV:Luke 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:5">5</verse></sup> And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him in the middle of the night and say, "'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;
#BCV:Luke 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:6">6</verse></sup> for a friend of mine has just come to my house from a distance, and I have nothing for him to eat'?
#BCV:Luke 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:7">7</verse></sup> "And  he from indoors shall answer, "'Do not pester me. The door is now barred, and I am here in bed with my children. I cannot get up and give you bread.'
#BCV:Luke 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:8">8</verse></sup> "I tell you that even if he will not rise and give him the loaves because he is his friend, at any rate because of his  persistency he will rouse himself and give him as many as he requires.
#BCV:Luke 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:9">9</verse></sup> "So I say to you, 'Ask, and what you ask for shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.'
#BCV:Luke 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:10">10</verse></sup> For every one who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened.
#BCV:Luke 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:11">11</verse></sup> 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?
#BCV:Luke 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:12">12</verse></sup> or if he asks for an egg, will offer him a scorpion?
#BCV:Luke 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:13">13</verse></sup> If you then,  with all your human frailty, know how to give your children gifts that are good for them, how much more certainly will your Father  who is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
#BCV:Luke 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:14">14</verse></sup> On once occasion He was expelling a dumb demon; and when the demon was gone out the dumb man could speak, and the  people were astonished.
#BCV:Luke 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:15">15</verse></sup> But some among them said, "It is  by the power of Baal-zebul, the Prince of the demons, that he expels the demons."
#BCV:Luke 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:16">16</verse></sup> Others, to put Him to the test, asked Him for a  sign in the sky.
#BCV:Luke 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:17">17</verse></sup> And, knowing their thoughts, He said to them, "Every kingdom  in which civil war rages goes to ruin:  family attacks family and is overthrown.
#BCV:Luke 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:18">18</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Luke 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:19">19</verse></sup> And if it is by the power of Baal-zebul that I expel the demons, by whom do  your disciples expel them? They therefore shall be your judges.
#BCV:Luke 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:20">20</verse></sup> But if it is by the  power of God that I drive out the demons, it is evident that  the Kingdom of God  has come upon you.
#BCV:Luke 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:21">21</verse></sup> "Whenever a strong man, fully armed and equipped, is guarding his own castle, he enjoys peaceful possession of his property;
#BCV:Luke 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:22">22</verse></sup> but as soon as another stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away that complete armour of his in which he trusted, and distributes the plunder he has collected.
#BCV:Luke 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:23">23</verse></sup> Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever is not gathering with me is scattering abroad.
#BCV:Luke 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:24">24</verse></sup> "When a foul spirit has left a man, it roams about in the Desert, seeking a resting-place; but, unable to find any, it says, 'I will return to the house I have left;"
#BCV:Luke 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:25">25</verse></sup> and when it comes, it finds the house swept clean and  in good order.
#BCV:Luke 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:26">26</verse></sup> Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more malignant than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and in the end that man's condition becomes worse than it was at first.
#BCV:Luke 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:27">27</verse></sup> As He thus spoke a woman in the crowd called out in a loud voice, "Blessed is the mother who carried you, and the breasts that you have sucked."
#BCV:Luke 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:28">28</verse></sup> "Nay rather," He replied, "they are blessed who hear God's Message and  carefully keep it."
#BCV:Luke 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:29">29</verse></sup> Now when the crowds came thronging upon Him, He proceeded to say, "The present generation is a wicked generation: it requires some sign, but no sign shall be given to it except that of Jonah.
#BCV:Luke 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:30">30</verse></sup> For just as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a token to the present generation.
#BCV:Luke 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:31">31</verse></sup> The Queen of the South will awake at the Judgement together with the men of the present generation, and will condemn them; because she came from the extremity of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; but mark!  One greater than Solomon is here.
#BCV:Luke 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:32">32</verse></sup> There will stand up men of Nineveh at the Judgement together with the present generation, and will condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and mark!  One greater than Jonah is here.
#BCV:Luke 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:33">33</verse></sup> "When any one lights a lamp, he never puts it  in the cellar or under the bushel, but on the lampstand, that people who come in may see the light.
#BCV:Luke 11:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:34">34</verse></sup> The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eyesight is good, your whole body also is lighted up; but when it is defective, your body is darkened.
#BCV:Luke 11:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:35">35</verse></sup> Consider therefore whether the light that is in you is anything but mere darkness.
#BCV:Luke 11:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:36">36</verse></sup> If, however, your whole body is penetrated with light, and has no part dark, it will be so lighted, all of it, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."
#BCV:Luke 11:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:37">37</verse></sup> When He had thus spoken, a Pharisee invited Him to breakfast at his house; so He entered and took His place at table.
#BCV:Luke 11:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:38">38</verse></sup> Now the Pharisee saw to his surprise that He did not wash His hands before breakfasting.
#BCV:Luke 11:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:39">39</verse></sup> The Master however said to him, "Here we see how you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup or plate, while your secret hearts are full of greed and  selfishness.
#BCV:Luke 11:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:40">40</verse></sup> Foolish men! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?
#BCV:Luke 11:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:41">41</verse></sup> But as to what is within,  give alms, and  instantly all is clean  in you.
#BCV:Luke 11:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:42">42</verse></sup> "But  alas for you Pharisees! for you pay tithes on your mint and rue and every kind of garden vegetable, and are indifferent to justice and the love of God. These are the things you ought to have  attended to, while not neglecting the others.
#BCV:Luke 11:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:43">43</verse></sup> Alas for you Pharisees! for you love the best seats in the synagogues, and you like to be bowed to in places of public resort.
#BCV:Luke 11:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:44">44</verse></sup> Alas for you! for you are like the tombs which lie hidden, and the people who walk over them are not aware of their existence."
#BCV:Luke 11:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:45">45</verse></sup> Hereupon one of the expounders of the Law exclaimed,  "Rabbi, in saying such things you reproach us also."
#BCV:Luke 11:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:46">46</verse></sup> "Alas too for you expounders of the Law!" replied Jesus, "for you load men with cumbrous burdens which you yourselves will not touch with one of your fingers.
#BCV:Luke 11:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:47">47</verse></sup> Alas for you! for you repair the tombs of the Prophets, whom your forefathers killed.
#BCV:Luke 11:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:48">48</verse></sup> It follows that you  bear testimony to the actions of your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof. They slew, you build.
#BCV:Luke 11:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:49">49</verse></sup> "For this reason also the Wisdom of God has said, 'I will send Prophets and Apostles to them, of whom they will kill some and persecute others,'
#BCV:Luke 11:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:50">50</verse></sup> so that the blood of all the Prophets,  that is being shed from the creation of the world onwards, may be  required from the present generation.
#BCV:Luke 11:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:51">51</verse></sup> Yes, I tell you that,  from the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the House, it shall all be required from the present generation.
#BCV:Luke 11:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:52">52</verse></sup> "Alas for you expounders of the Law! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you yourselves have not entered, and those who wanted to enter you have hindered."
#BCV:Luke 11:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:53">53</verse></sup> After He had left the house, the Scribes and Pharisees commenced a vehement attempt to entangle Him and make Him give off-hand answers on numerous points,
#BCV:Luke 11:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 11:54">54</verse></sup> lying in wait to catch some unguarded expression from His lips.
#BCV:Luke 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 12:1">12</verse></font> Meanwhile the people had come streaming towards Him by tens of thousands, so that they were trampling one another under foot. And now He proceeded to say  to His disciples first, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is to say, beware of hypocrisy.
#BCV:Luke 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:2">2</verse></sup> There is nothing that is covered up which will not be uncovered, nor hidden which will not become known.
#BCV:Luke 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:3">3</verse></sup> Whatever therefore you have said in the dark, will be heard in the light; and what you have whispered within closed doors will be proclaimed from the house-tops.
#BCV:Luke 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:4">4</verse></sup> "But to you who are my friends I say, "'Be not afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing further.
#BCV:Luke 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:5">5</verse></sup> I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who after killing has power to throw into Gehenna: yes, I say to you, fear him.
#BCV:Luke 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:6">6</verse></sup> Are not five sparrows sold for  a penny? and yet not one of them is a thing forgotten in God's sight.
#BCV:Luke 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:7">7</verse></sup> But the very hairs on your heads are all counted. Away with fear: you are more precious than a multitude of sparrows.'
#BCV:Luke 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:8">8</verse></sup> "And I tell you that  every man who shall have  acknowledged me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.
#BCV:Luke 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:9">9</verse></sup> But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
#BCV:Luke 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:10">10</verse></sup> "Moreover every one who  shall speak against the Son of Man,  may obtain forgiveness; but he who  blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never obtain forgiveness.
#BCV:Luke 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:11">11</verse></sup> And when they are bringing you before synagogues and magistrates and governors, do not anxiously ponder the manner or matter of your defence, nor what you are to say;
#BCV:Luke 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:12">12</verse></sup> for the Holy Spirit shall teach you at that very moment what you must say."
#BCV:Luke 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:13">13</verse></sup> Just then a man in the crowd appealed to Him.  "Rabbi," he said, "tell my brother to give me a share of the inheritance."
#BCV:Luke 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:14">14</verse></sup> "Man," He replied, "who has constituted me a judge or arbitrator over you?"
#BCV:Luke 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:15">15</verse></sup> And to the people He said, "Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for no one's life consists in the superabundance of his possessions."
#BCV:Luke 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:16">16</verse></sup> And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops,
#BCV:Luke 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:17">17</verse></sup> and he debated within himself, saying, "'What am I to do? for I have no place in which to store my crops.'
#BCV:Luke 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:18">18</verse></sup> "And he said to himself, "'This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and in them I will store up all my harvest and my wealth;
#BCV:Luke 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:19">19</verse></sup> and I will say to my  life, "'Life, you have ample possessions laid up for many years to come: take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.'
#BCV:Luke 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:20">20</verse></sup> "But God said to him, "'Foolish man, this night your life is demanded from you; and these preparations--for whom shall they be?'
#BCV:Luke 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:21">21</verse></sup> "So is it with him who amasses treasure for himself, but has no riches  in God."
#BCV:Luke 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:22">22</verse></sup> Then turning to His disciples He said,  "For this reason I say to you, 'Dismiss all anxious care for your  lives, inquiring what you are to eat, and for your  bodies, what you are to put on.'
#BCV:Luke 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:23">23</verse></sup> For life is a greater gift than  food, and the body is a greater gift than clothing.
#BCV:Luke 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:24">24</verse></sup> Observe the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, and have neither store-chamber nor barn. And yet God feeds them. How far more precious are you than the birds!
#BCV:Luke 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:25">25</verse></sup> And which of you is able by anxious thought to add  a  moment to his life?
#BCV:Luke 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:26">26</verse></sup> If then you are unable to do even a very little thing, why be over-anxious about other matters?
#BCV:Luke 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:27">27</verse></sup> Observe the lilies, how they grow. They neither labour nor spin. And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was  as beautifully dressed as one of these.
#BCV:Luke 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:28">28</verse></sup> But if God so clothes the vegetation in the fields, that  blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven, how much more certainly will He clothe you, you men of feeble faith!
#BCV:Luke 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:29">29</verse></sup> "Therefore, do not be asking what you are to eat nor what you are to drink; and do not waver between hope and fear.
#BCV:Luke 12:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:30">30</verse></sup> For though the nations of the world pursue these things, as for you, your Father knows that you need them.
#BCV:Luke 12:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:31">31</verse></sup> But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit, and these things shall be given you in addition.
#BCV:Luke 12:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:32">32</verse></sup> "Dismiss your fears, little flock: your Father finds a pleasure in giving you the Kingdom.
#BCV:Luke 12:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:33">33</verse></sup> Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that will never wear out, a treasure inexhaustible in Heaven, where no thief can come nor moth consume.
#BCV:Luke 12:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:34">34</verse></sup> For where your wealth is stored, there also will your heart be.
#BCV:Luke 12:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:35">35</verse></sup> "Have your girdles on, and let your lamps be alight;
#BCV:Luke 12:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:36">36</verse></sup> and be yourselves like men waiting for their master--on the look-out till he shall  return from the wedding feast--that, when he comes and knocks, they may open the door instantly.
#BCV:Luke 12:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:37">37</verse></sup> Blessed are those servants, whom their Master when He comes shall find on the watch. I tell you in solemn truth, that He will tie an apron round Him, and will bid them recline at table while He comes and waits on them.
#BCV:Luke 12:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:38">38</verse></sup> And whether it be in the second watch or in the third that He comes and finds them so, blessed are they.
#BCV:Luke 12:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:39">39</verse></sup> Of this be sure, that if the master of the house had known what time the robber was coming, he would have kept awake and not have allowed his house to be broken into.
#BCV:Luke 12:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:40">40</verse></sup> Be you also ready, for at an hour when you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come."
#BCV:Luke 12:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:41">41</verse></sup> "Master," said Peter, "are you addressing this parable to us, or to all alike?"
#BCV:Luke 12:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:42">42</verse></sup> "Who, then," replied the Lord, "is the faithful and intelligent steward whom his Master will put in charge of His household to serve out their rations at the proper times?
#BCV:Luke 12:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:43">43</verse></sup> Blessed is that servant whom his Master when He comes shall find so doing.
#BCV:Luke 12:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:44">44</verse></sup> I tell you truly that He will put him in authority over all His possessions.
#BCV:Luke 12:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:45">45</verse></sup> But if that servant  should say in his heart, 'My Master is a long time in coming,' and should begin to beat the  menservants and the maids, and to eat and drink, drinking even to excess;
#BCV:Luke 12:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:46">46</verse></sup> that servant's Master will come on a day when he is not expecting Him and at an hour that he knows not of, and will  punish him severely, and make him share the lot of the unfaithful.
#BCV:Luke 12:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:47">47</verse></sup> And that servant who has been told his Master's will and yet made no preparation and did not obey His will, will receive many lashes.
#BCV:Luke 12:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:48">48</verse></sup> But he who had not been told it and yet did what deserved the scourge, will receive but few lashes. To whomsoever much has been given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been  entrusted, of him a larger amount will be demanded.
#BCV:Luke 12:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:49">49</verse></sup> "I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my desire? Oh that it were even now kindled!
#BCV:Luke 12:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:50">50</verse></sup> But I have a baptism to undergo; and how am I pent up till it is accomplished!
#BCV:Luke 12:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:51">51</verse></sup> Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you that I came to bring dissension.
#BCV:Luke 12:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:52">52</verse></sup> For from this time there will be in one house five persons split into parties. Three will form a party against two and two will form a party against three;
#BCV:Luke 12:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:53">53</verse></sup> father against son and son against father; mother attacking daughter and daughter her mother, mother-in-law her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law her mother-in-law."
#BCV:Luke 12:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:54">54</verse></sup> Then He said to the  people also, "When you see a cloud  rising in the west, you immediately say, 'There is to be  a shower;' and it comes to pass.
#BCV:Luke 12:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:55">55</verse></sup> And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be burning hot;' and it comes to pass.
#BCV:Luke 12:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:56">56</verse></sup> Vain pretenders! You know how to read the aspect of earth and sky. How is it you cannot read this present time?
#BCV:Luke 12:57
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:57">57</verse></sup> "Why, too, do you not of yourselves arrive at just conclusions?
#BCV:Luke 12:58
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:58">58</verse></sup> For when, with  your opponent,  you are  going before the magistrate, on the way take pains to get out of his power; for fear that, if he  should drag you before the judge, the judge  may hand you over to the officer of the court, and the officer lodge you in prison.
#BCV:Luke 12:59
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 12:59">59</verse></sup> Never, I tell you, will you get free till you have paid the last farthing."
#BCV:Luke 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 13:1">13</verse></font> Just at that time people came to tell Him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
#BCV:Luke 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:2">2</verse></sup> "Do you suppose," He asked in reply, "that  those Galilaeans were worse sinners than the mass of the Galilaeans, because this happened to them?
#BCV:Luke 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:3">3</verse></sup> I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you  are not penitent you will all perish  as they did.
#BCV:Luke 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:4">4</verse></sup> Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, do you suppose they had  failed in their duty more than all the rest of the people who live in Jerusalem?
#BCV:Luke 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:5">5</verse></sup> I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you  do not repent you will all perish  just as they did."
#BCV:Luke 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:6">6</verse></sup> And He gave them the following parable. "A man," He said, "who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none.
#BCV:Luke 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:7">7</verse></sup> So he said to the gardener, "'See, this is the third year I have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find any. Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually wasted?'
#BCV:Luke 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:8">8</verse></sup> "But the gardener pleaded, "'Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it.
#BCV:Luke 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:9">9</verse></sup> If after that it bears fruit,  well and good; if it does not, then you shall cut it down.'"
#BCV:Luke 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:10">10</verse></sup> Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues
#BCV:Luke 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:11">11</verse></sup> where a woman was present who for eighteen years  had been a confirmed invalid: she was bent double, and was unable to lift herself to her full height.
#BCV:Luke 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:12">12</verse></sup> But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her, "Woman,  you are free from your weakness."
#BCV:Luke 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:13">13</verse></sup> And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to God.
#BCV:Luke 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:14">14</verse></sup> Then the Warden of the Synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured her on a Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days in the week on which people ought to work. On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured, and not on the Sabbath day."
#BCV:Luke 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:15">15</verse></sup> But the Lord's reply to him was, "Hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his bullock or his ass from the stall and lead him to water?
#BCV:Luke 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:16">16</verse></sup> 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?"
#BCV:Luke 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:17">17</verse></sup> When He had said this, all His opponents were ashamed, while the whole multitude was delighted at the many glorious things continually done by Him.
#BCV:Luke 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:18">18</verse></sup> This prompted Him to say, "What is the Kingdom of God like? and to what shall I compare it?
#BCV:Luke 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:19">19</verse></sup> It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost."
#BCV:Luke 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:20">20</verse></sup> And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
#BCV:Luke 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:21">21</verse></sup> It is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel of flour, to work there till the whole is leavened."
#BCV:Luke 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:22">22</verse></sup> He was passing through town after town and village after village, steadily proceeding towards Jerusalem,
#BCV:Luke 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:23">23</verse></sup> when some one asked Him, "Sir, are there but few who are to be saved?"
#BCV:Luke 13:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:24">24</verse></sup> "Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate," He answered; "for multitudes, I tell you, will  endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed.
#BCV:Luke 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:25">25</verse></sup> As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door, and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say, "'Sir, open the door for us' --"'I do not know you,' He answers;  'you are no friends of mine.'
#BCV:Luke 13:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:26">26</verse></sup> "Then you will plead, "'We have eaten and drunk in your company and you have taught in our streets.'
#BCV:Luke 13:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:27">27</verse></sup> "But He will reply, "'I tell you that you are no friends of mine. Begone from me, all of you, wrongdoers that you are.'
#BCV:Luke 13:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:28">28</verse></sup> "There will be  the weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being driven far away.
#BCV:Luke 13:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:29">29</verse></sup> They will come from east and west, from north and south, and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:Luke 13:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:30">30</verse></sup> And  I tell you that some now last  will then be first, and some now first will then be last."
#BCV:Luke 13:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:31">31</verse></sup> Just at that time there came some Pharisees who warned Him, saying, "Leave this place and continue your journey; Herod means to kill you."
#BCV:Luke 13:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:32">32</verse></sup> "Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox: "'See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.'
#BCV:Luke 13:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:33">33</verse></sup> "Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow and the day following; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 13:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:34">34</verse></sup> O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!
#BCV:Luke 13:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 13:35">35</verse></sup> See, your house  is left to you. But I tell you that you will never see me again  until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"
#BCV:Luke 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 14:1">14</verse></font> One day--it was a Sabbath--He was  taking a meal at the house of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party, while they were closely watching Him.
#BCV:Luke 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:2">2</verse></sup> In front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy.
#BCV:Luke 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:3">3</verse></sup> This led Jesus to ask the lawyers and Pharisees, "Is it allowable to cure people on the Sabbath?"
#BCV:Luke 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:4">4</verse></sup> They gave Him no answer; so He took hold of the man, cured him, and sent him away.
#BCV:Luke 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:5">5</verse></sup> Then He turned to them and said, "Which of you shall have a  child or an ox fall into a well on the Sabbath day, and will not immediately lift him out?"
#BCV:Luke 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:6">6</verse></sup> To this they could make no reply.
#BCV:Luke 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:7">7</verse></sup> Then, when He noticed that the invited guests chose the best  seats, He used this as an illustration and said to them,
#BCV:Luke 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:8">8</verse></sup> "When any one invites you to a wedding banquet, do not take the best seat, lest perhaps some more honoured guest than you may have been asked,
#BCV:Luke 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:9">9</verse></sup> and the man who invited you both will come and will say to you, 'Make room for this guest,' and then you, ashamed, will move to the lowest place.
#BCV:Luke 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:10">10</verse></sup> On the contrary, when you are invited go and take the lowest place, that when your host comes round he may say to you, 'My friend, come up higher.' This will be  doing you honour in the presence of all the other guests.
#BCV:Luke 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:11">11</verse></sup> For whoever uplifts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be uplifted.
#BCV:Luke 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:12">12</verse></sup> Also to His host, who had invited Him, He said, "When you give a breakfast or a dinner, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbours, lest perhaps they should invite you in return and a requital be made you.
#BCV:Luke 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:13">13</verse></sup> But when you entertain, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind;
#BCV:Luke 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:14">14</verse></sup> and you will be blessed, because they have no means of requiting you, but there will be requital for you at the  Resurrection of the righteous."
#BCV:Luke 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:15">15</verse></sup> After listening to this teaching, one of His fellow guests said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall feast in God's Kingdom."
#BCV:Luke 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:16">16</verse></sup> "A man once gave  a great dinner," replied Jesus, "to which he invited a large number of guests.
#BCV:Luke 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:17">17</verse></sup> At dinner-time he sent his  servant to announce to those who had been invited, "'Come, for things are now ready.'
#BCV:Luke 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:18">18</verse></sup> "But they all without exception began to excuse themselves. The first told him, "'I have purchased a piece of land, and must of necessity go and look at it. Pray hold me excused.'
#BCV:Luke 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:19">19</verse></sup> "A second pleaded, "'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and am  on my way to try them. Pray hold me excused.'
#BCV:Luke 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:20">20</verse></sup> "Another said, "'I am just married. It is impossible for me to come.'
#BCV:Luke 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:21">21</verse></sup> "So the servant came and brought these answers to his master, and they stirred his anger. "'Go out quickly,' he said, 'into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow. You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them all in here.'
#BCV:Luke 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:22">22</verse></sup> "Soon the servant reported the result, saying, "'Sir, what you ordered is done, and there is room still.'
#BCV:Luke 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:23">23</verse></sup> "'Go out,' replied the master, 'to the high roads and hedge-rows, and compel the people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
#BCV:Luke 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:24">24</verse></sup> For I tell you that not one of those who were invited shall taste my dinner.'"
#BCV:Luke 14:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:25">25</verse></sup> On His journey vast crowds attended Him, towards whom He turned and said,
#BCV:Luke 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:26">26</verse></sup> "If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own  life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.
#BCV:Luke 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:27">27</verse></sup> No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.
#BCV:Luke 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:28">28</verse></sup> "Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculate the cost, asking if he has the means to finish it? --
#BCV:Luke 14:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:29">29</verse></sup> lest perhaps, when he has laid the foundation and is unable to finish, all who see it shall begin to jeer at him,
#BCV:Luke 14:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:30">30</verse></sup> saying, 'This man began to build, but could not finish.'
#BCV:Luke 14:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:31">31</verse></sup> Or what king,  marching to encounter another king in war, does not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand men to meet the one who is advancing against him with twenty thousand?
#BCV:Luke 14:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:32">32</verse></sup> If not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends  messengers and  sues for peace.
#BCV:Luke 14:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:33">33</verse></sup> Just as no one of you who does not  detach himself from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.
#BCV:Luke 14:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:34">34</verse></sup> "Salt is good: but if even the salt has become tasteless, what will you use to season it?
#BCV:Luke 14:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 14:35">35</verse></sup> Neither for land nor dunghill is it of any use; they throw it away. Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"
#BCV:Luke 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 15:1">15</verse></font> Now the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners were everywhere in the habit of coming close to Him to listen to Him;
#BCV:Luke 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:2">2</verse></sup> and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to complain, saying, "He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and joins them at their meals!"
#BCV:Luke 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:3">3</verse></sup> So in figurative language He asked them,
#BCV:Luke 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:4">4</verse></sup> "Which of you men, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in their pasture and go in search of the lost one till he finds it?
#BCV:Luke 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:5">5</verse></sup> And when he has found it, he lifts it on his shoulder, glad at heart.
#BCV:Luke 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:6">6</verse></sup> Then coming home he calls his friends and neighbours together, and says,  'Congratulate me, for I have found my sheep--the one I had lost.'
#BCV:Luke 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:7">7</verse></sup> I tell you that in the same way there will be rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner--more rejoicing than over ninety-nine blameless persons who have no need of repentance.
#BCV:Luke 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:8">8</verse></sup> "Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully till she finds it?
#BCV:Luke 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:9">9</verse></sup> And when she has found it, she calls together her  friends and neighbours, and says, "'Congratulate me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.'
#BCV:Luke 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:10">10</verse></sup> "I tell you that in the same way there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one repentant sinner."
#BCV:Luke 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:11">11</verse></sup> He went on to say, "There was a man who had two sons.
#BCV:Luke 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:12">12</verse></sup> The younger of them said to his father, "'Father, give me the share of the property that comes to me.' "So he divided his wealth between them.
#BCV:Luke 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:13">13</verse></sup> No long time afterwards the younger son got all together and travelled to a distant country, where he wasted his money in debauchery and excess.
#BCV:Luke 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:14">14</verse></sup> At last, when he had spent everything, there came a terrible famine throughout that country, and  he began  to feel the pinch of want.
#BCV:Luke 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:15">15</verse></sup> So he went and  hired himself to one of the inhabitants of that country, who sent him on to his farm to tend swine;
#BCV:Luke 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:16">16</verse></sup> and he longed to make a hearty meal of the pods the swine were eating, but no one gave him any.
#BCV:Luke 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:17">17</verse></sup> "But on coming to himself he said, "'How many of my father's hired men have more bread than they want, while I here am dying of hunger!
#BCV:Luke 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:18">18</verse></sup> I will rise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you:
#BCV:Luke 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:19">19</verse></sup> I no longer deserve to be called a son of yours: treat me as one of your hired men.'
#BCV:Luke 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:20">20</verse></sup> "So he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and pitied him, and ran and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.
#BCV:Luke 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:21">21</verse></sup> "'Father,' cried the son, 'I have sinned against Heaven and before you: no longer do I deserve to be called a son of yours.'
#BCV:Luke 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:22">22</verse></sup> "But the father said to his servants, "'Fetch a good coat quickly--the best one--and put it on him; and bring a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet.
#BCV:Luke 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:23">23</verse></sup> Fetch the fat calf and kill it, and let us feast and enjoy ourselves;
#BCV:Luke 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:24">24</verse></sup> for my son here was dead and has come to life again: he was lost and has been found.' "And they began to be merry.
#BCV:Luke 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:25">25</verse></sup> "Now his elder son was out on the farm; and when he returned and came near home, he heard music and  dancing.
#BCV:Luke 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:26">26</verse></sup> Then he called one of the lads to him and asked what all this meant.
#BCV:Luke 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:27">27</verse></sup> "'Your brother has come,' he replied; 'and your father has had the fat calf killed, because he has got him home safe and sound.'
#BCV:Luke 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:28">28</verse></sup> "Then he was angry and would not go in. But his father came out and entreated him.
#BCV:Luke 15:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:29">29</verse></sup> "'All these years,' replied the son, 'I have been slaving for you, and I have never at any time  disobeyed any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, for me to enjoy myself with my friends;
#BCV:Luke 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:30">30</verse></sup> but now that this son of yours is come who has eaten up your property among his bad women, you have killed the fat calf for him.'
#BCV:Luke 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:31">31</verse></sup> "'You  my dear son,' said the father, 'are always with me, and all that is mine is also yours.
#BCV:Luke 15:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 15:32">32</verse></sup> We are bound to make merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life, he was lost and has been found.'"
#BCV:Luke 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 16:1">16</verse></font> He said also to His disciples: "There was a rich man who had a steward, about whom a report was brought to him, that he was wasting his property.
#BCV:Luke 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:2">2</verse></sup> He called him and said, "'What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, for I cannot let you hold it any longer.'
#BCV:Luke 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:3">3</verse></sup> "Then the steward said within himself, "'What am I to do? For my master is taking away the stewardship from me. I am not strong enough for field labour: to beg, I should be ashamed.
#BCV:Luke 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:4">4</verse></sup> I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from the stewardship they may give me a home in their own houses.'
#BCV:Luke 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:5">5</verse></sup> "So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and asked the first, 'How much are you in debt to my master?'
#BCV:Luke 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:6">6</verse></sup> "'A hundred  firkins of oil,' he replied. "'Here is your account,' said the steward: 'sit down quickly and  change it into fifty firkins.'
#BCV:Luke 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:7">7</verse></sup> "To a second he said, "'And how much do you owe?' "'A hundred  quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "'Here is your account,' said he:  'change it into eighty quarters.'
#BCV:Luke 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:8">8</verse></sup> "And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.
#BCV:Luke 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:9">9</verse></sup> "But I charge you, so to use  the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.
#BCV:Luke 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:10">10</verse></sup> The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small matter is dishonest in a great one also.
#BCV:Luke 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:11">11</verse></sup> If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the  wealth that is  tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?
#BCV:Luke 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:12">12</verse></sup> And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that which is not your own, who will give you that which is your own?
#BCV:Luke 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:13">13</verse></sup> "No  servant can be in bondage to two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will cling fast to one and scorn the other. You cannot be bondservants both of God and of  gold."
#BCV:Luke 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:14">14</verse></sup> To all this the Pharisees listened,  bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.
#BCV:Luke 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:15">15</verse></sup> "You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own goodness before men, but God sees your hearts; for that which holds a proud position among men is detestable in God's sight.
#BCV:Luke 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:16">16</verse></sup> The Law and the Prophets continued until John came: from that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God  has been spreading, and all classes  have been forcing their way into it.
#BCV:Luke 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:17">17</verse></sup> But it is easier for earth and sky to pass away than for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.
#BCV:Luke 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:18">18</verse></sup> Every man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries  her when so divorced from her husband commits adultery.
#BCV:Luke 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:19">19</verse></sup> "There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself in purple and  fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet every day,
#BCV:Luke 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:20">20</verse></sup> while at his outer door there  lay a beggar, Lazarus by name,
#BCV:Luke 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:21">21</verse></sup> covered with sores and longing to make a full meal off the  scraps flung on the floor from the rich man's table. Nay, the dogs, too, used to come and lick his sores.
#BCV:Luke 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:22">22</verse></sup> "But in course of time the beggar died; and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and  had a funeral.
#BCV:Luke 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:23">23</verse></sup> And in Hades, being in torment, he looked and saw Abraham in the far distance, and Lazarus resting in his  arms.
#BCV:Luke 16:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:24">24</verse></sup> So he cried aloud, and said, "'Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'
#BCV:Luke 16:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:25">25</verse></sup> "'Remember, my child,' said Abraham, 'that you had all your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving consolation and you are in agony.
#BCV:Luke 16:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:26">26</verse></sup> And, besides all this, a vast chasm is immovably fixed between us and you, put there in order that those who desire to cross from this side to you may not be able, nor any be able to cross over from your side to us.'
#BCV:Luke 16:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:27">27</verse></sup> "'I entreat you then, father,' said he, 'to send him to my father's house.
#BCV:Luke 16:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:28">28</verse></sup> For I have five brothers. Let him earnestly warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'
#BCV:Luke 16:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:29">29</verse></sup> "'They have Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; 'let them hear them.'
#BCV:Luke 16:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:30">30</verse></sup> "'No, father Abraham,' he pleaded; 'but if some one  goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
#BCV:Luke 16:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 16:31">31</verse></sup> "'If they are deaf to Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham, 'they would not be led to believe even if some one should rise from the dead.'"
#BCV:Luke 17:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 17:1">17</verse></font> Jesus said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that causes of stumbling should come; but alas for him through whom they come!
#BCV:Luke 17:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:2">2</verse></sup> It would be well for him if, with a  millstone round his neck, he were lying at the bottom of the sea, rather than that he should cause even one of these little ones to fall.
#BCV:Luke 17:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:3">3</verse></sup> Be on your guard. "If your brother acts wrongly, reprove him; and if he is sorry, forgive him;
#BCV:Luke 17:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:4">4</verse></sup> and if seven times in a day he acts wrongly towards you, and seven times turns again to you and says, 'I am sorry,' you must forgive him."
#BCV:Luke 17:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:5">5</verse></sup> And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Give us faith."
#BCV:Luke 17:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:6">6</verse></sup> "If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed, you might command this black-mulberry-tree, 'Tear up your roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey you.
#BCV:Luke 17:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:7">7</verse></sup> But which of you who has a  servant ploughing, or tending sheep, will say to him when he comes in from the farm, 'Come at once and take your place at table,'
#BCV:Luke 17:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:8">8</verse></sup> and will not rather say to him, 'Get my dinner ready, make yourself tidy, and wait upon me till I have finished my dinner, and then you shall have yours'?
#BCV:Luke 17:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:9">9</verse></sup> Does he thank the  servant for obeying his orders?
#BCV:Luke 17:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:10">10</verse></sup> So you also, when you have obeyed all the orders given you, must say, "'There is no merit in our service: what we have done is  only what we were in duty bound to do.'"
#BCV:Luke 17:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:11">11</verse></sup> As  they pursued their journey to Jerusalem, He passed through Samaria and Galilee.
#BCV:Luke 17:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:12">12</verse></sup> And as He entered a certain village, ten men met Him who were lepers and stood at a distance.
#BCV:Luke 17:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:13">13</verse></sup> In loud voices they cried out, "Jesus, Rabbi, take pity on us."
#BCV:Luke 17:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:14">14</verse></sup> Perceiving this, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the Priests." And while on their way to do this they were made clean.
#BCV:Luke 17:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:15">15</verse></sup> One of them, seeing that he was cured, came back, adoring and praising God in a loud voice,
#BCV:Luke 17:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:16">16</verse></sup> and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, thanking Him. He was a Samaritan.
#BCV:Luke 17:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:17">17</verse></sup> "Were not all ten made clean?" Jesus asked; "but where are the nine?
#BCV:Luke 17:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:18">18</verse></sup> Have none been found to come back and give glory to God except this foreigner?"
#BCV:Luke 17:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:19">19</verse></sup> And He said to him, "Rise and go: your faith has cured you."
#BCV:Luke 17:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:20">20</verse></sup> Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, He answered, "The Kingdom of God does not so come that you can  stealthily watch for it.
#BCV:Luke 17:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:21">21</verse></sup> Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' --for the Kingdom of God is  within you."
#BCV:Luke 17:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:22">22</verse></sup> Then, turning to His disciples, He said, "There will come a time when you will wish you could see a single one of the days of the Son of Man, but will not see one.
#BCV:Luke 17:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:23">23</verse></sup> And they will say to you, 'See there!' 'See here!' Do not start off and go in pursuit.
#BCV:Luke 17:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:24">24</verse></sup> For just as the lightning, when it flashes, shines from one part of the horizon to the opposite part, so will the Son of Man be on His day.
#BCV:Luke 17:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:25">25</verse></sup> But  first He must endure much suffering, and be rejected by the present generation.
#BCV:Luke 17:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:26">26</verse></sup> "And as it was in the time of Noah, so will it also be in the time of the Son of Man.
#BCV:Luke 17:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:27">27</verse></sup> Men were eating and drinking, taking wives and giving wives, up to the very day on which Noah entered the Ark, and the Deluge came and destroyed them all.
#BCV:Luke 17:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:28">28</verse></sup> The same was true in the time of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building;
#BCV:Luke 17:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:29">29</verse></sup> but on the day that Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from the sky and destroyed them all.
#BCV:Luke 17:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:30">30</verse></sup> Exactly so will it be on the day that the veil is lifted from the Son of Man.
#BCV:Luke 17:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:31">31</verse></sup> "On that day, if a man is on the roof and his  property indoors, let him not go down to fetch it; and, in the same way, he who is in the field, let him not turn back.
#BCV:Luke 17:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:32">32</verse></sup> Remember Lot's wife.
#BCV:Luke 17:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:33">33</verse></sup> Any man who makes it his object to keep his own  life safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his  life will  preserve it.
#BCV:Luke 17:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:34">34</verse></sup> On that night, I tell you, there will be two men in one bed: one will be  taken away and the other left behind.
#BCV:Luke 17:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:35">35</verse></sup> There will be two women turning the mill together: one will be  taken away and the other left behind."
#BCV:Luke 17:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:36">36</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Luke 17:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 17:37">37</verse></sup> "Where, Master?" they inquired. "Where the dead body is," He replied, "there also will the vultures flock together."
#BCV:Luke 18:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 18:1">18</verse></font> He also taught them by a parable that they must always pray and never lose heart.
#BCV:Luke 18:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:2">2</verse></sup> "In a certain town," He said, "there was a judge who had no fear of God and no respect for man.
#BCV:Luke 18:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:3">3</verse></sup> And in the same town was a widow who repeatedly came and entreated him, saying, "'Give me justice and stop my oppressor.'
#BCV:Luke 18:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:4">4</verse></sup> "For a time he would not, but afterwards he said to himself, "'Though I have neither reverence for God nor respect for man,
#BCV:Luke 18:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:5">5</verse></sup> yet because she annoys me I will give her justice, to prevent her from  constantly coming to pester me.'"
#BCV:Luke 18:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:6">6</verse></sup> And the Lord said, "Hear those words of the unjust judge.
#BCV:Luke 18:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:7">7</verse></sup> And will not God avenge the wrongs of His own People who cry aloud to Him day and night, although He seems slow in taking action on their behalf?
#BCV:Luke 18:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:8">8</verse></sup> Yes, He will soon avenge their wrongs. Yet, when the Son of Man  comes, will He find  faith on earth?"
#BCV:Luke 18:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:9">9</verse></sup> And to some who relied on themselves as being righteous men, and looked down upon all others, He addressed this parable.
#BCV:Luke 18:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:10">10</verse></sup> "Two men went up to the Temple to pray," He said; "one being a Pharisee and the other a tax-gatherer.
#BCV:Luke 18:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:11">11</verse></sup> The Pharisee, standing erect, prayed as follows  by himself: "'O God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people--I am not a thief nor a cheat nor an adulterer, nor do I even resemble this tax-gatherer.
#BCV:Luke 18:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:12">12</verse></sup> I fast twice a week. I pay the tithe on all my gains.'
#BCV:Luke 18:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:13">13</verse></sup> "But the tax-gatherer, standing far back, would not so much as lift his eyes to Heaven, but kept beating his breast and saying, "'O God,  be reconciled to me, sinner that I am.'
#BCV:Luke 18:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:14">14</verse></sup> "I tell you that this man went home more thoroughly absolved from guilt than the other; for every one who uplifts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be uplifted."
#BCV:Luke 18:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:15">15</verse></sup> On one occasion  people also brought with them their infants, for Him to touch them; but the disciples, noticing this, proceeded to find fault with them.
#BCV:Luke 18:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:16">16</verse></sup> Jesus however called the infants to Him. "Let the little children come to me," He said; "do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of God belongs.
#BCV:Luke 18:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:17">17</verse></sup> I tell you in solemn truth that, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will certainly not enter it."
#BCV:Luke 18:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:18">18</verse></sup> The question was put to Him by a Ruler: "Good Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit the Life of the Ages?"
#BCV:Luke 18:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:19">19</verse></sup> "Why do you call me good?" replied Jesus; "there is no one good but One, namely God.
#BCV:Luke 18:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:20">20</verse></sup> You know the Commandments: 'Do not commit adultery;' 'Do not murder;' 'Do not steal;' 'Do not lie in giving evidence;' 'Honour thy father and thy mother.'"
#BCV:Luke 18:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:21">21</verse></sup> "All of those," he replied, "I have kept from my youth."
#BCV:Luke 18:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:22">22</verse></sup> On receiving this answer Jesus said to him, "There is still one thing wanting in you. Sell everything you possess and give the money to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and then come, follow me."
#BCV:Luke 18:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:23">23</verse></sup> But on hearing these words he was deeply sorrowful, for he was exceedingly rich.
#BCV:Luke 18:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:24">24</verse></sup> Jesus saw his sorrow, and said, "With how hard a struggle do the possessors of riches ever enter the Kingdom of God!
#BCV:Luke 18:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:25">25</verse></sup> Why, it is easier for a camel to go through a  needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Luke 18:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:26">26</verse></sup> "Who then can be saved?" exclaimed the hearers.
#BCV:Luke 18:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:27">27</verse></sup> "Things impossible with man," He replied, "are possible with God."
#BCV:Luke 18:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:28">28</verse></sup> Then Peter said, "See, we have given up our  homes and have followed you."
#BCV:Luke 18:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:29">29</verse></sup> "I solemnly tell you," replied Jesus, "that there is no one who has left house or wife, or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of God's Kingdom,
#BCV:Luke 18:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:30">30</verse></sup> who shall not certainly receive many times as much  in this life, and in the age that is coming the Life of the Ages."
#BCV:Luke 18:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:31">31</verse></sup> Then He drew the Twelve to Him and said, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written in the Prophets which refers to the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
#BCV:Luke 18:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:32">32</verse></sup> For He will be given up to the Gentiles, and be mocked, outraged and spit upon.
#BCV:Luke 18:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:33">33</verse></sup> They will scourge Him and put Him to death, and on the third day He will rise to life again."
#BCV:Luke 18:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:34">34</verse></sup> Nothing of this did they understand. The words were a mystery to them, nor could they see what He meant.
#BCV:Luke 18:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:35">35</verse></sup> As Jesus came near to Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the way-side begging.
#BCV:Luke 18:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:36">36</verse></sup> He heard a crowd of people going past, and inquired what it all meant.
#BCV:Luke 18:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:37">37</verse></sup> "Jesus the Nazarene is passing by," they told him.
#BCV:Luke 18:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:38">38</verse></sup> Then, at the top of his voice, he cried out, "Jesus, son of David, take pity on me."
#BCV:Luke 18:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:39">39</verse></sup> Those in front reproved him and tried to silence him; but he continued shouting, louder than ever, "Son of David, take pity on me."
#BCV:Luke 18:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:40">40</verse></sup> At length Jesus stopped and desired them to bring the man to Him; and when he had come close to Him He asked him,
#BCV:Luke 18:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:41">41</verse></sup> "What shall I do for you?" "Sir," he replied, "let me recover my sight."
#BCV:Luke 18:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:42">42</verse></sup> "Recover your sight," said Jesus: "your faith has cured you."
#BCV:Luke 18:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 18:43">43</verse></sup> No sooner were the words spoken than the man regained his sight and followed Jesus, giving glory to God; and all the people, seeing it, gave praise to God.
#BCV:Luke 19:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 19:1">19</verse></font> So He entered Jericho and was passing through the town.
#BCV:Luke 19:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:2">2</verse></sup> There was a man there called Zacchaeus, who was the local surveyor of taxes, and was wealthy.
#BCV:Luke 19:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:3">3</verse></sup> He was anxious to see what sort of man Jesus was; but he could not because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
#BCV:Luke 19:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:4">4</verse></sup> So he ran on in front and climbed up a mulberry tree to see Him; for He was about to pass that way.
#BCV:Luke 19:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:5">5</verse></sup> As soon as Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your house to-day."
#BCV:Luke 19:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:6">6</verse></sup> So he came down in haste, and welcomed Him joyfully.
#BCV:Luke 19:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:7">7</verse></sup> When they all saw this, they began to complain with indignation. "He has gone in to be the guest of a notorious sinner!" they said.
#BCV:Luke 19:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:8">8</verse></sup> Zacchaeus however stood up, and addressing the Lord said,  "Here and now, Master, I give half my  property to the poor, and if I have unjustly exacted money from any man, I pledge myself to repay to him four times the amount."
#BCV:Luke 19:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:9">9</verse></sup> Turning towards him, Jesus replied, "To-day salvation has come to this house, seeing that he too is a son of Abraham.
#BCV:Luke 19:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:10">10</verse></sup> For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
#BCV:Luke 19:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:11">11</verse></sup> As they were listening to His words, He went on to teach them by a parable, because He was near to Jerusalem and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
#BCV:Luke 19:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:12">12</verse></sup> So He said to them, "A man of noble family travelled to a distant country to obtain the rank of king, and to return.
#BCV:Luke 19:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:13">13</verse></sup> And he called ten of his  servants and gave each of them  a pound, instructing them to trade with the money  during his absence.
#BCV:Luke 19:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:14">14</verse></sup> "Now his countrymen hated him, and sent a deputation after him to say, 'We are not willing that he should become our king.'
#BCV:Luke 19:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:15">15</verse></sup> And upon his return, after he had obtained the sovereignty, he ordered those servants to whom he had given the money to be summoned before him, that he might learn their success in trading.
#BCV:Luke 19:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:16">16</verse></sup> "So the first came and said, "'Sir, your pound has produced ten pounds more.'
#BCV:Luke 19:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:17">17</verse></sup> "'Well done, good servant,' he replied; 'because you have been faithful in a very small matter, be in authority over ten towns.'
#BCV:Luke 19:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:18">18</verse></sup> "The second came, and said, "'Your pound, Sir, has produced five pounds.'
#BCV:Luke 19:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:19">19</verse></sup> "So he said to this one also, "'And you, be the governor of five towns.'
#BCV:Luke 19:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:20">20</verse></sup> "The next came. "'Sir,' he said, 'here is your pound, which I have kept wrapt up in a cloth.
#BCV:Luke 19:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:21">21</verse></sup> For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man: you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.'
#BCV:Luke 19:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:22">22</verse></sup> "'By your own words,' he replied, 'I will judge you, you bad servant. You knew me to be a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow:
#BCV:Luke 19:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:23">23</verse></sup> why then did you not put my money into a bank, that when I came I might have received it back with interest?
#BCV:Luke 19:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:24">24</verse></sup> "And he said to those who stood by, "'Take the pound from him and give it to him who has the ten pounds.'
#BCV:Luke 19:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:25">25</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Luke 19:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:26">26</verse></sup> "'I tell you that to every one who has anything, more shall be given; and from him who has not anything, even what he has shall be taken away.
#BCV:Luke 19:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:27">27</verse></sup> But as for those enemies of mine who were unwilling that I should become their king, bring them here, and cut them to pieces in my presence.'"
#BCV:Luke 19:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:28">28</verse></sup> After thus speaking, He journeyed onward, proceeding up to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 19:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:29">29</verse></sup> And when he was come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount called  the Oliveyard, He sent two of the disciples on in front,
#BCV:Luke 19:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:30">30</verse></sup> saying to them, "Go into the village facing you. On entering it you will find an ass's foal tied up which no one has ever yet ridden: untie it, and bring it here.
#BCV:Luke 19:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:31">31</verse></sup> And if any one asks you, 'Why are you untying the colt?' simply say,  'The Master needs it.'"
#BCV:Luke 19:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:32">32</verse></sup> So those who were sent went and found things as He had told them.
#BCV:Luke 19:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:33">33</verse></sup> And while they were untying the colt the owners called out, "Why are you untying the colt?"
#BCV:Luke 19:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:34">34</verse></sup> and they replied,  "The Master needs it."
#BCV:Luke 19:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:35">35</verse></sup> Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their outer garments on the colt they placed Jesus on it.
#BCV:Luke 19:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:36">36</verse></sup> So He rode on, while they carpeted the road with their garments.
#BCV:Luke 19:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:37">37</verse></sup> And when He was now getting near Jerusalem, and descending the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began in their joy to praise God in loud voices for all the mighty deeds they had witnessed.
#BCV:Luke 19:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:38">38</verse></sup> "Blessed is the King," they cried, "who comes in the name of the Lord: in Heaven peace, and glory in the highest realms."
#BCV:Luke 19:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:39">39</verse></sup> Thereupon some of the Pharisees in the crowd appealed to Him, saying,  "Rabbi, reprove your disciples."
#BCV:Luke 19:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:40">40</verse></sup> "I tell you," He replied, "that if *they* became silent, the very stones would cry out."
#BCV:Luke 19:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:41">41</verse></sup> When He came into full view of the city, He wept aloud over it, and exclaimed,
#BCV:Luke 19:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:42">42</verse></sup> "O that at this time thou hadst known--yes even thou--what makes peace possible! But now it is hid from thine eyes.
#BCV:Luke 19:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:43">43</verse></sup> For the time is coming upon thee when thy foes will throw up around thee  earthworks and a wall, investing thee and hemming thee in on every side.
#BCV:Luke 19:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:44">44</verse></sup> 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."
#BCV:Luke 19:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:45">45</verse></sup> Then Jesus entered the Temple and proceeded to drive out the dealers.
#BCV:Luke 19:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:46">46</verse></sup> "It is written," He said, "'And My house shall be the House of Prayer,' but you have made it a robbers' cave."
#BCV:Luke 19:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:47">47</verse></sup> And day after day He taught in the Temple, while the High Priests and the Scribes were devising some means of destroying Him, as were also the leading men of the people.
#BCV:Luke 19:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 19:48">48</verse></sup> But they could not find any way of doing it, for the people all hung upon His lips.
#BCV:Luke 20:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 20:1">20</verse></font> On one of those days while He was teaching the people in the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the High Priests came upon Him, and the Scribes,
#BCV:Luke 20:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:2">2</verse></sup> together with the Elders, and they asked Him, "Tell us, By what authority are you doing these things? And who is it that gave you this authority?"
#BCV:Luke 20:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:3">3</verse></sup> "I also will put a question to you, "He said;
#BCV:Luke 20:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:4">4</verse></sup> "was John's baptism of Heavenly or of human origin?"
#BCV:Luke 20:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:5">5</verse></sup> So they debated the matter with one another. "If we say 'Heavenly,'" they argued, "he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?'
#BCV:Luke 20:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:6">6</verse></sup> And if we say, 'human,' the people will all stone us; for they are thoroughly convinced that John was a Prophet."
#BCV:Luke 20:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:7">7</verse></sup> And they answered that they did not know the origin of it.
#BCV:Luke 20:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:8">8</verse></sup> "Nor will I tell you," said Jesus, "by what authority I do these things."
#BCV:Luke 20:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:9">9</verse></sup> Then He proceeded to speak a parable to the people. "There was a man," He said, "who planted a vineyard, let it out to vine-dressers, and went abroad for a considerable time.
#BCV:Luke 20:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:10">10</verse></sup> At vintage-time he sent a  servant to the vine-dressers, for them to give him a share of the crop; but the vine-dressers beat him cruelly and sent him away empty-handed.
#BCV:Luke 20:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:11">11</verse></sup> Then he sent a second  servant; and him too they beat and ill treated and sent away empty-handed.
#BCV:Luke 20:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:12">12</verse></sup> Then again he sent a third; and this one also they wounded and drove away.
#BCV:Luke 20:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:13">13</verse></sup> Then the owner of the vineyard said, "'What am I to do? I will send my son--my dearly-loved son: they will probably respect him.'
#BCV:Luke 20:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:14">14</verse></sup> "But when the vine-dressers saw him, they discussed the matter with one another, and said, "'This is the heir: let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'
#BCV:Luke 20:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:15">15</verse></sup> "So they turned him out of the vineyard and murdered him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
#BCV:Luke 20:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:16">16</verse></sup> He will come and put these vine-dressers to death, and give the vineyard to others."  "God forbid!" exclaimed the hearers.
#BCV:Luke 20:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:17">17</verse></sup> 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'?
#BCV:Luke 20:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:18">18</verse></sup> Every one who falls on that stone will be severely hurt, but on whomsoever it falls, he will be utterly crushed."
#BCV:Luke 20:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:19">19</verse></sup> At this the Scribes and the High Priests wanted to lay hands on Him,  then and there; only they were afraid of the people. For they saw that in this parable He had referred to them.
#BCV:Luke 20:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:20">20</verse></sup> So, after impatiently watching their opportunity, they sent spies who were to act the part of good and honest men, that they might fasten on some expression of His, so as to hand Him over to the ruling power and the Governor's authority.
#BCV:Luke 20:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:21">21</verse></sup> So they put a question to Him.  "Rabbi," they said, "we know that you say and teach what is right and that  you make no distinctions between one man and another, but teach God's way truly.
#BCV:Luke 20:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:22">22</verse></sup> Is it allowable to pay a tax to Caesar, or not?"
#BCV:Luke 20:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:23">23</verse></sup> But He saw through their knavery and replied,
#BCV:Luke 20:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:24">24</verse></sup> "Show me a shilling; whose likeness and inscription does it bear?" "Caesar's," they said.
#BCV:Luke 20:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:25">25</verse></sup> "Pay therefore," He replied, "what is Caesar's to Caesar--and what is God's to God."
#BCV:Luke 20:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:26">26</verse></sup> There was nothing here that they could lay hold of before the people, and marvelling at His answer they said no more.
#BCV:Luke 20:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:27">27</verse></sup> Next some of the Sadducees came forward (who deny that there is a Resurrection)
#BCV:Luke 20:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:28">28</verse></sup> "Rabbi, Moses made it a law for us that if a man's brother should die, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.
#BCV:Luke 20:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:29">29</verse></sup> Now there were seven brothers. The first of them took a wife and died childless.
#BCV:Luke 20:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:30">30</verse></sup> The second and the third also took her;
#BCV:Luke 20:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:31">31</verse></sup> and all seven, having done the same, left no children when they died.
#BCV:Luke 20:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:32">32</verse></sup> Finally the woman also died.
#BCV:Luke 20:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:33">33</verse></sup> The woman, then--at the Resurrection--whose wife shall she be? for they all seven married her."
#BCV:Luke 20:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:34">34</verse></sup> "The  men of this age," replied Jesus, "marry, and the women are given in marriage.
#BCV:Luke 20:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:35">35</verse></sup> But as for those who  shall have been deemed worthy to find a place in that other age and in the Resurrection from among the dead, the men do not marry and the women are not given in marriage.
#BCV:Luke 20:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:36">36</verse></sup> For indeed they cannot die again; they are like angels, and are sons of God through being sons of the Resurrection.
#BCV:Luke 20:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:37">37</verse></sup> But that the dead  rise to life even Moses clearly  implies in the passage about the Bush, where he calls the Lord 'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
#BCV:Luke 20:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:38">38</verse></sup> He is not a God of dead, but of living men, for to Him are all living."
#BCV:Luke 20:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:39">39</verse></sup> Then some of the Scribes replied, "Rabbi, you have spoken well."
#BCV:Luke 20:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:40">40</verse></sup> From that time,  however, no one ventured to challenge Him with a single question.
#BCV:Luke 20:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:41">41</verse></sup> But He asked them, "How is it they say that the Christ is a son of David?
#BCV:Luke 20:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:42">42</verse></sup> Why, David himself says in the Book of Psalms, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand
#BCV:Luke 20:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:43">43</verse></sup> Until I have made thy foes a footstool under they feet.'
#BCV:Luke 20:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:44">44</verse></sup> "David himself therefore calls Him Lord, and how can He be his son?"
#BCV:Luke 20:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:45">45</verse></sup> Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to the disciples,
#BCV:Luke 20:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:46">46</verse></sup> "Beware of the Scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and love to be bowed to in places of public resort and to occupy the best seats in the synagogues or at a dinner party;
#BCV:Luke 20:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 20:47">47</verse></sup> who swallow up the property of widows and mask their wickedness by making long prayers. They will be punished far more severely than others."
#BCV:Luke 21:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 21:1">21</verse></font> Looking up He saw the people throwing their gifts into the Treasury--the rich people.
#BCV:Luke 21:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:2">2</verse></sup> He also saw a poor widow dropping in two farthings,
#BCV:Luke 21:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:3">3</verse></sup> and He said, "In truth I tell you that this widow, so poor, has thrown in more than any of them.
#BCV:Luke 21:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:4">4</verse></sup> For from what they could well spare they have all of them contributed to the offerings, but she in her need has thrown in all she had to live on."
#BCV:Luke 21:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:5">5</verse></sup> When some were remarking about the Temple, how it was embellished with beautiful stones and dedicated gifts, He said,
#BCV:Luke 21:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:6">6</verse></sup> "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."
#BCV:Luke 21:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:7">7</verse></sup> "Rabbi, when will this be?" they asked Him, "and what will be the token given when these things are about to take place?"
#BCV:Luke 21:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:8">8</verse></sup> "See to it," He replied, "that you are not misled; for many will come  assuming my name and professing, 'I am He,' or saying, 'The time is close at hand.' Do not go and follow them.
#BCV:Luke 21:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:9">9</verse></sup> But when you hear of wars and turmoils, be not afraid; for these things must happen first, but the end does not come immediately."
#BCV:Luke 21:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:10">10</verse></sup> Then He said to them, "Nation will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
#BCV:Luke 21:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:11">11</verse></sup> And there will be great earthquakes, and in places famines and pestilence; and there will be terrible sights and wonderful tokens from Heaven.
#BCV:Luke 21:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:12">12</verse></sup> "But before all these things happen they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you up to synagogues and to prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my sake.
#BCV:Luke 21:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:13">13</verse></sup> In the end all this will be evidence of your fidelity.
#BCV:Luke 21:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:14">14</verse></sup> "Make up your minds, however, not to prepare a defence beforehand,
#BCV:Luke 21:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:15">15</verse></sup> for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to withstand or reply to.
#BCV:Luke 21:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:16">16</verse></sup> You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, friends; and some of you they will put to death.
#BCV:Luke 21:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:17">17</verse></sup> You will be the objects of universal hatred because you are called by my name;
#BCV:Luke 21:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:18">18</verse></sup> and yet not a hair of your heads shall perish.
#BCV:Luke 21:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:19">19</verse></sup> By your patient endurance you will purchase your  lives.
#BCV:Luke 21:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:20">20</verse></sup> "But when you see Jerusalem with armies encamping round her on every side, then be certain that her  overthrow is close at hand.
#BCV:Luke 21:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:21">21</verse></sup> Then let those who shall be in Judaea escape to the hills; let those who are in the city leave it, and those who are in the country not enter in.
#BCV:Luke 21:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:22">22</verse></sup> For those are the days of vengeance and  of fulfilling all that is written.
#BCV:Luke 21:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:23">23</verse></sup> "Alas for the women who at that time are with child or who have infants; for there will be great distress  in the land, and anger towards this People.
#BCV:Luke 21:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:24">24</verse></sup> They will fall  by the sword, or be carried off into slavery among all the Gentiles.  And Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the  Gentiles, till the appointed times of the  Gentiles have expired.
#BCV:Luke 21:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:25">25</verse></sup> "There will be  signs in sun, moon, and stars; and on earth anguish among the nations in their bewilderment at the roaring of the sea and its billows;
#BCV:Luke 21:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:26">26</verse></sup> while men's hearts are fainting for fear, and for anxious expectation of what is coming on the world. For the  forces which control the heavens will be disordered and disturbed.
#BCV:Luke 21:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:27">27</verse></sup> And then will they  see the Son of Man coming in a cloud  with great power and glory.
#BCV:Luke 21:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:28">28</verse></sup> But when all this is beginning to take place, grieve no longer. Lift up your heads, because your  deliverance is drawing near."
#BCV:Luke 21:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:29">29</verse></sup> And He spoke a parable to them. "See," He said, "the fig-tree and all the trees.
#BCV:Luke 21:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:30">30</verse></sup> As soon as they have shot out their leaves, you know at a glance that summer is now near.
#BCV:Luke 21:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:31">31</verse></sup> So also, when you see these things happening, you may be sure that the Kingdom of God is near.
#BCV:Luke 21:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:32">32</verse></sup> I tell you in solemn truth that the present generation will certainly not pass away without all these things having first taken place.
#BCV:Luke 21:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:33">33</verse></sup> Earth and sky will pass away, but it is certain that my words will not pass away.
#BCV:Luke 21:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:34">34</verse></sup> "But take heed to yourselves, lest your  souls be weighed down with  self-indulgence and drunkenness or the anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly, like a falling trap;
#BCV:Luke 21:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:35">35</verse></sup> for it will come on all dwellers on the face of the whole  earth.
#BCV:Luke 21:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:36">36</verse></sup> But beware of slumbering; and every moment pray that you may be fully strengthened to escape from all these coming evils, and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of Man."
#BCV:Luke 21:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:37">37</verse></sup> His habit at this time was to teach in the Temple by day, but to go out and spend the night on the Mount called  the Oliveyard.
#BCV:Luke 21:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 21:38">38</verse></sup> And all the people came to Him in the Temple, early in the morning, to listen to Him.
#BCV:Luke 22:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 22:1">22</verse></font> Meanwhile the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,
#BCV:Luke 22:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:2">2</verse></sup> and the High Priests and the Scribes were contriving how to destroy Him.  But they feared the people.
#BCV:Luke 22:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:3">3</verse></sup> Satan, however, entered into Judas (the man called Iscariot)
#BCV:Luke 22:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:4">4</verse></sup> He went and conferred with the High Priests and  Commanders as to how he should deliver Him up to them.
#BCV:Luke 22:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:5">5</verse></sup> This gave them great pleasure, and they agreed to pay him.
#BCV:Luke 22:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:6">6</verse></sup> He accepted their offer, and then looked out for an opportunity to betray Him when the people were not there.
#BCV:Luke 22:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:7">7</verse></sup> When the day of the Unleavened Bread came--the day for the Passover lamb to be sacrificed--
#BCV:Luke 22:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:8">8</verse></sup> Jesus sent Peter and John with instructions. "Go," He said, "and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it."
#BCV:Luke 22:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:9">9</verse></sup> "Where shall we prepare it?" they asked.
#BCV:Luke 22:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:10">10</verse></sup> "You will no sooner have entered the city," He replied, "than you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house to which he goes,
#BCV:Luke 22:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:11">11</verse></sup> and say to the master of the house, "'The  Rabbi asks you, Where is the room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?'
#BCV:Luke 22:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:12">12</verse></sup> "And he will show you a large furnished room upstairs. There make your preparations."
#BCV:Luke 22:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:13">13</verse></sup> So they went and found all as He had told them; and they got the Passover ready.
#BCV:Luke 22:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:14">14</verse></sup> When the time was come, and He had taken His place at table, and the Apostles with Him,
#BCV:Luke 22:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:15">15</verse></sup> He said to them, "Earnestly have I longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
#BCV:Luke 22:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:16">16</verse></sup> for I tell you that I certainly shall not eat one again till its full meaning has been brought out in the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Luke 22:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:17">17</verse></sup> Then, having  received the cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves;
#BCV:Luke 22:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:18">18</verse></sup> for I tell you that from this time I will never drink the  produce of the vine till the Kingdom of God has come."
#BCV:Luke 22:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:19">19</verse></sup> Then, taking a Passover biscuit, He gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which  is being given on your behalf: this do in remembrance of me."
#BCV:Luke 22:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:20">20</verse></sup> He gave them the cup in like manner, when  the meal was over. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant ratified  by my blood which  is to be poured out on your behalf.
#BCV:Luke 22:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:21">21</verse></sup> Yet the hand of him who is betraying me is at the table with me.
#BCV:Luke 22:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:22">22</verse></sup> For indeed the Son of Man goes on His way--His pre-destined way; yet alas for that man who is betraying Him!"
#BCV:Luke 22:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:23">23</verse></sup> Thereupon they began to discuss with one another which of them it could possibly be who was about to do this.
#BCV:Luke 22:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:24">24</verse></sup> There arose also a dispute among them which of them should be  regarded as greatest.
#BCV:Luke 22:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:25">25</verse></sup> But He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles are their masters, and those who exercise authority over them are called Benefactors.
#BCV:Luke 22:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:26">26</verse></sup> With you it is not so; but let the greatest among you be as the younger, and the leader be like him who serves.
#BCV:Luke 22:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:27">27</verse></sup> For which is the greater--he who sits at table, or he who waits on him? Is it not he who sits at table? But my position among you is that of one who waits on others.
#BCV:Luke 22:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:28">28</verse></sup> You however have remained with me amid my trials;
#BCV:Luke 22:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:29">29</verse></sup> and I covenant to give you, as my Father has covenanted to give me, a Kingdom--
#BCV:Luke 22:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:30">30</verse></sup> so that you shall eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones as judges over the twelve tribes of Israel.
#BCV:Luke 22:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:31">31</verse></sup> "Simon, Simon, I tell you that Satan has  obtained permission to have all of you to sift as wheat is sifted.
#BCV:Luke 22:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:32">32</verse></sup> But *I* have prayed  for *you* that your faith may not fail, and  you, when at last you have come back to your true self, must strengthen your brethren."
#BCV:Luke 22:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:33">33</verse></sup> "Master," replied Peter, "with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death."
#BCV:Luke 22:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:34">34</verse></sup> "I tell you, Peter," said Jesus, "that the cock will not crow to-day till you have three times denied that you know me."
#BCV:Luke 22:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:35">35</verse></sup> Then He asked them, "When I sent you out without purse or bag or shoes, was there anything you needed?" "No, nothing," they replied.
#BCV:Luke 22:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:36">36</verse></sup> "But now," said He, "let the one who has a purse take it, and he who has a bag must do the same. And let him who has no sword sell his outer garment and  buy one.
#BCV:Luke 22:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:37">37</verse></sup> For I tell you that those words of Scripture must yet find their fulfilment in me: 'And He was reckoned among the lawless'; for indeed that saying about me has its accomplishment."
#BCV:Luke 22:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:38">38</verse></sup> "Master, here are two swords," they exclaimed. "That is enough," He replied.
#BCV:Luke 22:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:39">39</verse></sup> On going out, He proceeded as usual to the Mount of Olives, and His disciples followed Him.
#BCV:Luke 22:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:40">40</verse></sup> But when He arrived at the place, He said to them,  "Pray that you may not come into temptation."
#BCV:Luke 22:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:41">41</verse></sup> But He Himself withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed repeatedly, saying,
#BCV:Luke 22:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:42">42</verse></sup> "Father, if it be Thy will,  take this  cup away from me; yet not my will but Thine be done!"
#BCV:Luke 22:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:43">43</verse></sup> And there appeared to Him an angel from Heaven, strengthening Him;
#BCV:Luke 22:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:44">44</verse></sup> while He--an agony of distress having come upon Him--prayed all the more with intense earnestness, and His sweat became like clots of blood dropping on the ground.
#BCV:Luke 22:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:45">45</verse></sup> When He rose from his prayer and came to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow.
#BCV:Luke 22:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:46">46</verse></sup> "Why are you sleeping?" He said;  "stand up; and pray that you may not come into temptation."
#BCV:Luke 22:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:47">47</verse></sup> While He was still speaking there came a crowd with Judas, already mentioned as one of the Twelve, at their head. He went up to Jesus to kiss Him.
#BCV:Luke 22:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:48">48</verse></sup> "Judas," said Jesus, "are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
#BCV:Luke 22:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:49">49</verse></sup> Those who were about Him, seeing what was likely to happen, asked Him, "Master, shall we strike with the sword?"
#BCV:Luke 22:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:50">50</verse></sup> And one of them struck a blow at the High Priest's  servant and cut off his right ear.
#BCV:Luke 22:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:51">51</verse></sup> "Permit me thus far," said Jesus. And He touched the ear and healed it.
#BCV:Luke 22:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:52">52</verse></sup> Then Jesus said to the High Priests and Commanders of the Temple and Elders, who had come to arrest Him, "Have you come out as if to fight with a robber, with swords and cudgels?
#BCV:Luke 22:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:53">53</verse></sup> While day after day I was with you in the Temple, you did not lay hands upon me; but to you belongs this hour--and the power of darkness."
#BCV:Luke 22:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:54">54</verse></sup> And they arrested Him and led Him away, and brought Him to the High Priest's house, while Peter followed a good way behind.
#BCV:Luke 22:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:55">55</verse></sup> And when they had lighted a fire in the middle of the court and had seated themselves in a group round it, Peter was sitting among them,
#BCV:Luke 22:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:56">56</verse></sup> when a maidservant saw him sitting  by the fire, and, looking fixedly at him, she said, "This man also was with him."
#BCV:Luke 22:57
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:57">57</verse></sup> But he denied it, and declared, "Woman, I do not know him."
#BCV:Luke 22:58
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:58">58</verse></sup> Shortly afterwards a man saw him and said, "You, too, are one of them." "No, man, I am not," said Peter.
#BCV:Luke 22:59
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:59">59</verse></sup> After an interval of about an hour some one else stoutly maintained: "Certainly this fellow also was with him, for in fact he is a Galilaean."
#BCV:Luke 22:60
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:60">60</verse></sup> "Man, I don't know what you mean," replied Peter. No sooner had he spoken than a cock crowed.
#BCV:Luke 22:61
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:61">61</verse></sup> The Master turned and looked on Peter; and Peter recollected the Master's words, how He had said to him, "This very day, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times."
#BCV:Luke 22:62
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:62">62</verse></sup> And he went out and wept aloud bitterly.
#BCV:Luke 22:63
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:63">63</verse></sup> Meanwhile the men who held Jesus in custody repeatedly beat Him in cruel sport,
#BCV:Luke 22:64
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:64">64</verse></sup> or blindfolded Him, and then challenged Him. "Prove to us," they said, "that you are a prophet, by telling us who it was that struck you."
#BCV:Luke 22:65
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:65">65</verse></sup> And they said many other insulting things to Him.
#BCV:Luke 22:66
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:66">66</verse></sup> As soon as it was day, the whole body of the Elders, both High Priests and Scribes, assembled. Then He was brought into their Sanhedrin, and they asked Him,
#BCV:Luke 22:67
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:67">67</verse></sup> "Are you the Christ? Tell us." "If I tell you," He replied, "you will certainly not believe;
#BCV:Luke 22:68
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:68">68</verse></sup> and if I ask you questions, you will certainly not answer.
#BCV:Luke 22:69
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:69">69</verse></sup> But from this time forward the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of God's omnipotence."
#BCV:Luke 22:70
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:70">70</verse></sup> Thereupon they cried out with one voice, "You, then, are the Son of God?" "It is as you say," He answered;  "I am He."
#BCV:Luke 22:71
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 22:71">71</verse></sup> "What need have we of further evidence?" they said; "for we ourselves have heard it from his own lips."
#BCV:Luke 23:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 23:1">23</verse></font> Then the whole assembly rose and brought Him to Pilate, and began to accuse Him.
#BCV:Luke 23:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:2">2</verse></sup> "We have found this man," they said, "an agitator among our nation, forbidding the payment of tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be himself  an anointed king."
#BCV:Luke 23:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:3">3</verse></sup> Then Pilate asked Him, "You, then, are the King of the Jews?" "It is as you say," He replied.
#BCV:Luke 23:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:4">4</verse></sup> Pilate said to the High Priests and to the crowd, "I can find no crime in this man."
#BCV:Luke 23:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:5">5</verse></sup> But they violently insisted. "He stirs up the people," they said, "throughout all Judaea with His teaching--even from Galilee (where He first started)
#BCV:Luke 23:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:6">6</verse></sup> On hearing this, Pilate inquired, "Is this man a Galilaean?"
#BCV:Luke 23:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:7">7</verse></sup> And learning that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction he  sent Him to Herod, for he too was in Jerusalem at that time.
#BCV:Luke 23:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:8">8</verse></sup> To Herod the sight of Jesus was a great gratification, for, for a long time, he had been wanting to see Him, because he had heard so much about Him. He hoped also to see some  miracle performed by Him.
#BCV:Luke 23:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:9">9</verse></sup> So he put a number of questions to Him, but Jesus gave him no reply.
#BCV:Luke 23:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:10">10</verse></sup> Meanwhile the High Priests and the Scribes were standing there and vehemently accusing Him.
#BCV:Luke 23:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:11">11</verse></sup> Then, laughing to scorn the claims of Jesus, Herod (and his soldiers with him)
#BCV:Luke 23:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:12">12</verse></sup> And on that very day Herod and Pilate became friends again, for they had been for some time at enmity.
#BCV:Luke 23:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:13">13</verse></sup> Then calling together the High Priests and the Rulers and the people, Pilate said,
#BCV:Luke 23:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:14">14</verse></sup> "You have brought this man to me on a charge of corrupting the loyalty of the people. But, you see, I have examined him in your presence and have discovered in the man no ground for the accusations which you bring against him.
#BCV:Luke 23:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:15">15</verse></sup> No, nor does Herod; for  he has sent him back to us; and, you see, there is nothing he has done that deserves death.
#BCV:Luke 23:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:16">16</verse></sup> I will therefore give him a light punishment and release him."
#BCV:Luke 23:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:17">17</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Luke 23:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:18">18</verse></sup> Then the whole multitude burst out into a shout. "Away with this man," they said, "and release Barabbas to us"
#BCV:Luke 23:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:19">19</verse></sup> #NAME?
#BCV:Luke 23:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:20">20</verse></sup> But Pilate once more addressed them, wishing to set Jesus free.
#BCV:Luke 23:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:21">21</verse></sup> They, however, persistently shouted, "Crucify, crucify him!"
#BCV:Luke 23:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:22">22</verse></sup> A third time he appealed to them:  "Why, what crime has the man committed? I have discovered in him nothing that deserves death. I will therefore give him a light punishment and release him."
#BCV:Luke 23:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:23">23</verse></sup> But they urgently insisted, demanding with frantic outcries that He should be crucified; and their clamour prevailed.
#BCV:Luke 23:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:24">24</verse></sup> So Pilate gave judgement, yielding to their demand.
#BCV:Luke 23:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:25">25</verse></sup> The man who was lying in prison charged with riot and murder and for whom they clamoured he set free, but Jesus he gave up to be dealt with as they desired.
#BCV:Luke 23:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:26">26</verse></sup> As soon as they led Him away, they laid hold on one Simon, a Cyrenaean, who was coming in from the country, and on his shoulders they put the cross, for him to carry it behind Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 23:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:27">27</verse></sup> A vast crowd of the people also followed Him, and of women who were beating their breasts and wailing for Him.
#BCV:Luke 23:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:28">28</verse></sup> But Jesus turned towards them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
#BCV:Luke 23:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:29">29</verse></sup> For a time is coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the women who never bore children, and the breasts which have never given nourishment.'
#BCV:Luke 23:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:30">30</verse></sup> Then will they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us;' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'
#BCV:Luke 23:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:31">31</verse></sup> For if they are doing these things in the case of the green tree, what will be done in that of the dry?"
#BCV:Luke 23:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:32">32</verse></sup> They brought also two others, criminals, to put them to death with Him.
#BCV:Luke 23:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:33">33</verse></sup> When they reached the place called 'The Skull,' there they nailed Him to the cross, and the criminals also, one at His right hand and one at His left.
#BCV:Luke 23:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:34">34</verse></sup> Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." And they divided His garments among them, drawing lots for them;
#BCV:Luke 23:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:35">35</verse></sup> and the people stood looking on. The Rulers, too, repeatedly uttered their bitter taunts. "This fellow," they said, "saved others: let him save himself, if he is God's Anointed, the Chosen One."
#BCV:Luke 23:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:36">36</verse></sup> And the soldiers also made sport of Him, coming and offering Him  sour wine and saying,
#BCV:Luke 23:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:37">37</verse></sup> "Are *you* the King of the Jews? Save yourself, then!"
#BCV:Luke 23:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:38">38</verse></sup> There was moreover a writing over His head: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
#BCV:Luke 23:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:39">39</verse></sup> Now one of the criminals who had been crucified insulted Him, saying, "Are not you the Christ? Save yourself and us."
#BCV:Luke 23:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:40">40</verse></sup> But the other, answering, reproved him.  "Do you also not fear God," he said, "when you are actually suffering the same punishment?
#BCV:Luke 23:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:41">41</verse></sup> And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving due requital for what we have done. But He has done nothing amiss."
#BCV:Luke 23:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:42">42</verse></sup> And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come  in your Kingdom."
#BCV:Luke 23:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:43">43</verse></sup> "I tell you in solemn truth," replied Jesus, "that  this very day you shall be with me in Paradise."
#BCV:Luke 23:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:44">44</verse></sup> It was now about noon, and a darkness came over the whole country till three o'clock in the  afternoon.
#BCV:Luke 23:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:45">45</verse></sup> The sun was darkened, and the curtain of the Sanctuary was torn down the middle,
#BCV:Luke 23:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:46">46</verse></sup> and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, and said, "Father, to Thy hands I entrust my spirit." And after uttering these words He yielded up His spirit.
#BCV:Luke 23:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:47">47</verse></sup> The Captain, seeing what had happened, gave glory to God, saying, "Beyond question this man was innocent."
#BCV:Luke 23:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:48">48</verse></sup> And all the crowds that had come together to this sight, after seeing all that had occurred, returned to the city beating their breasts.
#BCV:Luke 23:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:49">49</verse></sup> But all His acquaintances, and the women who had been His followers after leaving Galilee, continued standing at a distance and looking on.
#BCV:Luke 23:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:50">50</verse></sup> There was a member of the Council of the name of Joseph, a kind-hearted and upright man,
#BCV:Luke 23:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:51">51</verse></sup> who came from the Jewish town of Arimathaea and was awaiting the coming of the Kingdom of God. He had not concurred in the design or action of the Council,
#BCV:Luke 23:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:52">52</verse></sup> and now he went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
#BCV:Luke 23:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:53">53</verse></sup> Then, taking it down, he wrapped it in a  linen sheet and laid it in a tomb in the rock, where no one else had yet been put.
#BCV:Luke 23:54
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:54">54</verse></sup> It was the Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was near at hand.
#BCV:Luke 23:55
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:55">55</verse></sup> The women--those who had come with Jesus from Galilee--followed close behind, and saw the tomb and how His body was placed.
#BCV:Luke 23:56
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 23:56">56</verse></sup> Then they returned, and prepared spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath they rested in obedience to the Commandment.
#BCV:Luke 24:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Luke 24:1">24</verse></font> And, on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices they had prepared.
#BCV:Luke 24:2
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:2">2</verse></sup> But they found the stone rolled back from the tomb,
#BCV:Luke 24:3
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:3">3</verse></sup> and on entering they found that the body  of the Lord Jesus was not there.
#BCV:Luke 24:4
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:4">4</verse></sup> At this they were in great perplexity, when  suddenly there stood by them two men whose raiment  flashed like lightning.
#BCV:Luke 24:5
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:5">5</verse></sup> The women were terrified; but, as they stood with their faces bowed to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you search among the dead for Him who is living?
#BCV:Luke 24:6
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:6">6</verse></sup> He is not here. He has come back to life. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
#BCV:Luke 24:7
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:7">7</verse></sup> when He told you that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."
#BCV:Luke 24:8
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:8">8</verse></sup> Then they remembered His words,
#BCV:Luke 24:9
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:9">9</verse></sup> and returning from the tomb they reported all this to the Eleven and to all the rest.
#BCV:Luke 24:10
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:10">10</verse></sup> The women were Mary of  Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; and they and the rest of the women related all this to the Apostles.
#BCV:Luke 24:11
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:11">11</verse></sup> But the whole story seemed to them an idle tale; they could not believe the women.
#BCV:Luke 24:12
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:12">12</verse></sup> Peter, however, rose and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw nothing but the  linen cloths: so he went away to his own home, wondering at what had happened.
#BCV:Luke 24:13
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:13">13</verse></sup> On that same day two of the disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village seven or eight miles from Jerusalem,
#BCV:Luke 24:14
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:14">14</verse></sup> and were conversing about all these recent events;
#BCV:Luke 24:15
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:15">15</verse></sup> and, in the midst of their conversation and discussion, Jesus Himself came and joined them,
#BCV:Luke 24:16
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:16">16</verse></sup> though they were prevented from recognizing Him.
#BCV:Luke 24:17
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:17">17</verse></sup> "What is the subject," He asked them, "on which you are talking so earnestly, as you  walk?" And they stood still, looking full of sorrow.
#BCV:Luke 24:18
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:18">18</verse></sup> Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered,  "Are you a stranger lodging alone in Jerusalem, that you have known nothing of the things that have lately happened in the city?"
#BCV:Luke 24:19
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:19">19</verse></sup> "What things?" He asked. "The things about Jesus the Nazarene," they said, "who was a Prophet powerful in work and word before God and all the people;
#BCV:Luke 24:20
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:20">20</verse></sup> and how our High Priests and Rulers delivered Him up to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him.
#BCV:Luke 24:21
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:21">21</verse></sup> But we were hoping that it was He who was about to ransom Israel. Yes, and moreover it was  the day before yesterday that these things happened.
#BCV:Luke 24:22
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:22">22</verse></sup> And, besides, some of the women of our company have amazed us. They went to the tomb at daybreak,
#BCV:Luke 24:23
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:23">23</verse></sup> and, finding that His body was not there, they came and declared to us that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.
#BCV:Luke 24:24
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:24">24</verse></sup> Thereupon some of our party went to the tomb and found things just as the women had said; but Jesus Himself they did not see."
#BCV:Luke 24:25
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:25">25</verse></sup> "O dull-witted men," He replied, "with  minds so slow to believe all that the Prophets have spoken!
#BCV:Luke 24:26
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:26">26</verse></sup> Was there not a necessity for the Christ thus to suffer, and then enter into His glory?"
#BCV:Luke 24:27
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:27">27</verse></sup> And,  beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He  explained to them the passages in Scripture which refer to Himself.
#BCV:Luke 24:28
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:28">28</verse></sup> When they had come near the village to which they were going, He appeared to be going further.
#BCV:Luke 24:29
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:29">29</verse></sup> But they pressed Him to remain with them. "Because," said they, "it is getting towards evening, and the day is nearly over." So He went in to stay with them.
#BCV:Luke 24:30
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:30">30</verse></sup> But as soon as He had sat down with them, and had taken the  bread and had blessed and broken it, and was handing it to them,
#BCV:Luke 24:31
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:31">31</verse></sup> their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. But He vanished from them.
#BCV:Luke 24:32
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:32">32</verse></sup> "Were not our hearts," they said to one another, "burning within us while He talked to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to us?"
#BCV:Luke 24:33
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:33">33</verse></sup> So they rose and without an hour's delay returned to Jerusalem, and found the Eleven and the rest met together, who said  to them,
#BCV:Luke 24:34
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:34">34</verse></sup> "Yes, it is true: the Master has come back to life. He has been seen by Simon."
#BCV:Luke 24:35
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:35">35</verse></sup> Then they related what had happened on the way, and how He had been recognized by them in the breaking of the  bread.
#BCV:Luke 24:36
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:36">36</verse></sup> While they were thus talking, He Himself stood in their midst  and said, "Peace be to you!"
#BCV:Luke 24:37
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:37">37</verse></sup> Startled, and in the utmost alarm, they thought they were looking at a spirit;
#BCV:Luke 24:38
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:38">38</verse></sup> but He said to them, "Why such alarm? And why are there such questionings in your minds?
#BCV:Luke 24:39
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:39">39</verse></sup> See my hands and my feet--it is my very self. Feel me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have."
#BCV:Luke 24:40
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:40">40</verse></sup> And then He showed them His hands and His feet.
#BCV:Luke 24:41
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:41">41</verse></sup> But, while they still could not believe it for joy and were full of astonishment, He asked them, "Have you any food here?"
#BCV:Luke 24:42
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:42">42</verse></sup> And they gave Him a piece of roasted  fish,
#BCV:Luke 24:43
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:43">43</verse></sup> and He took it and ate it in their presence.
#BCV:Luke 24:44
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:44">44</verse></sup> And He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you--that everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me."
#BCV:Luke 24:45
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:45">45</verse></sup> Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
#BCV:Luke 24:46
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:46">46</verse></sup> and He said, "Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise again from among the dead;
#BCV:Luke 24:47
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:47">47</verse></sup> and that proclamation would be made, in His name, of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
#BCV:Luke 24:48
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:48">48</verse></sup> You are witnesses as to these things.
#BCV:Luke 24:49
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:49">49</verse></sup> And remember that I am about to send out my Father's promised gift to rest upon you. But, as for you,  wait patiently in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
#BCV:Luke 24:50
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:50">50</verse></sup> And He brought them out  to within view of Bethany, and then lifted up His hands and blessed them.
#BCV:Luke 24:51
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:51">51</verse></sup> And while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into Heaven.
#BCV:Luke 24:52
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:52">52</verse></sup> They worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
#BCV:Luke 24:53
<sup><verse bcv="Luke 24:53">53</verse></sup> Afterwards they were continually in attendance at the Temple,  blessing God.

#OUTLINE:1,John
#TOPIC:JOHN, GOSPEL OF
<heading><h1>THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY JOHN</h1>
The question of the authorship and date of the fourth Gospel
is a vexed problem of Biblical research. The book was certainly accepted by most Christians at the end of the second
century as having been written by the apostle John. Its rejection by Marcion and the Alogi does not invalidate this statement. The endless discussions of the whole subject in recent
years have not resulted in critical unanimity. Not only have
many of the ablest scholars steadily maintained, with ample
reasoning, the traditional authorship, but it may be truly said
that the preponderating tendency today is in that direction. On
the other hand the finding of the most recent scrutiny has been
thus expressed: "It is Johannine, many critics would admit,
upon any theory of its origin. Even although they see no
adequate reason for accepting the tradition which assigns the book to the apostle John, and several cogent reasons to the contrary, they would hardly deny that nevertheless the volume is Johannine - in the sense that any historical element throughout
its pages may be traced back directly or indirectly to that apostle and his school." As regards its date, no more definite period can be fairly indicated than that of Harnack - between
80, A.D., and no, a.d. But that it was written at Ephesus may
be regarded as practically certain, and there is evidence that it was composed at the request of elders and believers belonging
to the Churches of Roman Asia. The special characteristics which render it unique in literature are unmistakable, but
scarcely admit of brief expression. It is manifestly supplementary to the other Gospels and assumes that they are known
and are true. The differences between the fourth Gospel and
the other three may be easily exaggerated, but it must be acknowledged that they exist. They relate, (i) to the ministry
of Christ, and (2) to His person. As to the former it is impossible to correlate all the references to distinct events, for whilst the Synoptics appear to contemplate little more than the life and work of a single year, from John's standpoint there can
scarcely have been less than three years concerned. As to the person of Christ, it must be owned that although the fourth Gospel makes no assertion which contradicts the character of Teacher and Reformer attributed to Christ by the Synoptics, it presents to us a personage so enwrapped in mystery and dignity as altogether to transcend ordinary human nature. This
transcendent Personality is indeed the avowed centre of the whole record, and His portrayal is its avowed purpose. Yet
whilst the writer never clearly reveals to us who he himself is,
it is equally manifest that his own convictions constitute the matrix in which the discourses and events are imbedded, and
that there is nothing in this matrix to render that which it contains unreal or untrustworthy.

#BCV:John 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE GOOD NEWS AS RECORDED BY JOHN</h1>
#BCV:John 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 1:1">1</verse></font> In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
#BCV:John 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:2">2</verse></sup> He was in the beginning with God.
#BCV:John 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:3">3</verse></sup> All things came into being  through Him, and apart from Him nothing  that exists came into being.
#BCV:John 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:4">4</verse></sup> In Him was Life, and that Life was the Light of men.
#BCV:John 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:5">5</verse></sup> The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not  overpowered it.
#BCV:John 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:6">6</verse></sup> There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
#BCV:John 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:7">7</verse></sup> He came as a witness, in order that he might give testimony concerning the Light--so that all might believe through him.
#BCV:John 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:8">8</verse></sup> He was not the Light, but he  existed that he might give testimony concerning the Light.
#BCV:John 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:9">9</verse></sup> The true Light was that which illumines  every man by its coming into the world.
#BCV:John 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:10">10</verse></sup> He was in the world, and the world came into existence through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.
#BCV:John 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:11">11</verse></sup> He came to the things that were His own, and His own people gave Him no welcome.
#BCV:John 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:12">12</verse></sup> But all who have received Him, to them--that is, to those who trust in His name--He has given the privilege of becoming children of God;
#BCV:John 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:13">13</verse></sup> who were begotten as such not  by  human descent, nor through an impulse  of their own nature, nor through the will of  a human father, but from God.
#BCV:John 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:14">14</verse></sup> And the Word came in the flesh, and  lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's  only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.
#BCV:John 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:15">15</verse></sup> John gave testimony concerning Him and cried aloud, saying, "This is He of whom I said, 'He who is coming after me has been put before me,' for He was before me."
#BCV:John 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:16">16</verse></sup> For He it is from whose fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
#BCV:John 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:17">17</verse></sup> For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
#BCV:John 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:18">18</verse></sup> No human eye has ever seen God:  the only Son, who is  in the Father's bosom--He has made Him known.
#BCV:John 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:19">19</verse></sup> This also is John's testimony, when the Jews sent to him a deputation of Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who he was.
#BCV:John 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:20">20</verse></sup> He avowed--he did not conceal the truth, but avowed, "I am not the Christ."
#BCV:John 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:21">21</verse></sup> "What then?" they inquired; "are you Elijah?" "I am not," he said. "Are you the Prophet?" "No," he answered.
#BCV:John 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:22">22</verse></sup> So they pressed the question. "Who are you?" they said--"that we may take an answer to those who sent us. What account do you give of yourself?"
#BCV:John 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:23">23</verse></sup> "I am the voice," he replied, "of one crying aloud, 'Make straight the Lord's way  in the Desert,' fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah."
#BCV:John 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:24">24</verse></sup> They were Pharisees who had been sent.
#BCV:John 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:25">25</verse></sup> Again they questioned him. "Why then do you baptize," they said, "if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the Prophet?"
#BCV:John 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:26">26</verse></sup> "I baptize in water only," John answered, "but in your midst stands One whom you do not know--
#BCV:John 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:27">27</verse></sup> He who is to come after me, and whose sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten."
#BCV:John 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:28">28</verse></sup> This conversation took place at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
#BCV:John 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:29">29</verse></sup> The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed,  "Look, that is the Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world!
#BCV:John 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:30">30</verse></sup> This is He about whom I said, 'After me is to come One who has been put before me, because He was before me.'
#BCV:John 1:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:31">31</verse></sup> I did not yet know Him; but that He may be openly shown to Israel is the reason why I have come baptizing in water."
#BCV:John 1:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:32">32</verse></sup> John also gave testimony by stating:  "I have seen the Spirit coming down like a dove out of Heaven; and it remained upon Him.
#BCV:John 1:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:33">33</verse></sup> I did not yet know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, "'The One on whom you see the Spirit coming down, and remaining, He it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'
#BCV:John 1:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:34">34</verse></sup> "This  I have seen, and I have become a witness that He is the Son of God."
#BCV:John 1:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:35">35</verse></sup> Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples,
#BCV:John 1:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:36">36</verse></sup> when he saw Jesus passing by, and said, "Look! that is the Lamb of God!"
#BCV:John 1:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:37">37</verse></sup> The two disciples heard his exclamation, and they followed Jesus.
#BCV:John 1:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:38">38</verse></sup> Then Jesus turned round, and seeing them following He asked them, "What is your wish?"  "Rabbi," they replied--'Rabbi' means 'Teacher' --"where are you staying?"
#BCV:John 1:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:39">39</verse></sup> "Come and you shall see," He said. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they remained and spent that day with Him. It was then about  ten o'clock in the morning.
#BCV:John 1:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:40">40</verse></sup> Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's exclamation and followed Jesus.
#BCV:John 1:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:41">41</verse></sup> He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" --that is to say,  the Anointed One.
#BCV:John 1:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:42">42</verse></sup> He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, son of John: you shall be called  Cephas" --that is to say, Peter (or 'Rock')
#BCV:John 1:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:43">43</verse></sup> The next day, having decided to leave Bethany and go into Galilee, Jesus found Philip, and invited him to follow Him.
#BCV:John 1:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:44">44</verse></sup> 
#BCV:John 1:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:45">45</verse></sup> Then Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the Law wrote, as well as the Prophets--Jesus, the son of Joseph, a man of Nazareth."
#BCV:John 1:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:46">46</verse></sup> "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" replied Nathanael. "Come and see," said Philip.
#BCV:John 1:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:47">47</verse></sup> Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, and said of him, "Look! here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no  deceitfulness!"
#BCV:John 1:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:48">48</verse></sup> "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. "Before Philip called you," said Jesus, "when you were under the fig-tree I saw you."
#BCV:John 1:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:49">49</verse></sup> "Rabbi," cried Nathanael, "you are the Son of God, you are Israel's King!"
#BCV:John 1:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:50">50</verse></sup> "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig-tree,'" replied Jesus, "do you believe? You shall see greater things than that."
#BCV:John 1:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 1:51">51</verse></sup> "I tell you all  in most solemn truth," He added,  "that you shall see Heaven opened wide, and God's angels going up, and coming down to the Son of Man."
#BCV:John 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 2:1">2</verse></font> Two days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there,
#BCV:John 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:2">2</verse></sup> and Jesus also was invited and His disciples.
#BCV:John 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:3">3</verse></sup> Now the wine ran short; whereupon the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
#BCV:John 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:4">4</verse></sup> "Leave the matter in my hands," He replied;  "the time for me to act has not yet come."
#BCV:John 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:5">5</verse></sup> His mother said to the attendants, "Whatever he tells you to do,  do it."
#BCV:John 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:6">6</verse></sup> Now there were six stone jars standing there (in accordance with the Jewish regulations for purification)
#BCV:John 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:7">7</verse></sup> Jesus said to the attendants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them to the brim.
#BCV:John 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:8">8</verse></sup> Then He said, "Now, take some out, and carry it to the President of the feast."
#BCV:John 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:9">9</verse></sup> So they carried some to him. And no sooner had the President tasted the water now turned into wine, than--not knowing where it came from, though the attendants who had drawn the water knew--he called to the bridegroom
#BCV:John 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:10">10</verse></sup> and said to him, "It is usual to put on the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then that which is inferior. But you have kept the good wine till now."
#BCV:John 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:11">11</verse></sup> This, the first of His  miracles, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee, and thus displayed His glorious power; and His disciples believed in Him.
#BCV:John 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:12">12</verse></sup> Afterwards He went down to Capernaum--He, and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and they made a short stay there.
#BCV:John 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:13">13</verse></sup> But the Jewish Passover was approaching, and for this Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
#BCV:John 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:14">14</verse></sup> And He found in the Temple the dealers in cattle and sheep and in pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
#BCV:John 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:15">15</verse></sup> So He plaited a whip of  rushes, and drove all--both sheep and bullocks--out of the Temple. The small coin of the brokers He upset on the ground and overturned their tables.
#BCV:John 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:16">16</verse></sup> And to the pigeon-dealers He said, "Take these things away. Do not turn my Father's house into a market."
#BCV:John 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:17">17</verse></sup> This recalled to His disciples the words of Scripture, "My zeal for Thy House will consume me."
#BCV:John 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:18">18</verse></sup> So the Jews  asked Him, "What  proof of your authority do you exhibit to us, seeing that you do these things?"
#BCV:John 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:19">19</verse></sup> "Demolish this Sanctuary," said Jesus, "and in three days I will rebuild it."
#BCV:John 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:20">20</verse></sup> "It has taken forty-six years," replied the Jews, "to build this Sanctuary, and will you rebuild it in three days?"
#BCV:John 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:21">21</verse></sup> But He was speaking of the Sanctuary of His body.
#BCV:John 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:22">22</verse></sup> When however He had risen from among the dead, His disciples recollected that He  had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the  teaching which Jesus had given them.
#BCV:John 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:23">23</verse></sup> Now when He was in Jerusalem,  at the Festival of the Passover, many  became believers  in Him through watching the miracles He performed.
#BCV:John 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:24">24</verse></sup> But for His part, Jesus did not trust Himself to them, because He knew them all,
#BCV:John 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 2:25">25</verse></sup> and did not need any one's testimony concerning  a man, for He of Himself knew what was in the man.
#BCV:John 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 3:1">3</verse></font> Now there was one of the Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus--a ruler among the Jews.
#BCV:John 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:2">2</verse></sup> He came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God; for no one can do these miracles which you are doing, unless God is with him.
#BCV:John 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:3">3</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," answered Jesus, "that unless a man is born  anew he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:John 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:4">4</verse></sup> "How is it possible," Nicodemus asked, "for a man to be born when he is old? Can he a second time enter his mother's womb and be born?"
#BCV:John 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:5">5</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that unless a man is  born of water  and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:John 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:6">6</verse></sup> Whatever has been  born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
#BCV:John 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:7">7</verse></sup> Do not be astonished at my telling you, 'You must all be born anew.'
#BCV:John 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:8">8</verse></sup> The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear its  sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is it with every one who has been born of the Spirit."
#BCV:John 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:9">9</verse></sup> "How is all this possible?" asked Nicodemus.
#BCV:John 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:10">10</verse></sup> "Are you," replied Jesus, "'the  Teacher of Israel,' and yet do you not understand these things?
#BCV:John 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:11">11</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that  we speak what we know, and give testimony of that of which we  were eye-witnesses, and yet you all reject our testimony.
#BCV:John 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:12">12</verse></sup> If I have told you earthly things and none of you believe me, how will you believe me if I tell you of things in Heaven?
#BCV:John 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:13">13</verse></sup> There is no one who has gone up to Heaven, but there is One who has come down from Heaven, namely the Son of Man whose home is in Heaven.
#BCV:John 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:14">14</verse></sup> And just as Moses lifted high the serpent in the Desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
#BCV:John 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:15">15</verse></sup> in order that every one who trusts in Him may have the  Life of the Ages."
#BCV:John 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:16">16</verse></sup> For so  greatly did God love the world that He gave His  only Son, that every one who trusts in Him may not perish but may have the Life of Ages.
#BCV:John 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:17">17</verse></sup> For God  did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
#BCV:John 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:18">18</verse></sup> He who trusts in Him does not come up for judgement. He who does not trust has already received sentence, because he  has not his trust resting on the name of God's only Son.
#BCV:John 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:19">19</verse></sup> And this is the  test by which men  are judged--the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness more than they loved the Light, because their deeds were wicked.
#BCV:John 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:20">20</verse></sup> For every wrongdoer hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear his actions should be exposed and condemned.
#BCV:John 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:21">21</verse></sup> But he who does  what is honest and right comes to the light, in order that his actions may be plainly shown to have been done  in God.
#BCV:John 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:22">22</verse></sup> After this Jesus and His disciples went into Judaea; and there He made a stay in company with them and baptized.
#BCV:John 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:23">23</verse></sup> And John too was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there were many  pools of water there; and people came and received baptism.
#BCV:John 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:24">24</verse></sup> 
#BCV:John 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:25">25</verse></sup> As the result, a discussion having arisen on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification,
#BCV:John 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:26">26</verse></sup> they came to John and reported to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you on the other side of the Jordan and to whom you bore testimony is now baptizing, and  great numbers of people are resorting to him."
#BCV:John 3:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:27">27</verse></sup> "A man cannot obtain anything," replied John, "unless it has been granted to him from Heaven.
#BCV:John 3:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:28">28</verse></sup> You yourselves can bear witness to my having said, 'I am not the Christ,' but  'I am His appointed forerunner.'
#BCV:John 3:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:29">29</verse></sup> He who has the bride is the bridegroom; and the bridegroom's friend who stands by his side and listens to him, rejoices heartily on account of the bridegroom's happiness. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
#BCV:John 3:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:30">30</verse></sup> He must grow greater, but I must grow less.
#BCV:John 3:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:31">31</verse></sup> He who  comes from above is above all. He whose origin is from the earth is not only himself from the earth, his teaching also is from the earth. He who comes from Heaven  is above all.
#BCV:John 3:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:32">32</verse></sup> What He  has seen and heard, to that He bears witness; but His testimony no one receives.
#BCV:John 3:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:33">33</verse></sup> Any man who has received His testimony has  solemnly declared that God is true.
#BCV:John 3:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:34">34</verse></sup> For He whom God has sent speaks God's words; for God does not give the Spirit  with limitations."
#BCV:John 3:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:35">35</verse></sup> The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to His hands.
#BCV:John 3:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 3:36">36</verse></sup> He who  believes in the Son has the Life of the Ages; he who  disobeys the Son will not  enter into Life, but God's anger remains upon him.
#BCV:John 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 4:1">4</verse></font> Now as soon as the Master was aware that the Pharisees had heard it said, "Jesus is gaining and baptizing more disciples than John"--
#BCV:John 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:2">2</verse></sup> though Jesus Himself did not baptize them, but His disciples did--
#BCV:John 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:3">3</verse></sup> He left Judaea and returned to Galilee.
#BCV:John 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:4">4</verse></sup> His road lay through Samaria,
#BCV:John 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:5">5</verse></sup> and so He came to Sychar, a town in Samaria near the piece of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
#BCV:John 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:6">6</verse></sup> Jacob's  Well was there: and accordingly Jesus, tired out with His journey, sat down by the well to rest. It was about  six o'clock in the evening.
#BCV:John 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:7">7</verse></sup> Presently there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus asked her to give Him some water;
#BCV:John 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:8">8</verse></sup> for His disciples were gone to the town to buy provisions.
#BCV:John 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:9">9</verse></sup> "How is it," replied the woman, "that a Jew like you asks me, who am a woman and a Samaritan, for water?"  (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
#BCV:John 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:10">10</verse></sup> "If you had known God's free gift," replied Jesus, "and who it is that said to you, 'Give me some water,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
#BCV:John 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:11">11</verse></sup> "Sir," she said, "you have nothing to draw with, and the  well is deep; so where can you get the living water from?
#BCV:John 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:12">12</verse></sup> Are you greater than our forefather Jacob, who gave us the well, and himself drank from it, as did also his sons and his cattle?"
#BCV:John 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:13">13</verse></sup> "Every one," replied Jesus, "who drinks any of this water will be thirsty again;
#BCV:John 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:14">14</verse></sup> but whoever drinks any of the water that I shall give him will never, never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become a fountain within him of water  springing up  for  the Life of the Ages."
#BCV:John 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:15">15</verse></sup> "Sir," said the woman, "give me that water, that I may never be thirsty, nor continually come all the way here to draw from the well."
#BCV:John 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:16">16</verse></sup> "Go and call your husband," said Jesus; "and come back."
#BCV:John 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:17">17</verse></sup> "I have no husband," she replied. "You rightly  say that you have no husband," said Jesus;
#BCV:John 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:18">18</verse></sup> "for you have had five husbands, and the man you have at present is not your husband. You have spoken the truth in saying that."
#BCV:John 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:19">19</verse></sup> "Sir," replied the woman, "I see that you are a Prophet.
#BCV:John 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:20">20</verse></sup> Our forefathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."
#BCV:John 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:21">21</verse></sup> "Believe me," said Jesus, "the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
#BCV:John 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:22">22</verse></sup> You worship  One of whom you know nothing. We worship One whom we know; for salvation comes from the Jews.
#BCV:John 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:23">23</verse></sup> But a time is coming--nay, has already come--when the true worshippers will worship the Father  with true spiritual worship; for indeed the Father desires  such worshippers.
#BCV:John 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:24">24</verse></sup> God is  Spirit; and those who worship Him must bring Him true spiritual worship."
#BCV:John 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:25">25</verse></sup> "I know," replied the woman, "that Messiah is coming--'the  Christ,' as He is called. When He has come, He will tell us everything."
#BCV:John 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:26">26</verse></sup> "I am He," said Jesus--"I who am now talking to you."
#BCV:John 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:27">27</verse></sup> Just then His disciples came, and were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. Yet not one of them asked Him, "What is your wish?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
#BCV:John 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:28">28</verse></sup> The woman however, leaving her  pitcher, went away to the town, and called the people.
#BCV:John 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:29">29</verse></sup> "Come," she said, "and see a man who has told me everything I have ever done. Can this be the Christ, do you think?"
#BCV:John 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:30">30</verse></sup> They left the town and  set out to go to Him.
#BCV:John 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:31">31</verse></sup> Meanwhile the disciples were urging Jesus. "Rabbi," they said, "eat something."
#BCV:John 4:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:32">32</verse></sup> "I have food to eat," He replied, "of which you do not know."
#BCV:John 4:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:33">33</verse></sup> So the disciples began questioning one another. "Can it be," they said, "that some one has brought Him something to eat?"
#BCV:John 4:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:34">34</verse></sup> "My food," said Jesus, "is to be obedient to Him who sent me, and fully to accomplish His work.
#BCV:John 4:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:35">35</verse></sup> Do you not say, 'It wants four months yet to the harvest'? But look round, I tell you, and observe these plains--  they are already ripe for the sickle.
#BCV:John 4:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:36">36</verse></sup> The reaper gets pay and gathers in a crop in preparation  for the Life of the Ages, that so the sower and the reapers may rejoice together.
#BCV:John 4:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:37">37</verse></sup> For it is  in this that you see the real meaning of the saying, 'The sower is one person, and the reaper is another.'
#BCV:John 4:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:38">38</verse></sup> I sent you to reap a harvest which is not the result of your own labours. Others have laboured, and you are getting benefit from their labours."
#BCV:John 4:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:39">39</verse></sup> Of the Samaritan population of that town a good many believed in Him because of the woman's statement when she declared, "He has told me all that I have ever done."
#BCV:John 4:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:40">40</verse></sup> When however the Samaritans came to Him, they  asked Him on all sides to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
#BCV:John 4:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:41">41</verse></sup> Then a far larger number of people believed because of His own words,
#BCV:John 4:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:42">42</verse></sup> and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe in Him simply because of your statements; for we have now heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world."
#BCV:John 4:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:43">43</verse></sup> After the two days He departed, and went into Galilee;
#BCV:John 4:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:44">44</verse></sup> though Jesus Himself declared that a Prophet has no honour in his own country.
#BCV:John 4:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:45">45</verse></sup> When  however He reached Galilee, the Galilaeans welcomed Him eagerly, having been eye-witnesses of all that He had done in Jerusalem at the Festival; for they also had been to the Festival.
#BCV:John 4:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:46">46</verse></sup> So He came once more to Cana in Galilee, where He had made the water into wine. Now there was a certain officer of the King's court whose son was ill at Capernaum.
#BCV:John 4:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:47">47</verse></sup> Having heard that Jesus had come from Judaea to Galilee, he came to Him and begged Him to go down and cure his son; for he was at the point of death.
#BCV:John 4:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:48">48</verse></sup> "Unless you and others see miracles and marvels," said Jesus, "nothing will induce you to believe."
#BCV:John 4:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:49">49</verse></sup> "Sir," pleaded the officer, "come down before my child dies."
#BCV:John 4:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:50">50</verse></sup> "You may return home," replied Jesus; "your son has recovered." He believed the words of Jesus, and started back home;
#BCV:John 4:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:51">51</verse></sup> and he was already on his way down when his servants met him and told him that his son was alive and well.
#BCV:John 4:52
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:52">52</verse></sup> So he inquired of them at what hour he had shown improvement. "Yesterday,  about seven o'clock," they replied, "the fever left him."
#BCV:John 4:53
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:53">53</verse></sup> Then the father recollected that that was the time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son has recovered," and he and his whole household became believers.
#BCV:John 4:54
<sup><verse bcv="John 4:54">54</verse></sup> This is  the second miracle that Jesus performed, after coming from Judaea into Galilee.
#BCV:John 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 5:1">5</verse></font> After this there was a Festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
#BCV:John 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:2">2</verse></sup> Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew 'Bethesda.' It has five arcades.
#BCV:John 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:3">3</verse></sup> In these there used to lie a great number of sick persons, and of people who were blind or lame or paralyzed.
#BCV:John 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:4">4</verse></sup> 
#BCV:John 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:5">5</verse></sup> And there was one man there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
#BCV:John 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:6">6</verse></sup> Jesus saw him lying there, and knowing that he had been a long time in that condition, He asked him, "Do you wish to have health and strength?"
#BCV:John 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:7">7</verse></sup> "Sir," replied the sufferer, "I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is moved; but while I am coming some one else steps down before me."
#BCV:John 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:8">8</verse></sup> "Rise," said Jesus, "take up your mat and walk."
#BCV:John 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:9">9</verse></sup> Instantly the man was restored to perfect health, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
#BCV:John 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:10">10</verse></sup> That day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the Sabbath: you must not carry your mat."
#BCV:John 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:11">11</verse></sup> "He who cured me," he replied, "said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'"
#BCV:John 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:12">12</verse></sup> "Who is it," they asked, "that said to you, 'Take up your mat and walk'?"
#BCV:John 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:13">13</verse></sup> But the man who had been cured did not know who it was; for Jesus had passed out unnoticed, there being a crowd in the place.
#BCV:John 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:14">14</verse></sup> Afterwards Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him, "You are now restored to health. Do not sin any more, or a worse thing may befall you."
#BCV:John 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:15">15</verse></sup> The man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had restored him to health;
#BCV:John 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:16">16</verse></sup> and on this account the Jews began to persecute Jesus--because He did these things on the Sabbath.
#BCV:John 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:17">17</verse></sup> His reply to their accusation was, "My Father  works unceasingly, and so do I."
#BCV:John 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:18">18</verse></sup> On this account then the Jews were all the more eager to put Him to death--because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also spoke of God as being in a special sense His Father, thus putting Himself on a level with God.
#BCV:John 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:19">19</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that the Son can do nothing of Himself--He can only do what He sees the Father doing; for whatever He does, that the Son does in like manner.
#BCV:John 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:20">20</verse></sup> For the Father  loves the Son and reveals to Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater deeds than these will He reveal to Him, in order that you may wonder.
#BCV:John 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:21">21</verse></sup> For just as the Father awakens the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wills.
#BCV:John 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:22">22</verse></sup> The Father indeed does not judge any one, but He has entrusted all judgement to the Son,
#BCV:John 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:23">23</verse></sup> that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father. The man who withholds honour from the Son withholds honour from the Father who sent Him.
#BCV:John 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:24">24</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you that he who listens to my teaching and believes Him who sent me, has  the Life of the Ages, and does not come  under judgement, but has passed over out of death into Life.
#BCV:John 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:25">25</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you that  a time is coming--nay, has already come--when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those  who hear it will live.
#BCV:John 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:26">26</verse></sup> For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has also given to the Son to have life in Himself.
#BCV:John 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:27">27</verse></sup> And He has conferred on Him authority to act as Judge, because He is the Son of Man.
#BCV:John 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:28">28</verse></sup> Wonder not at this. For a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and will come forth--
#BCV:John 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:29">29</verse></sup> they who have done what is right to the resurrection of Life, and they whose actions have been evil to the resurrection of judgement.
#BCV:John 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:30">30</verse></sup> "I can of my own self do nothing. As  I am bidden, so I judge; and mine is a just judgement, because it is not my own will that guides me, but the will of Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 5:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:31">31</verse></sup> "If I give testimony concerning myself, my testimony  cannot be accepted.
#BCV:John 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:32">32</verse></sup> There is  Another who gives testimony concerning me, and I know that the testimony is true which He offers concerning me.
#BCV:John 5:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:33">33</verse></sup> "You sent to John, and he  both was and still is a witness to the truth.
#BCV:John 5:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:34">34</verse></sup> But the testimony on my behalf which I accept is not from man; though I say all this in order that you may be saved.
#BCV:John 5:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:35">35</verse></sup> He was the lamp that burned and shone, and for a time you were willing to be gladdened by his light.
#BCV:John 5:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:36">36</verse></sup> "But the testimony which I have is weightier than that of John; for the  work the Father  has assigned to me for me to bring it to completion--the very work which I am doing--affords testimony concerning me that the Father has sent me.
#BCV:John 5:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:37">37</verse></sup> And the Father who sent me, *He* has given testimony concerning me. None of you have ever either heard His voice or seen what He is like.
#BCV:John 5:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:38">38</verse></sup> Nor have you His word dwelling within you, for you refuse to believe Him whom *He* has sent.
#BCV:John 5:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:39">39</verse></sup> "You search the Scriptures, because you suppose that in them  you will find the Life  of the Ages; and it is those Scriptures that yield testimony concerning me;
#BCV:John 5:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:40">40</verse></sup> and yet you are unwilling to come to me that you may have Life.
#BCV:John 5:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:41">41</verse></sup> "I do not accept glory from man,
#BCV:John 5:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:42">42</verse></sup> but I know you well, and I know that in your hearts you do not really love God.
#BCV:John 5:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:43">43</verse></sup> I have come  as my Father's representative, and you do not receive me. If some one else comes representing only himself, him you will receive.
#BCV:John 5:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:44">44</verse></sup> How is it possible for you to believe, while you receive glory from one another and have no desire for the glory that comes from the only God?
#BCV:John 5:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:45">45</verse></sup> "Do not suppose that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, namely Moses, on whom your hope rests.
#BCV:John 5:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:46">46</verse></sup> For if you believe Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.
#BCV:John 5:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 5:47">47</verse></sup> But if you disbelieve his writings, how are you to believe my words?"
#BCV:John 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 6:1">6</verse></font> After this Jesus went away across the Lake of Galilee (that is, the Lake of Tiberias)
#BCV:John 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:2">2</verse></sup> A vast multitude followed Him, because they witnessed the miracles on the sick which He was constantly performing.
#BCV:John 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:3">3</verse></sup> Then Jesus went up the hill, and sat there with His disciples.
#BCV:John 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:4">4</verse></sup> The Jewish Festival, the Passover, was at hand.
#BCV:John 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:5">5</verse></sup> And when He looked round and saw an immense crowd coming towards Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat?"
#BCV:John 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:6">6</verse></sup> He said this to put Philip to the test, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.
#BCV:John 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:7">7</verse></sup> "Seven pounds' worth of bread," replied Philip, "is not enough for them all to get even a scanty meal."
#BCV:John 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:8">8</verse></sup> One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,
#BCV:John 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:9">9</verse></sup> "There is a boy here with five barley  loaves and a couple of fish: but what is that among so many?"
#BCV:John 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:10">10</verse></sup> "Make the people sit down," said Jesus. The ground was covered with thick grass; so they sat down, the adult men numbering about 5,000.
#BCV:John 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:11">11</verse></sup> Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were resting on the ground; and also the fish in like manner--as much as they desired.
#BCV:John 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:12">12</verse></sup> When all were fully satisfied, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the broken portions that remain over, so that nothing be lost."
#BCV:John 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:13">13</verse></sup> Accordingly they gathered them up; and with the fragments of the five barley loaves--the broken portions that remained over after they had done eating--they filled twelve baskets.
#BCV:John 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:14">14</verse></sup> Thereupon the people, having seen the miracle He had performed, said, "This is indeed the Prophet who was to come into the world."
#BCV:John 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:15">15</verse></sup> Perceiving,  however, that they were about to come and carry Him off by force to make Him a king, Jesus withdrew again up the hill alone by Himself.
#BCV:John 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:16">16</verse></sup> When evening came on, His disciples went down to the Lake.
#BCV:John 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:17">17</verse></sup> There they got on board a boat, and pushed off to cross the Lake to Capernaum. By this time it had become dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.
#BCV:John 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:18">18</verse></sup> The Lake also was getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing.
#BCV:John 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:19">19</verse></sup> When, however, they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat.
#BCV:John 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:20">20</verse></sup> They were terrified; but He called to them. "It is I," He said, "do not be afraid."
#BCV:John 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:21">21</verse></sup> Then they were willing to take Him on board; and in a moment the boat reached the shore at the point to which they were going.
#BCV:John 6:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:22">22</verse></sup> Next morning the crowd who were still standing about on the other side of the Lake found that there had been but one small boat there, and they had seen that Jesus did not go on board with His disciples, but that His disciples went away without Him.
#BCV:John 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:23">23</verse></sup> Yet a number of small boats came from Tiberias to the neighbourhood of the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
#BCV:John 6:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:24">24</verse></sup> When however the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they themselves also took boats and came to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
#BCV:John 6:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:25">25</verse></sup> So when they had crossed the Lake and had found Him, they asked Him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"
#BCV:John 6:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:26">26</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that you are searching for me not because you have seen miracles, but because you ate  the loaves and had a hearty meal.
#BCV:John 6:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:27">27</verse></sup> Bestow your pains not on the food which perishes, but on the food that remains unto  the Life of the Ages--that food which will be the Son of Man's gift to you; for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."
#BCV:John 6:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:28">28</verse></sup> "What are we to do," they asked, "in order to carry out the things that God requires?"
#BCV:John 6:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:29">29</verse></sup> "This," replied Jesus, "is above all the thing that God requires--that you should be believers in Him whom He has sent."
#BCV:John 6:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:30">30</verse></sup> "What miracle then," they asked, "do you perform for us to see and become believers in you? What do you *do*?
#BCV:John 6:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:31">31</verse></sup> Our forefathers ate the manna in the Desert, as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of Heaven to eat'."
#BCV:John 6:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:32">32</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that Moses did not give you the bread out of Heaven, but my Father is giving you the bread--the true bread--out of Heaven.
#BCV:John 6:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:33">33</verse></sup> For God's bread is  that which comes down out of Heaven and gives Life to the world."
#BCV:John 6:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:34">34</verse></sup> "Sir," they said, "always give us that bread."
#BCV:John 6:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:35">35</verse></sup> "I am the bread of Life," replied Jesus; "he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never, never thirst.
#BCV:John 6:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:36">36</verse></sup> But  it is as I have said to you: you have seen  me and yet you do not believe.
#BCV:John 6:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:37">37</verse></sup> Every one whom the Father gives me will come to me, and him who comes to me I will never on any account drive away.
#BCV:John 6:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:38">38</verse></sup> For I have left Heaven and have come down to earth not to seek my own  pleasure, but to do the will of Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 6:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:39">39</verse></sup> And this is the will of Him who sent me, that of  all that He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise  it to life on the last day.
#BCV:John 6:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:40">40</verse></sup> For this is my Father's will, that every one who fixes his gaze on the Son of God and believes in Him should have the Life  of the Ages, and I will raise him to life on the last day."
#BCV:John 6:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:41">41</verse></sup> Now the Jews began to find fault about Him because of His claiming to be the bread which came down out of Heaven.
#BCV:John 6:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:42">42</verse></sup> They kept asking, "Is not  this man Joseph's son? Is he not Jesus, whose father and mother we know? What does he mean by now saying, 'I have come down out of Heaven'?"
#BCV:John 6:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:43">43</verse></sup> "Do not  thus find fault among yourselves," replied Jesus;
#BCV:John 6:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:44">44</verse></sup> "no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; then I will raise him to life on the last day.
#BCV:John 6:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:45">45</verse></sup> It stands written in the Prophets, 'And they shall all of them be taught by God'. Every one who  listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me.
#BCV:John 6:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:46">46</verse></sup> No one has ever seen the Father--except Him who is from God. He has seen the Father.
#BCV:John 6:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:47">47</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you that he who  believes has the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:John 6:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:48">48</verse></sup> I am the bread of Life.
#BCV:John 6:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:49">49</verse></sup> Your forefathers ate the manna in the Desert, and they died.
#BCV:John 6:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:50">50</verse></sup> Here is the bread that comes down out of Heaven that a man may eat it and not die.
#BCV:John 6:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:51">51</verse></sup> I am the living bread come down out of Heaven. If a man eats  this bread, he shall live for ever. Moreover the bread which I will give is my flesh  given for the life of the world."
#BCV:John 6:52
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:52">52</verse></sup> This led to an angry debate among the Jews. "How can  this man," they argued, "give us his flesh to eat?"
#BCV:John 6:53
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:53">53</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," said Jesus, "that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no Life  in you.
#BCV:John 6:54
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:54">54</verse></sup> He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has the Life of the Ages, and I will raise him up on the last day.
#BCV:John 6:55
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:55">55</verse></sup> For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
#BCV:John 6:56
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:56">56</verse></sup> He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in union with me, and I remain in union with him.
#BCV:John 6:57
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:57">57</verse></sup> As the ever-living Father has sent me, and I live  because of the Father, so also he who eats me will live because of me.
#BCV:John 6:58
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:58">58</verse></sup> This is the bread which came down out of Heaven; it is unlike that which your forefathers ate--for they ate and yet died. He who eats this bread shall live for ever."
#BCV:John 6:59
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:59">59</verse></sup> Jesus said all this  in the synagogue while teaching at Capernaum.
#BCV:John 6:60
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:60">60</verse></sup> Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is hard to accept. Who can listen  to such teaching?"
#BCV:John 6:61
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:61">61</verse></sup> But, knowing in Himself that His disciples were dissatisfied about it, Jesus asked them,
#BCV:John 6:62
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:62">62</verse></sup> "Does this seem incredible to you? What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascending  again where He was before?
#BCV:John 6:63
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:63">63</verse></sup> It is the spirit which gives Life. The flesh confers no benefit whatever. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are Life.
#BCV:John 6:64
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:64">64</verse></sup> But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
#BCV:John 6:65
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:65">65</verse></sup> So He added, "That is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it be granted him by the Father."
#BCV:John 6:66
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:66">66</verse></sup> Thereupon many of His disciples left Him and went away, and no longer associated with Him.
#BCV:John 6:67
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:67">67</verse></sup> Jesus therefore appealed to the Twelve. "Will you go also?" He asked.
#BCV:John 6:68
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:68">68</verse></sup> "Master," replied Simon Peter, "to whom shall we go?  Your teachings tell us of the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:John 6:69
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:69">69</verse></sup> And we have come to believe and know that *you* are indeed the Holy One of God."
#BCV:John 6:70
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:70">70</verse></sup> "Did not I choose you--the Twelve?" said Jesus, "and even of you one is  a devil."
#BCV:John 6:71
<sup><verse bcv="John 6:71">71</verse></sup> He alluded to Judas, the son of Simon the Iscariot. For he it was who, though one of the Twelve, was afterwards to betray Him.
#BCV:John 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 7:1">7</verse></font> After this Jesus moved from place to place in Galilee. He would not go about in Judaea, because the Jews were seeking an opportunity to kill Him.
#BCV:John 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:2">2</verse></sup> But the Jewish Festival of the Tent-Pitching was approaching.
#BCV:John 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:3">3</verse></sup> So His brothers said to Him, "Leave these parts and go into Judaea, that not only we but your disciples also may witness the miracles which you perform.
#BCV:John 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:4">4</verse></sup> For no one acts in secret, desiring all the while to be himself known publicly. Since you are doing these things, show yourself openly to the world."
#BCV:John 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:5">5</verse></sup> For even His brothers were not believers in Him.
#BCV:John 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:6">6</verse></sup> "My time," replied Jesus, "has not yet come, but for you any time is suitable.
#BCV:John 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:7">7</verse></sup> It is impossible for the world to hate you; but me it does hate, because I give testimony concerning it that its conduct is evil.
#BCV:John 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:8">8</verse></sup> As for you, go up to the Festival.  I do  not now go up to this Festival, because my time is not yet fully come."
#BCV:John 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:9">9</verse></sup> Such was His answer, and He remained in Galilee.
#BCV:John 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:10">10</verse></sup> When however His brothers had gone up to the Festival, then He also went up, not openly, but as it were privately.
#BCV:John 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:11">11</verse></sup> Meanwhile the Jews at the Festival were looking for Him and were inquiring, "Where is he?"
#BCV:John 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:12">12</verse></sup> Among the mass of the people there was much muttered debate about Him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so: he is imposing on the people."
#BCV:John 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:13">13</verse></sup> Yet  for fear of the Jews no one spoke out boldly about Him.
#BCV:John 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:14">14</verse></sup> But when the Festival was already half over, Jesus went up to the Temple and commenced teaching.
#BCV:John 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:15">15</verse></sup> The Jews were astonished. "How does  this man know anything of books," they said, "although he has never been at any of the schools?"
#BCV:John 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:16">16</verse></sup> Jesus answered their question by saying, "My teaching does not belong to me, but comes from Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:17">17</verse></sup> If any one is willing to do His will, he shall know about the teaching, whether it is from God or originates with me.
#BCV:John 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:18">18</verse></sup> The man whose teaching originates with himself aims at his own glory. He who aims at the glory of Him who sent him teaches the truth, and there is no deception in him.
#BCV:John 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:19">19</verse></sup> Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet not a man of you obeys the Law. Why do you want to kill me?"
#BCV:John 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:20">20</verse></sup> "You are possessed by a demon," replied the crowd;  "no one wants to kill you."
#BCV:John 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:21">21</verse></sup> "One deed I have done," replied Jesus, "and you are all full of wonder.
#BCV:John 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:22">22</verse></sup> Consider therefore. Moses  gave you the rite of circumcision (not that it began with Moses, but with your earlier forefathers)
#BCV:John 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:23">23</verse></sup> If a child is circumcised even on a Sabbath day, are you bitter against me because I have restored a man to perfect health on a Sabbath day?
#BCV:John 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:24">24</verse></sup> Do not form  superficial judgements, but form the judgements that are just."
#BCV:John 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:25">25</verse></sup> Some however of the people of Jerusalem said, "Is not this the man they are wanting to kill?
#BCV:John 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:26">26</verse></sup> But  here he is, speaking openly and boldly, and they say nothing to him! Can the Rulers really have ascertained that this man is the Christ?
#BCV:John 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:27">27</verse></sup> And yet we know this man, and we know where he is from; but as for the Christ, when He comes, no one can tell where He is from."
#BCV:John 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:28">28</verse></sup> Jesus therefore, while teaching in the Temple, cried aloud, and said, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. And yet I have not come of my own accord; but there is One who has sent me, an Authority indeed, of whom you have no knowledge.
#BCV:John 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:29">29</verse></sup> I know Him, because I came from Him, and He sent me."
#BCV:John 7:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:30">30</verse></sup> On hearing this they wanted to arrest Him; yet not a hand was laid on Him, because His time had not yet come.
#BCV:John 7:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:31">31</verse></sup> But from among the crowd a large number believed in Him. "When the Christ comes," they said, "will He perform more miracles than this teacher has performed?"
#BCV:John 7:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:32">32</verse></sup> The Pharisees heard the people thus expressing their various doubts about Him, and the High Priests and the Pharisees sent some officers to apprehend Him.
#BCV:John 7:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:33">33</verse></sup> So Jesus said, "Still for a short time I am with you, and then I go my way to Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 7:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:34">34</verse></sup> You will look for me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come."
#BCV:John 7:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:35">35</verse></sup> The Jews therefore said to one another, "Where is he about to betake himself,  so that we shall not find him? Will he betake himself to the Dispersion among the  Gentiles, and teach the  Gentiles?
#BCV:John 7:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:36">36</verse></sup> What do those words of his mean, 'You will look for me, but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come'?"
#BCV:John 7:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:37">37</verse></sup> On the last day of the Festival--the great day--Jesus stood up and cried aloud. "Whoever is thirsty," He said, "let him come to me and drink.
#BCV:John 7:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:38">38</verse></sup> He who believes in me, from within him--as the Scripture has said--rivers of living water shall flow."
#BCV:John 7:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:39">39</verse></sup> He referred to the Spirit which those who  believed in Him  were to receive; for the Spirit was not  bestowed as yet, because Jesus had not yet been  glorified.
#BCV:John 7:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:40">40</verse></sup> After listening to these  discourses,  some of the crowd began to say, "This is beyond doubt the Prophet."
#BCV:John 7:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:41">41</verse></sup> Others said, "He is the Christ." But others again,  "Not so, for is the Christ to come from Galilee?
#BCV:John 7:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:42">42</verse></sup> Has not the Scripture declared that the Christ is to come of the family of David and from Bethlehem, David's village?"
#BCV:John 7:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:43">43</verse></sup> So there was a violent dissension among the people on His account.
#BCV:John 7:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:44">44</verse></sup> Some of them wanted at once to arrest Him, but no one laid hands upon Him.
#BCV:John 7:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:45">45</verse></sup> Meanwhile the officers returned to the High Priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why have you not brought him?"
#BCV:John 7:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:46">46</verse></sup> "No mere man has ever spoken as this man speaks," said the officers.
#BCV:John 7:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:47">47</verse></sup> "Are *you* deluded too?" replied the Pharisees;
#BCV:John 7:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:48">48</verse></sup> "has any one of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?
#BCV:John 7:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:49">49</verse></sup> But this rabble who understand nothing about the Law are accursed!"
#BCV:John 7:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:50">50</verse></sup> Nicodemus interposed--he who had formerly gone to Jesus, being himself one of them.
#BCV:John 7:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:51">51</verse></sup> "Does our Law," he asked, "judge a man without first hearing what he has to say and ascertaining what his conduct is?"
#BCV:John 7:52
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:52">52</verse></sup> "Do you also come from Galilee?" they asked in reply. "Search and see for yourself that no Prophet is of Galilaean origin."
#BCV:John 7:53
<sup><verse bcv="John 7:53">53</verse></sup> So they went away to their several homes;
#BCV:John 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 8:1">8</verse></font> but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
#BCV:John 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:2">2</verse></sup> At break of day however He returned to the Temple, and there the people came to Him in crowds. He seated Himself;
#BCV:John 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:3">3</verse></sup> and was teaching them when the Scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been found committing adultery. They made her stand in the centre of the court, and they put the case to Him.
#BCV:John 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:4">4</verse></sup> "Rabbi," they said, "this woman has been found in the very act of committing adultery.
#BCV:John 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:5">5</verse></sup> Now, in the Law, Moses has ordered us to stone  such women to death. But what do you say?"
#BCV:John 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:6">6</verse></sup> They asked this in order to put Him to the test, so that they might have some charge to bring against Him. But Jesus  leant forward and began to write with His finger on the ground.
#BCV:John 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:7">7</verse></sup> 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."
#BCV:John 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:8">8</verse></sup> Then He leant forward again, and again began to write on the ground.
#BCV:John 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:9">9</verse></sup> They listened to Him, and then, beginning with the eldest, took their departure, one by one, till all were gone. And Jesus was left behind alone--and the woman in the centre of the court.
#BCV:John 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:10">10</verse></sup> Then, raising His head, Jesus said to her,  "Where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
#BCV:John 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:11">11</verse></sup> "No one, Sir," she replied. "And *I* do not condemn you either," said Jesus; "go, and from this time do not sin any more."
#BCV:John 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:12">12</verse></sup> Once more Jesus addressed them. "I am the Light of the world," He said; "the man who follows me shall certainly not walk in the dark, but shall have the light of Life."
#BCV:John 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:13">13</verse></sup> "You are giving testimony about yourself," said the Pharisees; "your testimony is not true."
#BCV:John 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:14">14</verse></sup> "Even if I am giving testimony about myself," replied Jesus, "my testimony is true; for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you know neither of these two things.
#BCV:John 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:15">15</verse></sup> You judge according to  appearances:  I am judging no one.
#BCV:John 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:16">16</verse></sup> And even if I do judge, my judgement is  just; for I am not alone, but the Father who sent me is with me.
#BCV:John 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:17">17</verse></sup> In your own Law, too, it is written that the testimony of two men is true.
#BCV:John 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:18">18</verse></sup> I am one giving testimony about myself, and the Father who sent me gives testimony about me."
#BCV:John 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:19">19</verse></sup> "Where is your Father?" they asked. "You know my Father as little as you know me." He replied; "if you knew me, you would know my Father also."
#BCV:John 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:20">20</verse></sup> These sayings He uttered in the Treasury, while teaching in the  Temple; yet no one arrested Him, because His time had not yet come.
#BCV:John 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:21">21</verse></sup> Again He said to them, "I am going away. Then you will try to find me, but you will die in your sins. Where I am going, it is impossible for you to come."
#BCV:John 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:22">22</verse></sup> The Jews began to ask one another, "Is he going to kill himself, do you think, that he says, 'Where I am going, it is impossible for you to come'?"
#BCV:John 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:23">23</verse></sup> "You," He continued, "are from below, I am from above: you are of this present world, I am not of this present world.
#BCV:John 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:24">24</verse></sup> That is why I told you that you will die in your sins; for, unless you believe that  I am He,  that is what will happen."
#BCV:John 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:25">25</verse></sup> "You--who are you?" they  asked.  "How is it that I am speaking to you at all?" replied Jesus.
#BCV:John 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:26">26</verse></sup> "Many things I have to speak and to judge concerning you. But He who sent me is true, and the things which I have heard from Him are those which  I have come into the world to speak."
#BCV:John 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:27">27</verse></sup> They did not perceive that He was speaking to them of the Father.
#BCV:John 8:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:28">28</verse></sup> So Jesus added, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that  I am He. Of myself I do nothing; but as the Father has taught me, so I speak.
#BCV:John 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:29">29</verse></sup> And He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone: for I do always what is pleasing to Him."
#BCV:John 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:30">30</verse></sup> As He thus spoke, many became believers in Him.
#BCV:John 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:31">31</verse></sup> Jesus therefore  said to those of the Jews who had now believed in Him, "As for you, if you  hold fast to my teaching, then you are truly my disciples;
#BCV:John 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:32">32</verse></sup> and you shall know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free."
#BCV:John 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:33">33</verse></sup> "We are descendants of Abraham," they answered, "and have never at any time been in slavery to any one. What do those words of yours mean, 'You shall become free'?"
#BCV:John 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:34">34</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that every one who commits sin is the slave of sin.
#BCV:John 8:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:35">35</verse></sup> Now a slave does not remain permanently in his master's house, but a son does.
#BCV:John 8:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:36">36</verse></sup> If then the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.
#BCV:John 8:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:37">37</verse></sup> You are descendants of Abraham, I know; but you want to kill me, because my teaching gains no ground within you.
#BCV:John 8:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:38">38</verse></sup> The words I speak are those I have  learnt in the presence of the Father. Therefore you also should do what you have heard from your father."
#BCV:John 8:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:39">39</verse></sup> "Our father is Abraham," they said. "If you were Abraham's children," replied Jesus,  "it is Abraham's deeds that you would be doing.
#BCV:John 8:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:40">40</verse></sup> But, in fact, you are longing to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth which I have heard from God. Abraham did not do that.
#BCV:John 8:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:41">41</verse></sup> You are doing the deeds of your father." "We," they replied, "are not illegitimate children. We have one Father, namely God."
#BCV:John 8:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:42">42</verse></sup> "If God were your Father," said Jesus, "you would love me; for it is from God that I came and I am now here. I have not come of myself, but *He* sent me.
#BCV:John 8:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:43">43</verse></sup> How is it you do not understand me when I speak? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my words.
#BCV:John 8:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:44">44</verse></sup> The father whose sons you are is the Devil; and you desire to do what gives him pleasure. *He* was a murderer from the beginning, and  does not stand firm  in the truth--for there is no truth in him. Whenever he utters his lie, he utters it  out of his own store; for he is a liar, and the father  of lies.
#BCV:John 8:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:45">45</verse></sup> But because I  speak the truth, you do not believe me.
#BCV:John 8:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:46">46</verse></sup> Which of *you* convicts me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?
#BCV:John 8:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:47">47</verse></sup> He who is a child of God listens to God's words. You do not listen to them: and why? It is because you are not God's children."
#BCV:John 8:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:48">48</verse></sup> "Are we not right," answered the Jews, "in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?"
#BCV:John 8:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:49">49</verse></sup> "I am not possessed by a demon," replied Jesus. "On the contrary I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.
#BCV:John 8:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:50">50</verse></sup> I, however, am not aiming at glory for myself: there is One who aims at glory for me--and who judges.
#BCV:John 8:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:51">51</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that if any one shall have obeyed my  teaching he shall in no case ever see death."
#BCV:John 8:52
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:52">52</verse></sup> "Now," exclaimed the Jews, "we know that you are possessed by a demon. Abraham died, and so did the Prophets, and yet *you* say, 'If any one shall have obeyed my teaching, he shall in no case ever  taste death.'
#BCV:John 8:53
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:53">53</verse></sup> Are you really greater than our forefather Abraham? For he died. And the prophets died.  Who do you make yourself out to be?"
#BCV:John 8:54
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:54">54</verse></sup> "Were I to glorify myself," answered Jesus, "I should have no real glory. There is One who glorifies me--namely my Father, who you say is your God.
#BCV:John 8:55
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:55">55</verse></sup> You do not know Him, but I know Him perfectly; and were I to deny my knowledge of Him, I should resemble you, and be a liar. On the contrary I do know Him, and I obey His  commands.
#BCV:John 8:56
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:56">56</verse></sup> Abraham your forefather exulted  in the hope of seeing  my day: and he saw it, and was glad."
#BCV:John 8:57
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:57">57</verse></sup> "You are not yet fifty years old," cried the Jews, "and have you seen Abraham?"
#BCV:John 8:58
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:58">58</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth," answered Jesus, "I tell you that before Abraham came into existence, I am."
#BCV:John 8:59
<sup><verse bcv="John 8:59">59</verse></sup> Thereupon they took up stones with which to stone Him, but He hid Himself and went away out of the Temple.
#BCV:John 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 9:1">9</verse></font> As He passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from his birth.
#BCV:John 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:2">2</verse></sup> So His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned--this man or his parents--that he was born blind?"
#BCV:John 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:3">3</verse></sup> "Neither he nor his parents sinned," answered Jesus, "but he was born blind in order that  God's mercy might be openly shown in him.
#BCV:John 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:4">4</verse></sup> We must do the works of Him who sent me while there is daylight. Night is coming on, when no one can work.
#BCV:John 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:5">5</verse></sup> When I am in the world, I am  the Light of the world."
#BCV:John 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:6">6</verse></sup> After thus speaking, He spat on the ground, and then, kneading the dust and spittle into clay, He smeared the clay over the man's eyes and said to him,
#BCV:John 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:7">7</verse></sup> "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam" --the name means 'Sent.' So he went and washed his eyes, and  returned able to see.
#BCV:John 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:8">8</verse></sup> His neighbours, therefore, and the other people to whom he had been a familiar object because he was a beggar, began asking, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"
#BCV:John 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:9">9</verse></sup> "Yes it is," replied some of them. "No it is not," said others, "but he is like him." His own statement was, "I am the man."
#BCV:John 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:10">10</verse></sup> "How then were your eyes opened?" they  asked.
#BCV:John 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:11">11</verse></sup> "He whose name is Jesus," he answered, "made clay and smeared my eyes with it, and then told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and  obtained sight."
#BCV:John 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:12">12</verse></sup> "Where is he?" they inquired, but the man did not know.
#BCV:John 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:13">13</verse></sup> They brought him to the Pharisees--the man who had been blind.
#BCV:John 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:14">14</verse></sup> Now the day on which Jesus made the clay and opened the man's eyes was the Sabbath.
#BCV:John 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:15">15</verse></sup> So the Pharisees renewed their questioning as to how he had obtained his sight. "He put clay on my eyes," he replied, "and I washed, and now I can see."
#BCV:John 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:16">16</verse></sup> This led some of the Pharisees to say,  "That man has not come from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." "How is it possible for  a bad man to do such miracles?" argued others.
#BCV:John 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:17">17</verse></sup> And there was a division among them. So again they asked the once blind man, "What is your account of him? --for he opened your eyes." "He is a Prophet," he replied.
#BCV:John 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:18">18</verse></sup> The Jews,  however, did not believe the statement concerning him--that he had been blind and had obtained his sight--until they called his parents and asked them,
#BCV:John 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:19">19</verse></sup> "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it then that he can now see?"
#BCV:John 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:20">20</verse></sup> "We know," replied the parents, "that this is our son and that he was born blind;
#BCV:John 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:21">21</verse></sup> but how it is that he can now see or who has opened his eyes we do not know. Ask him himself; he is of full age; he himself will give his own account of it."
#BCV:John 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:22">22</verse></sup> Such was their answer, because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already settled among themselves that if any one should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, he should be excluded from the synagogue.
#BCV:John 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:23">23</verse></sup> That was why his parents said, "He is of full age: ask him himself."
#BCV:John 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:24">24</verse></sup> A second time therefore they called the man who had been blind, and said, "Give God the praise: we know that that man is a sinner."
#BCV:John 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:25">25</verse></sup> "Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know," he replied; "one thing I know--that I was once blind and that now I can see."
#BCV:John 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:26">26</verse></sup> "What did he do to you?" they asked; "how did he open your eyes?"
#BCV:John 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:27">27</verse></sup> "I have told you already," he replied, "and you did not listen to me. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also mean to be disciples of his?"
#BCV:John 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:28">28</verse></sup> Then they railed at him, and said, "You are that man's disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
#BCV:John 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:29">29</verse></sup> We know that God  spoke to Moses; but as for this fellow we do not know where he comes from."
#BCV:John 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:30">30</verse></sup> "Why, this is marvellous!" the man replied; "you do not know where he comes from, and yet he has opened my eyes!
#BCV:John 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:31">31</verse></sup> We know that God does not listen to bad people, but that if any one is a God-fearing man and obeys Him, to him He listens.
#BCV:John 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:32">32</verse></sup> From the beginning of the world such a thing was never heard of as that any one should open the eyes of a man blind from his birth.
#BCV:John 9:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:33">33</verse></sup> Had that man not come from God, he could have done nothing."
#BCV:John 9:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:34">34</verse></sup> "You," they replied, "were wholly begotten and born in sin, and do *you* teach *us*?" And they put him out of the synagogue.
#BCV:John 9:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:35">35</verse></sup> Jesus heard that they had done this. So having found him, He asked him, "Do you believe in the  Son of God?"
#BCV:John 9:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:36">36</verse></sup> "Who is He, Sir?" replied the man. "Tell me, so that I may believe in Him."
#BCV:John 9:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:37">37</verse></sup> "You have seen Him," said Jesus; "and not only so: He is now speaking to you."
#BCV:John 9:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:38">38</verse></sup> "I believe, Sir," he said. And he threw himself at His feet.
#BCV:John 9:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:39">39</verse></sup> "I came into this world," said Jesus, "to judge men, that those who do not see may see, and that those who do see may become blind."
#BCV:John 9:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:40">40</verse></sup> These words were heard by those of the Pharisees who were present, and they asked Him, "Are *we* also blind?"
#BCV:John 9:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 9:41">41</verse></sup> "If you were blind," answered Jesus, "you would have no sin; but as a matter of fact you boast that you see. So your sin remains!"
#BCV:John 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 10:1">10</verse></font> "In most solemn truth I tell you that the man who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs over some other way, is a thief and a robber.
#BCV:John 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:2">2</verse></sup> But he who enters by the door is  the shepherd of the sheep.
#BCV:John 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:3">3</verse></sup> To him the porter opens the door, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by their names and leads them out.
#BCV:John 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:4">4</verse></sup> When he has brought out his own sheep--all of them--he walks at the head of them; and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
#BCV:John 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:5">5</verse></sup> But a stranger they will by no means follow, but will run away from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
#BCV:John 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:6">6</verse></sup> Jesus spoke to them  in this figurative language, but they did not understand what He meant.
#BCV:John 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:7">7</verse></sup> Again therefore Jesus said to them, "In most solemn truth I tell you that I am the Door  of the sheep.
#BCV:John 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:8">8</verse></sup> All who  have come before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep would not listen to them.
#BCV:John 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:9">9</verse></sup> I am the Door. If any one enters by me, he will find safety, and will go in and out and find pasture.
#BCV:John 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:10">10</verse></sup> The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy: I have come that they may have Life, and may have it in abundance.
#BCV:John 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:11">11</verse></sup> "I am the Good Shepherd. A  good shepherd lays down his very  life for the sheep.
#BCV:John 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:12">12</verse></sup> The hired servant--one who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep--no sooner sees the wolf coming than he leaves the sheep and runs away; and the wolf worries and scatters them.
#BCV:John 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:13">13</verse></sup> For he is only a hired servant and cares nothing for the sheep.
#BCV:John 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:14">14</verse></sup> "I am the Good Shepherd. And I know my sheep and my sheep know me,
#BCV:John 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:15">15</verse></sup> just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I am laying down my life for the sheep.
#BCV:John 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:16">16</verse></sup> I have also other sheep--which do not belong to this fold. Those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice; and they shall become one flock under one Shepherd.
#BCV:John 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:17">17</verse></sup> For this reason my Father loves me, because I am laying down my life in order to receive it back again.
#BCV:John 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:18">18</verse></sup> No one is taking it away from me, but I myself am laying it down. I am authorized to lay it down, and I am authorized to receive it back again. This is the command I received from my Father."
#BCV:John 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:19">19</verse></sup> Again there arose a division among the Jews because of these words.
#BCV:John 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:20">20</verse></sup> Many of them said, "He is possessed by a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him?"
#BCV:John 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:21">21</verse></sup> Others argued, "That is not the language of a demoniac: and can a demon open blind men's eyes?"
#BCV:John 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:22">22</verse></sup> The Dedication Festival  came on in Jerusalem. It was winter,
#BCV:John 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:23">23</verse></sup> and Jesus was walking in the Temple in Solomon's Portico,
#BCV:John 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:24">24</verse></sup> when the Jews gathered round Him and  kept asking Him, "How long do you mean to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us so plainly."
#BCV:John 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:25">25</verse></sup> "I have told you," answered Jesus, "and you do not believe. The deeds that I do in my Father's name--they give testimony about me.
#BCV:John 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:26">26</verse></sup> But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep.
#BCV:John 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:27">27</verse></sup> My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
#BCV:John 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:28">28</verse></sup> I give them the Life  of the Ages, and they shall never, never perish, nor shall any one wrest them from my hand.
#BCV:John 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:29">29</verse></sup> What my Father has given me is  more precious than all besides; and no one is able to wrest anything from my Father's hand.
#BCV:John 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:30">30</verse></sup> I and the Father  are one."
#BCV:John 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:31">31</verse></sup> Again the Jews brought stones with which to stone Him.
#BCV:John 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:32">32</verse></sup> 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?"
#BCV:John 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:33">33</verse></sup> "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."
#BCV:John 10:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:34">34</verse></sup> "Does it not stand written in your Law," replied Jesus, "'I said, you are gods'?
#BCV:John 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:35">35</verse></sup> If those to whom God's word was addressed  are called gods (and the Scripture cannot be annulled)
#BCV:John 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:36">36</verse></sup> how is it that you say to one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am God's Son'?
#BCV:John 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:37">37</verse></sup> If the deeds I do are not my Father's deeds, do not believe me.
#BCV:John 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:38">38</verse></sup> But if they are, then even if you do not believe me, at least believe the deeds, that you may know and see clearly that the Father is in me, and that I am in the Father."
#BCV:John 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:39">39</verse></sup> This made them once more try to arrest Him, but He withdrew out of their  power.
#BCV:John 10:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:40">40</verse></sup> Then He went away again to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John had been baptizing at first; and there He stayed.
#BCV:John 10:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:41">41</verse></sup> Large numbers of people also came to Him. Their report was, "John did not work any miracle, but all that John said about this Teacher was true."
#BCV:John 10:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 10:42">42</verse></sup> And many  became believers in Him there.
#BCV:John 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 11:1">11</verse></font> Now a certain man, named Lazarus, of Bethany, was lying ill--  Bethany being the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
#BCV:John 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:2">2</verse></sup> 
#BCV:John 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:3">3</verse></sup> So the sisters sent to Him to say, "Master, he  whom you hold dear is ill."
#BCV:John 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:4">4</verse></sup> Jesus received the message and said, "This illness is not to end in death, but is to promote the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified by it."
#BCV:John 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:5">5</verse></sup> Now Jesus  loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
#BCV:John 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:6">6</verse></sup> When, however, He heard that Lazarus was ill, He still remained two days in that same place.
#BCV:John 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:7">7</verse></sup> Then, after that, He said to the disciples, "Let us return to Judaea."
#BCV:John 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:8">8</verse></sup> "Rabbi," exclaimed the disciples, "the Jews have just been trying to stone you, and do you think of going back there again?"
#BCV:John 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:9">9</verse></sup> "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" replied Jesus. "If any one walks in the daytime, he does not stumble--because he sees  the light of this world.
#BCV:John 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:10">10</verse></sup> But if a man walks by night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him."
#BCV:John 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:11">11</verse></sup> He said this, and afterwards He added, "Our  friend Lazarus  is sleeping, but I will go  and wake him."
#BCV:John 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:12">12</verse></sup> "Master," said the disciples, "if he is asleep he will recover."
#BCV:John 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:13">13</verse></sup> Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought He referred to the rest taken in ordinary sleep.
#BCV:John 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:14">14</verse></sup> So then He told them plainly,
#BCV:John 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:15">15</verse></sup> "Lazarus  is dead; and for your sakes I am glad I was not there, in order that you may believe. But let us go to him."
#BCV:John 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:16">16</verse></sup> "Let us go also," Thomas, the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "that we may die with him."
#BCV:John 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:17">17</verse></sup> On His arrival Jesus found that Lazarus had already been  three days in the tomb.
#BCV:John 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:18">18</verse></sup> Bethany was near Jerusalem, the distance being a little less than two miles;
#BCV:John 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:19">19</verse></sup> and a considerable number of the Jews were with Martha and Mary, having come to express sympathy with them on the death of their brother.
#BCV:John 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:20">20</verse></sup> Martha,  however, as soon as she heard the tidings, "Jesus is coming," went to meet Him; but Mary remained sitting in the house.
#BCV:John 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:21">21</verse></sup> So Martha came and spoke to Jesus. "Master, if you had been here," she said, "my brother would not have died.
#BCV:John 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:22">22</verse></sup> And  even now I know that whatever you ask God for, God will give you."
#BCV:John 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:23">23</verse></sup> "Your brother  shall rise again," replied Jesus.
#BCV:John 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:24">24</verse></sup> "I know," said Martha, "that he will rise again at the resurrection, on the last day."
#BCV:John 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:25">25</verse></sup> "I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus; "he who believes in me, even if he  has died, he shall live;
#BCV:John 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:26">26</verse></sup> and every one who is living and is a believer in me shall never, never die. Do you believe this?"
#BCV:John 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:27">27</verse></sup> "Yes, Master," she replied; "I thoroughly believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
#BCV:John 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:28">28</verse></sup> After saying this, she went and called her sister Mary privately, telling her, "The  Rabbi is here and is asking for you."
#BCV:John 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:29">29</verse></sup> So she, on hearing that, rose up quickly to go to Him.
#BCV:John 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:30">30</verse></sup> Now Jesus was not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.
#BCV:John 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:31">31</verse></sup> So the Jews who were with Mary in the house sympathizing with her, when they saw that she had risen hastily and had gone out, followed her,  supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep aloud there.
#BCV:John 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:32">32</verse></sup> Mary then, when she came to Jesus and saw Him, fell at His feet and exclaimed, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
#BCV:John 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:33">33</verse></sup> Seeing her weeping aloud, and the Jews in like manner weeping who had come with her, Jesus,  curbing the strong  emotion of His spirit,
#BCV:John 11:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:34">34</verse></sup> though deeply troubled, asked them, "Where have you laid him?" "Master, come and see," was their reply.
#BCV:John 11:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:35">35</verse></sup> Jesus  wept.
#BCV:John 11:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:36">36</verse></sup> "See how dear he held him," said the Jews.
#BCV:John 11:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:37">37</verse></sup> But others of them asked, "Was this man who opened the blind man's eyes unable to prevent this man from dying?"
#BCV:John 11:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:38">38</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:John 11:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:39">39</verse></sup> "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."
#BCV:John 11:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:40">40</verse></sup> "Did I not promise you," replied Jesus, "that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God?"
#BCV:John 11:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:41">41</verse></sup> So they removed the stone. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me.
#BCV:John 11:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:42">42</verse></sup> I know that Thou always hearest me; but for the sake of the crowd standing round I have said this--that they may believe that Thou didst send me."
#BCV:John 11:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:43">43</verse></sup> After speaking thus, He called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out."
#BCV:John 11:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:44">44</verse></sup> The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped in  cloths, and his face wrapped round with a  towel. "Untie him," said Jesus, "and let him go free."
#BCV:John 11:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:45">45</verse></sup> Thereupon a considerable number of the Jews--namely those who had come to Mary and had witnessed His deeds--became believers in Him;
#BCV:John 11:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:46">46</verse></sup> though some of them went off to the Pharisees and told them what He had done.
#BCV:John 11:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:47">47</verse></sup> Therefore the High Priests and the Pharisees held a meeting of the Sanhedrin. "What steps are we taking?" they asked one another; "for this man is performing a great number of miracles.
#BCV:John 11:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:48">48</verse></sup> If we leave him alone in this way, everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and blot out both our  city and our nation."
#BCV:John 11:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:49">49</verse></sup> But one of them, named Caiaphas, being High Priest that year, said, "You know nothing about it.
#BCV:John 11:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:50">50</verse></sup> You do not reflect that it is to your interest that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish."
#BCV:John 11:51
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:51">51</verse></sup> It was not  as a mere man that he thus spoke. But being High Priest that year he was inspired to declare that Jesus was to die for the nation,
#BCV:John 11:52
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:52">52</verse></sup> and not for the nation only, but in order to unite into one body all the far-scattered children of God.
#BCV:John 11:53
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:53">53</verse></sup> So from that day forward they planned and schemed in order to put Him to death.
#BCV:John 11:54
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:54">54</verse></sup> Therefore Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but He left that neighbourhood and went into the district near the Desert, to a town called Ephraim, and remained there with the disciples.
#BCV:John 11:55
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:55">55</verse></sup> The Jewish Passover was coming near, and many  from that district went up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
#BCV:John 11:56
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:56">56</verse></sup> They therefore looked out for Jesus, and asked one another as they stood in the Temple, "What do you think? --will he come to the Festival at all?"
#BCV:John 11:57
<sup><verse bcv="John 11:57">57</verse></sup> Now the High Priests and the Pharisees had issued orders that if any one knew where He was, he should give information, so that they might arrest Him.
#BCV:John 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 12:1">12</verse></font> Jesus,  however, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was whom He had raised from the dead.
#BCV:John 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:2">2</verse></sup> So they gave a dinner there in honour of Jesus, at which Martha waited at table, but Lazarus was one of the guests who were with Him.
#BCV:John 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:3">3</verse></sup> Availing herself of the opportunity, Mary took a pound weight of  pure spikenard, very costly, and poured it over His feet, and wiped His feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
#BCV:John 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:4">4</verse></sup> Then said Judas (the Iscariot, one of the Twelve--the one who afterwards betrayed Jesus)
#BCV:John 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:5">5</verse></sup> "Why was not that perfume sold for 300 shillings and the money given to the poor?"
#BCV:John 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:6">6</verse></sup> The reason he said this was not that he cared for the poor, but that he was a thief, and that being in charge of the  money-box, he used to steal what was put into it.
#BCV:John 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:7">7</verse></sup> But Jesus interposed. "Do not blame her," He said,  "allow her to have kept it for the time of my preparation for burial.
#BCV:John 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:8">8</verse></sup> For the poor you always have with you, but you have not me always."
#BCV:John 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:9">9</verse></sup> Now it became widely known among the Jews that Jesus was there; but they came not only on His account, but also in order to see Lazarus whom He had brought back to life.
#BCV:John 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:10">10</verse></sup> The High Priests, however, consulted together to put Lazarus also to death,
#BCV:John 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:11">11</verse></sup> for because of him many of the Jews  left them and became believers in Jesus.
#BCV:John 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:12">12</verse></sup> The next day a great crowd of those who had come to the Festival, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
#BCV:John 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:13">13</verse></sup> took branches of  the palm trees and went out to meet Him, shouting as they went, "God save him! Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord--even on the King of Israel!"
#BCV:John 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:14">14</verse></sup> And Jesus, having procured a young ass, sat upon it, just as the Scripture says,
#BCV:John 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:15">15</verse></sup> "Fear not,  Daughter of Zion! See, thy King is coming riding on an ass's colt."
#BCV:John 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:16">16</verse></sup> The meaning of this His disciples did not understand at the time; but after Jesus was glorified they recollected that this was written about Him, and that they had done this to Him.
#BCV:John 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:17">17</verse></sup> The large number of people,  however, who had been present when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and brought him back to life, related what they had witnessed.
#BCV:John 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:18">18</verse></sup> This was also why the crowd came to meet Him, because they had heard of His having performed that miracle.
#BCV:John 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:19">19</verse></sup> The result was that the Pharisees said among themselves,  "Observe how idle all your efforts are! The world is gone after him!"
#BCV:John 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:20">20</verse></sup> Now some of those who used  to come up to worship at the Festival were Greeks.
#BCV:John 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:21">21</verse></sup> They came to Philip, of Bethsaida in Galilee, with the request, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
#BCV:John 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:22">22</verse></sup> Philip came and told Andrew: Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
#BCV:John 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:23">23</verse></sup> His answer was, "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
#BCV:John 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:24">24</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains what it was--a single grain; but that if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.
#BCV:John 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:25">25</verse></sup> He who holds  his life dear, is destroying it; and he who  makes his life of no account in this world  shall keep it to the Life  of the Ages.
#BCV:John 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:26">26</verse></sup> If a man wishes to be my servant, let him follow me; and where I am, there too shall my servant be. If a man wishes to be my servant, the Father will honour him.
#BCV:John 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:27">27</verse></sup> Now is my soul full of trouble; and what shall I say? Father,  save me from this hour. But  for this purpose I have come to this hour.
#BCV:John 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:28">28</verse></sup> Father, glorify Thy name." Thereupon there came a voice from the sky, "I have glorified it and will also glorify it again."
#BCV:John 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:29">29</verse></sup> The crowd that  stood by and heard it, said that there had been thunder. Others said, "An angel spoke to him."
#BCV:John 12:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:30">30</verse></sup> "It is not for my sake," said Jesus, "that that voice came, but for your sakes.
#BCV:John 12:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:31">31</verse></sup> Now  is a judgement of this world: now will the Prince of this world be driven out.
#BCV:John 12:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:32">32</verse></sup> And I--  if I am lifted up  from the earth--will draw all men to me."
#BCV:John 12:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:33">33</verse></sup> He said this to indicate the kind of death He would die.
#BCV:John 12:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:34">34</verse></sup> The crowd answered Him, "We have heard out of the Law that the Christ remains for ever. In what sense do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is that Son of Man?"
#BCV:John 12:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:35">35</verse></sup> "Yet a little while," He replied, "the light is among you.  Be faithful to the light that you have, for fear darkness should  overtake you; for a man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.
#BCV:John 12:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:36">36</verse></sup> In the degree that you have light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light." Jesus said this, and went away and  hid Himself from them.
#BCV:John 12:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:37">37</verse></sup> But though He had performed  such great miracles in their presence, they did not believe in Him--
#BCV:John 12:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:38">38</verse></sup> in order that the words of Isaiah the Prophet might be fulfilled, "Lord, who has believed our preaching? And the arm of the Lord--to whom has it been unveiled?"
#BCV:John 12:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:39">39</verse></sup> For this reason they were unable to believe--because Isaiah said again,
#BCV:John 12:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:40">40</verse></sup> "He has blinded their eyes and made their minds callous, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their minds, and should turn, and I should heal them."
#BCV:John 12:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:41">41</verse></sup> Isaiah uttered these words because he saw His glory; and he spoke of Him.
#BCV:John 12:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:42">42</verse></sup> Nevertheless even from among the Rulers many believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they did not avow their belief, for fear they should be shut out from the synagogue.
#BCV:John 12:43
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:43">43</verse></sup> For they loved the glory that comes from men rather than the glory that comes from God.
#BCV:John 12:44
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:44">44</verse></sup> But Jesus  cried aloud, "He who believes in me, believes not so much in me, as in Him who sent me;
#BCV:John 12:45
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:45">45</verse></sup> and he who sees me sees Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 12:46
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:46">46</verse></sup> I have come like light into the world, in order that no one who believes in me may remain in the dark.
#BCV:John 12:47
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:47">47</verse></sup> And if any one hears my teachings and  regards them not, I do  not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
#BCV:John 12:48
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:48">48</verse></sup> He who sets me at naught and does not receive my teachings is not left without a judge: the Message which  I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
#BCV:John 12:49
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:49">49</verse></sup> Because I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me, Himself  gave me a command what to say and in what words to speak.
#BCV:John 12:50
<sup><verse bcv="John 12:50">50</verse></sup> And I know that  His command is the Life of the Ages. What therefore I speak, I speak just as the Father has bidden me."
#BCV:John 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 13:1">13</verse></font> Now just before the Feast of the Passover this incident took place. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father; and having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them  to the end.
#BCV:John 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:2">2</verse></sup> While supper was proceeding, the Devil having by this time suggested to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, the thought of betraying Him, Jesus,
#BCV:John 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:3">3</verse></sup> although He knew that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was now going to God,
#BCV:John 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:4">4</verse></sup> rose from the table, threw off His upper garments, and took a towel and tied it round Him.
#BCV:John 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:5">5</verse></sup> Then He poured water into a basin, and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel which He had put round Him.
#BCV:John 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:6">6</verse></sup> When He came to Simon Peter, Peter objected. "Master," he said, "are *you* going to wash my feet?"
#BCV:John 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:7">7</verse></sup> "What I am doing," answered Jesus, "for the present you do not know, but afterwards you shall know."
#BCV:John 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:8">8</verse></sup> "Never, while the world lasts," said Peter, "shall you wash my feet." "If I do not wash you," replied Jesus, "you have no share with me."
#BCV:John 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:9">9</verse></sup> "Master," said Peter, "wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head."
#BCV:John 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:10">10</verse></sup> "Any one who has lately bathed," said Jesus, "does not need to wash  more than his feet, but is clean all over. And you my disciples are clean, and yet this is not true of all of you."
#BCV:John 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:11">11</verse></sup> For He knew who was betraying Him, and that was why He said, "You are not all of you clean."
#BCV:John 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:12">12</verse></sup> So after He had washed their feet, put on His garments again, and returned to the table, He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you?
#BCV:John 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:13">13</verse></sup> You call me 'The  Rabbi' and 'The  Master,' and rightly so, for such I am.
#BCV:John 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:14">14</verse></sup> If I then, your Master and Rabbi, have washed your feet, it is also your duty to wash one another's feet.
#BCV:John 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:15">15</verse></sup> For I have set you an example in order that you may do what I have done to you.
#BCV:John 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:16">16</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that a servant is not superior to his master, nor is a messenger superior to him who sent him.
#BCV:John 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:17">17</verse></sup> If you know all this, blessed are you if you act accordingly.
#BCV:John 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:18">18</verse></sup> I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but things are as they are in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled, which says, 'He who eats  my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'
#BCV:John 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:19">19</verse></sup> From this time forward I tell you things before they happen, in order that when they do happen you may believe that  I am He.
#BCV:John 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:20">20</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that he who receives whoever I send receives me, and that he who receives me receives Him who sent me."
#BCV:John 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:21">21</verse></sup> After speaking thus Jesus was troubled in spirit and said with deep earnestness, "In most solemn truth I tell you that one of you will betray me."
#BCV:John 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:22">22</verse></sup> The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know to which of them He was referring.
#BCV:John 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:23">23</verse></sup> There was at table one of His disciples--the one Jesus  loved--  reclining with his head on Jesus's bosom.
#BCV:John 13:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:24">24</verse></sup> Making a sign therefore to him, Simon Peter said, "Tell us to whom he is referring."
#BCV:John 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:25">25</verse></sup> So he, having his head on Jesus's bosom, leaned back and asked, "Master, who is it?"
#BCV:John 13:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:26">26</verse></sup> "It is the one," answered Jesus, "for whom I shall  dip this piece of bread and to whom I shall give it." Accordingly He dipped the piece of bread, and took it and gave it to Judas, the son of the Iscariot Simon.
#BCV:John 13:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:27">27</verse></sup> Then, after Judas had received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. "Lose no time  about it," said Jesus to him.
#BCV:John 13:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:28">28</verse></sup> But why He said this no one else at the table understood.
#BCV:John 13:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:29">29</verse></sup> Some,  however, supposed that because Judas had the money-box Jesus meant, "Buy what we require for the Festival," or that he should give something to the poor.
#BCV:John 13:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:30">30</verse></sup> So Judas took the piece of bread and immediately went out. And it was night.
#BCV:John 13:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:31">31</verse></sup> So when he was gone out, Jesus said, "Now  is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
#BCV:John 13:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:32">32</verse></sup> Moreover God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him without delay.
#BCV:John 13:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:33">33</verse></sup> Dear children, I am still with you a little longer. You will seek me, but, as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' so for the present I say to you.
#BCV:John 13:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:34">34</verse></sup> A new commandment I give you,  to love one another; that as I have loved you, you also may love one another.
#BCV:John 13:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:35">35</verse></sup> It is by this that every one will know that you are my disciples--if you love one another."
#BCV:John 13:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:36">36</verse></sup> "Master," inquired Simon Peter, "where are you going?" "Where I am going," replied Jesus, "you cannot be my follower now, but you shall be later."
#BCV:John 13:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:37">37</verse></sup> "Master," asked Peter again, "why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my  life on your behalf.
#BCV:John 13:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 13:38">38</verse></sup> "You say you will lay down your life on my behalf!" said Jesus; "in most solemn truth I tell you that  the cock will not crow before you have three times disowned me."
#BCV:John 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 14:1">14</verse></font> "Let not your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God: trust in me also.
#BCV:John 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:2">2</verse></sup> In my Father's house there are many resting-places. Were it otherwise, I would have told you; for I am going  to make ready a place for you.
#BCV:John 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:3">3</verse></sup> And  if I go and make ready a place for you, I will return and  take you to be with me, that where I am you also may be.
#BCV:John 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:4">4</verse></sup> And where I am going, you all know the way."
#BCV:John 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:5">5</verse></sup> "Master," said Thomas, "we do not know where you are going.  In what sense do we know the way?"
#BCV:John 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:6">6</verse></sup> "I am the Way," replied Jesus, "and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
#BCV:John 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:7">7</verse></sup> If you--all of you--knew me, you would fully know my Father also. From this time forward you know Him and have seen Him."
#BCV:John 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:8">8</verse></sup> "Master," said Philip, "cause us to see the Father: that is all we need."
#BCV:John 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:9">9</verse></sup> "Have I been so long among you," Jesus answered, "and yet you, Philip, do not know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can *you* ask me, 'Cause us to see the Father'?
#BCV:John 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:10">10</verse></sup> Do you not  believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The things that I tell you all I do not speak on my own authority: but the Father  dwelling within me carries on His own  work.
#BCV:John 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:11">11</verse></sup> Believe me, all of you, that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me; or at any rate,  believe me because of what I do.
#BCV:John 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:12">12</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that he who trusts in me--the things which I do he shall do also; and greater things than these he shall do, because I am going to the Father.
#BCV:John 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:13">13</verse></sup> And whatever any of you ask  in my name, I will do, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
#BCV:John 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:14">14</verse></sup> If you make any request  of me in my name, I will do it.
#BCV:John 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:15">15</verse></sup> "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
#BCV:John 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:16">16</verse></sup> And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another  Advocate to be for ever with you--the Spirit of truth.
#BCV:John 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:17">17</verse></sup> That Spirit the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him, because He remains by your side and is in you.
#BCV:John 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:18">18</verse></sup> I will not leave you  bereaved: I am coming to you.
#BCV:John 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:19">19</verse></sup> Yet a little while and the world  will see me no more, but you will see me: because I live, you also shall live.
#BCV:John 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:20">20</verse></sup> At that time you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you.
#BCV:John 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:21">21</verse></sup> He who has my commandments and obeys them--he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will clearly reveal myself to him."
#BCV:John 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:22">22</verse></sup> Judas (not the Iscariot)
#BCV:John 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:23">23</verse></sup> "If any one loves me," replied Jesus, "he will obey my  teaching; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home  with him.
#BCV:John 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:24">24</verse></sup> He who has no love for me does not obey my teaching; and yet the teaching to which you are listening is not mine, but is the teaching of the Father who sent me.
#BCV:John 14:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:25">25</verse></sup> "All this I have spoken to you while still with you.
#BCV:John 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:26">26</verse></sup> But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send  at my request, will teach you everything, and will bring to your memories  all that I have said to you.
#BCV:John 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:27">27</verse></sup> Peace I leave with you: my own peace I give to you. It is not as the world gives its greetings that I give you peace. Let not your hearts be troubled or dismayed.
#BCV:John 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:28">28</verse></sup> "You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and yet I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father; for the Father is  greater than I am.
#BCV:John 14:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:29">29</verse></sup> I have now told you before it comes to pass, that when it has come to pass you may believe.
#BCV:John 14:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:30">30</verse></sup> In future I shall not talk much with you, for the  Prince  of this world is coming. And yet in me he has nothing;
#BCV:John 14:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 14:31">31</verse></sup> but it is in order that the world may know that I love the Father, and that it is in obedience to the command which the Father gave me that I thus act. Rise, let us be going."
#BCV:John 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 15:1">15</verse></font> "I am the Vine--the True Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.
#BCV:John 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:2">2</verse></sup> Every branch in me--if it bears no fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
#BCV:John 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:3">3</verse></sup> Already you are cleansed--through the  teaching which I have given you.
#BCV:John 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:4">4</verse></sup> Continue in me, and let me continue in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself--that is, if it does not continue in the vine--so neither can you if you do not continue in me.
#BCV:John 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:5">5</verse></sup> I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who continues in me and in whom I continue bears abundant fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
#BCV:John 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:6">6</verse></sup> If any one does not continue in me, he is like the unfruitful branch  which is at once thrown away and then withers up. Such branches they gather up and throw into the fire and they are burned.
#BCV:John 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:7">7</verse></sup> "If you continue in me and my  sayings continue in you, ask what you will and it shall be done for you.
#BCV:John 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:8">8</verse></sup> By this  is God glorified--by your bearing abundant fruit and thus being true disciples of mine.
#BCV:John 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:9">9</verse></sup> As the Father  has loved me,  I have also loved you: continue in my love.
#BCV:John 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:10">10</verse></sup> If you obey my commands, you will continue in my love, as I have obeyed my Father's commands and continue in His love.
#BCV:John 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:11">11</verse></sup> "These things  I have spoken to you in order that I may have joy in you, and that your joy may become perfect.
#BCV:John 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:12">12</verse></sup> This is my commandment to you, to love one another as I have loved you.
#BCV:John 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:13">13</verse></sup> No one has greater love than this--a man laying down his life for his friends.
#BCV:John 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:14">14</verse></sup> You are my friends, if you do what I command you.
#BCV:John 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:15">15</verse></sup> No longer do I call you  servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you.
#BCV:John 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:16">16</verse></sup> It is not you who chose me, but it is I who chose you and appointed you that you might go and be fruitful and that your fruit might remain; so that whatever petition you present to the Father in my name He may give you.
#BCV:John 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:17">17</verse></sup> "Thus I command you to love one another.
#BCV:John 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:18">18</verse></sup> If the world hates you, remember that it has first had me as the fixed object of its hatred.
#BCV:John 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:19">19</verse></sup> If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own property. But because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world--for that reason the world hates you.
#BCV:John 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:20">20</verse></sup> Bear in mind what I said to you, 'A servant is not superior to his master.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
#BCV:John 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:21">21</verse></sup> But they will inflict all this suffering upon you on account of your bearing my name--because they do not know Him who sent me.
#BCV:John 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:22">22</verse></sup> "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but as the case stands they are without excuse for their sin.
#BCV:John 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:23">23</verse></sup> He who hates me hates my Father also.
#BCV:John 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:24">24</verse></sup> If I had not done among them,  as I have, such miracles as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin; but they  have in fact seen and also hated both me and my Father.
#BCV:John 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:25">25</verse></sup> But this has been so, in order that the saying may be fulfilled which stands written in their Law, 'They have hated me without any reason.'
#BCV:John 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:26">26</verse></sup> "When the Advocate is come whom I will send to you from the Father's presence--the Spirit of Truth who comes forth from the Father's presence--He will be a witness concerning me.
#BCV:John 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 15:27">27</verse></sup> And you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the first.
#BCV:John 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 16:1">16</verse></font> "These things I have spoken to you in order to clear stumbling-blocks out of your path.
#BCV:John 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:2">2</verse></sup> You will be excluded from the synagogues; nay more, the time is coming when any one who has murdered one of you will suppose he is offering service to God.
#BCV:John 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:3">3</verse></sup> And they will do these things because they have failed to recognize  the Father and to discover who I am.
#BCV:John 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:4">4</verse></sup> But I have spoken these things to you in order that when the time for their accomplishment comes you may remember them, and may recollect that I told you. I did not, however, tell you all this at first, because I was still with you.
#BCV:John 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:5">5</verse></sup> But now I an returning to Him who sent me; and not one of you  asks me where I am going.
#BCV:John 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:6">6</verse></sup> But grief has filled your hearts because I have said all this to you.
#BCV:John 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:7">7</verse></sup> "Yet it is the truth that  I am telling you--it is to your advantage that I go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
#BCV:John 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:8">8</verse></sup> And He, when He comes, will  convict the world in respect of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement; --
#BCV:John 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:9">9</verse></sup> of sin, because they do not believe in me;
#BCV:John 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:10">10</verse></sup> of righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and  you will no longer see me;
#BCV:John 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:11">11</verse></sup> of judgement, because the Prince of this world is under sentence.
#BCV:John 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:12">12</verse></sup> "I have much more to say to you, but you are unable at present to bear the burden of it.
#BCV:John 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:13">13</verse></sup> But when He has come--the Spirit of Truth--He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak as Himself originating what He says, but  all that He hears He will speak, and He will make known  the future to you.
#BCV:John 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:14">14</verse></sup> He will glorify me, because He will take of what is mine and will make it known to you.
#BCV:John 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:15">15</verse></sup> Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit of Truth takes of what is mine and will make it known to you.
#BCV:John 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:16">16</verse></sup> "A little while and you see me no more, and again a little while and you shall see me."
#BCV:John 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:17">17</verse></sup> Some of His disciples therefore said to one another, "What does this mean which He is telling us, 'A little while and you do not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me,' and  'Because I am going to the Father'?"
#BCV:John 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:18">18</verse></sup> So they asked one another repeatedly, "What can that 'little while' mean which He speaks of? We do not understand His words."
#BCV:John 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:19">19</verse></sup> Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask Him, and He said, "Is this what you are questioning one another about--my saying, 'A little while and you do not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me'?
#BCV:John 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:20">20</verse></sup> In most solemn truth I tell you that you will weep aloud and lament, but the world will be glad. You will mourn, but your grief will be turned into gladness.
#BCV:John 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:21">21</verse></sup> A woman, when she is in labour, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has given birth to the babe, she no longer remembers the pain, because of her joy at a child being born into the world.
#BCV:John 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:22">22</verse></sup> So you also now have sorrow; but  I shall see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and your gladness no one will take away from you.
#BCV:John 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:23">23</verse></sup> You will put no questions to me  then. "In most solemn truth I tell you that whatever you ask the Father for in my name He will give you.
#BCV:John 16:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:24">24</verse></sup> As yet you have not asked for anything  in my name: ask, and you shall receive, that your hearts may be filled with gladness.
#BCV:John 16:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:25">25</verse></sup> "All this I have spoken to you in veiled language. The time is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language, but  will tell you about the Father in plain words.
#BCV:John 16:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:26">26</verse></sup> At that time you will make your requests in my name; and I do not promise to ask the Father on your behalf,
#BCV:John 16:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:27">27</verse></sup> for the Father Himself holds you dear, because you  have held me dear and have believed that I came from the Father's presence.
#BCV:John 16:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:28">28</verse></sup> I came  from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and am going to the Father."
#BCV:John 16:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:29">29</verse></sup> "Ah, now you are using plain language," said His disciples, "and are uttering no figure of speech!
#BCV:John 16:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:30">30</verse></sup> Now we know that you have all knowledge, and do not need to be pressed with questions. Through this we believe that you came from God."
#BCV:John 16:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:31">31</verse></sup> "Do you at last believe?" replied Jesus.
#BCV:John 16:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:32">32</verse></sup> "Remember that the time is coming, nay, has already come, for you all to be dispersed each to his own home and to leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
#BCV:John 16:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 16:33">33</verse></sup> "I have spoken all this to you in order that in me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction. But keep up your courage: *I* have won the victory over the world."
#BCV:John 17:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 17:1">17</verse></font> When Jesus had thus spoken, He raised his eyes towards Heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee;
#BCV:John 17:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:2">2</verse></sup> even as Thou hast given Him authority over all mankind, so that on all whom Thou hast given Him He may bestow the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:John 17:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:3">3</verse></sup> And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in  knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
#BCV:John 17:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:4">4</verse></sup> I have glorified Thee on earth, having done perfectly the work which  by Thine appointment has been mine to do.
#BCV:John 17:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:5">5</verse></sup> And now, Father, do Thou glorify me in Thine own presence, with the glory that I had in Thy presence before the world existed.
#BCV:John 17:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:6">6</verse></sup> "I have revealed Thy  perfections to the men whom Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to me, and  they have obeyed Thy message.
#BCV:John 17:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:7">7</verse></sup> Now they know that whatever Thou hast given me is  from Thee.
#BCV:John 17:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:8">8</verse></sup> For the truths which Thou didst  teach me I have taught them. And they have received them, and have known for certain that I came out from Thy presence, and have believed that Thou didst send me.
#BCV:John 17:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:9">9</verse></sup> "I am making request  for them: for the world  I do not make any request, but for those whom Thou hast given me. Because they are Thine,
#BCV:John 17:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:10">10</verse></sup> and everything that is mine is Thine, and everything that is Thine is mine; and I  am crowned with glory in them.
#BCV:John 17:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:11">11</verse></sup> I am now no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to Thee. "Holy Father, keep them  true to Thy name--the name which Thou hast given me  to bear--that they may be one, even as we are.
#BCV:John 17:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:12">12</verse></sup> While I was with them, I kept them true to Thy name--the name Thou hast given me  to bear--and I kept watch over them, and not one of them is lost but only he who is  doomed to destruction--that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
#BCV:John 17:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:13">13</verse></sup> "But now I am coming to Thee, and I speak these words while I am in the world, in order that they may have my gladness within them filling their hearts.
#BCV:John 17:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:14">14</verse></sup> I have given them Thy  Message, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
#BCV:John 17:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:15">15</verse></sup> I do not ask that Thou <word=will>wilt</word> remove them out of the world, but that Thou <word=will>wilt</word> protect them from  the Evil one.
#BCV:John 17:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:16">16</verse></sup> They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
#BCV:John 17:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:17">17</verse></sup> Make them holy  in the truth: Thy  Message is truth.
#BCV:John 17:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:18">18</verse></sup> Just as Thou didst send me into the world, I also  have sent them;
#BCV:John 17:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:19">19</verse></sup> and on their behalf I  consecrate myself, in order that they may become perfectly consecrated in truth.
#BCV:John 17:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:20">20</verse></sup> "Nor is it for them alone that I make request. It is also for  those who trust in me through their teaching;
#BCV:John 17:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:21">21</verse></sup> that they may all be one, even as Thou <word=are>art</word> in me, O Father, and I am in Thee; that they also may be in us; that the world  may believe that Thou didst send me.
#BCV:John 17:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:22">22</verse></sup> And the glory which Thou hast given me  I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one:
#BCV:John 17:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:23">23</verse></sup> I in them and Thou in me; that they may stand perfected  in one; that the world may come to understand that Thou didst send me and hast loved them with the same love as that with which Thou hast loved me.
#BCV:John 17:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:24">24</verse></sup> "Father,  those whom Thou hast given me--I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they  may see the glory--my glory--my gift from Thee, which Thou hast given me because Thou didst love me before the creation of the world.
#BCV:John 17:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:25">25</verse></sup> And, righteous Father, though the world has failed to recognize Thee, I have known Thee, and these have perceived that Thou didst send me.
#BCV:John 17:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 17:26">26</verse></sup> And I have made known Thy  name to them and will make it known, that the love with which Thou hast loved me may be in them, and that I may be in them."
#BCV:John 18:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 18:1">18</verse></font> After offering this prayer Jesus went out with His disciples to a place on the further side of the Ravine of the Cedars, where there was a garden which He entered--Himself and His disciples.
#BCV:John 18:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:2">2</verse></sup> Now Judas also, who at that very time was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often resorted there with His disciples.
#BCV:John 18:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:3">3</verse></sup> So Judas,  followed by the battalion and by a detachment of the Temple police sent by the High Priests and Pharisees, came there with torches and lamps and weapons.
#BCV:John 18:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:4">4</verse></sup> Jesus therefore, knowing all that was about to befall Him, went out to meet them.  "Who are you looking for?" He asked them.
#BCV:John 18:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:5">5</verse></sup> "For Jesus the Nazarene," was the answer. "I am he," He replied. (Now Judas who was betraying Him was also standing with them.)
#BCV:John 18:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:6">6</verse></sup> As soon then as He said to them, "I am he," they went backwards and  fell to the ground.
#BCV:John 18:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:7">7</verse></sup> Again therefore He asked them,  "Who are you looking for?" "For Jesus the Nazarene," they said.
#BCV:John 18:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:8">8</verse></sup> "I have told you," replied Jesus, "that I am he. If therefore you are looking for me, let these my disciples go their way."
#BCV:John 18:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:9">9</verse></sup> He made this request in order that the words He had spoken might be fulfilled, "As for those whom Thou hast given me, I have not lost one."
#BCV:John 18:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:10">10</verse></sup> Simon Peter, however, having a sword, drew it, and, aiming at the High Priest's  servant, cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
#BCV:John 18:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:11">11</verse></sup> Jesus therefore said to Peter, "Put back your sword. Shall I refuse to drink the cup of sorrow which the Father has given me to drink?"
#BCV:John 18:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:12">12</verse></sup> So the battalion and their  tribune and the Jewish police closed in, and took Jesus and bound Him.
#BCV:John 18:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:13">13</verse></sup> They then brought Him to  Annas first; for Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was High Priest that year.
#BCV:John 18:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:14">14</verse></sup> 
#BCV:John 18:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:15">15</verse></sup> Meanwhile Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so also was another disciple. The latter was known to the High Priest, and went in with Jesus into the court of the High Priest's palace.
#BCV:John 18:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:16">16</verse></sup> But Peter remained standing outside the door, till the disciple who was acquainted with the High Priest came out and induced the portress to let Peter in.
#BCV:John 18:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:17">17</verse></sup> This led the girl, the portress, to ask Peter, "Are you also one of this man's disciples?" "No, I am not," he replied.
#BCV:John 18:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:18">18</verse></sup> Now because it was cold the  servants and the police had lighted a  charcoal fire, and were standing and warming themselves; and Peter too remained with them, standing and warming himself.
#BCV:John 18:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:19">19</verse></sup> So the High Priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.
#BCV:John 18:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:20">20</verse></sup> "As for me," replied Jesus,  "I have spoken  openly to the world. I  have continually taught in some synagogue or in the Temple where all the Jews are wont to assemble, and I have said nothing in secret.
#BCV:John 18:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:21">21</verse></sup> Why do you question me? Question  those who heard what it was I said to them: these witnesses here know what I said."
#BCV:John 18:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:22">22</verse></sup> Upon His saying this, one of the officers standing by struck Him  with his open hand, asking Him as he did so, "Is that the way you answer the High Priest?"
#BCV:John 18:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:23">23</verse></sup> "If I have spoken wrongly," replied Jesus, "bear witness to it as wrong; but if rightly, why that blow?"
#BCV:John 18:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:24">24</verse></sup> So Annas  sent Him bound to Caiaphas the High Priest.
#BCV:John 18:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:25">25</verse></sup> But Simon Peter remained standing and  warming himself, and this led to their asking him, "Are you also one of his disciples?" He denied it, and said, "No, I am not."
#BCV:John 18:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:26">26</verse></sup> One of the High Priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"
#BCV:John 18:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:27">27</verse></sup> Once more Peter denied it, and immediately a cock crowed.
#BCV:John 18:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:28">28</verse></sup> So they brought Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the  Praetorium. It was the early morning, and they would not enter the Praetorium themselves for fear of defilement, and in order that they might be able to eat the Passover.
#BCV:John 18:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:29">29</verse></sup> Accordingly Pilate  came out to them and inquired, "What accusation have you to bring against this man?"
#BCV:John 18:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:30">30</verse></sup> "If the man were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."
#BCV:John 18:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:31">31</verse></sup> "Take him yourselves," said Pilate, "and judge him by your Law." "We have no power," replied the Jews, "to put any man to death."
#BCV:John 18:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:32">32</verse></sup> They said this that the words might be fulfilled in which Jesus predicted the kind of death He was to die.
#BCV:John 18:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:33">33</verse></sup> Re-entering the Praetorium, therefore, Pilate called Jesus and asked Him, "Are *you* the King of the Jews?"
#BCV:John 18:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:34">34</verse></sup> "Do you say this of yourself, or have others told it you about me?" replied Jesus.
#BCV:John 18:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:35">35</verse></sup> "Am I a Jew?" exclaimed Pilate; "it is your own nation and the High Priests who have handed you over to me. What have you done?"
#BCV:John 18:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:36">36</verse></sup> "My kingdom," replied Jesus, "does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my subjects  would have resolutely fought to save me from being delivered up to the Jews. But, as a matter of fact, my kingdom has not this origin."
#BCV:John 18:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:37">37</verse></sup> "So then *you* are a king!" rejoined Pilate. "Yes," said Jesus, "you say truly that I am a king. For this purpose  I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world--to give testimony for the truth. Every one who is  a friend of the truth listens to my voice."
#BCV:John 18:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:38">38</verse></sup> "What is truth?" said Pilate. But no sooner had he spoken the words than he went out again to the Jews and told them, "I find no crime in him.
#BCV:John 18:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:39">39</verse></sup> But you have a custom that I should release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So shall I release to you the King of the Jews?"
#BCV:John 18:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 18:40">40</verse></sup> With a roar of voices they again cried out, saying, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.
#BCV:John 19:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 19:1">19</verse></font> Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.
#BCV:John 19:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:2">2</verse></sup> And the soldiers, twisting twigs of thorn into a wreath, put it on His head, and threw round Him a crimson cloak.
#BCV:John 19:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:3">3</verse></sup> Then they began to march up to Him, saying in a mocking voice, "Hail King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with the palms of their hands.
#BCV:John 19:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:4">4</verse></sup> Once more Pilate  came out and said to the Jews, "See, I am bringing him out to you to let you clearly understand that I find no crime in him."
#BCV:John 19:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:5">5</verse></sup> So Jesus came out, wearing the wreath of thorns and the crimson cloak. And Pilate said to them, "See, there is the man."
#BCV:John 19:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:6">6</verse></sup> As soon then as the High Priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted "To the cross! To the cross!" "Take him yourselves and crucify him," said Pilate; "for I, at any rate, find no crime in him."
#BCV:John 19:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:7">7</verse></sup> "We," replied the Jews, "have a Law, and in accordance with that Law he ought to die, for having claimed to be the Son of God."
#BCV:John 19:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:8">8</verse></sup> More alarmed than ever, Pilate no sooner heard these words than he re-entered the Praetorium and began to question Jesus.
#BCV:John 19:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:9">9</verse></sup> "What is your origin?" he asked. But Jesus gave him no answer.
#BCV:John 19:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:10">10</verse></sup> "Do you refuse to speak even to me?" asked Pilate; "do you not know that I have it in my power either to release you or to crucify you?"
#BCV:John 19:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:11">11</verse></sup> "You would have had no power whatever over me," replied Jesus, "had it not been granted you from above. On that account he who has delivered me up to you is more guilty than you are."
#BCV:John 19:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:12">12</verse></sup> Upon receiving this answer, Pilate was for releasing Him. But the Jews  kept shouting, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar's. Every one who sets himself up as king declares himself a rebel against Caesar."
#BCV:John 19:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:13">13</verse></sup> On hearing this, Pilate brought Jesus out, and  sat down on the judge's seat in a place called the Pavement--or in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
#BCV:John 19:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:14">14</verse></sup> It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about  six o'clock in the morning. Then he said to the Jews, "There is your king!"
#BCV:John 19:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:15">15</verse></sup> This caused a storm of outcries, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" "Am I to crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king, except Caesar," answered the High Priests.
#BCV:John 19:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:16">16</verse></sup> Then Pilate gave Him up to them to be crucified. Accordingly they took Jesus;
#BCV:John 19:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:17">17</verse></sup> and He went out carrying His own cross, to the place called Skull-place--or, in Hebrew, Golgotha--
#BCV:John 19:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:18">18</verse></sup> where they nailed Him to a cross, and two others at the same time, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
#BCV:John 19:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:19">19</verse></sup> And Pilate wrote a notice and had it fastened to the top of the cross. It ran thus: JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
#BCV:John 19:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:20">20</verse></sup> Many of the Jews read this notice, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was in three languages--Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
#BCV:John 19:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:21">21</verse></sup> This led the Jewish High Priests to remonstrate with Pilate. "You should not write 'The King of the Jews,'" they said, "but that he claimed to be King of the Jews."
#BCV:John 19:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:22">22</verse></sup> "What I have written I have written," was Pilate's answer.
#BCV:John 19:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:23">23</verse></sup> So the soldiers, as soon as they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, including His  tunic, and divided them into four parts--one part for each soldier. The tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.
#BCV:John 19:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:24">24</verse></sup> So they said to one another, "Do not let us tear it. Let us draw lots for it." This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, "They shared my garments among them, and drew lots for my clothing." That was just what the soldiers did.
#BCV:John 19:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:25">25</verse></sup> Now standing close to the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister,  Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
#BCV:John 19:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:26">26</verse></sup> So Jesus, seeing His mother, and seeing the disciple whom He loved standing near, said to His mother,  "Behold, your son!"
#BCV:John 19:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:27">27</verse></sup> Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that time the disciple received her into his own home.
#BCV:John 19:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:28">28</verse></sup> After this, Jesus, knowing that everything was now brought to an end, said--that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "I am thirsty."
#BCV:John 19:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:29">29</verse></sup> There was a jar of  wine standing there. With this wine they filled a sponge, put it on the end of a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth.
#BCV:John 19:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:30">30</verse></sup> As soon as Jesus had taken the wine, He said, "It is finished." And then, bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
#BCV:John 19:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:31">31</verse></sup> Meanwhile the Jews, because it was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and in order that the bodies might not remain on the crosses during  the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was one of special solemnity)
#BCV:John 19:32
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:32">32</verse></sup> Accordingly the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and also of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.
#BCV:John 19:33
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:33">33</verse></sup> Then they came to Jesus Himself: but when they saw that He was already dead, they refrained from breaking His legs.
#BCV:John 19:34
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:34">34</verse></sup> One of the soldiers, however, made a thrust at His side with a lance, and immediately  blood and water flowed out.
#BCV:John 19:35
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:35">35</verse></sup> This statement is the testimony of an eye-witness, and it is true. He knows that he is telling the truth--in order that you also may believe.
#BCV:John 19:36
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:36">36</verse></sup> For all this took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled which declares, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."
#BCV:John 19:37
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:37">37</verse></sup> And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced."
#BCV:John 19:38
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:38">38</verse></sup> After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but for fear of the Jews a secret disciple, asked Pilate's permission to carry away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and removed the body.
#BCV:John 19:39
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:39">39</verse></sup> Nicodemus too--he who at first had visited Jesus by night--came bringing a  mixture of myrrh and aloes, in weight about  seventy or eighty pounds.
#BCV:John 19:40
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:40">40</verse></sup> Taking down the body they wrapped it in linen cloths along with the spices, in accordance with the Jewish mode of preparing for burial.
#BCV:John 19:41
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:41">41</verse></sup> There was a garden at the place where Jesus had been crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
#BCV:John 19:42
<sup><verse bcv="John 19:42">42</verse></sup> Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation for the Jewish Passover, and the tomb was close at hand, they put Jesus there.
#BCV:John 20:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 20:1">20</verse></font> 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.
#BCV:John 20:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:2">2</verse></sup> So she ran, as fast as she could, to find Simon Peter and the other disciple--the one who was dear to Jesus--and to tell them, "They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him."
#BCV:John 20:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:3">3</verse></sup> Peter and the other disciple started at once to go to the tomb, both of them running,
#BCV:John 20:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:4">4</verse></sup> but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached it before he did.
#BCV:John 20:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:5">5</verse></sup> Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying there on the ground, but he did not go in.
#BCV:John 20:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:6">6</verse></sup> Simon Peter, however, also came, following him, and entered the tomb. There on the ground he saw the cloths;
#BCV:John 20:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:7">7</verse></sup> and the  towel, which had been placed  over the face of Jesus, not lying with the cloths, but folded up and put by itself.
#BCV:John 20:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:8">8</verse></sup> Then the other disciple, who had been the first to come to the tomb, also went in and saw and was convinced.
#BCV:John 20:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:9">9</verse></sup> For until now they had not understood the inspired teaching, that He must rise again from among the dead.
#BCV:John 20:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:10">10</verse></sup> Then they went away and returned home.
#BCV:John 20:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:11">11</verse></sup> Meanwhile Mary remained standing near the tomb, weeping aloud. She did not enter the tomb, but as she wept she stooped and looked in,
#BCV:John 20:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:12">12</verse></sup> and  saw two angels clothed in white raiment, sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been.
#BCV:John 20:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:13">13</verse></sup> They spoke to her.  "Why are you weeping?" they asked. "Because," she replied, "they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him."
#BCV:John 20:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:14">14</verse></sup> While she was speaking, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but did not recognize Him.
#BCV:John 20:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:15">15</verse></sup> "Why are you weeping?" He asked;  "who are you looking for?" She, supposing that He was the gardener, replied, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will remove him."
#BCV:John 20:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:16">16</verse></sup> "Mary!" said Jesus. She turned to Him.  "Rabboni!" she cried in Hebrew: the word means 'Teacher!'
#BCV:John 20:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:17">17</verse></sup> "Do not cling to me," said Jesus, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father.  But take this message to my brethren: 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
#BCV:John 20:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:18">18</verse></sup> Mary of Magdala came and brought word to the disciples. "I have seen the Master," she said. And she told them that He had said these things to her.
#BCV:John 20:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:19">19</verse></sup> On that same first day of the week, when it was evening and, for fear of the Jews, the doors of the house where the disciples were, were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you!"
#BCV:John 20:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:20">20</verse></sup> Having said this He showed them His hands and also His side; and the disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Master.
#BCV:John 20:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:21">21</verse></sup> A second time, therefore,  He said to them, "Peace be to you! As the Father sent me, I also now send you."
#BCV:John 20:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:22">22</verse></sup> Having said this He breathed upon them and said, "Receive  the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:John 20:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:23">23</verse></sup> If you remit the sins of any persons, they  remain remitted to them. If you bind fast the sins of any, they remain bound."
#BCV:John 20:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:24">24</verse></sup> Thomas, one of the twelve--surnamed 'the Twin' --was not among them when Jesus came.
#BCV:John 20:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:25">25</verse></sup> So the rest of the disciples told him, "We have seen the Master!" His reply was, "Unless I see in his hands the wound made by the nails and put my  finger into the wound, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it."
#BCV:John 20:26
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:26">26</verse></sup> A week later the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them, when Jesus came--though the doors were locked--and stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be to you."
#BCV:John 20:27
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:27">27</verse></sup> Then He said to Thomas, "Bring your finger here and  feel my hands; bring you hand and put it into my side; and do not be ready to disbelieve but to believe."
#BCV:John 20:28
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:28">28</verse></sup> "My Lord and my God!" replied Thomas.
#BCV:John 20:29
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:29">29</verse></sup> "Because you have seen me," replied Jesus, "you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
#BCV:John 20:30
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:30">30</verse></sup> There were also a great number of other signs which Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
#BCV:John 20:31
<sup><verse bcv="John 20:31">31</verse></sup> But these have been recorded in order that you may believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, through believing, you may have Life through His name.
#BCV:John 21:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="John 21:1">21</verse></font> After this, Jesus again showed Himself to the disciples. It was at the Lake of Tiberias. The circumstances were as follows.
#BCV:John 21:2
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:2">2</verse></sup> Simon Peter was with Thomas, called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zabdi, and two others of the Master's disciples.
#BCV:John 21:3
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:3">3</verse></sup> Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." "We will go too," said they. So they set out and went on board their boat; but they caught nothing that night.
#BCV:John 21:4
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:4">4</verse></sup> When, however, day was now dawning, Jesus stood on the beach, though the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
#BCV:John 21:5
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:5">5</verse></sup> He called to them. "Children," He said, "have you any food there?" "No," they answered.
#BCV:John 21:6
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:6">6</verse></sup> "Throw the net in on the right hand side," He said, "and you will find fish." So they threw the net in, and now they could scarcely drag it along for the quantity of fish.
#BCV:John 21:7
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:7">7</verse></sup> This made the disciple whom Jesus  loved say to Peter, "It is the Master." Simon Peter therefore, when he heard the words, "It is the Master," drew on his  fisherman's shirt--for  he had not been wearing it--put on his girdle, and sprang into the water.
#BCV:John 21:8
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:8">8</verse></sup> But the rest of the disciples came in the  small boat (for they were not far from land--only about a hundred yards off)
#BCV:John 21:9
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:9">9</verse></sup> As soon as they landed, they saw a charcoal fire burning there, with fish broiling on it, and bread close by.
#BCV:John 21:10
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:10">10</verse></sup> Jesus told them to fetch some of the fish which they had just caught.
#BCV:John 21:11
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:11">11</verse></sup> So Simon Peter went on board  the boat and drew the net ashore full of large fish, 153 in number; and yet, although there were so many, the net had not broken.
#BCV:John 21:12
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:12">12</verse></sup> "Come this way and have breakfast," said Jesus. But not one of the disciples ventured to question Him as to who He was, for they felt sure that it was the Master.
#BCV:John 21:13
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:13">13</verse></sup> Then Jesus came and took the bread and gave them some, and the fish in the same way.
#BCV:John 21:14
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:14">14</verse></sup> This was now the third occasion on which Jesus showed Himself to the disciples after He had risen from among the dead.
#BCV:John 21:15
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:15">15</verse></sup> When they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you  love me  more than these others do?" "Yes, Master," was his answer; "you know that you  are dear to me."  "Then feed my lambs," replied Jesus.
#BCV:John 21:16
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:16">16</verse></sup> Again a second time He asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Master," he said, "you know that you are dear to me." "Then be a shepherd to my sheep," He said.
#BCV:John 21:17
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:17">17</verse></sup> A third time Jesus put the question: "Simon, son of John, am I dear to you?" It grieved Peter that Jesus asked him the third time, "Am I dear to you?" "Master," he replied, "you know everything, you can see that you are dear to me." "Then feed my  much-loved sheep," said Jesus.
#BCV:John 21:18
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:18">18</verse></sup> "In most solemn truth I tell you that whereas, when you were young, you used to put on your girdle and walk whichever way you chose, when you have grown old you will stretch out your arms and  some one else will put  a girdle round you and  carry you where you have no wish to go."
#BCV:John 21:19
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:19">19</verse></sup> This He said to indicate the kind of death by which that disciple would bring glory to God; and after speaking thus He said to him, "Follow me."
#BCV:John 21:20
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:20">20</verse></sup> Peter turned round and noticed the disciple whom Jesus loved following--the one who at the supper had leaned back on His breast and had asked, "Master, who is it that is betraying you?"
#BCV:John 21:21
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:21">21</verse></sup> On seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, "And, Master, what about him?"
#BCV:John 21:22
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:22">22</verse></sup> "If I desire him to remain  till I come," replied Jesus, "what concern is that of yours? You, yourself, must follow me."
#BCV:John 21:23
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:23">23</verse></sup> Hence the report spread among the brethren that that disciple would never die. Yet Jesus did not say, "He is not to die," but, "If I desire him to remain till I come,  what concern is that of yours?"
#BCV:John 21:24
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:24">24</verse></sup> That is the disciple who gives his testimony as to these matters, and has written this history; and we know that his testimony is true.
#BCV:John 21:25
<sup><verse bcv="John 21:25">25</verse></sup> But there are also many other things which Jesus did--so vast a number indeed that if they were all described in detail, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would have to be written.

#OUTLINE:1,Acts
#TOPIC:ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
<heading><h1>THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES</h1>
The authorship of this book has occasioned much modern
discussion, but it may be affirmed with confidence that the
writer of our third Gospel is also the author of "the Acts," and
that he speaks from the standpoint of an eye-witness in the
four "we" sections (xvi. 10-17 5 xx. 5-15; xxi. 1-18; xxvii.-
xxviii. 16) who is known in Paul's Letters as "Luke the beloved
physician" (<bcv=Col 4:14>Col. iv. 14;</bcv> <bcv=2Tim 4:11>2 Tim. iv. 11;</bcv> <bcv=Philem 1:24>Philem. 24).</bcv> The date
necessarily depends upon that of the third Gospel. If, as some
think, the latter was written before the destruction of Jerusalem,
then Luke's second work may well have been issued between
66 A.D. and 70 A.D, But the tendency of modern research is to date the Gospel after the destruction of the City, somewhere
between 75 A.D. and 85 A.D., in which case "the Acts" may be
assigned to any period between 80 A.D. and 90 A.D. The latter conclusion, though by no means certain, is perhaps the more
probable. The familiar title of the book is somewhat unfortunate, for" it is manifestly not the intention of the writer to describe the doings of the apostles generally, but rather just so much of the labours of Peter and Paul -and especially the
latter - as will serve to illustrate the growth of the early Church, and at the same time exhibit the emancipation of Christianity from its primitive Judaic origin and environment. It is plain
that the writer was contemporary with the events he describes,
and although his perfect ingenuousness ceaselessly connects his narrative with history, in no case has he been proved to be in
error. The intricacy of the connexions between this record and the Pauline Letters will be best estimated from a study of
Paley's <i>Horae Panlinae</i>. We know nothing definite as to the
place where the Acts was written, nor the sources whence the information for the earlier portion of the narrative was obtained. But it may be truthfully affirmed that from the modern critical ordeal the work emerges as a definite whole, and rather confirmed than weakened in regard to its general authenticity.

#BCV:Acts 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES</h1>
#BCV:Acts 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 1:1">1</verse></font> My former narrative, Theophilus, dealt with all that Jesus did and taught  as a beginning, down to the day on which,
#BCV:Acts 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:2">2</verse></sup> after giving instruction through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen, He was  taken up to Heaven.
#BCV:Acts 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:3">3</verse></sup> He had also, after He suffered,  shown Himself alive to them with many sure  proofs,  appearing to them at intervals during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:Acts 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:4">4</verse></sup> And  while in their company He charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promised gift. "This you have heard of," He said, "from me.
#BCV:Acts 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:5">5</verse></sup> For John indeed baptized with water, but before many days have passed you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
#BCV:Acts 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:6">6</verse></sup> Once when they were with Him, they asked Him, "Master, is this the time at which you are about to restore the kingdom of Israel?"
#BCV:Acts 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:7">7</verse></sup> "It is not for you," He replied, "to know  times or epochs which  the Father has reserved within His own authority;
#BCV:Acts 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:8">8</verse></sup> and yet you  will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth."
#BCV:Acts 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:9">9</verse></sup> When He had said this, and while they were looking at Him, He was carried up, and a cloud closing beneath Him hid Him from their sight.
#BCV:Acts 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:10">10</verse></sup> But, while they stood intently gazing into the sky as He went, suddenly there were two men in white garments standing by them,
#BCV:Acts 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:11">11</verse></sup> who said, "Galilaeans, why stand looking into  the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into  Heaven will come  in just the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven."
#BCV:Acts 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:12">12</verse></sup> Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Oliveyard, which is near Jerusalem,  about a mile off.
#BCV:Acts 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:13">13</verse></sup> They entered the city, and they went up  to the upper room which was now their fixed place for meeting. Their names were Peter and  John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James.
#BCV:Acts 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:14">14</verse></sup> All of these with one mind continued earnest in prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.
#BCV:Acts 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:15">15</verse></sup> It was on one of these days that Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren--the entire number of persons present being about 120--and said,
#BCV:Acts 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:16">16</verse></sup> "Brethren, it was necessary that the Scripture should be fulfilled--the prediction, I mean, which the Holy Spirit uttered by the lips of David, about Judas, who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:17">17</verse></sup> For Judas was reckoned as one of our number, and  a share in this ministry was allotted to him."
#BCV:Acts 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:18">18</verse></sup> (Now having bought a piece of ground with the money paid for his wickedness he fell there with his face downwards, and, his body bursting open, he became disembowelled.
#BCV:Acts 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:19">19</verse></sup> This fact became widely known to the people of Jerusalem, so that the place received the name, in their language, of Achel-damach, which means 'The Field of Blood.')
#BCV:Acts 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:20">20</verse></sup> "For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "'Let his  encampment be desolate: let there be no one to dwell there'; and "'His  work let another take up.'
#BCV:Acts 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:21">21</verse></sup> "It is necessary, therefore, that of the men who have been with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--
#BCV:Acts 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:22">22</verse></sup> beginning from His baptism by John down to the day on which He was taken up  again from us into Heaven--one should be appointed to become a witness with us as to His resurrection."
#BCV:Acts 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:23">23</verse></sup> So  two names were proposed, Joseph called Bar-sabbas--and surnamed  Justus--and Matthias.
#BCV:Acts 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:24">24</verse></sup> And the brethren prayed, saying, "Thou, Lord,  who knowest the hearts of all, show clearly which of these two Thou hast chosen
#BCV:Acts 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:25">25</verse></sup> to occupy the place in this ministry and Apostleship  from which Judas  through transgression fell, in order to go to his own place."
#BCV:Acts 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 1:26">26</verse></sup> Then they drew lots between them. The lot fell on Matthias, and a place among the eleven Apostles was voted to him.
#BCV:Acts 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 2:1">2</verse></font> At length, on the day of the Harvest Festival, they had all met in one place;
#BCV:Acts 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:2">2</verse></sup> when suddenly there came from the sky a sound as of a strong rushing blast of wind. This filled the whole house where they were sitting;
#BCV:Acts 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:3">3</verse></sup> and they saw tongues of what looked like fire  distributing themselves over the assembly, and on the head of each person a tongue alighted.
#BCV:Acts 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:4">4</verse></sup> They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak  in foreign languages according as the Spirit gave them words to utter.
#BCV:Acts 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:5">5</verse></sup> Now there were Jews  residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every part of the world.
#BCV:Acts 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:6">6</verse></sup> So when  this noise was heard, they came crowding together, and were amazed because everyone heard his own language spoken.
#BCV:Acts 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:7">7</verse></sup> They were beside themselves with wonder, and exclaimed, "Are not all these speakers Galilaeans?
#BCV:Acts 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:8">8</verse></sup> How then does each of us hear his own native language spoken by them?
#BCV:Acts 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:9">9</verse></sup> Some of us are  Parthians, Medes, Elamites. Some are  inhabitants of Mesopotamia, of Judaea or Cappadocia, of Pontus or  the Asian Province, of Phrygia or Pamphylia,
#BCV:Acts 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:10">10</verse></sup> of Egypt or of the parts of Africa towards Cyrene. Others are visitors from Rome--being either Jews or converts from heathenism--and others are Cretans or Arabians.
#BCV:Acts 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:11">11</verse></sup> Yet we all alike hear these Galilaeans speaking in our own language about the wonderful things which God has done."
#BCV:Acts 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:12">12</verse></sup> They were all astounded and bewildered, and asked one another, "What can this mean?"
#BCV:Acts 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:13">13</verse></sup> But others, scornfully jeering, said, "They are brim-full of  sweet wine."
#BCV:Acts 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:14">14</verse></sup> Peter however, together with the Eleven, stood up and addressed them in a loud voice. "Men of Judaea, and all you inhabitants of Jerusalem," he said, "be in no uncertainty about this matter but pay attention to what I say.
#BCV:Acts 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:15">15</verse></sup> For this is not intoxication, as you suppose, it being only the  third hour of the day.
#BCV:Acts 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:16">16</verse></sup> But that which was predicted through the Prophet Joel has happened:
#BCV:Acts 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:17">17</verse></sup> "And it shall come to pass in  the last days, God says, that I will pour out  My Spirit upon all  mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams;
#BCV:Acts 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:18">18</verse></sup> and even upon My bondservants, both men and women, at that time, I will pour out  My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
#BCV:Acts 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:19">19</verse></sup> I will display marvels in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke.
#BCV:Acts 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:20">20</verse></sup> The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, to usher in the day of the Lord--  that great and illustrious day;
#BCV:Acts 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:21">21</verse></sup> and every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'
#BCV:Acts 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:22">22</verse></sup> "Listen, Israelites, to what I say. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man accredited to you  from God by miracles and marvels and signs which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know, Him--
#BCV:Acts 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:23">23</verse></sup> delivered up through God's settled purpose and foreknowledge--you by the hands of  Gentiles have nailed to a cross and have put to death.
#BCV:Acts 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:24">24</verse></sup> But God has raised Him to life, having   terminated the throes of death, for in fact it was not possible for Him to be held fast by death.
#BCV:Acts 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:25">25</verse></sup> For David says in reference to Him, "'I constantly fixed my eyes upon the Lord, because He is at my right hand in order that I may continue unshaken.
#BCV:Acts 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:26">26</verse></sup> For this reason my heart  is glad and my tongue  exults. My body also  shall rest in hope.
#BCV:Acts 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:27">27</verse></sup> For Thou <word=will>wilt</word> not leave me in  the Unseen World forsaken, nor give up Thy holy One to undergo  decay.
#BCV:Acts 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:28">28</verse></sup> Thou hast made known to me the ways of Life: Thou <word=will>wilt</word> fill me with gladness  in Thy presence.'
#BCV:Acts 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:29">29</verse></sup> "As to the patriarch David, I need hardly remind you, brethren, that he died and was buried, and that we still have his tomb among us.
#BCV:Acts 2:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:30">30</verse></sup> Being a Prophet, however, and knowing that God had solemnly sworn to him  to seat a descendant of his upon his throne,
#BCV:Acts 2:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:31">31</verse></sup> with prophetic foresight he spoke of the resurrection of  the Christ, to the effect that He was not left forsaken in the Unseen World, nor did His body undergo decay.
#BCV:Acts 2:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:32">32</verse></sup> This Jesus, God has raised to life--  a fact to which all of us testify.
#BCV:Acts 2:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:33">33</verse></sup> "Being therefore lifted high  by the mighty hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out this which you  see and hear.
#BCV:Acts 2:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:34">34</verse></sup> For David  did not ascend into Heaven, but he says himself, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand
#BCV:Acts 2:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:35">35</verse></sup> until I make thy foes a footstool under thy feet.'
#BCV:Acts 2:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:36">36</verse></sup> "Therefore let  the whole House of Israel know beyond all doubt that God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST--this Jesus whom you crucified."
#BCV:Acts 2:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:37">37</verse></sup> Stung to the heart by these words, they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Brethren, what are we to do?"
#BCV:Acts 2:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:38">38</verse></sup> "Repent," replied Peter, "and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ,  with a view to the remission of your sins, and you shall receive  the gift of the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Acts 2:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:39">39</verse></sup> For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are  far off, whoever the Lord our God  may call."
#BCV:Acts 2:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:40">40</verse></sup> And with many more appeals he solemnly warned and entreated them, saying,  "Escape from this crooked generation."
#BCV:Acts 2:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:41">41</verse></sup> Those, therefore, who joyfully welcomed his Message were baptized; and on that one day about three thousand persons were added to them;
#BCV:Acts 2:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:42">42</verse></sup> and they were constant in listening to the teaching of the Apostles and in their attendance at the  Communion, that is, the Breaking of the Bread, and  at prayer.
#BCV:Acts 2:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:43">43</verse></sup> Fear came upon every one, and many marvels and signs  were done by the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 2:44
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:44">44</verse></sup> And all the believers kept together, and had everything in common.
#BCV:Acts 2:45
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:45">45</verse></sup> They sold their  lands and other property, and distributed the proceeds among all, according to every one's necessities.
#BCV:Acts 2:46
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:46">46</verse></sup> And, day by day, attending constantly in the  Temple with one accord, and breaking bread  in private houses, they took their meals with great happiness and single-heartedness,
#BCV:Acts 2:47
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 2:47">47</verse></sup> praising God and being regarded with favour by all the people. Also, day by day, the Lord added  to their number those  whom He was saving.
#BCV:Acts 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 3:1">3</verse></font> One day Peter and John were going up to the Temple for  the hour of prayer--the ninth hour--and, just then,
#BCV:Acts 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:2">2</verse></sup> some men were carrying there one who had been lame from birth, whom they were wont  to place every day close to the Beautiful  Gate (as it was called)
#BCV:Acts 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:3">3</verse></sup> Seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he asked them for alms.
#BCV:Acts 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:4">4</verse></sup> Peter fixing his eyes on him, as John did also, said, "Look at us."
#BCV:Acts 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:5">5</verse></sup> So he looked and waited, expecting to receive something from them.
#BCV:Acts 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:6">6</verse></sup> "I have no silver or gold," Peter said, "but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene--  walk!"
#BCV:Acts 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:7">7</verse></sup> Then taking his hand Peter lifted him up, and immediately his  feet and ankles were  strengthened.
#BCV:Acts 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:8">8</verse></sup> Leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk, and went into the Temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God.
#BCV:Acts 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:9">9</verse></sup> All the people saw him walking and praising God;
#BCV:Acts 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:10">10</verse></sup> and  recognizing him as the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple asking for alms, they were filled with awe and amazement at what had happened to him.
#BCV:Acts 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:11">11</verse></sup> While he still clung to Peter and John, the people, awe-struck, ran up crowding round them in what was known as Solomon's Portico.
#BCV:Acts 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:12">12</verse></sup> Peter, seeing this,  spoke to the people. "Israelites," he said, "why do you wonder at  this man? Or why gaze at us, as though by any power or piety of our own we had enabled him to walk?
#BCV:Acts 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:13">13</verse></sup> The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has conferred this honour on His  Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to let Him go.
#BCV:Acts 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:14">14</verse></sup> Yes, you disowned the holy and righteous One, and asked as a favour the release of  a murderer.
#BCV:Acts 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:15">15</verse></sup> The Prince of Life you put to death; but God has raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses as to that.
#BCV:Acts 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:16">16</verse></sup> It is His name--  faith in that name being the condition--which has strengthened this man whom you behold and know; and the faith which He has given has made this man sound and strong again,  as you can all see.
#BCV:Acts 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:17">17</verse></sup> "And now, brethren, I know that it was in ignorance that you did it, as was the case with your rulers also.
#BCV:Acts 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:18">18</verse></sup> But in this way God has fulfilled the declarations He made through all the Prophets, that His Christ would suffer.
#BCV:Acts 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:19">19</verse></sup> Repent, therefore, and  reform your lives, so that the record of your sins may be cancelled, and that there may come  seasons of revival from the Lord,
#BCV:Acts 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:20">20</verse></sup> and that He may send the Christ  appointed beforehand for you--even Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:21">21</verse></sup> Heaven must receive Him until those times of which God has spoken  from the earliest ages through the lips of His holy Prophets--the times of the  reconstitution of all things.
#BCV:Acts 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:22">22</verse></sup> Moses  declared, "'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brethren as He has raised me. In all that He says to you, you must listen to Him.
#BCV:Acts 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:23">23</verse></sup> And every one, without exception, who refuses to listen to that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the People.'
#BCV:Acts 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:24">24</verse></sup> Yes, and all the Prophets, from Samuel onwards--all who have spoken--have also  announced the coming of this present time.
#BCV:Acts 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:25">25</verse></sup> "You are the  heirs of the Prophets, and of the  Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'
#BCV:Acts 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 3:26">26</verse></sup> It is to you first that God, after raising His Servant from the grave, has sent Him to bless you, by causing every one of you to turn from your wickedness."
#BCV:Acts 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 4:1">4</verse></font> While they were saying this to the people, the Priests, the  Commander of the Temple Guard, and the Sadducees came upon them,
#BCV:Acts 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:2">2</verse></sup> highly incensed at their teaching the people and proclaiming in the case of Jesus the Resurrection from among the dead.
#BCV:Acts 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:3">3</verse></sup> They arrested the two Apostles and lodged them in custody till the next day; for it was already evening.
#BCV:Acts 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:4">4</verse></sup> But many of those who had listened to their preaching believed; and the number of the adult men had now grown to be about 5,000.
#BCV:Acts 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:5">5</verse></sup> The next day a meeting was held in Jerusalem of their Rulers, Elders, and Scribes,
#BCV:Acts 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:6">6</verse></sup> with  Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the other members of the high-priestly family.
#BCV:Acts 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:7">7</verse></sup> So they made the Apostles stand  in the centre, and demanded of them,  "By  what power or  in  what name have you done this?"
#BCV:Acts 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:8">8</verse></sup> Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he replied, "Rulers and Elders of the people,
#BCV:Acts 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:9">9</verse></sup> if we to-day are under examination concerning  the benefit conferred on a man helplessly lame, as to how  this man  has been cured;
#BCV:Acts 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:10">10</verse></sup> be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that  through the name of Jesus  the Anointed, the Nazarene, whom *you* crucified, but whom *God* has raised from among the dead--  through that name this man stands here before you in perfect health.
#BCV:Acts 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:11">11</verse></sup> This Jesus is the Stone treated with contempt by you the builders, but it has been made the Cornerstone.
#BCV:Acts 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:12">12</verse></sup> And in no other is  the great salvation to be found; for, in fact, there is no second name under Heaven that has been given among men through which we are to be saved."
#BCV:Acts 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:13">13</verse></sup> As they looked on  Peter and John so fearlessly outspoken--and also discovered that they were illiterate persons, untrained in the schools--they were surprised; and  now they recognized them as having been with Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:14">14</verse></sup> And seeing the man standing with them--the man who had been cured--they had no reply to make.
#BCV:Acts 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:15">15</verse></sup> So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin while they conferred among themselves.
#BCV:Acts 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:16">16</verse></sup> "What are we to do with these men?" they asked one another; for the fact that a remarkable  miracle has been performed  by them is well known to every one in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
#BCV:Acts 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:17">17</verse></sup> But to prevent  the matter spreading any further among the people, let us stop them by threats from speaking in the future  in this name to any one whatever."
#BCV:Acts 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:18">18</verse></sup> So they recalled the Apostles, and ordered them altogether to give up  speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:19">19</verse></sup> But Peter and John replied,  "Judge whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you instead of listening to God.
#BCV:Acts 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:20">20</verse></sup> As for us, what we have seen and heard we cannot help speaking about."
#BCV:Acts 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:21">21</verse></sup> The Court added further threats and then let them go, being quite unable to find any way of punishing them on account of the people, because all gave God the glory for the thing that had happened.
#BCV:Acts 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:22">22</verse></sup> For the man was over forty years of age on whom this miracle of restoration to health had been performed.
#BCV:Acts 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:23">23</verse></sup> After their release the two Apostles went to their friends, and told them all that the High Priests and Elders had said.
#BCV:Acts 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:24">24</verse></sup> And they, upon hearing the story,  all lifted up their voices to God and said, "O Sovereign Lord, it is Thou who didst make Heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them,
#BCV:Acts 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:25">25</verse></sup> and didst say  through the Holy Spirit by the lips of our forefather David Thy  servant, "'Why have the nations  stamped and raged, and the peoples formed futile plans?
#BCV:Acts 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:26">26</verse></sup> The  kings of the  earth came near, and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against His Anointed.'"
#BCV:Acts 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:27">27</verse></sup> "They did indeed assemble  in this city in hostility to Thy holy Servant Jesus whom Thou hadst anointed--Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and also the  tribes of Israel--
#BCV:Acts 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:28">28</verse></sup> to do all that Thy  power and Thy will had predetermined should be done.
#BCV:Acts 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:29">29</verse></sup> And now, Lord,  listen to their threats, and enable Thy servants to proclaim Thy Message with fearless courage,
#BCV:Acts 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:30">30</verse></sup> whilst Thou stretchest out Thine arm to cure men, and to give signs and marvels through the name of Thy holy Servant Jesus."
#BCV:Acts 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:31">31</verse></sup> When they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were, one and all, filled with the Holy Spirit, and proceeded to tell God's Message with boldness.
#BCV:Acts 4:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:32">32</verse></sup> Among all those who had embraced the faith there was but one heart and soul, so that none of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything they had was common property;
#BCV:Acts 4:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:33">33</verse></sup> while the Apostles with great force of conviction delivered their testimony as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.
#BCV:Acts 4:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:34">34</verse></sup> And, in fact, there was not a needy man among them, for  all who were possessors of lands or houses  sold them, and  brought the money which they realised,
#BCV:Acts 4:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:35">35</verse></sup> and  gave it to the Apostles, and distribution was made to every one according to his wants.
#BCV:Acts 4:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:36">36</verse></sup> In this way Joseph, whom the Apostles gave the name of Bar-nabas--signifying 'Son of  Encouragement' --a Levite,  a native of Cyprus,
#BCV:Acts 4:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 4:37">37</verse></sup> sold  a farm which he had, and brought the money and  gave it to the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 5:1">5</verse></font> There was a man of the name of  Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold some property but,
#BCV:Acts 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:2">2</verse></sup> with her full knowledge and consent,  dishonestly kept back part of the price which he received for it, though he brought the rest and gave it to the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:3">3</verse></sup> "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?
#BCV:Acts 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:4">4</verse></sup> While it remained unsold, was not the land your own? And when sold, was it not at your own disposal? How is it that you have  cherished this design in your heart?  It is not to men you have told this lie, but to God."
#BCV:Acts 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:5">5</verse></sup> Upon hearing these words Ananias fell down dead, and all who heard the words were awe-struck.
#BCV:Acts 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:6">6</verse></sup> The younger men, however, rose, and wrapping the body up, carried it out and buried it.
#BCV:Acts 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:7">7</verse></sup> About three hours had passed, when his wife came in, knowing nothing of what had happened.
#BCV:Acts 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:8">8</verse></sup> Peter at once  questioned her. "Tell me," he said, "whether you sold the land for so much." "Yes," she replied, "for so much."
#BCV:Acts 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:9">9</verse></sup> "How was it," replied Peter, "that you two agreed  to try an experiment upon the Spirit of the Lord?  The men who have buried your husband are already at the door, and they will carry you out."
#BCV:Acts 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:10">10</verse></sup> Instantly she fell down dead at his feet, and the young men  came in and found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her by her husband's side.
#BCV:Acts 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:11">11</verse></sup> This incident struck terror into the whole Church, and into the hearts of all who heard of it.
#BCV:Acts 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:12">12</verse></sup> Many signs and marvels continued to be done among the people by the Apostles; and by common consent they all met in Solomon's Portico.
#BCV:Acts 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:13">13</verse></sup> But  none of the others dared to attach themselves to them. Yet the people held them in high honour--
#BCV:Acts 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:14">14</verse></sup> and more and more believers in the Lord joined them, including great numbers both of men and women--
#BCV:Acts 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:15">15</verse></sup> so that they  would even bring out  their sick friends into the streets and lay them on light couches or mats, in order that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or other of them.
#BCV:Acts 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:16">16</verse></sup> The inhabitants, too, of the towns in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem  came in crowds, bringing sick persons and some who were harassed by foul spirits, and they were cured, one and all.
#BCV:Acts 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:17">17</verse></sup> This roused the High Priest. He and all his party--the sect of the Sadducees--were filled with angry jealousy
#BCV:Acts 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:18">18</verse></sup> and laid hands upon the Apostles, and put them into the public jail.
#BCV:Acts 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:19">19</verse></sup> But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,
#BCV:Acts 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:20">20</verse></sup> "Go and stand in the Temple, and go on proclaiming to the people all  this Message of Life."
#BCV:Acts 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:21">21</verse></sup> Having received that command they went into the Temple, just before daybreak, and began to teach: So when the High Priest and his party came, and had called together the Sanhedrin as well as all the  Elders of the  descendants of Israel, they sent to the jail to fetch the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:22">22</verse></sup> But the officers went and could not find them in the prison. So they came back and brought word,
#BCV:Acts 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:23">23</verse></sup> saying, "The jail we found quite safely locked, and the warders were on guard at the doors, but  upon going in we found no one there."
#BCV:Acts 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:24">24</verse></sup> When the Commander of the Temple Guards and the High Priests heard this statement, they were utterly at a loss with regard to it, wondering what would happen next.
#BCV:Acts 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:25">25</verse></sup> And some one came and brought them word, saying,  "The men you put in prison are actually in the Temple, standing there, teaching the people."
#BCV:Acts 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:26">26</verse></sup> Upon this the Commander went with the officers, and brought the Apostles; but without using violence; for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
#BCV:Acts 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:27">27</verse></sup> So they brought them and made them stand  in front of the Sanhedrin. And then the High Priest questioned them.
#BCV:Acts 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:28">28</verse></sup> "We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"
#BCV:Acts 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:29">29</verse></sup> Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than man.
#BCV:Acts 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:30">30</verse></sup> The God of our forefathers has  raised Jesus to life, whom you crucified and put to death.
#BCV:Acts 5:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:31">31</verse></sup> God has exalted Him  to His right hand as Chief Leader and as Saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
#BCV:Acts 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:32">32</verse></sup> And we--and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him--are witnesses as to these things."
#BCV:Acts 5:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:33">33</verse></sup> Infuriated at getting this answer, they  were disposed to kill the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 5:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:34">34</verse></sup> But a Pharisee of the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, held in honour by all the people, rose from his seat and requested that  they should be sent outside the court for a few minutes.
#BCV:Acts 5:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:35">35</verse></sup> "Israelites," he said, "be careful what you are about to do in dealing with these men.
#BCV:Acts 5:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:36">36</verse></sup> Years ago Theudas appeared, professing to be a person of importance, and a body of men, some four hundred in number, joined him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and annihilated.
#BCV:Acts 5:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:37">37</verse></sup> After him, at the time of the Census, came Judas, the Galilaean, and was the leader in a revolt. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.
#BCV:Acts 5:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:38">38</verse></sup> And now I tell you to hold aloof from these men and leave them alone--for if this scheme or work is of human origin, it will come to nothing.
#BCV:Acts 5:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:39">39</verse></sup> But if it is really from God, you will be powerless to put them down--lest perhaps you find yourselves to be actually fighting against God."
#BCV:Acts 5:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:40">40</verse></sup> His advice carried conviction. So they called the Apostles in, and--after  flogging them--ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then let them go.
#BCV:Acts 5:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:41">41</verse></sup> They, therefore,  left the Sanhedrin and went their way,  rejoicing that they had been deemed worthy to suffer disgrace on behalf of  the NAME.
#BCV:Acts 5:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 5:42">42</verse></sup> But they did not desist from teaching every day, in the Temple or in private houses, and telling the Good News about Jesus, the Christ.
#BCV:Acts 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 6:1">6</verse></font> About this time, as the number of disciples was increasing, complaints were made by  the Greek-speaking Jews against the  Hebrews because their widows were habitually overlooked in the daily  ministration.
#BCV:Acts 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:2">2</verse></sup> So the Twelve called together the general body of the disciples and said, "It does not seem  fitting that  we Apostles should neglect the delivery of God's Message and  minister at tables.
#BCV:Acts 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:3">3</verse></sup> Therefore, brethren, pick out from among yourselves seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, and we will appoint them to undertake this duty.
#BCV:Acts 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:4">4</verse></sup> But, as for us, we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the  delivery of the Message."
#BCV:Acts 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:5">5</verse></sup> The suggestion met with general approval, and they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.
#BCV:Acts 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:6">6</verse></sup> These men they brought to the Apostles, and, after prayer, they laid their hands upon them.
#BCV:Acts 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:7">7</verse></sup> Meanwhile God's Message continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem very greatly increased, and  very many priests obeyed the faith.
#BCV:Acts 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:8">8</verse></sup> And Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great marvels and signs among the people.
#BCV:Acts 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:9">9</verse></sup> But some members of the so-called 'Synagogue of the Freed-men,' together with some Cyrenaeans, Alexandrians, Cilicians and  men from Roman Asia, were roused to encounter Stephen in debate.
#BCV:Acts 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:10">10</verse></sup> They were quite unable, however, to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
#BCV:Acts 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:11">11</verse></sup> Then they privately put forward men who declared, "We have heard him speak blasphemous things against Moses and against God."
#BCV:Acts 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:12">12</verse></sup> In this way they excited the people, the Elders, and the Scribes. At length they came upon him, seized him with violence, and took him  before the Sanhedrin.
#BCV:Acts 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:13">13</verse></sup> Here they brought forward false witnesses who declared, "This fellow is incessantly speaking against the Holy Place and the Law.
#BCV:Acts 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:14">14</verse></sup> For we have heard him say that Jesus, the Nazarene, will pull  this place down to the ground and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us."
#BCV:Acts 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 6:15">15</verse></sup> At once the eyes of all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin were fastened on him, and they saw his face looking just like the face of an angel.
#BCV:Acts 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 7:1">7</verse></font> Then the High Priest asked him, "Are these statements true?"
#BCV:Acts 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:2">2</verse></sup> The reply of Stephen was, "Sirs--brethren and fathers--listen to me.  God Most Glorious appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,
#BCV:Acts 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:3">3</verse></sup> and said to him, "'Leave your country and your relatives, and go into whatever land I point out to you.'
#BCV:Acts 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:4">4</verse></sup> "Thereupon he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran till after the death of his father, when God caused him to remove into this country where  you now live.
#BCV:Acts 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:5">5</verse></sup> But he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not a single  square yard of ground. And yet He promised to bestow the land as a permanent possession on him and his posterity after him--and promised this at a time when Abraham was childless.
#BCV:Acts 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:6">6</verse></sup> And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.
#BCV:Acts 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:7">7</verse></sup> "'And the nation, whichever it is, that enslaves them, I will judge,' said God; 'and afterwards they shall come out, and they shall worship Me in this place.'
#BCV:Acts 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:8">8</verse></sup> "Then He gave him the Covenant of circumcision, and under this Covenant he became the father of Isaac--whom he circumcised on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve Patriarchs.
#BCV:Acts 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:9">9</verse></sup> "The Patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him
#BCV:Acts 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:10">10</verse></sup> and delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him governor over Egypt and all the royal household.
#BCV:Acts 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:11">11</verse></sup> But there came a famine throughout the whole of Egypt and Canaan--and great distress--so that our forefathers could find no food.
#BCV:Acts 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:12">12</verse></sup> When, however, Jacob heard that there was wheat to be had, he sent our forefathers into Egypt; that was the first time.
#BCV:Acts 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:13">13</verse></sup> On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed of Joseph's parentage.
#BCV:Acts 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:14">14</verse></sup> Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his family, numbering  seventy-five persons, to come to him,
#BCV:Acts 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:15">15</verse></sup> and Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and so did our forefathers,
#BCV:Acts 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:16">16</verse></sup> and they were taken to  Shechem and were laid in the tomb which  Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money paid in silver.
#BCV:Acts 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:17">17</verse></sup> "But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,
#BCV:Acts 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:18">18</verse></sup> until there arose a foreign king over Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph.
#BCV:Acts 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:19">19</verse></sup> He adopted a crafty policy towards our race, and oppressed our forefathers, making them cast out their infants so that they might not  be permitted to live.
#BCV:Acts 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:20">20</verse></sup> At this time Moses was born--a  wonderfully beautiful child; and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.
#BCV:Acts 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:21">21</verse></sup> At length he was cast out, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him, and brought him up as her own son.
#BCV:Acts 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:22">22</verse></sup> So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and possessed great influence through his eloquence and his achievements.
#BCV:Acts 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:23">23</verse></sup> "And when he was just forty years old, it occurred to him to visit his brethren the descendants of Israel.
#BCV:Acts 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:24">24</verse></sup> Seeing one of them wrongfully treated he took his part, and secured justice for the ill-treated man by striking down the Egyptian.
#BCV:Acts 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:25">25</verse></sup> He supposed his brethren to be aware that by him God was sending them deliverance; this, however, they did not understand.
#BCV:Acts 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:26">26</verse></sup> The next day, also, he came and found two of them fighting, and he endeavoured to make peace between them. "'Sirs,' he said, 'you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?'
#BCV:Acts 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:27">27</verse></sup> "But the man who was doing the wrong  resented his interference, and asked, "'Who appointed you magistrate and judge over us?
#BCV:Acts 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:28">28</verse></sup> Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
#BCV:Acts 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:29">29</verse></sup> "Alarmed at this question, Moses fled from the country and went to live in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.
#BCV:Acts 7:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:30">30</verse></sup> "But at the end of forty years there appeared to him in the Desert of Mount Sinai an angel in the middle of a flame of fire in a bush.
#BCV:Acts 7:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:31">31</verse></sup> When Moses saw this he wondered at the sight; but on his going up to look further, the voice of the Lord was heard, saying,
#BCV:Acts 7:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:32">32</verse></sup> "'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' "Quaking with fear Moses did not dare gaze.
#BCV:Acts 7:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:33">33</verse></sup> "'Take off your shoes,' said the Lord, 'for the spot on which you are standing is holy ground.
#BCV:Acts 7:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:34">34</verse></sup> I have seen, yes, I have seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. And now  I will send you to Egypt.'
#BCV:Acts 7:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:35">35</verse></sup> "The Moses whom they rejected, asking him, 'Who appointed you magistrate and judge?' --that same Moses  we find God sending as a magistrate and a  deliverer by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
#BCV:Acts 7:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:36">36</verse></sup> This was he who brought them out,  after performing marvels and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the Desert for forty years.
#BCV:Acts 7:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:37">37</verse></sup> This is the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, "'God will raise up a Prophet for you, from among your brethren, just as He raised me up.'
#BCV:Acts 7:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:38">38</verse></sup> This is he who was among the  Congregation in the Desert, together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our forefathers, who received  ever-living  utterances to hand on  to us.
#BCV:Acts 7:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:39">39</verse></sup> "Our forefathers, however, would not submit to him, but spurned his authority and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
#BCV:Acts 7:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:40">40</verse></sup> They said to Aaron, "'Make  gods for us, to march in front of us; for as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
#BCV:Acts 7:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:41">41</verse></sup> "Moreover they made a calf at that time, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and kept rejoicing in the gods which their own hands had made.
#BCV:Acts 7:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:42">42</verse></sup> So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you  offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?
#BCV:Acts 7:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:43">43</verse></sup> Yes, you  lifted up  Moloch's tent and the Star of the God Rephan--the images which you made in order to worship them; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'
#BCV:Acts 7:44
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:44">44</verse></sup> "Our forefathers had  the Tent of the Testimony in the Desert, built as He who spoke to Moses had instructed him to make it in imitation of the model which he had seen.
#BCV:Acts 7:45
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:45">45</verse></sup> That Tent was bequeathed to the next generation of our forefathers. Under Joshua they brought it with them when they were taking possession of the land of the Gentile nations, whom God drove out before them. So it continued till David's time.
#BCV:Acts 7:46
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:46">46</verse></sup> David obtained favour with God, and asked leave to provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.
#BCV:Acts 7:47
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:47">47</verse></sup> But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
#BCV:Acts 7:48
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:48">48</verse></sup> Yet the Most High does not dwell in buildings erected by men's hands. But, as the Prophet declares,
#BCV:Acts 7:49
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:49">49</verse></sup> "'The sky is My throne, and earth is the footstool for My feet. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what resting place shall I have?
#BCV:Acts 7:50
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:50">50</verse></sup> Did not My hand form this universe.'
#BCV:Acts 7:51
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:51">51</verse></sup> "O stiff-necked men, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you also are continually  at strife with the Holy Spirit--just as your forefathers were.
#BCV:Acts 7:52
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:52">52</verse></sup> Which of the Prophets did not your forefathers persecute? Yes, they killed those who announced beforehand the advent of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become--
#BCV:Acts 7:53
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:53">53</verse></sup> you who received the Law  given through angels, and yet have not obeyed it."
#BCV:Acts 7:54
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:54">54</verse></sup> As they listened to these words, they became infuriated and gnashed their teeth at him.
#BCV:Acts 7:55
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:55">55</verse></sup> But,  full of the Holy Spirit and looking up to Heaven,  Stephen  saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand.
#BCV:Acts 7:56
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:56">56</verse></sup> "I can see Heaven wide open," he said, "and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand."
#BCV:Acts 7:57
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:57">57</verse></sup> Upon this, with a loud outcry they stopped their ears, rushed upon Stephen in a body,
#BCV:Acts 7:58
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:58">58</verse></sup> dragged him out of the city, and  stoned him, the witnesses throwing off their outer garments and giving them into the care of a young man called Saul.
#BCV:Acts 7:59
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:59">59</verse></sup> So they  stoned Stephen,  while he prayed,  "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
#BCV:Acts 7:60
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 7:60">60</verse></sup> Then, rising on his knees, he cried aloud,  "Lord, do not reckon this sin against them." And with these words he fell asleep.
#BCV:Acts 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 8:1">8</verse></font> And Saul fully approved of his murder. At this time a great persecution broke out against the Church in Jerusalem, and  all except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria.
#BCV:Acts 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:2">2</verse></sup> A party of  devout men, however,  buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.
#BCV:Acts 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:3">3</verse></sup> But Saul cruelly harassed the Church. He went into house after house, and, dragging off both men and women, threw them into prison.
#BCV:Acts 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:4">4</verse></sup> Those, however, who were scattered abroad went from place to place spreading the Good News of God's Message;
#BCV:Acts 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:5">5</verse></sup> while Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.
#BCV:Acts 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:6">6</verse></sup> Crowds of people, with one accord, gave attention to what they heard from him, listening, and witnessing the signs which he did.
#BCV:Acts 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:7">7</verse></sup> For, with a loud cry, foul spirits came out of many possessed by them, and many paralytics and lame persons were restored to health.
#BCV:Acts 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:8">8</verse></sup> And there was great joy in that city.
#BCV:Acts 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:9">9</verse></sup> Now for some time past there had been a man named Simon living there, who had been practising magic and astonishing  the Samaritans, pretending that he was more than human.
#BCV:Acts 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:10">10</verse></sup> To him people of all classes paid attention, declaring, "This man is the Power of God, known as the great Power."
#BCV:Acts 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:11">11</verse></sup> His influence over them arose from their having been, for a long time, bewildered by his sorceries.
#BCV:Acts 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:12">12</verse></sup> But when Philip began to tell the Good News about the Kingdom of God and about the Name of Jesus Christ, and they embraced the faith, they  were baptized, men and women alike.
#BCV:Acts 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:13">13</verse></sup> Simon himself also  believed, and after being baptized remained in close attendance on Philip, and was full of amazement at seeing such signs and such great miracles performed.
#BCV:Acts 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:14">14</verse></sup> When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had accepted God's Message, they sent Peter and  John to visit them.
#BCV:Acts 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:15">15</verse></sup> They, when they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit:
#BCV:Acts 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:16">16</verse></sup> for He had not as yet fallen upon any of them. They  had only been baptized  into the name of the Lord Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:17">17</verse></sup> Then the Apostles  placed their hands upon them, and they  received the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Acts 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:18">18</verse></sup> When, however, Simon saw that it was through the laying on of the Apostles' hands that the Spirit was bestowed, he offered them money.
#BCV:Acts 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:19">19</verse></sup> "Give me too," he said, "that power, so that every one on whom I place my hands will receive the Holy Spirit."
#BCV:Acts 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:20">20</verse></sup> "Perish your money and yourself," replied Peter, "because you have imagined that you can obtain God's free gift with money!
#BCV:Acts 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:21">21</verse></sup> No part or lot have you in this  matter, for your heart is not right in God's sight.
#BCV:Acts 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:22">22</verse></sup> Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord,  in the hope that the  purpose which is in your heart may perhaps be forgiven you.
#BCV:Acts 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:23">23</verse></sup> For I perceive that you  have fallen into the bitterest bondage of unrighteousness."
#BCV:Acts 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:24">24</verse></sup> "Pray, both of you, to the Lord for me," answered Simon, "that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."
#BCV:Acts 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:25">25</verse></sup> So the Apostles, after giving a solemn charge and delivering the Lord's Message, travelled back to Jerusalem, making known the Good News also in many of the Samaritan villages.
#BCV:Acts 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:26">26</verse></sup> And an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and proceed  south to  the road that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza,  crossing the Desert."
#BCV:Acts 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:27">27</verse></sup> Upon this he rose and went. Now,  as it happened, an Ethiopian eunuch who was in a position of high authority with Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, as her treasurer, had visited Jerusalem to worship there,
#BCV:Acts 8:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:28">28</verse></sup> and was now on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was  reading the Prophet Isaiah.
#BCV:Acts 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:29">29</verse></sup> Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go and  enter that chariot."
#BCV:Acts 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:30">30</verse></sup> So Philip ran up and heard the eunuch reading the Prophet Isaiah.  "Do you understand what you are reading?" he asked.
#BCV:Acts 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:31">31</verse></sup> "Why, how can I," replied the eunuch, "unless some one explains it to me?" And he earnestly invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
#BCV:Acts 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:32">32</verse></sup> The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "Like a sheep He was led to slaughter, and just as a lamb before its shearer is dumb so He opened not His mouth.
#BCV:Acts 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:33">33</verse></sup> In His humiliation justice was denied Him.  Who will make known His posterity? For He is destroyed from among men."
#BCV:Acts 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:34">34</verse></sup> "Pray, of whom is the Prophet speaking?" inquired the eunuch; "of himself or of some one else?"
#BCV:Acts 8:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:35">35</verse></sup> Then Philip  began to speak, and, commencing with that same portion of Scripture, told him the Good News about Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 8:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:36">36</verse></sup> So they proceeded on their way till they came to some water; and the eunuch exclaimed, "See, here is water; what is there to prevent my being baptized?"
#BCV:Acts 8:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:37">37</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 8:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:38">38</verse></sup> So he stopped the chariot; and both of them--Philip and the eunuch--went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
#BCV:Acts 8:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:39">39</verse></sup> But no sooner had they come up out of the water than  the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again. With a glad heart he resumed his journey;
#BCV:Acts 8:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 8:40">40</verse></sup> but Philip found himself at  Ashdod. Then visiting town after town he everywhere made known the Good News until he reached Caesarea.
#BCV:Acts 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 9:1">9</verse></font> Now Saul, whose every breath was a threat of destruction for the disciples of the Lord,
#BCV:Acts 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:2">2</verse></sup> went to the High Priest and begged from him letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, in order that if he found  any believers there, either men or women, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:3">3</verse></sup> But on the journey, as he was getting near Damascus, suddenly there flashed round him a light from Heaven;
#BCV:Acts 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:4">4</verse></sup> and falling to the ground he heard a voice which said to him,  "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
#BCV:Acts 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:5">5</verse></sup> "Who <word=are>art</word> thou, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," was the reply.
#BCV:Acts 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:6">6</verse></sup> "But rise and go to the city, and you will be told what you are to do.
#BCV:Acts 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:7">7</verse></sup> Meanwhile the men who travelled with Saul were standing dumb with amazement, hearing a  sound, but seeing no one.
#BCV:Acts 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:8">8</verse></sup> Then he rose from the ground, but when he  had opened his eyes, he could not see, and they led him by the  arm and brought him to Damascus.
#BCV:Acts 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:9">9</verse></sup> And  for two days he remained without sight, and did not eat or drink anything.
#BCV:Acts 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:10">10</verse></sup> Now in Damascus there was a disciple of the name of Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, saying, "Ananias!" "I am here, Lord," he answered.
#BCV:Acts 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:11">11</verse></sup> "Rise," said the Lord, "and go to Straight Street, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man called Saul, from Tarsus, for he is actually praying.
#BCV:Acts 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:12">12</verse></sup> He has seen a man called Ananias  come and lay his hands upon him so that he may recover his sight."
#BCV:Acts 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:13">13</verse></sup> "Lord," answered Ananias, "I have heard about that man from many, and I have heard of the great mischief he has done to Thy  people in Jerusalem;
#BCV:Acts 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:14">14</verse></sup> and here he is authorized by the High Priests to arrest all who call upon Thy name."
#BCV:Acts 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:15">15</verse></sup> "Go," replied the Lord; "he is a chosen  instrument of Mine to carry My name  to the Gentiles and to kings and to the descendants of Israel.
#BCV:Acts 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:16">16</verse></sup> For I will let him know the great sufferings which he must pass through for My sake."
#BCV:Acts 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:17">17</verse></sup> So Ananias went and entered the house; and, laying his two hands upon Saul, said, "Saul, brother, the Lord--even Jesus who appeared to you on your journey--has sent me, that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
#BCV:Acts 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:18">18</verse></sup> Instantly there dropped from his eyes what seemed to be scales, and he could see once more. Upon this he rose and received baptism;
#BCV:Acts 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:19">19</verse></sup> after which he took food and regained his strength. Then he remained  some little time with the disciples in Damascus.
#BCV:Acts 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:20">20</verse></sup> And in the synagogues he began at once to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God;
#BCV:Acts 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:21">21</verse></sup> and his hearers were all amazed, and began to ask one another, "Is not this the man who in Jerusalem  tried to exterminate those who called upon that Name, and  came here on purpose to carry them off in chains to the High Priests?"
#BCV:Acts 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:22">22</verse></sup> Saul, however,  gained more and more influence, and as for the Jews living in Damascus, he bewildered them with his proofs that Jesus is the Christ.
#BCV:Acts 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:23">23</verse></sup> At length the Jews plotted to kill Saul;
#BCV:Acts 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:24">24</verse></sup> but information of their intention was given to him. They even watched the gates, day and night, in order to murder him;
#BCV:Acts 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:25">25</verse></sup> but his disciples took him by night and let him down  through the wall, lowering him in a  hamper.
#BCV:Acts 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:26">26</verse></sup> So he came to Jerusalem and made several attempts to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, being in doubt as to whether he himself was a disciple.
#BCV:Acts 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:27">27</verse></sup> Barnabas, however, came to his assistance. He brought Saul to the Apostles, and related to them how, on his journey, he had seen the Lord, and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had fearlessly taught in the name of Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:28">28</verse></sup> Henceforth Saul was one of them, going in and out of the city,
#BCV:Acts 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:29">29</verse></sup> and speaking fearlessly in the name of the Lord. And he often talked with the Hellenists and had discussions with them.
#BCV:Acts 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:30">30</verse></sup> But they kept trying to take his life. On learning this, the brethren brought him down to Caesarea, and then  sent him by sea to Tarsus.
#BCV:Acts 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:31">31</verse></sup> The Church, however, throughout the whole of Judaea, Galilee and Samaria, had peace and was spiritually built up; and grew in numbers,  living in the fear of the Lord and  receiving  encouragement from the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Acts 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:32">32</verse></sup> Now Peter, as he went to town after town, came down also to  God's people at Lud.
#BCV:Acts 9:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:33">33</verse></sup> There he found a man of the name of Aeneas, who for eight years had kept his  bed, through being paralysed.
#BCV:Acts 9:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:34">34</verse></sup> Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you. Rise and  make your own bed." He at once rose to his feet.
#BCV:Acts 9:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:35">35</verse></sup> And all the people of Lud and Sharon saw him; and they turned to the Lord.
#BCV:Acts 9:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:36">36</verse></sup> Among the disciples at  Jaffa was a woman called Tabitha, or, as the name may be translated,  'Dorcas.'  Her life was wholly devoted to the good and charitable actions which she was constantly doing.
#BCV:Acts 9:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:37">37</verse></sup> But, as it happened, just at that time she was taken ill and died. After washing her body they laid it out in a room upstairs.
#BCV:Acts 9:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:38">38</verse></sup> Lud, however, being near Jaffa, the disciples, who had heard that Peter was at Lud, sent two men to him with an urgent request that he would come across to them without delay.
#BCV:Acts 9:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:39">39</verse></sup> So Peter rose and went with them. On his arrival they took him upstairs, and the widow women all came and stood by his side, weeping and showing him the underclothing and cloaks and garments of all kinds which Dorcas used to make while she was still with them.
#BCV:Acts 9:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:40">40</verse></sup> Peter, however, putting every one out of the room, knelt down and prayed, and then turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, rise." Dorcas at once opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, sat up.
#BCV:Acts 9:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:41">41</verse></sup> Then, giving her his hand, he raised her to her feet and, calling to him God's people and the widows, he  gave her back to them alive.
#BCV:Acts 9:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:42">42</verse></sup> This incident became known throughout Jaffa, and many  believed in the Lord;
#BCV:Acts 9:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 9:43">43</verse></sup> and Peter remained for a considerable time at Jaffa, staying at the house of a man called Simon, a tanner.
#BCV:Acts 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 10:1">10</verse></font> Now a Captain of the Italian Regiment, named Cornelius, was quartered at Caesarea.
#BCV:Acts 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:2">2</verse></sup> He was religious and God-fearing--and so was every member of his household. He was also liberal in his charities to the people, and continually offered prayer to God.
#BCV:Acts 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:3">3</verse></sup> About three o'clock one afternoon he had a vision, and distinctly saw an angel of God  enter  his house, who called him by name, saying, "Cornelius!"
#BCV:Acts 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:4">4</verse></sup> Looking steadily at him, and being much alarmed, he said,  "What do you want, Sir?" "Your prayers and charities," he replied, "have gone up and have been recorded before God.
#BCV:Acts 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:5">5</verse></sup> And now send to Jaffa and fetch Simon, surnamed Peter.
#BCV:Acts 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:6">6</verse></sup> He is staying as a guest with Simon, a tanner, who has a house close to the sea."
#BCV:Acts 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:7">7</verse></sup> So when the angel who had been speaking to him was gone, Cornelius called two of his  servants and a God-fearing soldier who was in constant attendance on him,
#BCV:Acts 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:8">8</verse></sup> and, after telling them everything, he sent them to Jaffa.
#BCV:Acts 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:9">9</verse></sup> The next day, while they were still on their journey and were getting near the town, about noon Peter went up on the house-top to pray.
#BCV:Acts 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:10">10</verse></sup> He had become unusually hungry and wished for food; but, while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.
#BCV:Acts 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:11">11</verse></sup> The sky had opened to his view, and what seemed to be an enormous sail was descending, being let down to the earth by ropes at the four corners.
#BCV:Acts 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:12">12</verse></sup> In it were  all kinds of quadrupeds, reptiles and birds,
#BCV:Acts 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:13">13</verse></sup> and a voice came to him which said, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat."
#BCV:Acts 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:14">14</verse></sup> "On no account, Lord," he replied; "for I have never yet eaten anything unholy and impure."
#BCV:Acts 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:15">15</verse></sup> Again a second time a voice was heard which said, "What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy."
#BCV:Acts 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:16">16</verse></sup> This  was said three times, and immediately the sail was drawn up  out of sight.
#BCV:Acts 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:17">17</verse></sup> While Peter was greatly perplexed as to the meaning of the vision which he had seen, just then the men sent by Cornelius, having by inquiry found out Simon's house,
#BCV:Acts 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:18">18</verse></sup> had come to the door and had called the servant, and were asking, "Is Simon, surnamed Peter, staying here?"
#BCV:Acts 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:19">19</verse></sup> And Peter was still earnestly thinking over the vision, when the Spirit said to him,  "Three men are now inquiring for you.
#BCV:Acts 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:20">20</verse></sup> Rise, go down, and go with them without any misgivings; for it is I who have sent them to you."
#BCV:Acts 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:21">21</verse></sup> So Peter went down and said to the men, "I am the Simon you are inquiring for. What is the reason of your coming?"
#BCV:Acts 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:22">22</verse></sup> Their reply was, "Cornelius, a Captain, an upright and God-fearing man, of whom the whole Jewish nation speaks well, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and listen to what you have to say."
#BCV:Acts 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:23">23</verse></sup> Upon hearing this, Peter invited them in, and gave them a lodging. The next day he set out with them, some of the brethren from Jaffa going with him,
#BCV:Acts 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:24">24</verse></sup> and the day after that they reached Caesarea. There Cornelius was awaiting their arrival, and had invited all his relatives and intimate friends to be present.
#BCV:Acts 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:25">25</verse></sup> When Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him, and threw himself at his feet to do him homage.
#BCV:Acts 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:26">26</verse></sup> But Peter lifted him up. "Stand up," he said; "I myself also am but a man."
#BCV:Acts 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:27">27</verse></sup> So Peter went in and conversed with him, and found a large company assembled.
#BCV:Acts 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:28">28</verse></sup> He said to them,  "You know better than most that a Jew  is strictly forbidden to associate with a Gentile or visit him; but God has taught me to call no one unholy or unclean.
#BCV:Acts 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:29">29</verse></sup> So for this reason, when sent for, I came without raising any objection. I therefore ask why you sent for me."
#BCV:Acts 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:30">30</verse></sup> "Just at this hour,  three days ago," replied Cornelius, "I was offering afternoon prayer in my house, when suddenly a man in shining raiment stood in front of me,
#BCV:Acts 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:31">31</verse></sup> who said, "'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charities have been put on record before God.
#BCV:Acts 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:32">32</verse></sup> Send therefore to Jaffa, and invite Simon, surnamed Peter, to come here. He is staying as a guest in the house of Simon, a tanner, close to the sea.'
#BCV:Acts 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:33">33</verse></sup> "Immediately, therefore, I sent to you, and  I thank you heartily for having come. That is why all of us are now assembled here in God's presence, to listen to what the Lord has commanded you to say."
#BCV:Acts 10:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:34">34</verse></sup> Then Peter began to speak. "I clearly see," he said, "that  God makes no distinctions between one man and another;
#BCV:Acts 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:35">35</verse></sup> but that in every nation those who fear Him and live good lives are acceptable to Him.
#BCV:Acts 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:36">36</verse></sup> The Message which He sent to the descendants of Israel, when He announced the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all--that Message  you cannot but know;
#BCV:Acts 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:37">37</verse></sup> the story, I mean, which has spread through the length and breadth of Judaea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.
#BCV:Acts 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:38">38</verse></sup> It tells how God  anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the  Holy Spirit and with power, so that He went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the Devil--for God was with Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:39">39</verse></sup> "And we are witnesses as to all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. But they even put Him to death,  by crucifixion.
#BCV:Acts 10:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:40">40</verse></sup> That same Jesus God raised to life on the third day, and permitted Him to appear unmistakably,
#BCV:Acts 10:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:41">41</verse></sup> not to all the people, but to witnesses--men previously chosen by God--namely, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
#BCV:Acts 10:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:42">42</verse></sup> And He has commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly declare that this is He who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of  the living and the dead.
#BCV:Acts 10:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:43">43</verse></sup> To Him all the Prophets bear witness, and testify that through His name all who  believe in Him receive the forgiveness of their sins."
#BCV:Acts 10:44
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:44">44</verse></sup> While Peter  was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the Message.
#BCV:Acts 10:45
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:45">45</verse></sup> And all the  Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that on the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.
#BCV:Acts 10:46
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:46">46</verse></sup> For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling the majesty of God. Then Peter  said,
#BCV:Acts 10:47
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:47">47</verse></sup> "Can any one forbid the use of water, and object to these persons being baptized--men who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?"
#BCV:Acts 10:48
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 10:48">48</verse></sup> And  he directed  that they should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to remain with them for a time.
#BCV:Acts 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 11:1">11</verse></font> Now the Apostles, and the brethren  in various parts of Judaea, heard that the Gentiles also had received God's Message;
#BCV:Acts 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:2">2</verse></sup> and, when Peter returned to Jerusalem, the champions of circumcision found fault with him.
#BCV:Acts 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:3">3</verse></sup> "You went into the houses of men who are not Jews," they said, "and you ate with them."
#BCV:Acts 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:4">4</verse></sup> Peter, however, explained the whole matter to them from the beginning.
#BCV:Acts 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:5">5</verse></sup> "While I was in the town of Jaffa, offering prayer," he said, "in a trance I saw a vision. There descended what seemed to be an enormous sail, being let down from the sky by ropes at the four corners, and it came close to me.
#BCV:Acts 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:6">6</verse></sup> Fixing my eyes on it, I examined it closely, and saw various kinds of quadrupeds, wild beasts, reptiles and birds.
#BCV:Acts 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:7">7</verse></sup> I also heard a voice saying to me, "'Rise, Peter, kill and eat.'
#BCV:Acts 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:8">8</verse></sup> "'On no account, Lord,' I replied, 'for nothing unholy or impure has ever gone into my mouth.'
#BCV:Acts 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:9">9</verse></sup> "But a voice answered, speaking a second time from the sky, "'What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy.'
#BCV:Acts 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:10">10</verse></sup> "This was said three times, and then everything was drawn up again out of sight.
#BCV:Acts 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:11">11</verse></sup> "Now at that very moment three men came to the house where we were, having been sent from Caesarea to find me.
#BCV:Acts 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:12">12</verse></sup> And the Spirit told me to accompany them  without any misgivings. There also went with me these six brethren who are now present, and we reached the  Centurion's house.
#BCV:Acts 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:13">13</verse></sup> Then he described to us how he had seen  the angel come and  enter his house and say, "'Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon, surnamed Peter.
#BCV:Acts 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:14">14</verse></sup> He will teach you truths by which you and all your family will be saved.'"
#BCV:Acts 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:15">15</verse></sup> "And," said Peter, "no sooner had I begun to speak than the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He fell upon us at the first.
#BCV:Acts 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:16">16</verse></sup> Then I remembered the Lord's words, how He used to say, "'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.'
#BCV:Acts 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:17">17</verse></sup> "If therefore God gave them the  same gift as He gave us when we  first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, why, who was I to be able to thwart God?"
#BCV:Acts 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:18">18</verse></sup> This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, "So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life."
#BCV:Acts 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:19">19</verse></sup> Those, however, who had been driven in various directions by the persecution which broke out on account of Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, delivering the Message to none but Jews.
#BCV:Acts 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:20">20</verse></sup> But some of them were Cyprians and Cyrenaeans, who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the  Greeks also and told them the Good News concerning the Lord Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:21">21</verse></sup> The  power of the Lord was with them, and there were a vast number who believed and turned to the Lord.
#BCV:Acts 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:22">22</verse></sup> When tidings of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch.
#BCV:Acts 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:23">23</verse></sup> On getting there he was delighted to see the grace which God had bestowed; and he  encouraged them all to remain, with fixed resolve, faithful to the Lord.
#BCV:Acts 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:24">24</verse></sup> For he was a good man, and was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and the number of believers in the Lord greatly increased.
#BCV:Acts 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:25">25</verse></sup> Then Barnabas paid a visit to Tarsus to try to find Saul.
#BCV:Acts 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:26">26</verse></sup> He succeeded, and brought him to Antioch; and for a whole year they attended the meetings of the Church, and taught a large number of people. And it was in Antioch that the disciples first received the name of 'Christians.'
#BCV:Acts 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:27">27</verse></sup> At  that time certain Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch,
#BCV:Acts 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:28">28</verse></sup> one of whom, named Agabus, being instructed by the Spirit,  publicly predicted the speedy coming of a great famine throughout the world. (It came in the reign of Claudius.)
#BCV:Acts 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:29">29</verse></sup> So the disciples decided to send relief, every one in proportion to his means, to the brethren living in Judaea.
#BCV:Acts 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 11:30">30</verse></sup> This they did, forwarding their contributions to the  Elders by Barnabas and Saul.
#BCV:Acts 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 12:1">12</verse></font> Now, about that time, King Herod arrested certain members of the Church, in order to ill-treat them;
#BCV:Acts 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:2">2</verse></sup> and James, John's brother, he beheaded.
#BCV:Acts 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:3">3</verse></sup> Finding that this gratified the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also; these being the days of Unleavened Bread.
#BCV:Acts 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:4">4</verse></sup> He had him arrested and lodged in jail, handing him over to the care of  sixteen soldiers; and intended after the Passover to bring him out again to the people.
#BCV:Acts 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:5">5</verse></sup> So Peter was kept in prison; but long and fervent prayer was offered to God by the Church on his behalf.
#BCV:Acts 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:6">6</verse></sup> Now when Herod was on the point of taking him out of prison, that very night Peter was asleep between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and  guards were  on duty outside the door.
#BCV:Acts 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:7">7</verse></sup> Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell; and, striking Peter on the side, he woke him and said, "Rise quickly." Instantly the chains dropped off his wrists.
#BCV:Acts 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:8">8</verse></sup> "Fasten your girdle," said the angel, "and tie on your sandals." He did so. Then the angel said, "Throw your cloak round you, and follow me."
#BCV:Acts 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:9">9</verse></sup> So Peter went out, following him, yet could not believe that what the angel was doing was real, but supposed that he saw a vision.
#BCV:Acts 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:10">10</verse></sup> And passing through  the first ward and the second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. This opened to them of itself; and, going out, they passed on through one of the streets, and then suddenly the angel left him.
#BCV:Acts 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:11">11</verse></sup> Peter coming to himself said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has rescued me from the power of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were anticipating."
#BCV:Acts 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:12">12</verse></sup> So, after thinking things over, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John surnamed Mark, where a large number of people were assembled, praying.
#BCV:Acts 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:13">13</verse></sup> When he knocked at the  wicket in the door, a maidservant named  Rhoda came to answer the knock;
#BCV:Acts 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:14">14</verse></sup> and recognizing Peter's voice, for very joy she did not open the door, but ran in and told them that Peter was standing there.
#BCV:Acts 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:15">15</verse></sup> "You are mad," they said. But she strenuously maintained that it was true. "It is his  guardian angel," they said.
#BCV:Acts 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:16">16</verse></sup> Meanwhile Peter went on knocking, until at last they opened the door and saw that it was really he, and were filled with amazement.
#BCV:Acts 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:17">17</verse></sup> But he motioned with his hand for silence, and then described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. "Tell all this to James and the brethren," he added. Then he left them, and went to another place.
#BCV:Acts 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:18">18</verse></sup> When morning came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers, as to what could possibly have become of Peter.
#BCV:Acts 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:19">19</verse></sup> And when Herod had had him searched for and could not find him, after sharply questioning the guards he ordered them away to execution. He then went down from Judaea to Caesarea and remained there.
#BCV:Acts 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:20">20</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Acts 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:21">21</verse></sup> So, on an appointed day, Herod, having arrayed himself in royal robes, took his seat on the tribunal, and was haranguing them;
#BCV:Acts 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:22">22</verse></sup> and the assembled people kept shouting, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"
#BCV:Acts 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:23">23</verse></sup> Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the glory to God, and being eaten up by worms, he  died.
#BCV:Acts 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:24">24</verse></sup> But God's Message prospered, and converts were multiplied.
#BCV:Acts 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 12:25">25</verse></sup> And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having discharged their mission, and they brought with them John, surnamed Mark.
#BCV:Acts 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 13:1">13</verse></font> Now there were in Antioch,  in the Church there--as Prophets and teachers--barnabas,  Symeon surnamed 'the black,' Lucius the Cyrenaean, Manaen  (who was Herod the Tetrarch's foster-brother)
#BCV:Acts 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:2">2</verse></sup> While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me, now at once, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them."
#BCV:Acts 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:3">3</verse></sup> So, after fasting and prayer and the laying on of hands, they let them go.
#BCV:Acts 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:4">4</verse></sup> They therefore, being thus sent out by the Holy Spirit, went  down to Seleuceia, and from there sailed to Cyprus.
#BCV:Acts 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:5">5</verse></sup> Having reached Salamis, they began to announce God's Message in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John as their  assistant.
#BCV:Acts 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:6">6</verse></sup> When they had gone through the whole length of the island as far as Paphos, they there met with a Jewish magician and false prophet,  Bar-Jesus by name,
#BCV:Acts 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:7">7</verse></sup> who was a friend of the Proconsul Sergius Paulus. The Proconsul was a man of keen intelligence. He sent for Barnabas and Saul, and asked to be told God's Message.
#BCV:Acts 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:8">8</verse></sup> But  Elymas (or 'the Magician,' for such is the meaning of the name)
#BCV:Acts 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:9">9</verse></sup> Then Saul, who is also called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, fixing his eyes on Elymas,
#BCV:Acts 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:10">10</verse></sup> said, "You who are full of every kind of craftiness and unscrupulous cunning--you son of the Devil and foe to all that is right--will you never cease  to misrepresent the straight paths of the Lord?
#BCV:Acts 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:11">11</verse></sup> The Lord's hand is now upon you, and you will be blind for a time and unable to see the light of day." Instantly there fell upon him a mist and a darkness, and, as he walked about, he begged people to lead him  by the hand.
#BCV:Acts 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:12">12</verse></sup> Then the Proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed, being struck with amazement at  the teaching of the Lord.
#BCV:Acts 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:13">13</verse></sup> From Paphos, Paul and his party put out to sea and sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:14">14</verse></sup> But they themselves, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia. Here, on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.
#BCV:Acts 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:15">15</verse></sup> After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the Wardens of the synagogue sent word to them. "Brethren," they said, "if you have anything encouraging to say to the people, speak."
#BCV:Acts 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:16">16</verse></sup> So Paul rose, and motioning with his hand for silence, said, "Israelites, and you others who fear God, pay attention to me.
#BCV:Acts 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:17">17</verse></sup> The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, until with  wondrous power He brought them out from that land.
#BCV:Acts 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:18">18</verse></sup> For a period of about forty years, He  fed them, like a nurse, in the Desert.
#BCV:Acts 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:19">19</verse></sup> Then, after overthrowing seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided that country among them as their inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years;
#BCV:Acts 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:20">20</verse></sup> and afterwards He gave them judges down to the time of the Prophet Samuel.
#BCV:Acts 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:21">21</verse></sup> Next they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who reigned forty years.
#BCV:Acts 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:22">22</verse></sup> After removing him, He raised up David to be their king, to whom He also bore witness when He said, "'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man I love, who will obey all My commands.'
#BCV:Acts 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:23">23</verse></sup> "It is from among David's descendants that God, in fulfilment of His promise, has raised up a Saviour for Israel, even Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 13:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:24">24</verse></sup> Before the coming of Jesus, John had proclaimed to all the people of Israel a baptism of repentance.
#BCV:Acts 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:25">25</verse></sup> But John, towards the end of his career, repeatedly asked the people, "'What do you suppose me to be? I am not the Christ. But there is One coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten.'
#BCV:Acts 13:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:26">26</verse></sup> "Brethren, descendants of the family of Abraham, and all among you who fear God, to us has this Message of salvation been sent.
#BCV:Acts 13:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:27">27</verse></sup> For the people of Jerusalem and their rulers,  by the judgement they pronounced on Jesus, have actually fulfilled the predictions of the Prophets which are read Sabbath after Sabbath, through ignorance of those predictions and of Him.
#BCV:Acts 13:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:28">28</verse></sup> Without having found Him guilty of any capital offence they urged Pilate to have Him put to death;
#BCV:Acts 13:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:29">29</verse></sup> and when they had carried out everything which had been written about Him, they took Him down from the  cross and laid Him in a tomb.
#BCV:Acts 13:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:30">30</verse></sup> "But God raised Him from the dead.
#BCV:Acts 13:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:31">31</verse></sup> And, after a few days, He appeared to the people who had gone up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem and are now witnesses concerning Him to the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 13:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:32">32</verse></sup> And we bring you the Good News about the promise made to our forefathers,
#BCV:Acts 13:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:33">33</verse></sup> that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in  raising up Jesus; as it is also written in  the second Psalm, 'Thou <word=are>art</word> My Son: to-day I have become Thy Father.'
#BCV:Acts 13:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:34">34</verse></sup> And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, never again to be in the position of one soon to return to decay, He  speaks thus: 'I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.'
#BCV:Acts 13:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:35">35</verse></sup> Because in another Psalm also He says, 'Thou <word=will>wilt</word> not  give up Thy Holy One to undergo decay.'
#BCV:Acts 13:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:36">36</verse></sup> For David,  after having been useful to his own generation in accordance with God's purpose, did fall asleep, was gathered to his forefathers, and did undergo decay.
#BCV:Acts 13:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:37">37</verse></sup> But He whom God raised to life underwent no decay.
#BCV:Acts 13:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:38">38</verse></sup> "Understand therefore, brethren, that through this Jesus forgiveness of sins is announced to you;
#BCV:Acts 13:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:39">39</verse></sup> and in Him every believer is absolved from all offences, from which you could not be absolved under the Law of Moses.
#BCV:Acts 13:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:40">40</verse></sup> Beware, then, lest what is spoken in the Prophets should come true of you:
#BCV:Acts 13:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:41">41</verse></sup> Behold, you despisers, be astonished and perish, because I am carrying on a work in your time--a work which you will utterly refuse to believe, though it be fully declared to you.'"
#BCV:Acts 13:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:42">42</verse></sup> As  Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people earnestly begged to have all this repeated to them on the following Sabbath.
#BCV:Acts 13:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:43">43</verse></sup> And, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts from heathenism continued with Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to hold fast to the grace of God.
#BCV:Acts 13:44
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:44">44</verse></sup> On the next Sabbath almost the whole population of the city came together to hear the Lord's Message.
#BCV:Acts 13:45
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:45">45</verse></sup> Seeing the crowds, the Jews, filled with angry jealousy, opposed Paul's statements and abused him.
#BCV:Acts 13:46
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:46">46</verse></sup> Then, throwing off all reserve, Paul and Barnabas said, "We were bound to proclaim God's Message to you first. But since you spurn it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of the Life  of the Ages--well, we turn to the Gentiles.
#BCV:Acts 13:47
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:47">47</verse></sup> For such is the Lord's command to us. "'I have placed Thee,' He says of Christ, 'as a light to the Gentiles, in order that Thou mayest be a Saviour as far as the remotest parts of the earth.'"
#BCV:Acts 13:48
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:48">48</verse></sup> The Gentiles listened with delight and extolled the Lord's Message; and all who were pre-destined to the Life of the Ages believed.
#BCV:Acts 13:49
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:49">49</verse></sup> So the Lord's Message spread through the whole district.
#BCV:Acts 13:50
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:50">50</verse></sup> But the Jews influenced the gentlewomen of rank who worshipped with them, and also the leading men in the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the district.
#BCV:Acts 13:51
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:51">51</verse></sup> But they shook off the dust from their feet as a protest against them and came to Iconium;
#BCV:Acts 13:52
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 13:52">52</verse></sup> and as for the disciples, they were  more and more filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Acts 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 14:1">14</verse></font> At Iconium the Apostles went  together to the Jewish synagogue and preached, with the result that a great number both of Jews and Greeks believed.
#BCV:Acts 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:2">2</verse></sup> But the Jews who  had refused  obedience stirred up the Gentiles and embittered their minds against the brethren.
#BCV:Acts 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:3">3</verse></sup> Yet Paul and Barnabas remained there for a considerable time, speaking freely and relying on the Lord, while He bore witness to the Message of His grace by permitting signs and marvels to be done by them.
#BCV:Acts 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:4">4</verse></sup> At length the people of the city  split into parties, some siding with the Jews and some with the Apostles.
#BCV:Acts 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:5">5</verse></sup> And when a hostile movement was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the sanction of their magistrates, to maltreat and stone them,
#BCV:Acts 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:6">6</verse></sup> the Apostles, having become aware of it, made their escape into the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe, and the neighbouring country.
#BCV:Acts 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:7">7</verse></sup> And there they continued to tell the Good News.
#BCV:Acts 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:8">8</verse></sup> Now a man who had no power in his feet used to sit in the streets of Lystra. He had been lame from his birth and  had never walked.
#BCV:Acts 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:9">9</verse></sup> After this man had listened to one of Paul's sermons, the Apostle, looking steadily at him and perceiving that he had faith to be cured,
#BCV:Acts 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:10">10</verse></sup> said in a loud voice, "Stand upright upon your feet!"
#BCV:Acts 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:11">11</verse></sup> So he sprang up and began to walk about. Then the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, rent the air with their shouts in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have assumed human form and have come down to us."
#BCV:Acts 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:12">12</verse></sup> They called Barnabas 'Zeus,' and Paul, as being the principal speaker, 'Hermes.'
#BCV:Acts 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:13">13</verse></sup> And the priest of Zeus--the temple of Zeus being at the entrance to the city--brought bullocks and garlands to  the gates, and in company with the crowd was intending to offer sacrifices to them.
#BCV:Acts 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:14">14</verse></sup> But the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it; and tearing their clothes they rushed out into the middle of the crowd, exclaiming, "Sirs, why are you doing all this?
#BCV:Acts 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:15">15</verse></sup> We also are but men, with  natures kindred to your own; and we bring you the Good News that you are to turn from these unreal things, to worship the ever-living God, the Creator of earth and sky and sea and of everything that is in them.
#BCV:Acts 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:16">16</verse></sup> In times gone by He allowed all the nations to go their own ways;
#BCV:Acts 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:17">17</verse></sup> and yet by His beneficence He has not left His existence unattested--His beneficence, I mean, in sending you rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and joyfulness."
#BCV:Acts 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:18">18</verse></sup> Even with words like these they had difficulty in preventing the thronging crowd from offering sacrifices to them.
#BCV:Acts 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:19">19</verse></sup> But now a party of Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and, having won over the crowd, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, believing him to be dead.
#BCV:Acts 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:20">20</verse></sup> When, however, the disciples had collected round him, he rose and went back into the town. The next day he went with Barnabas to Derbe;
#BCV:Acts 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:21">21</verse></sup> and, after proclaiming the Good News to the people there and gaining a large number of converts, they retraced their steps to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
#BCV:Acts 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:22">22</verse></sup> Everywhere they strengthened the disciples by encouraging them to hold fast to the faith, and warned them saying, "It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God."
#BCV:Acts 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:23">23</verse></sup> And in every Church, after prayer and fasting, they  selected Elders  by show of hands, and commended them to the Lord on whom their faith rested.
#BCV:Acts 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:24">24</verse></sup> Then passing through Pisidia they came into Pamphylia;
#BCV:Acts 14:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:25">25</verse></sup> and after telling the Message at Perga they came down to Attaleia.
#BCV:Acts 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:26">26</verse></sup> Thence they sailed to Antioch, where they had previously been commended to the grace of God in connexion with the work which they had now completed.
#BCV:Acts 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:27">27</verse></sup> Upon their arrival they called the Church together and proceeded to report in detail all that God, working with them, had done, and how He had opened for the Gentiles the door of faith.
#BCV:Acts 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 14:28">28</verse></sup> And they remained a considerable time in Antioch with the disciples.
#BCV:Acts 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 15:1">15</verse></font> But certain persons who had come down from Judaea tried to convince the brethren, saying, "Unless you are circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic custom, you cannot be saved."
#BCV:Acts 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:2">2</verse></sup> Between these new comers and Paul and Barnabas there was no little disagreement and controversy, until at last it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some other brethren should go up to consult the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem on this matter.
#BCV:Acts 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:3">3</verse></sup> So they set out, being accompanied for a short distance by some other members of the Church; and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told the whole story of the conversion of the Gentiles and inspired all the brethren with great joy.
#BCV:Acts 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:4">4</verse></sup> Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they were cordially received by the Church, the Apostles, and  the Elders; and they reported in detail all that God, working with them, had done.
#BCV:Acts 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:5">5</verse></sup> But certain men who had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees but were now believers, stood up in the assembly, and said, "Yes, Gentile believers ought to be circumcised and be ordered to keep the Law of Moses."
#BCV:Acts 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:6">6</verse></sup> Then the Apostles and Elders met to consider the  matter;
#BCV:Acts 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:7">7</verse></sup> and after there had been a long discussion Peter rose to his feet. "It is within  your own knowledge," he said, "that God  originally made choice among you that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the Message of the Good News, and believe.
#BCV:Acts 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:8">8</verse></sup> And God, who knows all hearts, gave His testimony in their favour by bestowing the Holy Spirit on them just as He did on us;
#BCV:Acts 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:9">9</verse></sup> and He made no difference between us and them, in that He cleansed their hearts by their faith.
#BCV:Acts 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:10">10</verse></sup> Now, therefore, why try an experiment upon God,  by laying on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?
#BCV:Acts 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:11">11</verse></sup> On the contrary, we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we, as well as they, shall be saved."
#BCV:Acts 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:12">12</verse></sup> Then the whole assembly  remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.
#BCV:Acts 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:13">13</verse></sup> When they had finished speaking, James said, "Brethren, listen to me.
#BCV:Acts 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:14">14</verse></sup> Symeon has related how God first looked graciously on the Gentiles to take from among them a People to be called by His name.
#BCV:Acts 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:15">15</verse></sup> And this is in harmony with the language of the Prophets, which says:
#BCV:Acts 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:16">16</verse></sup> "'"Afterwards I will return, and will rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will set it  up again;
#BCV:Acts 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:17">17</verse></sup> In order that the rest of mankind may earnestly seek the Lord--even all the nations which are called by My name,"
#BCV:Acts 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:18">18</verse></sup> Says the Lord,  who has been making these things known  from ages long past.'
#BCV:Acts 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:19">19</verse></sup> "My judgement, therefore, is against inflicting  unexpected annoyance on those of the Gentiles who are turning  to God.
#BCV:Acts 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:20">20</verse></sup> Yet let us send them written instructions to abstain from  things polluted by connexion with idolatry, from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.
#BCV:Acts 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:21">21</verse></sup> For Moses from  the earliest times  has had his preachers in every town, being read, as he is, Sabbath after Sabbath, in the various synagogues."
#BCV:Acts 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:22">22</verse></sup> Thereupon it was decided by the Apostles and Elders, with the approval of the whole Church, to choose suitable persons from among themselves and send them to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas. Judas, called Bar-sabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, were selected,
#BCV:Acts 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:23">23</verse></sup> and they took with them the following letter: "The Apostles and the elder brethren send greeting to the Gentile brethren throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.
#BCV:Acts 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:24">24</verse></sup> As we have been informed that certain persons who have gone out from among us have disturbed you by their teaching and have unsettled your minds, without having received any such instructions from us;
#BCV:Acts 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:25">25</verse></sup> we have  unanimously decided to select certain men and send them to you in company with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,
#BCV:Acts 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:26">26</verse></sup> who have endangered their very lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Acts 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:27">27</verse></sup> We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who are themselves bringing you the same message by word of mouth.
#BCV:Acts 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:28">28</verse></sup> For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no burden heavier than these necessary requirements--
#BCV:Acts 15:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:29">29</verse></sup> You must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. Keep yourselves clear of these things, and it will be well with you. Farewell."
#BCV:Acts 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:30">30</verse></sup> They, therefore, having been solemnly sent, came down to Antioch, where they called together the whole assembly and delivered the letter.
#BCV:Acts 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:31">31</verse></sup> The people  read it, and were delighted with the comfort it brought them.
#BCV:Acts 15:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:32">32</verse></sup> And Judas and Silas, being themselves also  Prophets, gave  them a long and encouraging talk, and strengthened them in the faith.
#BCV:Acts 15:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:33">33</verse></sup> After spending some time there they received an affectionate farewell from the brethren to return to those who had sent them.
#BCV:Acts 15:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:34">34</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 15:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:35">35</verse></sup> But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and, in company with many others, telling the Good News of the Lord's Message.
#BCV:Acts 15:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:36">36</verse></sup> After a while Paul said to Barnabas, "Suppose we now revisit the brethren in the various towns in which we have made known the Lord's Message--to see whether they are prospering!"
#BCV:Acts 15:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:37">37</verse></sup> Barnabas, however, was bent on taking with them John, whose other name was Mark,
#BCV:Acts 15:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:38">38</verse></sup> while Paul deemed it undesirable to have as their companion one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.
#BCV:Acts 15:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:39">39</verse></sup> So there arose a serious disagreement between them, which resulted in their parting from one another, Barnabas taking Mark and setting sail for Cyprus.
#BCV:Acts 15:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:40">40</verse></sup> But Paul chose Silas as his travelling companion; and set out, after being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord;
#BCV:Acts 15:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 15:41">41</verse></sup> and he passed through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the Churches.
#BCV:Acts 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 16:1">16</verse></font> He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. At Lystra he found a disciple, Timothy by name--the son of  a Christian Jewess, though he had a Greek father.
#BCV:Acts 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:2">2</verse></sup> Timothy was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium,
#BCV:Acts 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:3">3</verse></sup> and Paul desiring that he should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
#BCV:Acts 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:4">4</verse></sup> As they journeyed on from town to town, they handed to the brethren for their observance the decisions which had been arrived at by the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:5">5</verse></sup> So the Churches went on gaining a stronger faith and growing in numbers from day to day.
#BCV:Acts 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:6">6</verse></sup> Then  Paul and his companions passed through  Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Message in the province of Asia.
#BCV:Acts 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:7">7</verse></sup> When they reached the frontier of Mysia, they were about to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit this.
#BCV:Acts 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:8">8</verse></sup> So,  passing along Mysia, they came to  Troas.
#BCV:Acts 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:9">9</verse></sup> Here, one night, Paul saw a vision. There was a Macedonian who was standing, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us."
#BCV:Acts 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:10">10</verse></sup> So when he had seen the vision, we immediately looked out for an opportunity of passing on into Macedonia, confidently inferring that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to the people there.
#BCV:Acts 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:11">11</verse></sup> Accordingly we put out to sea from Troas, and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we came to Neapolis,
#BCV:Acts 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:12">12</verse></sup> and thence to Philippi,  which is a city in Macedonia, the first in its district, a Roman colony. And there we stayed some little time.
#BCV:Acts 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:13">13</verse></sup> On the Sabbath we went beyond the city gate to the riverside, where we had reason to believe that there was a place for prayer; and sitting down we talked with the women who had come together.
#BCV:Acts 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:14">14</verse></sup> Among our hearers was one named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods. She belonged to the city of Thyateira, and was a worshipper  of the true God. The Lord opened her heart, so that she gave attention to what Paul was saying.
#BCV:Acts 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:15">15</verse></sup> When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If  in your judgement I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she made us go there.
#BCV:Acts 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:16">16</verse></sup> One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who  claimed to be inspired and was accustomed to bring her owners large profits by telling fortunes.
#BCV:Acts 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:17">17</verse></sup> She kept following close behind Paul and the rest of us, crying aloud, "These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, and are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."
#BCV:Acts 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:18">18</verse></sup> This she persisted in  for a considerable time, until Paul,  wearied out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out  immediately.
#BCV:Acts 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:19">19</verse></sup> But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them off to the  magistrates in the public square.
#BCV:Acts 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:20">20</verse></sup> Then they brought them before the praetors. "These men," they said, "are creating a great disturbance in our city.
#BCV:Acts 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:21">21</verse></sup> They are Jews, and are teaching customs which we, as Romans, are not permitted to adopt or practise."
#BCV:Acts 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:22">22</verse></sup> The crowd, too,  joined in the outcry against them, till at length the praetors  ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods;
#BCV:Acts 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:23">23</verse></sup> and, after severely flogging them, they threw them into jail and bade the jailer keep them safely.
#BCV:Acts 16:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:24">24</verse></sup> He, having received an order like that, lodged them in the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
#BCV:Acts 16:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:25">25</verse></sup> About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
#BCV:Acts 16:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:26">26</verse></sup> when suddenly there was such a violent shock of earthquake that the prison shook to its foundations. Instantly the doors all flew open, and the chains  fell off from every prisoner.
#BCV:Acts 16:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:27">27</verse></sup> Starting up from sleep and seeing the doors of the jail wide open, the jailer drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
#BCV:Acts 16:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:28">28</verse></sup> But Paul shouted loudly to him, saying, "Do yourself no injury: we are all here.
#BCV:Acts 16:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:29">29</verse></sup> Then, calling for lights, he sprang in and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas;
#BCV:Acts 16:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:30">30</verse></sup> and, bringing them out of the prison, he exclaimed, "O sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
#BCV:Acts 16:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:31">31</verse></sup> "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they replied, "and both you and your household will be saved."
#BCV:Acts 16:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:32">32</verse></sup> And they told  the Lord's Message to him as well as to all who were in his house.
#BCV:Acts 16:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:33">33</verse></sup> Then he took them, even at that time of night, washed their wounds, and he and all his household were immediately baptized;
#BCV:Acts 16:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:34">34</verse></sup> and bringing the Apostles up into his house, he spread a meal for them, and was filled with gladness,  with his whole household,  his faith resting on God.
#BCV:Acts 16:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:35">35</verse></sup> In the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Release those men."
#BCV:Acts 16:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:36">36</verse></sup> So the jailer brought Paul word, saying, "The praetors  have sent orders for you to be released. Now therefore you can go, and proceed on your way in peace."
#BCV:Acts 16:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:37">37</verse></sup> But Paul said to them, "After  cruelly beating us in public, without trial, Roman citizens though we are, they have thrown us into prison, and are they now going to send us away privately?  No, indeed! Let them come in person and fetch us out."
#BCV:Acts 16:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:38">38</verse></sup> This answer the lictors took back to the praetors, who were alarmed when they were told that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.
#BCV:Acts 16:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:39">39</verse></sup> Accordingly they came and  apologized to them; and, bringing them out, asked them to leave the city.
#BCV:Acts 16:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 16:40">40</verse></sup> Then Paul and Silas, having come out of the prison, went to Lydia's house; and, after seeing the brethren and encouraging them, they left Philippi.
#BCV:Acts 17:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 17:1">17</verse></font> Then, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went to Thessalonica. Here there was a synagogue of the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 17:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:2">2</verse></sup> Paul--following his usual custom--betook himself to it, and  for three successive Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
#BCV:Acts 17:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:3">3</verse></sup> which he clearly explained, pointing out that it had been necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and insisting, "The Jesus whom I am announcing to you is the Christ."
#BCV:Acts 17:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:4">4</verse></sup> Some of the people were won over, and  attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including many  God-fearing Greeks and not a few gentlewomen of high rank.
#BCV:Acts 17:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:5">5</verse></sup> But the jealousy of the Jews was aroused, and, calling to their aid some ill-conditioned and idle fellows, they got together a riotous mob and filled the city with uproar. They then attacked the house of Jason and searched for Paul and Silas, to bring them out before the assembly of people.
#BCV:Acts 17:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:6">6</verse></sup> But, failing to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other brethren before the  magistrates of the city, loudly accusing them. "These men," they said, "who have raised a tumult throughout the Empire, have come here also.
#BCV:Acts 17:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:7">7</verse></sup> Jason has received them into his house; and they all set Caesar's  authority at defiance, declaring that there is another  Emperor--  one called Jesus."
#BCV:Acts 17:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:8">8</verse></sup> Great was the excitement among the crowd, and among the magistrates of the city, when they heard these charges.
#BCV:Acts 17:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:9">9</verse></sup> They required Jason and the rest to find substantial bail, and after that they let them go.
#BCV:Acts 17:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:10">10</verse></sup> The brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea, and they, on their arrival, went to the synagogue of the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 17:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:11">11</verse></sup> The Jews at Beroea were of a nobler disposition than those in Thessalonica, for they very readily received the Message, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether  it was as Paul stated.
#BCV:Acts 17:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:12">12</verse></sup> As the result many of them became believers, and so did not a few of the Greeks--gentlewomen of good position, and men.
#BCV:Acts 17:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:13">13</verse></sup> As soon, however, as the  Jews of Thessalonica learnt that God's Message  had been proclaimed by Paul at Beroea, they came there also, and incited the mob to a riot.
#BCV:Acts 17:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:14">14</verse></sup> Then the brethren promptly sent Paul down to the sea-coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.
#BCV:Acts 17:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:15">15</verse></sup> Those who were caring for Paul's safety went with him as far as Athens, and then left him, taking a message from him to Silas and Timothy, asking them to join him as speedily as possible.
#BCV:Acts 17:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:16">16</verse></sup> While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit  was stirred within him when he noticed that the city was full of idols.
#BCV:Acts 17:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:17">17</verse></sup> So he  had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the other  worshippers, and in the market place, day after day, with those whom he happened to meet.
#BCV:Acts 17:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:18">18</verse></sup> A few of the Epicurean and Stoic  philosophers also  encountered him. Some of them asked, "What has this  beggarly babbler to say?" "His business," said others, "seems to be to cry up some foreign gods." This was because he had been telling the Good News of Jesus and the  Resurrection.
#BCV:Acts 17:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:19">19</verse></sup> Then they  took him and brought him up to  the Areopagus, asking him, "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is?
#BCV:Acts 17:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:20">20</verse></sup> For the things you are saying sound strange to us. We should therefore like to be told exactly what they mean."
#BCV:Acts 17:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:21">21</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 17:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:22">22</verse></sup> So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of the Areopagus, spoke as follows:  "Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably religious.
#BCV:Acts 17:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:23">23</verse></sup> For as I passed along and observed the things you worship, I found also an altar bearing the inscription,  'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.'  "The Being, therefore, whom you, without knowing Him, revere, Him I now proclaim to you.
#BCV:Acts 17:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:24">24</verse></sup> GOD who made the universe and everything in it--He, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries built by men.
#BCV:Acts 17:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:25">25</verse></sup> Nor is He ministered to by human hands, as though He needed anything--but He Himself gives to all men life and breath and all things.
#BCV:Acts 17:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:26">26</verse></sup> He caused to spring  from one forefather people of every race, for them to live on the whole surface of the earth, and marked out for them an appointed span of life and the boundaries of their homes;
#BCV:Acts 17:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:27">27</verse></sup> that they might seek God, if perhaps they could grope for Him and find Him. Yes, though He is not far from any one of us.
#BCV:Acts 17:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:28">28</verse></sup> For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being; as in fact some of the poets in repute among yourselves have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
#BCV:Acts 17:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:29">29</verse></sup> Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that His nature resembles gold or silver or marble, or anything sculptured by the art and inventive faculty of man.
#BCV:Acts 17:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:30">30</verse></sup> Those times of ignorance God viewed with indulgence. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent,
#BCV:Acts 17:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:31">31</verse></sup> seeing that He has appointed a day on which, before long, He will judge  the world in righteousness,  through the instrumentality of a man whom He has pre-destined to this work, and has made the fact certain to every one by raising Him from the dead."
#BCV:Acts 17:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:32">32</verse></sup> When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection of dead men, some began to scoff. But others said, "We will hear you again on that subject."
#BCV:Acts 17:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:33">33</verse></sup> So Paul went away from them.
#BCV:Acts 17:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 17:34">34</verse></sup> A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among them being Dionysius a member of the Council, a gentlewoman named Damaris, and some others.
#BCV:Acts 18:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 18:1">18</verse></font> After this he left Athens and came to Corinth.
#BCV:Acts 18:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:2">2</verse></sup> Here he found a Jew,  a native of Pontus, of the name of Aquila. He and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Italy because of Claudius's edict expelling all the Jews from Rome. So Paul paid them a visit;
#BCV:Acts 18:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:3">3</verse></sup> and because he was of the same trade--that of  tent-maker--he lodged with them  and worked with them.
#BCV:Acts 18:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:4">4</verse></sup> But, Sabbath after Sabbath, he preached in the synagogue and tried to win over both Jews and Greeks.
#BCV:Acts 18:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:5">5</verse></sup> Now at the time when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was preaching fervently and was solemnly telling the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
#BCV:Acts 18:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:6">6</verse></sup> But upon their opposing him with abusive language, he shook his clothes by way of protest, and said to them, "Your ruin will be upon your own heads. I am not responsible: in future I will go among the Gentiles."
#BCV:Acts 18:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:7">7</verse></sup> So he left the place and went to the house of a person called Titius Justus, a worshipper of the true God. His house was next door to the synagogue.
#BCV:Acts 18:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:8">8</verse></sup> And Crispus, the Warden of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household; and  from time to time many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and received baptism.
#BCV:Acts 18:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:9">9</verse></sup> And, in a vision by night, the Lord said to Paul, "Dismiss your fears: go on speaking, and do not give up.
#BCV:Acts 18:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:10">10</verse></sup> I am with you, and no one shall attack you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city."
#BCV:Acts 18:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:11">11</verse></sup> So Paul remained in Corinth for a year and six months, teaching among them the Message of God.
#BCV:Acts 18:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:12">12</verse></sup> But when Gallio became Proconsul of Greece, the Jews with one accord made a dead set at Paul, and brought him before the court.
#BCV:Acts 18:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:13">13</verse></sup> "This man," they said, "is inducing people to offer unlawful worship to God."
#BCV:Acts 18:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:14">14</verse></sup> But, when Paul was about to begin his defence, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been some wrongful act or piece of cunning knavery I might reasonably have listened to you Jews.
#BCV:Acts 18:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:15">15</verse></sup> But since these are questions about words and names and your Law, you yourselves must see to them. I refuse to be a judge in such matters."
#BCV:Acts 18:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:16">16</verse></sup> So he ordered them out of court.
#BCV:Acts 18:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:17">17</verse></sup> Then the people all set upon Sosthenes, the Warden of  the synagogue, and beat him  severely in front of the court. Gallio did not concern himself in the least about this.
#BCV:Acts 18:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:18">18</verse></sup> After remaining a considerable time longer in Corinth, Paul took leave of the brethren and set sail for Syria; and Priscilla and Aquila were with him.  He had shaved his head at Cenchreae, because he was bound by a vow.
#BCV:Acts 18:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:19">19</verse></sup> They put in at Ephesus, and there Paul left his companions behind. As for himself, he went to the synagogue and  had a discussion with the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 18:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:20">20</verse></sup> When they asked him to remain longer he did not consent,
#BCV:Acts 18:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:21">21</verse></sup> but took leave of them with the promise, "I will return to you, God willing." So he set sail from Ephesus.
#BCV:Acts 18:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:22">22</verse></sup> Landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and inquired after the welfare of the Church, and then went down to Antioch.
#BCV:Acts 18:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:23">23</verse></sup> After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out on a tour, visiting the whole of Galatia and Phrygia in order, and strengthening all the disciples.
#BCV:Acts 18:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:24">24</verse></sup> Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria,  a man of great learning and well versed in the Scriptures.
#BCV:Acts 18:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:25">25</verse></sup> He had been instructed by word of mouth in the way of the Lord, and, being full of burning zeal, he used to speak and teach accurately the facts about Jesus, though he knew of no baptism but John's.
#BCV:Acts 18:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:26">26</verse></sup> He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and Priscilla and Aquila, after hearing him, took him home and explained  God's way to him more accurately.
#BCV:Acts 18:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:27">27</verse></sup> Then, as he had made up his mind to cross over into Greece, the brethren wrote to the disciples in Corinth begging them to give him a kindly welcome. Upon his arrival he rendered valuable help to those who through grace had believed;
#BCV:Acts 18:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 18:28">28</verse></sup> for he powerfully and in public overcame the Jews in argument, proving to them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
#BCV:Acts 19:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 19:1">19</verse></font> During the stay of Apollos in Corinth, Paul, after passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus, where he found a few disciples.
#BCV:Acts 19:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:2">2</verse></sup> "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you  first believed?" he asked them. "No," they replied, "we did not even hear that there is a Holy Spirit."
#BCV:Acts 19:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:3">3</verse></sup> "Into what then were you baptized?" he asked.  "Into John's baptism," they replied.
#BCV:Acts 19:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:4">4</verse></sup> "John," he said, "administered a baptism  of repentance, bidding the people believe on One who was to come after him; namely, on Jesus."
#BCV:Acts 19:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:5">5</verse></sup> On hearing this, they were baptized  into the name of the Lord Jesus;
#BCV:Acts 19:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:6">6</verse></sup> and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in tongues and  to prophesy.
#BCV:Acts 19:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:7">7</verse></sup> They numbered in all about twelve men.
#BCV:Acts 19:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:8">8</verse></sup> Afterwards he went into the synagogue. There for three months he continued to preach fearlessly, explaining in words which carried conviction the truths which concern the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:Acts 19:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:9">9</verse></sup> But some grew obstinate in unbelief and spoke evil of  the new faith before all the congregation. So Paul left them, and,  taking with him those who were disciples, held discussions daily in Tyrannus's lecture-hall.
#BCV:Acts 19:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:10">10</verse></sup> This went on for two years, so that  all the inhabitants of the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the Lord's Message.
#BCV:Acts 19:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:11">11</verse></sup> God also brought about extraordinary miracles through Paul's instrumentality.
#BCV:Acts 19:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:12">12</verse></sup> Towels or aprons, for instance, which Paul had handled used to be carried to the sick, and they recovered from their ailments,  or the evil spirits left them.
#BCV:Acts 19:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:13">13</verse></sup> But there were also some wandering Jewish exorcists who undertook to invoke the name of Jesus over those who had the evil spirits, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches."
#BCV:Acts 19:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:14">14</verse></sup> There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew of high-priestly family, who were doing this.
#BCV:Acts 19:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:15">15</verse></sup> "Jesus I know," the evil spirit answered, "and Paul  I have heard of, but who are you?"
#BCV:Acts 19:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:16">16</verse></sup> And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang on two of them, over-mastered them both, and treated them with such violence, that they fled from the house stripped of their clothes and wounded.
#BCV:Acts 19:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:17">17</verse></sup> All the people of Ephesus, Jews as well as Greeks, came to know of this. There was widespread terror, and they  began to hold the name of the Lord Jesus in high honour.
#BCV:Acts 19:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:18">18</verse></sup> Many also of those who  believed  came confessing without reserve what their conduct had been,
#BCV:Acts 19:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:19">19</verse></sup> and not a few of those who had practised magical arts brought their books together and  burnt them in the presence of all. The total value was reckoned and found to be  50,000 silver coins.
#BCV:Acts 19:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:20">20</verse></sup> Thus mightily did the Lord's Message spread and triumph!
#BCV:Acts 19:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:21">21</verse></sup> When matters had reached this point, Paul decided in his own  mind to travel through Macedonia and Greece, and go to Jerusalem. "After that," he said, "I must also see Rome."
#BCV:Acts 19:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:22">22</verse></sup> But he sent two of  his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself remained for a while in Roman Asia.
#BCV:Acts 19:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:23">23</verse></sup> Now just at that time there arose no small commotion about  the new faith.
#BCV:Acts 19:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:24">24</verse></sup> There was a certain Demetrius, a silversmith, who made miniature silver sanctuaries of  Diana, a business which brought great gain to the mechanics in his employ.
#BCV:Acts 19:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:25">25</verse></sup> He called his workmen together, and others who were engaged in similar trades, and said to them, "You men well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours;
#BCV:Acts 19:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:26">26</verse></sup> and you see and hear that, not in Ephesus only but throughout almost the whole province of Asia, this fellow Paul has led away a vast number of people by inducing them to believe that they are not gods at all that are made by men's hands.
#BCV:Acts 19:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:27">27</verse></sup> There is danger,  therefore, not only that this our trade will become of no account, but also that the  temple of the great goddess Diana will fall into utter disrepute, and that before long she will be actually deposed from her majestic rank--she who is now worshipped by the whole province of Asia; nay, by the whole world."
#BCV:Acts 19:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:28">28</verse></sup> After listening to this harangue, they became furiously angry and kept calling out, "Great is the Ephesian Diana!"
#BCV:Acts 19:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:29">29</verse></sup> The riot and uproar spread through the whole city, till at last with one accord they rushed into  the Theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were fellow travellers with Paul.
#BCV:Acts 19:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:30">30</verse></sup> Then Paul would have liked to go in and address the people, but the disciples would not let him do so.
#BCV:Acts 19:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:31">31</verse></sup> A few of the  public officials, too, who were friendly to him, sent repeated messages entreating him not to venture into the Theatre.
#BCV:Acts 19:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:32">32</verse></sup> The people, meanwhile, kept shouting,  some one thing and some another; for the assembly was all uproar and confusion, and the greater part had no idea why they had come together.
#BCV:Acts 19:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:33">33</verse></sup> Then some of the people  crowded round Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward; and Alexander, motioning with his hand to get silence, was prepared to make a defence to the people.
#BCV:Acts 19:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:34">34</verse></sup> No sooner, however, did they see that he was a Jew, than there arose from them all one roar of shouting, lasting about two hours. "Great is the Ephesian Diana," they said.
#BCV:Acts 19:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:35">35</verse></sup> At length the  Recorder quieted them down. "Men of Ephesus," he said, "who is there of all mankind that needs to be told that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus?
#BCV:Acts 19:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:36">36</verse></sup> These facts, then, being unquestioned, it becomes you to maintain your self-control and not act recklessly.
#BCV:Acts 19:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:37">37</verse></sup> For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
#BCV:Acts 19:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:38">38</verse></sup> If, however, Demetrius and the mechanics who support his contention have a grievance against any one,  there are Assize-days and there are Proconsuls: let the persons interested accuse one another.
#BCV:Acts 19:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:39">39</verse></sup> But if you desire  anything further, it will have to be settled in the regular assembly.
#BCV:Acts 19:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:40">40</verse></sup> For in connexion with to-day's proceedings there is danger of our being charged with attempted insurrection, there having been no real reason for this riot; nor shall we be able to justify the behaviour of this disorderly mob."
#BCV:Acts 19:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 19:41">41</verse></sup> With these words he dismissed the assembly.
#BCV:Acts 20:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 20:1">20</verse></font> When the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples; and, after speaking words of encouragement to them, he took his leave, and started for Macedonia.
#BCV:Acts 20:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:2">2</verse></sup> Passing through those districts he encouraged the disciples in frequent addresses, and then came into  Greece, and spent three months there.
#BCV:Acts 20:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:3">3</verse></sup> The Jews having planned to waylay him whenever he might be on the point of taking ship for Syria, he decided to travel back by way of Macedonia.
#BCV:Acts 20:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:4">4</verse></sup> He was accompanied as far as the province of Asia by Sopater the Beroean, the son of Pyrrhus; by the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; by Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and by the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.
#BCV:Acts 20:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:5">5</verse></sup> These brethren had gone on and were waiting for us in the Troad.
#BCV:Acts 20:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:6">6</verse></sup> But we ourselves sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined them in the Troad, where we remained for a week.
#BCV:Acts 20:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:7">7</verse></sup> On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul, who was going away the next morning, was preaching to them, and prolonged his discourse till midnight.
#BCV:Acts 20:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:8">8</verse></sup> Now there were a good many lamps in the room upstairs where we all were,
#BCV:Acts 20:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:9">9</verse></sup> and a youth of the name of Eutychus was sitting at the window. This lad, gradually sinking into deep sleep while Paul preached at unusual length, overcome at last by sleep, fell from the second floor and was taken up dead.
#BCV:Acts 20:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:10">10</verse></sup> Paul, however, went down, threw himself upon him, and folding him in his arms said,  "Do not be alarmed; his life is still in him."
#BCV:Acts 20:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:11">11</verse></sup> Then he went  upstairs again, broke bread, and took some food; and after a long conversation which was continued till daybreak, at last he parted from them.
#BCV:Acts 20:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:12">12</verse></sup> They had taken the lad home alive, and were greatly comforted.
#BCV:Acts 20:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:13">13</verse></sup> The rest of us had already gone on board a ship, and now we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there; for so he had arranged, he himself intending to go by land.
#BCV:Acts 20:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:14">14</verse></sup> Accordingly, when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.
#BCV:Acts 20:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:15">15</verse></sup> Sailing from there, we arrived the next day  off Chios. On the next we touched at  Samos; and on the day following reached Miletus.
#BCV:Acts 20:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:16">16</verse></sup> For Paul's plan was to sail past Ephesus, so as not to spend much time in the province of Asia; since he was very desirous of being in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of the  Harvest Festival.
#BCV:Acts 20:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:17">17</verse></sup> From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the  Elders of the Church to come to him.
#BCV:Acts 20:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:18">18</verse></sup> Upon their arrival he said to them, "You Elders well know, from the first day of my setting foot in the province of Asia, the kind of life I lived among you the whole time,
#BCV:Acts 20:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:19">19</verse></sup> serving the Lord  in all humility, and  with  tears, and  amid trials which came upon me through the plotting of the Jews--
#BCV:Acts 20:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:20">20</verse></sup> and that I never shrank from declaring to you anything that was profitable, or from teaching you in public and in your homes,
#BCV:Acts 20:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:21">21</verse></sup> and urging upon both Jews and Greeks the necessity of turning to God and of believing in Jesus  our Lord.
#BCV:Acts 20:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:22">22</verse></sup> "And now,  impelled by a sense of duty, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
#BCV:Acts 20:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:23">23</verse></sup> except that the Holy Spirit, at town after town, testifies to me that imprisonment and suffering are awaiting me.
#BCV:Acts 20:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:24">24</verse></sup> But even  the sacrifice of my life I count as nothing, if only I may perfect my earthly course, and be faithful to the  duty which the Lord Jesus has entrusted to me of proclaiming, as of supreme importance, the Good News of God's grace.
#BCV:Acts 20:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:25">25</verse></sup> "And now, I know that none of you among whom I have gone in and out proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom will any longer see my face.
#BCV:Acts 20:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:26">26</verse></sup> Therefore I protest to you to-day that I am not responsible for the ruin of any one of you.
#BCV:Acts 20:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:27">27</verse></sup> For I have not shrunk from declaring to you God's whole  truth.
#BCV:Acts 20:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:28">28</verse></sup> "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has  placed you to take the oversight  for Him and act as shepherds to  the Church of God, which He has bought with His own blood.
#BCV:Acts 20:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:29">29</verse></sup> I know that, when I am gone, cruel wolves will come among you and will not spare the flock;
#BCV:Acts 20:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:30">30</verse></sup> and that from among your own selves men will rise up who will seek with their perverse talk to draw away the disciples after them.
#BCV:Acts 20:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:31">31</verse></sup> Therefore be on the alert; and remember that, night and day, for three years, I never ceased admonishing every one, even with tears.
#BCV:Acts 20:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:32">32</verse></sup> "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace. He is able to build you up and to give you your inheritance among His people.
#BCV:Acts 20:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:33">33</verse></sup> No one's silver or gold or clothing  have I coveted.
#BCV:Acts 20:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:34">34</verse></sup> You yourselves know that  these hands of mine have provided for my own necessities and for the people with me.
#BCV:Acts 20:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:35">35</verse></sup> In all things I have set you an example, showing you that, by working as I do, you ought to help the weak, and to bear in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, "'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
#BCV:Acts 20:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:36">36</verse></sup> Having spoken thus, Paul knelt down and prayed with them all;
#BCV:Acts 20:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:37">37</verse></sup> and with loud lamentation they all threw their arms round his neck, and kissed him  lovingly,
#BCV:Acts 20:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 20:38">38</verse></sup> grieved above all things at his having told them that  after that day they were no longer to see his face. And they went with him to the ship.
#BCV:Acts 21:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 21:1">21</verse></font> When, at last, we had torn ourselves away and had set sail, we ran in a straight course to Cos; the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
#BCV:Acts 21:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:2">2</verse></sup> Finding a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and put to sea.
#BCV:Acts 21:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:3">3</verse></sup> After sighting Cyprus and leaving that island on our left, we continued our voyage to Syria and put in at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.
#BCV:Acts 21:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:4">4</verse></sup> Having searched for the disciples and found them, we stayed at Tyre for seven days; and, taught by the Spirit, they repeatedly urged Paul not to proceed to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 21:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:5">5</verse></sup> When, however, our time was up, we left and went on our way, all the disciples and their wives and children coming to see us off. Then, after kneeling down on the beach and praying,
#BCV:Acts 21:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:6">6</verse></sup> we took leave of one another; and we went on board, while they returned home.
#BCV:Acts 21:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:7">7</verse></sup> As for us, our voyage was over when having sailed from Tyre we reached Ptolemais. here we inquired after the welfare of the brethren, and remained a day with them.
#BCV:Acts 21:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:8">8</verse></sup> On the morrow  we left Ptolemais and  went on to Caesarea, where we came to the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.
#BCV:Acts 21:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:9">9</verse></sup> Now Philip had four unmarried daughters who were prophetesses;
#BCV:Acts 21:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:10">10</verse></sup> and  during our somewhat lengthy stay a Prophet of the name of Agabus came down from Judaea.
#BCV:Acts 21:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:11">11</verse></sup> When he arrived he took Paul's  loincloth, and bound his own feet and arms with it, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So will the Jews in Jerusalem bind the owner of this loincloth, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"
#BCV:Acts 21:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:12">12</verse></sup> As soon as we heard these words, both we and the brethren at Caesarea entreated Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 21:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:13">13</verse></sup> His reply was, "What can you mean by thus breaking my heart with your grief? Why, as for me, I am ready not only to go to Jerusalem and be put in chains, but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."
#BCV:Acts 21:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:14">14</verse></sup> So when he was not to be dissuaded, we ceased remonstrating with him and said, "The Lord's will be done!"
#BCV:Acts 21:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:15">15</verse></sup> A few days afterwards we loaded our baggage-cattle and continued our journey to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 21:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:16">16</verse></sup> Some of the disciples from Caesarea also joined our party, and  brought with them Mnason, a Cyprian, one of the early disciples, at whose house we were to lodge.
#BCV:Acts 21:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:17">17</verse></sup> At length we reached Jerusalem, and there the brethren gave us a hearty welcome.
#BCV:Acts 21:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:18">18</verse></sup> On the following day we went with Paul to call on James, and all the Elders of the Church came also.
#BCV:Acts 21:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:19">19</verse></sup> After exchanging friendly greetings, Paul told in detail all that God had done among the Gentiles through his instrumentality.
#BCV:Acts 21:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:20">20</verse></sup> And they, when they had heard his statement, gave the glory to God. Then they said, "You see, brother,  how many tens of thousands of Jews there are among those who have accepted the faith, and they are all zealous upholders of the Law.
#BCV:Acts 21:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:21">21</verse></sup> Now what they have been repeatedly told about you is that you teach all the Jews among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, and that you forbid them to circumcise their children or observe old-established customs.
#BCV:Acts 21:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:22">22</verse></sup> What then ought you to do? They are sure to hear that you have come to Jerusalem;
#BCV:Acts 21:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:23">23</verse></sup> so do this which we now tell you. We have four men here who have a vow resting on them.
#BCV:Acts 21:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:24">24</verse></sup> Associate with these men and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they can shave their heads. Then everybody will know that there is no truth in these stories about you, but that in your own actions you yourself  scrupulously obey the Law.
#BCV:Acts 21:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:25">25</verse></sup> But as for the Gentiles who have accepted the faith, we have communicated to them our decision  that they are carefully to abstain from anything sacrificed to an idol, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication."
#BCV:Acts 21:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:26">26</verse></sup> So Paul associated with the men; and the next day,  having purified himself with them, he  went into the Temple, giving  every one to understand that the days of their purification were finished, and there he remained  until the sacrifice for each of them was offered.
#BCV:Acts 21:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:27">27</verse></sup> But, when the seven days were nearly over, the Jews from the province of Asia, having seen Paul in the Temple, set about rousing the fury of all the people against him.
#BCV:Acts 21:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:28">28</verse></sup> They laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who goes everywhere preaching to everybody against the Jewish people and the Law and this place. And besides, he has even brought Gentiles into the Temple and has desecrated this holy place."
#BCV:Acts 21:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:29">29</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 21:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:30">30</verse></sup> The excitement spread through the whole city, and the people rushed in crowds to the Temple, and there laid hold of Paul and began to drag him out; and the Temple gates were immediately closed.
#BCV:Acts 21:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:31">31</verse></sup> But while they were trying to kill Paul, word was taken up to the Tribune in command of the battalion, that all Jerusalem was in a ferment.
#BCV:Acts 21:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:32">32</verse></sup> He instantly sent for a few soldiers and their officers, and came down among the people with all speed. At the sight of the Tribune and the troops they ceased beating Paul.
#BCV:Acts 21:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:33">33</verse></sup> Then the Tribune, making his way to him, arrested him, and, having ordered him to be secured with two chains, proceeded to ask who he was and what he had been doing.
#BCV:Acts 21:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:34">34</verse></sup> Some of the crowd shouted one accusation against Paul and some another, until, as the uproar made it impossible for the truth to be ascertained with certainty, the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
#BCV:Acts 21:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:35">35</verse></sup> When Paul was going up the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;
#BCV:Acts 21:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:36">36</verse></sup> for the whole mass of the people pressed on in the rear, shouting, "Away with him!"
#BCV:Acts 21:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:37">37</verse></sup> When he was about to be taken into the barracks, Paul said to the Tribune, "May I speak to you?" "Do you know Greek?" the Tribune asked.
#BCV:Acts 21:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:38">38</verse></sup> "Are you not the Egyptian who some years ago excited the riot of the 4,000  cut-throats, and led them out into the Desert?"
#BCV:Acts 21:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:39">39</verse></sup> "I am a Jew," replied Paul, "belonging to Tarsus in Cilicia, and am a citizen of no unimportant city. Give me leave, I pray you, to speak to the people."
#BCV:Acts 21:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 21:40">40</verse></sup> So with his permission Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people to be quiet; and when there was perfect silence he addressed them in Hebrew.
#BCV:Acts 22:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 22:1">22</verse></font> "Brethren and fathers," he said, "listen to my defence which I now make before you."
#BCV:Acts 22:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:2">2</verse></sup> And on hearing him address them in Hebrew, they kept all the more quiet; and he said,
#BCV:Acts 22:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:3">3</verse></sup> "I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I was carefully trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the Law of our forefathers, and, like all of you to-day, was zealous for God.
#BCV:Acts 22:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:4">4</verse></sup> I persecuted to death this new faith, continually binding both men and women and throwing them into prison;
#BCV:Acts 22:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:5">5</verse></sup> as the High Priest also and all the Elders can bear me witness. It was, too, from them that I received letters to the brethren in Damascus, and I was already on my way to Damascus, intending to bring those also who had fled there, in chains to Jerusalem, to be punished.
#BCV:Acts 22:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:6">6</verse></sup> "But on my way, when I was now not far from Damascus, about noon a sudden blaze of light from Heaven shone round me.
#BCV:Acts 22:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:7">7</verse></sup> I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, "'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'
#BCV:Acts 22:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:8">8</verse></sup> "'Who <word=are>art</word> thou, Lord?' I asked. "'I am Jesus, the Nazarene,' He replied, 'whom you are persecuting.'
#BCV:Acts 22:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:9">9</verse></sup> "Now the men who were with me, though they saw the light, did not hear the  words of Him who spoke to me.
#BCV:Acts 22:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:10">10</verse></sup> And I asked, "'What am I to do, Lord?' "And the Lord said to me, "'Rise, and go into Damascus. There you shall be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'
#BCV:Acts 22:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:11">11</verse></sup> "And as I could not see because the light had been so dazzling, those who were with me had to lead me by the arm, and so I came to Damascus.
#BCV:Acts 22:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:12">12</verse></sup> "And a certain Ananias, a pious man who obeyed the Law and bore a good character with all the Jews of the city,
#BCV:Acts 22:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:13">13</verse></sup> came to me and standing at my side said, "'Brother Saul, recover your sight.' "I instantly  regained my sight and looked up at him.
#BCV:Acts 22:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:14">14</verse></sup> Then he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the righteous One and hear Him speak.
#BCV:Acts 22:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:15">15</verse></sup> For you shall be a witness for Him, to all men, of what  you have seen and heard.
#BCV:Acts 22:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:16">16</verse></sup> And now why delay? Rise, get yourself baptized, and wash off your sins, calling upon His name.'
#BCV:Acts 22:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:17">17</verse></sup> "After my return to Jerusalem, and while praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance.
#BCV:Acts 22:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:18">18</verse></sup> I saw Jesus, and He said to me, "'Make haste and leave Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.'
#BCV:Acts 22:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:19">19</verse></sup> "'Lord,' I replied, 'they themselves well know how active I was in imprisoning, and in flogging in synagogue after synagogue those who believe in Thee;
#BCV:Acts 22:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:20">20</verse></sup> and when they were shedding the blood of Stephen, Thy witness, I was standing by, fully approving of it, and I held the clothes of those who were killing him.'
#BCV:Acts 22:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:21">21</verse></sup> "'Go,' He replied; 'I will send you as an Apostle  to nations far away.'"
#BCV:Acts 22:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:22">22</verse></sup> Until they heard this last statement the people listened to Paul, but now with a roar of disapproval they cried out, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He ought not to be allowed to live."
#BCV:Acts 22:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:23">23</verse></sup> And when they continued their furious shouts, throwing their clothes into the air and flinging dust about,
#BCV:Acts 22:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:24">24</verse></sup> the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and be examined by flogging, in order to ascertain the reason why they thus cried out against him.
#BCV:Acts 22:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:25">25</verse></sup> But, when they had tied him up  with the straps, Paul said to the Captain who stood by, "Does the Law permit you to flog a Roman citizen--and one too who is uncondemned?"
#BCV:Acts 22:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:26">26</verse></sup> On hearing this question, the Captain went to report the matter to the Tribune.  "What are you intending to do?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."
#BCV:Acts 22:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:27">27</verse></sup> So the Tribune came to Paul and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.
#BCV:Acts 22:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:28">28</verse></sup> "I paid a large sum for my citizenship," said the Tribune. "But I was born free," said Paul.
#BCV:Acts 22:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:29">29</verse></sup> So the men who had been on the point of putting him  under torture immediately left him. And the Tribune, too, was frightened when he learnt that Paul was a Roman citizen, for he had had him bound.
#BCV:Acts 22:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 22:30">30</verse></sup> The next day, wishing to know exactly what charge was being brought against him by the Jews, the Tribune ordered his chains to be removed; and, having sent word to the High Priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble, he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
#BCV:Acts 23:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 23:1">23</verse></font> Then Paul, fixing a steady gaze on the Sanhedrin, said, "Brethren, it is with a perfectly clear conscience that I have discharged my duties before God up to this day."
#BCV:Acts 23:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:2">2</verse></sup> On hearing this the High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.
#BCV:Acts 23:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:3">3</verse></sup> "Before long," exclaimed Paul,  "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me in accordance with the Law, and do you yourself actually break the Law by ordering me to be struck?"
#BCV:Acts 23:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:4">4</verse></sup> "Do you rail at God's High Priest?" cried the men who stood by him.
#BCV:Acts 23:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:5">5</verse></sup> "I did not know, brethren," replied Paul, "that he was the High Priest; for it is written, 'Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of Thy people.'"
#BCV:Acts 23:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:6">6</verse></sup> Noticing, however, that the Sanhedrin consisted partly of Sadducees and partly of  Pharisees, he called out loudly among them, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. It is because of my hope of a resurrection of the dead that I am on my trial."
#BCV:Acts 23:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:7">7</verse></sup> These words of his caused an angry dispute between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly took different sides.
#BCV:Acts 23:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:8">8</verse></sup> For the Sadducees maintain that there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge the existence of both.
#BCV:Acts 23:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:9">9</verse></sup> So there arose a great uproar; and some of the Scribes belonging to the sect of the Pharisees sprang to their feet and fiercely contended, saying, "We find no harm in the man.  What if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel----!"
#BCV:Acts 23:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:10">10</verse></sup> But when the struggle was becoming violent, the Tribune, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by the people, ordered the troops to go down and take him from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
#BCV:Acts 23:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:11">11</verse></sup> The following night the Lord came and stood at Paul's side, and said, "Be of good courage, for as you have borne faithful witness about me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome."
#BCV:Acts 23:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:12">12</verse></sup> Now, when daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and solemnly swore not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul.
#BCV:Acts 23:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:13">13</verse></sup> There were more than forty of them who bound themselves by this oath.
#BCV:Acts 23:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:14">14</verse></sup> They went to the High Priests and Elders and said to them, "We have bound ourselves under a heavy curse  to take no food till we have killed Paul.
#BCV:Acts 23:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:15">15</verse></sup> Now therefore you and the Sanhedrin should make representations to the Tribune for him to bring him down to you, under the impression that you intend to inquire more minutely about him; and we are prepared to assassinate him before he comes near the place."
#BCV:Acts 23:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:16">16</verse></sup> But Paul's sister's son heard of the intended attack upon him. So he came and went into the barracks and told Paul about it;
#BCV:Acts 23:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:17">17</verse></sup> and Paul called one of the Captains and said, "Take this young man to the Tribune, for he has information to give him."
#BCV:Acts 23:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:18">18</verse></sup> So he took him and brought him to the Tribune, and said, "Paul, the prisoner, called me to him and begged me to bring this youth to you, because he has something to say to you."
#BCV:Acts 23:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:19">19</verse></sup> Then the Tribune, taking him by the  arm, withdrew  out of the hearing of others and asked him, "What have you to tell me?"
#BCV:Acts 23:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:20">20</verse></sup> "The Jews," he replied, "have agreed to request you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin to-morrow for the purpose of making yourself more accurately acquainted with the case.
#BCV:Acts 23:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:21">21</verse></sup> I beg you not to comply; for more than forty men among them are lying in wait for him, who have solemnly vowed that they will neither eat nor drink till they have assassinated him; and even now they are ready, in anticipation of receiving that promise of you."
#BCV:Acts 23:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:22">22</verse></sup> So the Tribune sent the youth home, cautioning him. "Do not let any one know that you have given me this information," he said.
#BCV:Acts 23:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:23">23</verse></sup> Then, calling to him two of the Captains, he gave his orders. "Get ready two hundred men," he said, "to march to Caesarea, with seventy cavalry and two hundred light infantry, starting at nine o'clock to-night."
#BCV:Acts 23:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:24">24</verse></sup> He further told them to provide  horses to mount Paul on, so as to bring him safely to Felix the Governor.
#BCV:Acts 23:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:25">25</verse></sup> He also wrote a letter of which these were the  contents:
#BCV:Acts 23:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:26">26</verse></sup> "Claudius Lysias to his Excellency, Felix the Governor: all good wishes.
#BCV:Acts 23:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:27">27</verse></sup> This man Paul had been seized by the Jews, and they were on the point of killing him, when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, for I had been informed that he was a Roman citizen.
#BCV:Acts 23:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:28">28</verse></sup> And, wishing to know with certainty the offense of which they were accusing him, I brought him down into their Sanhedrin,
#BCV:Acts 23:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:29">29</verse></sup> and I discovered that the charge had to do with questions of their Law, but that he was accused of nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment.
#BCV:Acts 23:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:30">30</verse></sup> But now that I have received information of an intended attack upon him, I immediately send him to you, directing his accusers also to state before you the case they have against him."
#BCV:Acts 23:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:31">31</verse></sup> So, in obedience to their orders, the soldiers took Paul and brought him by night as far as Antipatris.
#BCV:Acts 23:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:32">32</verse></sup> The next day the infantry returned to the barracks, leaving the cavalry to proceed with him;
#BCV:Acts 23:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:33">33</verse></sup> and, the cavalry having reached Caesarea and delivered the letter to the Governor, they brought Paul also to him.
#BCV:Acts 23:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:34">34</verse></sup> Felix, after reading the letter, inquired from what province he was; and being told "from Cilicia,"
#BCV:Acts 23:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 23:35">35</verse></sup> he said, "I will hear all you have to say, when your accusers also have come." And he ordered him to be detained in custody in Herod's Palace.
#BCV:Acts 24:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 24:1">24</verse></font> Five days after this, Ananias the High Priest came down to Caesarea with a number of Elders and a pleader called Tertullus. They stated to the Governor the case against Paul.
#BCV:Acts 24:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:2">2</verse></sup> So Paul was sent for, and Tertullus began to impeach him as follows: "Indebted as we are," he said, "to you, most noble Felix, for the perfect peace which we enjoy, and for reforms which your wisdom has introduced to this nation,
#BCV:Acts 24:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:3">3</verse></sup> in every instance and in every place we accept them with profound gratitude.
#BCV:Acts 24:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:4">4</verse></sup> But--not to detain you too long--I beg you in your forbearance to listen to a brief statement from us.
#BCV:Acts 24:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:5">5</verse></sup> For we have found this man Paul a source of mischief and a disturber of the peace among all the Jews throughout the Empire, and a ringleader in the heresy of the Nazarenes.
#BCV:Acts 24:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:6">6</verse></sup> He even attempted to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.
#BCV:Acts 24:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:7">7</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 24:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:8">8</verse></sup> You, however, by examining him, will yourself be able to learn the truth as to all this which we allege against him."
#BCV:Acts 24:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:9">9</verse></sup> The Jews also  joined in the charge, maintaining that these were facts.
#BCV:Acts 24:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:10">10</verse></sup> Then, at  a sign from the Governor, Paul answered, "Knowing,  Sir, that for many years you have administered justice to this nation, I cheerfully make my defence.
#BCV:Acts 24:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:11">11</verse></sup> For you have it in your power to ascertain that it is not more than twelve days ago that I went up to worship in Jerusalem;
#BCV:Acts 24:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:12">12</verse></sup> and that neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues, nor anywhere in the city, did they find me disputing with any opponent or collecting a crowd about me.
#BCV:Acts 24:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:13">13</verse></sup> Nor can they  prove the charges which they are now bringing against me.
#BCV:Acts 24:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:14">14</verse></sup> But this I confess to you--that in the way which they style a heresy, I worship the God of our forefathers, believing everything that is taught in the Law or is written in the Prophets,
#BCV:Acts 24:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:15">15</verse></sup> and having a hope directed towards God, which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous.
#BCV:Acts 24:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:16">16</verse></sup> This too is my own earnest endeavour--always to have a clear conscience in relation to God and man.
#BCV:Acts 24:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:17">17</verse></sup> "Now after an interval of several years I came to bring alms to my nation, and to offer sacrifices.
#BCV:Acts 24:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:18">18</verse></sup> While I was busy about these, they found me in the Temple purified, with no crowd around me and no uproar; but there were certain Jews from the province of Asia.
#BCV:Acts 24:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:19">19</verse></sup> They ought to have been here before you, and to have been my prosecutors, if they have any charge to bring against me.
#BCV:Acts 24:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:20">20</verse></sup> Or let these men themselves say what misdemeanour they found me guilty of when I stood before the Sanhedrin,
#BCV:Acts 24:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:21">21</verse></sup> unless it was in that one expression which I made use of when I shouted out as I stood among them, "'The resurrection of the dead is the thing about which I am on my trial before you to-day.'"
#BCV:Acts 24:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:22">22</verse></sup> At this point Felix, who was fairly well informed about the new faith, adjourned the trial, saying to the Jews, "When the Tribune Lysias comes down, I will enter carefully into the matter."
#BCV:Acts 24:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:23">23</verse></sup> And he gave orders to the Captain that Paul was to be kept in custody, but be treated with indulgence, and that his personal friends were not to be prevented from showing him kindness.
#BCV:Acts 24:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:24">24</verse></sup> Not long after this, Felix came with Drusilla his wife, a Jewess, and sending for Paul, listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Acts 24:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:25">25</verse></sup> But when he dealt with the subjects of justice,  self-control, and the judgement which was soon to come, Felix became alarmed and said, "For the present leave me, and when I can find a convenient opportunity I will send for you."
#BCV:Acts 24:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:26">26</verse></sup> At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money; and for this reason he sent for him the oftener to converse with him.
#BCV:Acts 24:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 24:27">27</verse></sup> But after the lapse of fully two years Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and being desirous of gratifying the Jews, Felix left Paul still  in prison.
#BCV:Acts 25:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 25:1">25</verse></font> Festus, having entered on his duties as governor of the province, two days later went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
#BCV:Acts 25:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:2">2</verse></sup> The High Priests and the leading men among the Jews immediately made representations to him against Paul, and begged him--
#BCV:Acts 25:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:3">3</verse></sup> asking it as a favour, to Paul's prejudice--to have him brought to Jerusalem. They were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.
#BCV:Acts 25:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:4">4</verse></sup> Festus, however, replied that Paul was in custody  in Caesarea, and that he was himself going there very soon.
#BCV:Acts 25:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:5">5</verse></sup> "Therefore let those of you," he said, "who can come, go down with me, and impeach the man, if there is anything amiss in him."
#BCV:Acts 25:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:6">6</verse></sup> After a stay of eight or ten days in Jerusalem--not more--he went down to Caesarea; and the next day, taking his seat on the tribunal, he ordered Paul to be brought in.
#BCV:Acts 25:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:7">7</verse></sup> Upon Paul's arrival, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood round him, and brought many grave charges against him which they were unable to substantiate.
#BCV:Acts 25:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:8">8</verse></sup> But, in reply, Paul said, "Neither against the Jewish Law, nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any offence whatever."
#BCV:Acts 25:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:9">9</verse></sup> Then Festus, being anxious to gratify the Jews, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and there  stand your trial before me on these charges?"
#BCV:Acts 25:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:10">10</verse></sup> "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal," replied Paul, "where alone I ought to be tried. The Jews have no real ground of complaint against me, as in fact you yourself are beginning to see more clearly.
#BCV:Acts 25:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:11">11</verse></sup> If, however, I have done wrong and have committed any offence for which I deserve to die, I do not ask to be excused that penalty. But if there is no truth in what these men allege against me, no one has the right to give me up to them as a favour. I appeal to Caesar."
#BCV:Acts 25:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:12">12</verse></sup> Then, after conferring with the Council, Festus replied, "To Caesar you have appealed: to Caesar you shall go."
#BCV:Acts 25:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:13">13</verse></sup> A short time after this, Agrippa the king and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay a complimentary visit to Festus;
#BCV:Acts 25:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:14">14</verse></sup> and, during their rather long stay, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. "There is a man here," he said, "whom Felix left a prisoner,
#BCV:Acts 25:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:15">15</verse></sup> about whom, when I went to Jerusalem, the High Priests and the Elders of the Jews made representations to me, begging that sentence might be pronounced against him.
#BCV:Acts 25:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:16">16</verse></sup> My reply was that it is not the custom among the Romans to give up any one for punishment before the accused has had his accusers face to face, and has had an opportunity of defending himself against the charge which has been brought against him.
#BCV:Acts 25:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:17">17</verse></sup> "When, therefore, a number of them came here, the next day I took my seat on the tribunal, without any loss of time, and ordered the man to be brought in.
#BCV:Acts 25:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:18">18</verse></sup> But, when his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with the misdemeanours of which I had been suspecting him.
#BCV:Acts 25:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:19">19</verse></sup> But they quarrelled with him about certain matters connected with their own religion, and about one Jesus who had died, but--so Paul persistently maintained--is now alive.
#BCV:Acts 25:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:20">20</verse></sup> I was at a loss how to investigate such questions, and asked Paul whether he would care to go to Jerusalem and there stand his trial on these matters.
#BCV:Acts 25:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:21">21</verse></sup> But when Paul appealed to have his case kept for the Emperor's decision, I ordered him to be kept in prison until I could send him up to Caesar."
#BCV:Acts 25:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:22">22</verse></sup> "I should like to hear the man myself," said Agrippa. "to-morrow," replied Festus, "you shall." Accordingly, the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came in state
#BCV:Acts 25:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:23">23</verse></sup> and took their seats in the Judgement Hall, attended by the Tribunes and the men of high rank in the city; and, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.
#BCV:Acts 25:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:24">24</verse></sup> Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see here the man about whom the whole nation of the Jews made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.
#BCV:Acts 25:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:25">25</verse></sup> I could not discover that he had done anything for which he deserved to die; but as he has himself appealed to the Emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.
#BCV:Acts 25:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:26">26</verse></sup> I have nothing very definite, however, to tell our Sovereign about him. So I have brought the man before you all--and especially before you, King Agrippa--that after he has been examined I may find something which I can put into writing.
#BCV:Acts 25:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 25:27">27</verse></sup> For, when sending a prisoner to Rome, it seems to me to be absurd not to state the charges against him."
#BCV:Acts 26:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 26:1">26</verse></font> Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak about yourself." So Paul, with outstretched arm, proceeded to make his defence.
#BCV:Acts 26:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:2">2</verse></sup> "As regards all the accusations brought against me by the Jews," he said,  "I think myself fortunate, King Agrippa, in being about to defend myself to-day before  you,
#BCV:Acts 26:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:3">3</verse></sup> who are so familiar with all the customs and speculations that prevail among the Jews; and for this reason, I pray you, give me a patient hearing.
#BCV:Acts 26:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:4">4</verse></sup> "The kind of life I have lived from my youth upwards, as exemplified in my early days among my nation and in Jerusalem, is known to all the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 26:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:5">5</verse></sup> For they all know me of old--if they would but testify to the fact--how, being an adherent of the strictest sect of our religion, my life was that of a Pharisee.
#BCV:Acts 26:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:6">6</verse></sup> And now I stand here impeached  because of my hope in the fulfilment of the promise made by God to our forefathers--
#BCV:Acts 26:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:7">7</verse></sup> the promise which our twelve tribes, worshipping day and night with intense devotedness, hope to have made good to them. It is on the subject of this hope,  Sir, that I am accused by the Jews.
#BCV:Acts 26:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:8">8</verse></sup> Why is it deemed with all of you a thing past belief if God raises the dead to life?
#BCV:Acts 26:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:9">9</verse></sup> "I myself, however, thought it a duty to do many things in hostility to the name of Jesus, the Nazarene.
#BCV:Acts 26:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:10">10</verse></sup> And that was how I acted in Jerusalem. Armed with authority received from the High Priests I shut up many of  God's people in various prisons, and when they were about to be put to death I gave my vote against them.
#BCV:Acts 26:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:11">11</verse></sup> In all the synagogues also I punished them many a time, and tried to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury I chased them even to foreign towns.
#BCV:Acts 26:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:12">12</verse></sup> "While thus engaged, I was travelling one day to Damascus armed with authority and a commission from the High Priests,
#BCV:Acts 26:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:13">13</verse></sup> and on the journey, at noon, Sir, I saw a light from Heaven--brighter than the brightness of the sun--shining around me and around those who were travelling with me.
#BCV:Acts 26:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:14">14</verse></sup> We all fell to the ground; and I heard a voice which said to me in Hebrew, "'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad.'
#BCV:Acts 26:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:15">15</verse></sup> "'Who <word=are>art</word> Thou, Lord?' I asked. "'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied.
#BCV:Acts 26:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:16">16</verse></sup> But rise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you My servant and My witness both as to the things you have already seen and as to those in which I will appear to you.
#BCV:Acts 26:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:17">17</verse></sup> I will save you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles,  to whom I send you to open their eyes,
#BCV:Acts 26:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:18">18</verse></sup> 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.'
#BCV:Acts 26:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:19">19</verse></sup> "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;
#BCV:Acts 26:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:20">20</verse></sup> but I proceeded to preach first to the people in Damascus, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and to the Gentiles, that they must repent and turn to God, and live lives consistent with such repentance.
#BCV:Acts 26:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:21">21</verse></sup> "It was on this account that the Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me.
#BCV:Acts 26:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:22">22</verse></sup> Having, however, obtained the help which is from God, I have stood firm until now, and have solemnly exhorted rich and poor alike, saying nothing except what the Prophets and Moses predicted as soon to happen,
#BCV:Acts 26:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:23">23</verse></sup> since the Christ was to be a suffering Christ, and by coming back from the dead was then to be the first to proclaim a message of light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."
#BCV:Acts 26:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:24">24</verse></sup> As Paul thus made his defence, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, "You are raving mad, Paul; and great learning is driving you mad."
#BCV:Acts 26:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:25">25</verse></sup> "I am not mad, most noble Festus," replied Paul; "I am speaking words of sober truth.
#BCV:Acts 26:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:26">26</verse></sup> For the King, to whom I speak freely, knows about these matters. I am not to be persuaded that any detail of them  has escaped his notice; for these things have not been done in a corner.
#BCV:Acts 26:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:27">27</verse></sup> King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you believe them."
#BCV:Acts 26:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:28">28</verse></sup> Agrippa answered,  "In brief, you are doing your best to persuade me to become a Christian."
#BCV:Acts 26:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:29">29</verse></sup> "My prayer to God, whether  briefly or at length," replied Paul, "would be that not only you but all who are my hearers to-day, might become such as I am--except these chains."
#BCV:Acts 26:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:30">30</verse></sup> So the King rose, and the Governor, and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them;
#BCV:Acts 26:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:31">31</verse></sup> and, having withdrawn, they talked to one another and said, "This man is doing nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment."
#BCV:Acts 26:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 26:32">32</verse></sup> And Agrippa said to Festus, "He might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar."
#BCV:Acts 27:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 27:1">27</verse></font> Now when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed over Paul and a few other prisoners into the custody of Julius, a Captain of the Augustan battalion;
#BCV:Acts 27:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:2">2</verse></sup> and going on board a ship of Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports of the province of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, the Macedonian, from Thessalonica, forming one of our party.
#BCV:Acts 27:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:3">3</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Acts 27:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:4">4</verse></sup> Putting to sea again, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were  against us;
#BCV:Acts 27:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:5">5</verse></sup> and, sailing the whole length of the sea that lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached  Myra in Lycia.
#BCV:Acts 27:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:6">6</verse></sup> There Julius found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, and put us on board of her.
#BCV:Acts 27:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:7">7</verse></sup> It took several days of slow sailing for us to come with difficulty off Cnidus; from which point, as the wind did not allow us to get on in the direct course, we ran under the lee of Crete  by Salmone.
#BCV:Acts 27:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:8">8</verse></sup> Then, coasting along with difficulty, we reached a place called 'Fair Havens,' near the town of Lasea.
#BCV:Acts 27:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:9">9</verse></sup> Our voyage thus far had occupied a considerable time, and the navigation being now unsafe and  the Fast also already over, Paul warned them.
#BCV:Acts 27:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:10">10</verse></sup> "Sirs," he said, "I perceive that before long the voyage will be attended with danger and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship but to our own lives also."
#BCV:Acts 27:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:11">11</verse></sup> But Julius let himself be persuaded by the pilot and by the owner rather than by Paul's arguments;
#BCV:Acts 27:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:12">12</verse></sup> and as the harbour was inconvenient for wintering in, the majority were in favour of putting out to sea, to try whether they could get to Phoenix--a harbour on the coast of Crete  facing north-east and south-east--to winter there.
#BCV:Acts 27:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:13">13</verse></sup> And a light breeze from the south sprang up, so that they supposed they  were now sure of their purpose. So weighing anchor they ran along the coast of Crete, hugging the shore.
#BCV:Acts 27:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:14">14</verse></sup> But it was not long before  a furious north-east wind, coming  down from the mountains,  burst upon us and carried the ship out of her course.
#BCV:Acts 27:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:15">15</verse></sup> She was unable to make headway against the gale; so we gave up and let her drive.
#BCV:Acts 27:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:16">16</verse></sup> Then we ran under the lee of a little island called  Cauda, where we managed with great difficulty to secure the boat;
#BCV:Acts 27:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:17">17</verse></sup> and, after hoisting it on board, they used frapping-cables  to undergird the ship, and, as they were afraid of being driven on the Syrtis quicksands, they lowered the gear and  lay to.
#BCV:Acts 27:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:18">18</verse></sup> But, as the storm was still violent, the next day they began to lighten the ship;
#BCV:Acts 27:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:19">19</verse></sup> and, on the third day, with their own hands they threw the ship's spare gear overboard.
#BCV:Acts 27:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:20">20</verse></sup> Then, when for several days neither sun nor stars were seen and the terrific gale still harassed us, the last ray of hope was now vanishing.
#BCV:Acts 27:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:21">21</verse></sup> When for a long time they had taken but little food, Paul, standing up among them, said, "Sirs, you ought to have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would then have escaped this suffering and loss.
#BCV:Acts 27:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:22">22</verse></sup> But now take courage, for there will be no destruction of life among you, but of the ship only.
#BCV:Acts 27:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:23">23</verse></sup> For there stood by my side, last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom also I worship,
#BCV:Acts 27:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:24">24</verse></sup> and he said, "'Dismiss all fear, Paul, for you must stand before Caesar; and God has granted you the lives of all who are sailing with you.'
#BCV:Acts 27:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:25">25</verse></sup> "Therefore, Sirs, take courage; for I believe God, and am convinced that things will happen exactly as I have been told.
#BCV:Acts 27:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:26">26</verse></sup> But we are to be stranded on a certain island."
#BCV:Acts 27:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:27">27</verse></sup> It was now the fourteenth night, and we were  drifting through  the Sea of Adria, when, about midnight, the sailors suspected that land was close at hand.
#BCV:Acts 27:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:28">28</verse></sup> So they hove the lead and found twenty fathoms of water; and after a short time they hove again and found fifteen fathoms.
#BCV:Acts 27:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:29">29</verse></sup> Then for fear of possibly running on rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern and  waited impatiently for daylight.
#BCV:Acts 27:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:30">30</verse></sup> The sailors, however, wanted to make their escape from the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow.
#BCV:Acts 27:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:31">31</verse></sup> But Paul, addressing Julius and the soldiers, said, "Your lives will be sacrificed, unless these men remain on board."
#BCV:Acts 27:32
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:32">32</verse></sup> Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship's boat and let her fall off.
#BCV:Acts 27:33
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:33">33</verse></sup> And continually, up till daybreak, Paul kept urging all on board to take some food. "This is the fourteenth day," he said, "that you have been anxiously waiting for the storm to cease, and have fasted, eating little or nothing.
#BCV:Acts 27:34
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:34">34</verse></sup> I therefore strongly advise you to take some food. This is essential for your safety. For not a hair will perish from the head of any one of you."
#BCV:Acts 27:35
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:35">35</verse></sup> Having said this he took some bread, and, after giving thanks to God for it before them all, he broke it in pieces and began to eat it.
#BCV:Acts 27:36
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:36">36</verse></sup> This raised the spirits of all, and they too took food.
#BCV:Acts 27:37
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:37">37</verse></sup> There were  276 of us, crew and passengers, all told.
#BCV:Acts 27:38
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:38">38</verse></sup> After eating a hearty meal they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat overboard.
#BCV:Acts 27:39
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:39">39</verse></sup> When daylight came, they tried in vain to recognise the coast. But an inlet with a sandy beach attracted their attention, and now  their object was, if possible, to run the ship aground  in this inlet.
#BCV:Acts 27:40
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:40">40</verse></sup> So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea, unloosing at the same time the bands which secured the  paddle-rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.
#BCV:Acts 27:41
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:41">41</verse></sup> But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea.
#BCV:Acts 27:42
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:42">42</verse></sup> Now the soldiers recommended that the prisoners should be killed, for fear some one of them might swim ashore and effect his escape.
#BCV:Acts 27:43
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:43">43</verse></sup> But their Captain, bent on securing Paul's safety, kept them from their purpose and gave orders that those who could swim should first jump overboard and get to land;
#BCV:Acts 27:44
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 27:44">44</verse></sup> and that the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. In this way they all  got safely to land.
#BCV:Acts 28:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Acts 28:1">28</verse></font> Our lives having been thus preserved, we discovered that the island was called  Malta.
#BCV:Acts 28:2
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:2">2</verse></sup> The strange-speaking natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they lighted a fire and made us all welcome because of the pelting rain and the cold.
#BCV:Acts 28:3
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:3">3</verse></sup> Now, when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and had thrown them on the fire, a viper, driven by the heat, came out and fastened itself on his hand.
#BCV:Acts 28:4
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:4">4</verse></sup> When the natives saw the creature hanging to his hand, they said to one another, "Beyond doubt this man is a murderer, for, though saved from the sea, unerring Justice does not permit him to live."
#BCV:Acts 28:5
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:5">5</verse></sup> He, however, shook the reptile off into the fire and was unhurt.
#BCV:Acts 28:6
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:6">6</verse></sup> They expected him soon to swell with inflammation or suddenly fall down dead; but, after waiting a long time and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
#BCV:Acts 28:7
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:7">7</verse></sup> Now in the same part of the island there were estates belonging to the Governor, whose name was Publius. He welcomed us to his house, and for three days generously made us his guests.
#BCV:Acts 28:8
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:8">8</verse></sup> It happened, however, that his father was lying ill of dysentery aggravated by attacks of fever; so Paul went to see him, and, after praying, laid his hands on him and cured him.
#BCV:Acts 28:9
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:9">9</verse></sup> After this, all the other sick people in the island came and were cured.
#BCV:Acts 28:10
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:10">10</verse></sup> They also loaded us with honours, and when at last we sailed they put supplies on board for us.
#BCV:Acts 28:11
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:11">11</verse></sup> Three months passed before we set sail in an Alexandrian vessel,  called the 'Twin Brothers,' which had wintered at the island.
#BCV:Acts 28:12
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:12">12</verse></sup> At Syracuse we put in and stayed for  two days.
#BCV:Acts 28:13
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:13">13</verse></sup> From there we  came round and reached Rhegium; and a day later, a south wind sprang up which brought us by the evening of the next day to Puteoli.
#BCV:Acts 28:14
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:14">14</verse></sup> Here we found brethren, who invited us to remain with them for a week; and so we reached Rome.
#BCV:Acts 28:15
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:15">15</verse></sup> Meanwhile the brethren there, hearing of our movements, came as far as  the Market of Appius and the Three Huts to meet us; and when Paul saw them he thanked God and felt encouraged.
#BCV:Acts 28:16
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:16">16</verse></sup> Upon our arrival  in Rome, Paul received permission to live  by himself, guarded by a soldier.
#BCV:Acts 28:17
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:17">17</verse></sup> After  one complete day he invited the leading men among the Jews to meet him; and, when they were come together, he said to them, "As for me, brethren, although I had done nothing prejudicial to our people or contrary to the customs of our forefathers, I was handed over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the power of the Romans.
#BCV:Acts 28:18
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:18">18</verse></sup> They, after they had sharply questioned me, were willing to set me at liberty, because they found no offence in me for which I deserve to die.
#BCV:Acts 28:19
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:19">19</verse></sup> But,  at last, the opposition of the Jews compelled me to appeal to Caesar; not however that I had any charge to bring against my nation.
#BCV:Acts 28:20
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:20">20</verse></sup> For these reasons, then, I have invited you here, that I might see you and speak to you; for it is for the sake of  Him who is the hope of Israel that this chain hangs  upon me."
#BCV:Acts 28:21
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:21">21</verse></sup> "For our part," they replied, "we have not received any letters from Judaea about you, nor have any of our countrymen come here and reported or stated anything to your disadvantage.
#BCV:Acts 28:22
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:22">22</verse></sup> But we should be glad to hear from you what it is that you believe; for as for this sect all we know is that it is everywhere spoken against."
#BCV:Acts 28:23
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:23">23</verse></sup> So they arranged a day with him and came to him in  considerable numbers  at the house of the friends who were entertaining him. And then, with solemn earnestness, he explained to them the subject of the Kingdom of God, endeavouring from morning till evening to convince them about Jesus, both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.
#BCV:Acts 28:24
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:24">24</verse></sup> Some were convinced; others refused to believe.
#BCV:Acts 28:25
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:25">25</verse></sup> Unable to agree among themselves, they at last left him, but not before Paul had spoken a parting word to them, saying, "Right well did the Holy Spirit say to your forefathers through the Prophet Isaiah:
#BCV:Acts 28:26
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:26">26</verse></sup> "'Go to this people and tell them, you will hear and hear, and by no means understand; and will look and look, and by no means see.
#BCV:Acts 28:27
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:27">27</verse></sup> For this people's mind has grown callous, their hearing has become dull, and their eyes they have closed; to prevent their ever seeing with their eyes, or hearing with their ears, or understanding with their minds, and turning back, so that I might cure them.'
#BCV:Acts 28:28
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:28">28</verse></sup> "Be fully assured, therefore, that this salvation--God's salvation--has now been sent to the Gentiles, and that they, at any rate, will give heed."
#BCV:Acts 28:29
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:29">29</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Acts 28:30
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:30">30</verse></sup> After this Paul lived for fully two years in a hired house of his own, receiving all who came to see him.
#BCV:Acts 28:31
<sup><verse bcv="Acts 28:31">31</verse></sup> He announced the coming of the Kingdom of God, and taught concerning the Lord Jesus Christ without let or hindrance.

#OUTLINE:1,Romans
#TOPIC:ROMANS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMANS</h1>
The four booVs of the New Testament known as the Letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, are allowed by all critics, including even the most "destructive," to be genuine
productions of the apostle Paul. Opinions vary as to the order
of their composition. The latest findings of research tend to put 'Galatians' first, and 'Romans' last, in the period between
53 A.D. and 58 A.D The date generally assigned to the Roman Letter is 58 A.D., but recently Harnack, McGififert, Clemen and
others have shown cause for putting it some four years earlier. The chronology of the period is necessarily very complicated.
It must suffice, therefore, to regard this Letter as having been
written, at either of these dates, from Corinth where Paul was
staying in the course of his third missionary tour. He was
hoping to come to Rome, by way of Jerusalem, and then go on
to Spain (xv. 24 ; <bcv=Acts 19:21>Acts xix. 21).</bcv> The object of ihis Letter was
to prepare the Christians at Rome for his visit, and make a
clear statement of the new doctrines which he taught. It is probable that the crisis in Galatia to which the Letter sent
thither bears witness, had driven the apostle's thoughts in the
direction of the subject of Justification, and he was apparently
much troubled by the persistence of Jewish unbelief. Hence
the present letter has been well termed "the Gospel according
to St. Paul." We know really nothing about the Christians then at Rome beyond what we find here. It is, however, fairly certain that reports concerning the Saviour would be taken to that city by proselytes, both before and after the events described
in <bc=Acts 2>Acts ii.,</bc> and we know that there was a large Jewish population there amongst whom the seed would be sown. Somemodern critics have thought "that a note addressed to Ephesus
lies embedded in the 16th chapter," because, they say, it is
"inconceivable that Paul could have intimately known so many individuals in a church like that at Rome to which he was
personally a stranger." But this is by no means demonstrated, nor is any proof whatever forthcoming that the church there was
founded by any other apostle.

#BCV:Romans 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMANS</h1>
#BCV:Romans 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ,  called to be an Apostle, set apart to proclaim God's Good News,
#BCV:Romans 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:2">2</verse></sup> which God had already promised through His Prophets in Holy Writ, concerning His Son,
#BCV:Romans 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:3">3</verse></sup> who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,
#BCV:Romans 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:4">4</verse></sup> but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God--I mean concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
#BCV:Romans 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:5">5</verse></sup> through whom we have received  grace and Apostleship in His service in order  to win men to obedience to the faith, among all Gentile peoples,
#BCV:Romans 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:6">6</verse></sup> among whom you also,  called, as you have been, to belong to Jesus Christ, are numbered:
#BCV:Romans 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:7">7</verse></sup> To all  God's loved ones who are in Rome, called  to be saints. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Romans 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:8">8</verse></sup> First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what He has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is spreading through the whole world.
#BCV:Romans 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:9">9</verse></sup> I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son--  how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,
#BCV:Romans 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:10">10</verse></sup> always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if such be His will, the way may by some means be made clear for me to come to you.
#BCV:Romans 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:11">11</verse></sup> For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you some spiritual help, so that you may be strengthened;
#BCV:Romans 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:12">12</verse></sup> in other words that while I am among you we may be mutually encouraged by one another's faith, yours and mine.
#BCV:Romans 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:13">13</verse></sup> And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you--though until now I have been disappointed--in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.
#BCV:Romans 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:14">14</verse></sup> I  am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking races and to others, to cultured and to uncultured people:
#BCV:Romans 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:15">15</verse></sup> so that for my part I am willing and eager to proclaim the Good News to you also who are in Rome.
#BCV:Romans 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:16">16</verse></sup> For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes--the Jew first, and then the  Gentile.
#BCV:Romans 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:17">17</verse></sup> For in the Good News  a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it,  "The righteous man shall live by faith."
#BCV:Romans 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:18">18</verse></sup> For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity suppress the truth. God is angry:
#BCV:Romans 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:19">19</verse></sup> because what may be known about Him is plain  to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.
#BCV:Romans 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:20">20</verse></sup> For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections--namely His eternal power and divine nature--have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works,  so that these men are without excuse.
#BCV:Romans 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:21">21</verse></sup> For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.
#BCV:Romans 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:22">22</verse></sup> While boasting of their wisdom they became  utter fools,
#BCV:Romans 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:23">23</verse></sup> and,  instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they worshipped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or beasts or reptiles.
#BCV:Romans 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:24">24</verse></sup> For this reason, in accordance with  their own depraved cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.
#BCV:Romans 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:25">25</verse></sup> For they had bartered the reality of God for  what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen.
#BCV:Romans 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:26">26</verse></sup> This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature, but the men also,
#BCV:Romans 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:27">27</verse></sup> in just the same way--neglecting that for which nature intends women--burned with passion towards one another, men practising shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own selves the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.
#BCV:Romans 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:28">28</verse></sup> And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.
#BCV:Romans 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:29">29</verse></sup> Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty, mischief, greed,  malice. They were full of envy and murder, and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.
#BCV:Romans 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:30">30</verse></sup> They were secret backbiters, open slanderers;  hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of sin, disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,
#BCV:Romans 1:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:31">31</verse></sup> faithless to their promises, without natural affection, without human pity.
#BCV:Romans 1:32
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 1:32">32</verse></sup> In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God pronounces against  actions such as theirs, as things which deserve death, they not only  practise them, but even  encourage and applaud others who do them.
#BCV:Romans 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 2:1">2</verse></font> You are therefore without excuse, O man,  whoever you are who  sit in judgement upon others. For when you  pass judgement on your fellow man, you condemn yourself; for you who sit in judgement upon others are guilty of the same misdeeds;
#BCV:Romans 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:2">2</verse></sup> and we know that God's judgement  against those who commit such sins is in accordance with the truth.
#BCV:Romans 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:3">3</verse></sup> And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do such things although your own conduct is the same as theirs--do you imagine that you yourself will escape unpunished when God judges?
#BCV:Romans 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:4">4</verse></sup> Or is it that you think slightingly of  His infinite goodness, forbearance and patience, unaware that the goodness of God is gently drawing you to repentance?
#BCV:Romans 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:5">5</verse></sup> The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day of Anger--the day when the righteousness of God's judgements will stand revealed.
#BCV:Romans 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:6">6</verse></sup> To each man He will make an award corresponding to his actions;
#BCV:Romans 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:7">7</verse></sup> to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent right-doing, are striving for glory, honour and immortality, the Life of the Ages;
#BCV:Romans 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:8">8</verse></sup> while on the other hand upon the self-willed who disobey the truth and obey unrighteousness will fall anger and fury,  affliction and awful distress,
#BCV:Romans 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:9">9</verse></sup> coming upon the soul of every  man and woman who deliberately does wrong--upon the Jew first, and then upon the  Gentile;
#BCV:Romans 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:10">10</verse></sup> whereas glory, honour and peace will be given to every one who does what is good and right--to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.
#BCV:Romans 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:11">11</verse></sup> For God pays no attention to this world's distinctions.
#BCV:Romans 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:12">12</verse></sup> For all who  have sinned  apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned whilst living  under the Law, will be judged by the Law.
#BCV:Romans 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:13">13</verse></sup> It is not those that merely  hear the Law  read who are righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the Law who will be pronounced righteous.
#BCV:Romans 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:14">14</verse></sup> For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law to themselves;
#BCV:Romans 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:15">15</verse></sup> since they exhibit proof that  a knowledge of the conduct which the Law requires is engraven on their hearts, while their consciences also bear witness to the Law, and their thoughts, as if in mutual discussion, accuse them or perhaps maintain their innocence--
#BCV:Romans 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:16">16</verse></sup> on the day when God will judge the secrets of men's lives  by Jesus Christ, as declared in the Good News as I have taught it.
#BCV:Romans 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:17">17</verse></sup> And since you claim the name of Jew, and find  rest and satisfaction in the Law, and make your boast in God,
#BCV:Romans 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:18">18</verse></sup> and know the supreme will, and  can test things that differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--
#BCV:Romans 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:19">19</verse></sup> and have persuaded yourself that, as for you, you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
#BCV:Romans 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:20">20</verse></sup> a schoolmaster for the dull and ignorant, a teacher of the young, because in the Law you possess  an outline of  real knowledge and an outline of the truth:
#BCV:Romans 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:21">21</verse></sup> you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach yourself? You who cry out against stealing, are you yourself a thief?
#BCV:Romans 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:22">22</verse></sup> You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you plunder their temples?
#BCV:Romans 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:23">23</verse></sup> You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against its commands and so dishonour God?
#BCV:Romans 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:24">24</verse></sup> For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile nations because of you, as Holy Writ declares.
#BCV:Romans 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:25">25</verse></sup> Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing.
#BCV:Romans 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:26">26</verse></sup> In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to the just requirements of the Law, shall not his lack of circumcision  be overlooked, and,
#BCV:Romans 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:27">27</verse></sup> although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?
#BCV:Romans 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:28">28</verse></sup> For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily.
#BCV:Romans 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 2:29">29</verse></sup> But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.
#BCV:Romans 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 3:1">3</verse></font> What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what benefit is to be derived from circumcision?
#BCV:Romans 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:2">2</verse></sup> The privilege is great from every point of view. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with  God's truth.
#BCV:Romans 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:3">3</verse></sup> For what if some Jews have proved  unfaithful? Shall their faithlessness render God's faithfulness worthless?
#BCV:Romans 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:4">4</verse></sup> No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man should prove to be false. As it stands written, "That Thou mayest be shown to be just in  the sentence Thou pronouncest, and gain Thy cause  when Thou contendest."
#BCV:Romans 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:5">5</verse></sup> But if our unrighteousness  sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous--I speak in our everyday language-- when He inflicts punishment?
#BCV:Romans 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:6">6</verse></sup> No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?)
#BCV:Romans 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:7">7</verse></sup> If,  for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner?
#BCV:Romans 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:8">8</verse></sup> And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that good may come"? The condemnation  of those who would so argue is just.
#BCV:Romans 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:9">9</verse></sup> What then? Are we Jews more highly  estimated than they? Not in the least; for we have already charged all Jews and Gentiles alike with being in thraldom to sin.
#BCV:Romans 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:10">10</verse></sup> Thus it stands written, "There is not one righteous man.
#BCV:Romans 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:11">11</verse></sup> There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a diligent seeker after God.
#BCV:Romans 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:12">12</verse></sup> All have turned aside from the right path; they have every one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is right--no, not so much as one."
#BCV:Romans 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:13">13</verse></sup> "Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues they have been talking deceitfully." "The venom of vipers lies hidden  behind their lips."
#BCV:Romans 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:14">14</verse></sup> "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
#BCV:Romans 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:15">15</verse></sup> "Their feet move swiftly to shed blood.
#BCV:Romans 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:16">16</verse></sup> Ruin and misery mark their path;
#BCV:Romans 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:17">17</verse></sup> and the way to peace they have not known."
#BCV:Romans 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:18">18</verse></sup> "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
#BCV:Romans 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:19">19</verse></sup> But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that  every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God.
#BCV:Romans 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:20">20</verse></sup> For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.
#BCV:Romans 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:21">21</verse></sup> But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it--
#BCV:Romans 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:22">22</verse></sup> a righteousness coming from God,  which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends  to all who believe. No distinction is made;
#BCV:Romans 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:23">23</verse></sup> for all alike have sinned, and all  consciously come short of the glory of God,
#BCV:Romans 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:24">24</verse></sup> gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace through the  deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Romans 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:25">25</verse></sup> He it is whom God put forward as  a Mercy-seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness--  because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the sins previously committed--
#BCV:Romans 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:26">26</verse></sup> with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness, that He may  be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.
#BCV:Romans 3:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:27">27</verse></sup> Where then is there room for your boasting? It is  for ever shut out.  On what principle? On the ground of merit? No, but on the ground of faith.
#BCV:Romans 3:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:28">28</verse></sup> For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to Law.
#BCV:Romans 3:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:29">29</verse></sup> Is God simply the God of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles also? He is certainly the God of the Gentiles also,
#BCV:Romans 3:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:30">30</verse></sup> unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.
#BCV:Romans 3:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 3:31">31</verse></sup> Do we then by means of this faith abolish  the Law? No, indeed; we give  the Law a firmer footing.
#BCV:Romans 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 4:1">4</verse></font> What then shall we say  that Abraham, our earthly forefather, has gained?
#BCV:Romans 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:2">2</verse></sup> For if he was held to be righteous on the ground of his actions, he has something to boast of; but not  in the presence of God.
#BCV:Romans 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:3">3</verse></sup> For what says the Scripture? "And Abraham believed God, and  this was placed to his credit as righteousness."
#BCV:Romans 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:4">4</verse></sup> But in the case of a man who works, pay is not reckoned a favour but a debt;
#BCV:Romans 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:5">5</verse></sup> whereas in the case of a man who pleads no actions of his own, but simply  believes in Him who declares the ungodly free from guilt, his faith is placed to his credit as righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:6">6</verse></sup> In this way David also  tells of the blessedness of the man to whose credit God places righteousness, apart from his actions.
#BCV:Romans 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:7">7</verse></sup> "Blessed," he says, "are those whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over.
#BCV:Romans 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:8">8</verse></sup> Blessed is the man of whose sin the Lord will not take account."
#BCV:Romans 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:9">9</verse></sup> This declaration of blessedness, then, does it come simply to the circumcised, or to the uncircumcised as well? For Abraham's faith--so we affirm--was placed to his credit as righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:10">10</verse></sup> What then were the circumstances under which this took place? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before?
#BCV:Romans 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:11">11</verse></sup> Before, not after. And he received  circumcision as a sign, a mark attesting the reality of the faith-righteousness which was his while still uncircumcised, that he might be the forefather of all those who believe even though they are uncircumcised--in order that this righteousness might be placed to their credit;
#BCV:Romans 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:12">12</verse></sup> and the forefather of the circumcised, namely of those who not merely are circumcised, but also walk in the steps of the faith which our forefather Abraham had while he was as yet uncircumcised.
#BCV:Romans 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:13">13</verse></sup> Again, the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his posterity conditioned by Law, but by faith-righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:14">14</verse></sup> For if it is the righteous through Law who are heirs, then faith is useless and the promise counts for nothing.
#BCV:Romans 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:15">15</verse></sup> For the Law inflicts  punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.
#BCV:Romans 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:16">16</verse></sup> All depends on faith, and for this reason--that  acceptance with God might be an act of pure grace,
#BCV:Romans 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:17">17</verse></sup> so that the promise should be made sure to all Abraham's true descendants; not merely to those who are righteous through the Law, but to those who are righteous through a faith like that of Abraham. Thus in the sight of God in whom he believed, who gives life to  the dead and makes reference to things that do not exist, as though they did, Abraham is the forefather of  all of us. As it is written, "I have appointed you to be the forefather of many nations."
#BCV:Romans 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:18">18</verse></sup> Under utterly hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed, so that he might become the forefather of many nations, in agreement with the words "Equally numerous shall your posterity be."
#BCV:Romans 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:19">19</verse></sup> And, without growing weak in faith, he could contemplate his own vital powers which had now decayed--for he was nearly 100 years old--and Sarah's barrenness.
#BCV:Romans 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:20">20</verse></sup> Nor did he in unbelief stagger at God's promise, but became mighty in faith, giving glory to God,
#BCV:Romans 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:21">21</verse></sup> and being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is bound by He is able also to make good.
#BCV:Romans 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:22">22</verse></sup> For this reason also his faith was placed to his credit as righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:23">23</verse></sup> Nor was the fact of its being placed to his credit put on record for his sake only;
#BCV:Romans 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:24">24</verse></sup> it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be placed to the credit of us also who are believers in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
#BCV:Romans 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 4:25">25</verse></sup> who was surrendered to death  because of the offences we had committed, and was raised to life  because of the  acquittal secured for us.
#BCV:Romans 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 5:1">5</verse></font> Standing then acquitted as the result of faith,  let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
#BCV:Romans 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:2">2</verse></sup> through whom also,  as the result of faith, we have obtained  an introduction into that state of favour with God in which we stand, and we exult in hope of  some day sharing in God's glory.
#BCV:Romans 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:3">3</verse></sup> And not only so:  we also exult in our sufferings, knowing as we do, that  suffering produces fortitude;
#BCV:Romans 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:4">4</verse></sup> fortitude, ripeness of character; and ripeness of character, hope;
#BCV:Romans 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:5">5</verse></sup> and that  this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us  floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given  to us.
#BCV:Romans 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:6">6</verse></sup> For already, while we were still helpless, Christ at the right moment died for the ungodly.
#BCV:Romans 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:7">7</verse></sup> Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay down his life.
#BCV:Romans 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:8">8</verse></sup> But God gives proof of His love to us in Christ's dying for us while we were still sinners.
#BCV:Romans 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:9">9</verse></sup> If therefore we have now been pronounced free from guilt through His blood, much more shall we be delivered from  God's anger through Him.
#BCV:Romans 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:10">10</verse></sup> For if while we were hostile to God we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, it is still more certain that now that we are reconciled, we shall obtain salvation through Christ's life.
#BCV:Romans 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:11">11</verse></sup> And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained that reconciliation.
#BCV:Romans 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:12">12</verse></sup> What follows? This comparison. Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed to all mankind in turn, in that all sinned.
#BCV:Romans 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:13">13</verse></sup> For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only it is not  entered in the account against us when no Law exists.
#BCV:Romans 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:14">14</verse></sup> Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.
#BCV:Romans 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:15">15</verse></sup> But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the  transgression. For if through the transgression of the one individual  the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God's grace, and the gift given in His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind.
#BCV:Romans 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:16">16</verse></sup> And it is not with the gift as it was with the results of one individual's sin; for the judgement which one individual provoked resulted in condemnation, whereas the free gift after a multitude of transgressions results in acquittal.
#BCV:Romans 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:17">17</verse></sup> For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Romans 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:18">18</verse></sup> It follows then that just as the result of a single transgression is a condemnation which extends to the whole race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is a  life-giving  acquittal which  extends to the whole race.
#BCV:Romans 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:19">19</verse></sup> For as through the disobedience of the one individual the mass of mankind were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the mass of mankind will be constituted righteous.
#BCV:Romans 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:20">20</verse></sup> Now Law was brought in later on, so  that transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace  has overflowed;
#BCV:Romans 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 5:21">21</verse></sup> in order that as sin has exercised kingly sway in inflicting death, so grace, too,  may exercise kingly sway in bestowing a righteousness which results in the Life of the Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord.
#BCV:Romans 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 6:1">6</verse></font> To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to persist in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the greater?
#BCV:Romans 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:2">2</verse></sup> No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live in it any longer?
#BCV:Romans 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:3">3</verse></sup> And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized  into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
#BCV:Romans 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:4">4</verse></sup> Well, then,  we by our baptism were buried with Him  in death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead by the Father's  glorious power, we also should live an entirely new life.
#BCV:Romans 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:5">5</verse></sup> For since we have become one with Him  by sharing in His death, we shall also be one with Him  by sharing in His resurrection.
#BCV:Romans 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:6">6</verse></sup> This we know--that our old self was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our sinful nature might be deprived of its power, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin;
#BCV:Romans 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:7">7</verse></sup> for he who  has paid the penalty of death  stands absolved from his sin.
#BCV:Romans 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:8">8</verse></sup> But, seeing that we  have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him;
#BCV:Romans 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:9">9</verse></sup> because we know that Christ, having come back to life, is no longer liable to die.
#BCV:Romans 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:10">10</verse></sup> Death has no longer any power over Him. For by the death which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin; but by the life which He now lives  He is alive in relation to God.
#BCV:Romans 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:11">11</verse></sup> In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Romans 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:12">12</verse></sup> Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings;
#BCV:Romans 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:13">13</verse></sup> and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous  weapons for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to God  as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons to maintain the right.
#BCV:Romans 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:14">14</verse></sup> For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace.
#BCV:Romans 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:15">15</verse></sup> Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!
#BCV:Romans 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:16">16</verse></sup> Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as bondservants to obey any one, you  become the bondservants of him whom you obey, whether the bondservants of Sin (with death as the result)
#BCV:Romans 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:17">17</verse></sup> But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom to Sin, you  have now yielded a hearty obedience to that  system of truth in which you have been  instructed.
#BCV:Romans 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:18">18</verse></sup> You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness--
#BCV:Romans 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:19">19</verse></sup> your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.
#BCV:Romans 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:20">20</verse></sup> For when you were the bondservants of sin, you were under no sort of subjection to Righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:21">21</verse></sup> At that time, then, what benefit did you get from conduct which you now regard with shame? Why, such things finally result in death.
#BCV:Romans 6:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:22">22</verse></sup> But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.
#BCV:Romans 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 6:23">23</verse></sup> For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
#BCV:Romans 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 7:1">7</verse></font> Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?
#BCV:Romans 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:2">2</verse></sup> A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies  the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.
#BCV:Romans 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:3">3</verse></sup> This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is  no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress.
#BCV:Romans 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:4">4</verse></sup> So, my brethren,  to  you also the Law died through the  incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that  we might yield fruit to God.
#BCV:Romans 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:5">5</verse></sup> For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions--  made sinful by the Law--were always  being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.
#BCV:Romans 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:6">6</verse></sup> But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage,  the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and  formal, is new and spiritual.
#BCV:Romans 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:7">7</verse></sup> What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I  should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not  repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."
#BCV:Romans 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:8">8</verse></sup> Sin took advantage of this, and by means of  the Commandment stirred up within me  every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.
#BCV:Romans 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:9">9</verse></sup> Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin  sprang into life, and I died;
#BCV:Romans 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:10">10</verse></sup> and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.
#BCV:Romans 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:11">11</verse></sup> For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and  also put me to death.
#BCV:Romans 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:12">12</verse></sup> So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.
#BCV:Romans 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:13">13</verse></sup> Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.
#BCV:Romans 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:14">14</verse></sup> For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.
#BCV:Romans 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:15">15</verse></sup> For what I do,  I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.
#BCV:Romans 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:16">16</verse></sup> But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,
#BCV:Romans 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:17">17</verse></sup> and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.
#BCV:Romans 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:18">18</verse></sup> For I know that in me, that is, in my  lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right  is present with me, the power to carry it out is not.
#BCV:Romans 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:19">19</verse></sup> For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do.
#BCV:Romans 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:20">20</verse></sup> But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.
#BCV:Romans 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:21">21</verse></sup> I find therefore the  law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is  lying in ambush for me.
#BCV:Romans 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:22">22</verse></sup> For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;
#BCV:Romans 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:23">23</verse></sup> but I discover within me  a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which  is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.
#BCV:Romans 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:24">24</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Romans 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 7:25">25</verse></sup> Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!)
#BCV:Romans 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 8:1">8</verse></font> There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;
#BCV:Romans 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:2">2</verse></sup> for the Spirit's Law--  telling of Life in Christ Jesus--has set  me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death.
#BCV:Romans 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:3">3</verse></sup> For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail  humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful  human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He  pronounced  sentence upon sin in human nature;
#BCV:Romans 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:4">4</verse></sup> in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures.
#BCV:Romans 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:5">5</verse></sup> For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things.
#BCV:Romans 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:6">6</verse></sup> Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means death; but for it to be given up to spiritual things means Life and peace.
#BCV:Romans 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:7">7</verse></sup> Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so.
#BCV:Romans 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:8">8</verse></sup> And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God.
#BCV:Romans 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:9">9</verse></sup> You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him.
#BCV:Romans 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:10">10</verse></sup> But if Christ is in you, though your body must die  because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:11">11</verse></sup> And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies  because of His Spirit who dwells in you.
#BCV:Romans 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we are under obligation that we should live by their rule.
#BCV:Romans 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:13">13</verse></sup> For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of  the spirit, you are putting  your old bodily habits to death, you will live.
#BCV:Romans 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:14">14</verse></sup> For those who are led by God's Spirit are, all of them, God's sons.
#BCV:Romans 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:15">15</verse></sup> You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being--a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons--a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our Father!"
#BCV:Romans 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:16">16</verse></sup> The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own spirits, to the fact that we are children of God;
#BCV:Romans 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:17">17</verse></sup> and if children, then heirs too--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ; if indeed we are sharers in Christ's sufferings, in order that we may also be sharers in His glory.
#BCV:Romans 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:18">18</verse></sup> Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in comparison with the glory which is soon to be manifested in us.
#BCV:Romans 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:19">19</verse></sup> For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.
#BCV:Romans 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:20">20</verse></sup> For the Creation  fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it)
#BCV:Romans 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:21">21</verse></sup> Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children of God.
#BCV:Romans 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:22">22</verse></sup> For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together in the pains of childbirth until this hour.
#BCV:Romans 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:23">23</verse></sup> And more than that,  we ourselves, though we possess the Spirit as a foretaste and pledge of the glorious future, yet we ourselves inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open recognition as sons through the  deliverance of our bodies.
#BCV:Romans 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:24">24</verse></sup> It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But  an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view;  for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?
#BCV:Romans 8:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:25">25</verse></sup> But if we hope for something which we do not see, then we eagerly and patiently wait for it.
#BCV:Romans 8:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:26">26</verse></sup> In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words,
#BCV:Romans 8:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:27">27</verse></sup> and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is,  because His intercessions for God's people are in harmony with God's will.
#BCV:Romans 8:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:28">28</verse></sup> Now we know that for those who love God  all things are working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.
#BCV:Romans 8:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:29">29</verse></sup> For those whom He has  known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;
#BCV:Romans 8:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:30">30</verse></sup> and those whom He has pre-destined He also has called; and those whom He has called He has also declared free from guilt; and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has also crowned with glory.
#BCV:Romans 8:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:31">31</verse></sup> What then shall we say to this? If God is on our side, who is there to appear against us?
#BCV:Romans 8:32
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:32">32</verse></sup> He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
#BCV:Romans 8:33
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:33">33</verse></sup> Who shall impeach those whom God has chosen?  God declares them free from guilt.
#BCV:Romans 8:34
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:34">34</verse></sup> Who is there to condemn them? Christ  Jesus died, or rather has risen to life again.  He is also at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us.
#BCV:Romans 8:35
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:35">35</verse></sup> Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall affliction or distress, persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger or the sword?
#BCV:Romans 8:36
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:36">36</verse></sup> As it stands written in the Scripture, "For Thy sake they are, all day long, trying to kill us. We have been looked upon as sheep destined for slaughter."
#BCV:Romans 8:37
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:37">37</verse></sup> Yet amid all these things we are  more than conquerors through Him who has loved us.
#BCV:Romans 8:38
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:38">38</verse></sup> For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the lower ranks of evil angels nor the higher, neither things present nor  things future, nor the  forces of nature,
#BCV:Romans 8:39
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 8:39">39</verse></sup> nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which rests upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
#BCV:Romans 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 9:1">9</verse></font> I am telling you the truth as a Christian man--it is no falsehood, for my conscience enlightened, as it is, by the Holy Spirit adds its testimony to mine--
#BCV:Romans 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:2">2</verse></sup> when I declare that I have deep grief and unceasing anguish of heart.
#BCV:Romans 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:3">3</verse></sup> For  I could pray to be  accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my human kinsfolk--for such the Israelites are.
#BCV:Romans 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:4">4</verse></sup> To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the Temple service, and  the ancient Promises.
#BCV:Romans 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:5">5</verse></sup> To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all, God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.
#BCV:Romans 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:6">6</verse></sup> Not however that God's word has failed; for all who have sprung from Israel do not count as Israel,
#BCV:Romans 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:7">7</verse></sup> nor because they are Abraham's true children. But the promise was "Through Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned."
#BCV:Romans 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:8">8</verse></sup> In other words, it is not the children by natural descent who count as God's children, but the children made such by the promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.
#BCV:Romans 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:9">9</verse></sup> For the words are the language of promise and run thus, "About this time next year I will come, and Sarah shall have a son."
#BCV:Romans 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:10">10</verse></sup> Nor is that all:  later on there was Rebecca too. She was soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather Isaac--
#BCV:Romans 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:11">11</verse></sup> and even then, though they were not then born and had not done anything either good or evil, yet in order that God's electing purpose might not be frustrated, based, as it was, not on their actions but on the will of Him who called them, she was told,
#BCV:Romans 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:12">12</verse></sup> "The elder of them will be bondservant to the younger."
#BCV:Romans 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:13">13</verse></sup> This agrees with the other Scripture which says, "Jacob I  have loved, but Esau I  have hated."
#BCV:Romans 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:14">14</verse></sup> What then are we to infer? That there is injustice in God?
#BCV:Romans 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:15">15</verse></sup> No, indeed; the solution is found in His words to Moses, "Wherever I show mercy it shall be nothing but mercy, and wherever I show compassion it shall be simply compassion."
#BCV:Romans 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:16">16</verse></sup> And from this we learn that everything  is dependent not on man's will or  endeavour, but upon God who has mercy. For the Scripture said to Pharaoh,
#BCV:Romans 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:17">17</verse></sup> "It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you so high--that I may make manifest in you My power, and that My name may be proclaimed far and wide in all the earth."
#BCV:Romans 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:18">18</verse></sup> This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows mercy, and wherever he chooses He  hardens the heart.
#BCV:Romans 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:19">19</verse></sup> "Why then does God still find fault?" you will ask; "for who is resisting His will?"
#BCV:Romans 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:20">20</verse></sup> Nay, but who are you,  a mere man, that you should cavil against GOD? Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it, "Why have you made me thus?"
#BCV:Romans 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:21">21</verse></sup> Or has not the potter rightful power over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for more honourable and another for less honourable uses?
#BCV:Romans 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:22">22</verse></sup> And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the terrors of His anger and to show what is possible with Him, has yet borne with long-forbearing patience with the subjects of His anger who  stand ready for destruction,
#BCV:Romans 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:23">23</verse></sup> in order to make known  His infinite goodness towards the subjects of His mercy whom He has  prepared beforehand for glory,
#BCV:Romans 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:24">24</verse></sup> even towards us whom He has called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?
#BCV:Romans 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:25">25</verse></sup> So also in Hosea He says, "I will call that nation My People which was not My People, and I will call her beloved who was not beloved.
#BCV:Romans 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:26">26</verse></sup> And in the place where it was said to them, 'No people of Mine are you,' there shall they be called sons of the  everliving God."
#BCV:Romans 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:27">27</verse></sup> And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, only a remnant of them shall be saved;
#BCV:Romans 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:28">28</verse></sup> for the Lord will  hold a reckoning upon the earth, making it efficacious and brief."
#BCV:Romans 9:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:29">29</verse></sup> Even as Isaiah  says in an earlier place, "Were it not that the Lord, the God of  Hosts, had left us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and have come to resemble Gomorrah."
#BCV:Romans 9:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:30">30</verse></sup> To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the  Gentiles, who were not in  pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it--a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;
#BCV:Romans 9:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:31">31</verse></sup> while  the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.
#BCV:Romans 9:32
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:32">32</verse></sup> 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;
#BCV:Romans 9:33
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 9:33">33</verse></sup> 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."
#BCV:Romans 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 10:1">10</verse></font> Brethren, the  longing of my heart, and my prayer to God, on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation.
#BCV:Romans 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:2">2</verse></sup> For I bear witness that they possess an enthusiasm for God, but it is an unenlightened enthusiasm.
#BCV:Romans 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:3">3</verse></sup> Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and  building their hopes upon a  righteousness of their own, they have refused submission to God's righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:4">4</verse></sup> For as a means of righteousness Christ is the  termination of Law to every believer.
#BCV:Romans 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:5">5</verse></sup> Moses  says that he whose actions conform to the righteousness required by the Law shall live by that righteousness.
#BCV:Romans 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:6">6</verse></sup> But the righteousness which is based on faith speaks in a different tone. "Say not in your heart," it declares, "'Who shall ascend to Heaven?'" --that is, to bring Christ down;
#BCV:Romans 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:7">7</verse></sup> "nor 'Who shall go down into the  abyss?'" --that is, to bring Christ  up again from the grave.
#BCV:Romans 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:8">8</verse></sup> But what does it say? "The Message is close to you, in your mouth and in your heart;" that is, the Message which we are publishing about the faith--
#BCV:Romans 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:9">9</verse></sup> that if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and in your heart believe that God brought Him back to life, you shall be saved.
#BCV:Romans 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:10">10</verse></sup> For with the heart men believe and obtain righteousness, and with the mouth they make confession and obtain salvation.
#BCV:Romans 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:11">11</verse></sup> The Scripture says, "No one who believes in Him shall have reason to feel ashamed."
#BCV:Romans 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:12">12</verse></sup> Jew and Gentile are on precisely the same footing; for the same Lord is Lord over all,  and is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him for deliverance.
#BCV:Romans 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:13">13</verse></sup> For "every one, without exception, who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
#BCV:Romans 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:14">14</verse></sup> But how are they to call on One in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in One whose voice they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?
#BCV:Romans 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:15">15</verse></sup> And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do so? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good!"
#BCV:Romans 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:16">16</verse></sup> But, some will say, they have not all hearkened to the Good News. No, for Isaiah asks, "Lord, who has believed the Message they have heard from us?"
#BCV:Romans 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:17">17</verse></sup> And this proves that faith comes from a Message heard, and that the Message comes through its having been spoken by Christ.
#BCV:Romans 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:18">18</verse></sup> But, I ask, have they not heard? Yes, indeed: "To the whole world  the preachers' voices have sounded forth, and their words to the remotest parts of the earth."
#BCV:Romans 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:19">19</verse></sup> But again, did Israel fail to  understand? Listen to Moses first. He says, "I will fire you with jealousy against a nation which is no nation, and with fury against a nation devoid of understanding."
#BCV:Romans 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:20">20</verse></sup> And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, "I have been found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me."
#BCV:Romans 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 10:21">21</verse></sup> While as to Israel he says, "All day long I have stretched out My  arms to a self-willed and fault-finding people."
#BCV:Romans 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 11:1">11</verse></font> I ask then, Has God cast off His People? No, indeed. Why, I myself am an Israelite, of the posterity of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin.
#BCV:Romans 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:2">2</verse></sup> God has not cast off His People whom He knew beforehand. Or are you ignorant of what Scripture says in speaking of Elijah--how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,
#BCV:Romans 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:3">3</verse></sup> "Lord, they have put Thy Prophets to death, and have  overthrown Thy altars; and, now that I alone remain, they are thirsting for my blood"?
#BCV:Romans 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:4">4</verse></sup> But what did God say to him in reply? "I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have never bent the knee to Baal."
#BCV:Romans 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:5">5</verse></sup> In the same way also at the present time there has come to be a remnant whom God in His grace has selected.
#BCV:Romans 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:6">6</verse></sup> But if it is in His grace that He has selected them, then His choice is no longer determined by human actions. Otherwise grace would be grace no longer.
#BCV:Romans 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:7">7</verse></sup> How then does the matter stand? It stands thus. That which Israel are in earnest pursuit of, they have not obtained; but God's chosen servants have obtained it, and the rest have become hardened.
#BCV:Romans 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:8">8</verse></sup> And so Scripture says, "God has given them a spirit of drowsiness--eyes to see nothing with and ears to hear nothing with--even until now."
#BCV:Romans 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:9">9</verse></sup> And David says, "Let their very food become a snare and a trap to them, a stumbling-block and a retribution.
#BCV:Romans 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:10">10</verse></sup> Let darkness come over their eyes that they may be unable to see, and make Thou their backs continually to stoop."
#BCV:Romans 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:11">11</verse></sup> I ask, however, "Have they stumbled so as to be finally ruined?" No, indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come to the Gentiles in order to arouse the jealousy of the descendants of Israel;
#BCV:Romans 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:12">12</verse></sup> and if their lapse is the  enriching of the world, and their overthrow the  enriching of the Gentiles, will not still greater good follow their restoration?
#BCV:Romans 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:13">13</verse></sup> But to you Gentiles I say that,  since I am an Apostle specially sent to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,
#BCV:Romans 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:14">14</verse></sup> trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own countrymen to jealousy and thus save some of them.
#BCV:Romans 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:15">15</verse></sup> For if their having been cast aside has carried with it the reconciliation of the world, what will their being accepted again be but Life out of death?
#BCV:Romans 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:16">16</verse></sup> Now if the firstfruits of the dough are holy, so also is the whole mass; and if the root of a tree is holy, so also are the branches.
#BCV:Romans 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:17">17</verse></sup> And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among them and have become a sharer with others in the  rich sap of the root of the olive tree,
#BCV:Romans 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:18">18</verse></sup> beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if you are so glorying, do not forget that it is not you who uphold the root: the root upholds you.
#BCV:Romans 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:19">19</verse></sup> "Branches have been lopped off," you will say, "for the sake of my being grafted in."
#BCV:Romans 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:20">20</verse></sup> This is true; yet it was their unbelief that cut them off, and you only stand through your faith.
#BCV:Romans 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:21">21</verse></sup> Do not be puffed up with pride. Tremble rather--for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
#BCV:Romans 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:22">22</verse></sup> Notice therefore God's kindness and God's severity. On those who have fallen His severity has descended, but upon you His kindness has come, provided that you do not cease to respond to that kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off also.
#BCV:Romans 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:23">23</verse></sup> Moreover, if they turn from their unbelief, they too will be grafted in. For God is powerful enough to graft them in again;
#BCV:Romans 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:24">24</verse></sup> and if you were cut from that which by nature is a wild olive and contrary to nature were grafted into the good olive tree, how much more certainly will these natural branches be grafted on their own olive tree?
#BCV:Romans 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:25">25</verse></sup> For there is a truth, brethren, not revealed hitherto, of which I do not wish to leave you in ignorance, for fear you should attribute superior wisdom to yourselves--the truth, I mean, that partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until the great mass of the  Gentiles have come in;
#BCV:Romans 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:26">26</verse></sup> and so all Israel will be saved. As is declared in Scripture, "From Mount Zion  a Deliverer will come: He will remove  all ungodliness from  Jacob;
#BCV:Romans 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:27">27</verse></sup> and this shall be My Covenant with them; when I have taken away their sins."
#BCV:Romans 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:28">28</verse></sup> In relation to the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies for your sakes; but in relation to God's choice they are dearly loved for the sake of their forefathers.
#BCV:Romans 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:29">29</verse></sup> For God does not repent of His free gifts nor of His call;
#BCV:Romans 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:30">30</verse></sup> but just as you were formerly disobedient to Him, but now have received mercy at a time when they are disobedient,
#BCV:Romans 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:31">31</verse></sup> so now they also have been disobedient at a time when you are receiving mercy; so that to them too there  may now be mercy.
#BCV:Romans 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:32">32</verse></sup> For God has locked up all in the prison of unbelief, that upon all alike He may have mercy.
#BCV:Romans 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:33">33</verse></sup> Oh, how inexhaustible are God's resources and God's wisdom and God's knowledge! How impossible it is to search into His decrees or trace His footsteps!
#BCV:Romans 11:34
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:34">34</verse></sup> "Who has ever known the mind of the Lord, or shared His counsels?"
#BCV:Romans 11:35
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:35">35</verse></sup> "Who has first given God anything, so as to receive payment in return?"
#BCV:Romans 11:36
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 11:36">36</verse></sup> For the universe owes its origin to Him, was created by Him, and has its aim and purpose in Him. To Him be the glory throughout the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:Romans 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 12:1">12</verse></font> I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the  compassionsof God, to present  all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship.
#BCV:Romans 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:2">2</verse></sup> And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may  learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.
#BCV:Romans 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:3">3</verse></sup> For through the  authority graciously given to me I warn every individual among you  not to value himself unduly, but to cultivate sobriety of judgement in accordance with the amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.
#BCV:Romans 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:4">4</verse></sup> For just as there are in the one human body many parts, and these parts have not all the same function;
#BCV:Romans 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:5">5</verse></sup> so collectively we form one body in Christ, while individually we are linked to one another as its members.
#BCV:Romans 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:6">6</verse></sup> But since we have special gifts which differ in accordance with the diversified  work graciously entrusted to us, if it is prophecy, let the prophet speak  in exact proportion to his faith;
#BCV:Romans 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:7">7</verse></sup> if it is the gift of  administration, let the administrator exercise a sound judgement in his duties.
#BCV:Romans 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:8">8</verse></sup> The teacher must do the same in his teaching; and he who exhorts others, in his exhortation. He who gives should be liberal; he who is in authority should be energetic and alert; and he who succours the afflicted should do it cheerfully.
#BCV:Romans 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:9">9</verse></sup> Let your love be perfectly sincere. Regard with horror what is evil; cling to what is right.
#BCV:Romans 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:10">10</verse></sup> As for brotherly love, be affectionate to one another; in matters of worldly honour, yield to one another.
#BCV:Romans 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:11">11</verse></sup> Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Be thoroughly warm-hearted,  the Lord's own servants,
#BCV:Romans 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:12">12</verse></sup> full of joyful hope, patient under persecution, earnest and persistent in prayer.
#BCV:Romans 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:13">13</verse></sup> Relieve the necessities of God's people; always practise hospitality.
#BCV:Romans 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:14">14</verse></sup> Invoke blessings on your persecutors--blessings, not curses.
#BCV:Romans 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:15">15</verse></sup> Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
#BCV:Romans 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:16">16</verse></sup> Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind to high things, but  let humble ways content you. Do not be wise in your own conceits.
#BCV:Romans 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:17">17</verse></sup> Pay back to no man evil for evil. Take thought for what is right and seemly in every one's esteem.
#BCV:Romans 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:18">18</verse></sup> If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all the world.
#BCV:Romans 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:19">19</verse></sup> Do not be revengeful, my dear friends, but give way before  anger; for it is written, "'Revenge belongs to Me: I will pay back,' says the Lord."
#BCV:Romans 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:20">20</verse></sup> On the contrary, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, quench his thirst. For by doing this you will be  heaping burning coals upon his head.
#BCV:Romans 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 12:21">21</verse></sup> Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with goodness.
#BCV:Romans 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 13:1">13</verse></font> Let every individual be obedient to those who rule over him; for no one is a ruler except by God's permission, and our present rulers have had their rank and power assigned to them by Him.
#BCV:Romans 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:2">2</verse></sup> Therefore the man who rebels against his ruler is resisting God's will; and those who thus resist will bring punishment upon themselves.
#BCV:Romans 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:3">3</verse></sup> For judges and magistrates  are to be feared not by right-doers but by wrong-doers. You desire--do you not? --to have no reason to fear your ruler. Well, do the thing that is right, and then he will commend you.
#BCV:Romans 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:4">4</verse></sup> For he is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do what is wrong, be afraid. He does not wear the sword to no purpose: he is God's servant--an administrator to inflict  punishment upon evil-doers.
#BCV:Romans 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:5">5</verse></sup> We must obey therefore, not only in order to escape punishment, but also for conscience' sake.
#BCV:Romans 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:6">6</verse></sup> Why, this is really the reason you pay  taxes; for  tax-gatherers are  ministers of God, devoting their energies to this very work.
#BCV:Romans 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:7">7</verse></sup> Pay  promptly to all men what is due to them: taxes to those to whom taxes are due, toll to those to whom toll is due, respect to those to whom respect is due, honour to those to whom honour is due.
#BCV:Romans 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:8">8</verse></sup> Owe nothing to any one except  mutual love; for he who loves his fellow man has satisfied the demands of Law.
#BCV:Romans 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:9">9</verse></sup> For the precepts, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt do no murder," "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not covet," and all other precepts, are summed up in this one command, "Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thou lovest thyself."
#BCV:Romans 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:10">10</verse></sup> Love avoids doing any wrong to one's fellow man, and is therefore complete obedience to Law.
#BCV:Romans 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:11">11</verse></sup> Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical period at which we are living, and that it is now high time,  to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to us than when we  first became believers.
#BCV:Romans 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:12">12</verse></sup> The night is far advanced, and day is about to dawn. We must therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe ourselves with the armour of Light.
#BCV:Romans 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:13">13</verse></sup> Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct ourselves becomingly, not indulging in revelry and drunkenness, nor in lust and debauchery, nor in quarrelling and  jealousy.
#BCV:Romans 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 13:14">14</verse></sup> On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.
#BCV:Romans 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 14:1">14</verse></font> I now pass to another subject. Receive as a friend a man whose faith is weak, but not for the purpose of deciding  mere matters of opinion.
#BCV:Romans 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:2">2</verse></sup> One man's faith allows him to eat anything, while a man of weaker faith eats nothing but vegetables.
#BCV:Romans 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:3">3</verse></sup> Let not him who eats certain food look down upon him who abstains from it, nor him who abstains from it find fault with him who eats it; for God has received both of them.
#BCV:Romans 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:4">4</verse></sup> Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of another?  Whether he stands or falls is a matter which concerns his own master. But stand he will; for the Master can give him power to stand.
#BCV:Romans 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:5">5</verse></sup> One man esteems one day more highly than another; another esteems all days alike. Let every one be thoroughly convinced in his own mind.
#BCV:Romans 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:6">6</verse></sup> He who regards the day as sacred, so regards it for the Master's sake; and he who eats certain food eats it for the Master's sake, for he gives thanks to God; and he who refrains from eating it refrains for the Master's sake, and he also gives thanks to God.
#BCV:Romans 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:7">7</verse></sup> For not one of us lives to himself, and not one dies to himself.
#BCV:Romans 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:8">8</verse></sup> If we live, we live to the Lord: if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
#BCV:Romans 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:9">9</verse></sup> For this was the purpose of Christ's dying and coming to life--namely that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
#BCV:Romans 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:10">10</verse></sup> But you, why do you find fault with your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon your brother? We shall all stand before God to be judged;
#BCV:Romans 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:11">11</verse></sup> for it is written, "'As I live,' says the Lord, 'to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall make confession to God.'"
#BCV:Romans 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:12">12</verse></sup> So we see that every one of us will give account of himself to God.
#BCV:Romans 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but, instead of that, you should come to this judgement--that we must not put a stumbling-block in our brother's path, nor anything to trip him up.
#BCV:Romans 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:14">14</verse></sup> As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am certain that in its own nature  no food is 'impure'; but if people regard any food as impure, to them it is.
#BCV:Romans 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:15">15</verse></sup> If your brother is pained by the food you are eating, your conduct is no longer controlled by love.  Take care lest, by the food you eat, you lead to ruin a man for whom Christ died.
#BCV:Romans 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore do not let  the boon which is yours  in common  be exposed to reproach.
#BCV:Romans 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:17">17</verse></sup> For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit;
#BCV:Romans 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:18">18</verse></sup> and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God takes pleasure in him, and men  highly commend him.
#BCV:Romans 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:19">19</verse></sup> Therefore let us aim at whatever makes for peace and mutual upbuilding of character.
#BCV:Romans 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:20">20</verse></sup> Do not for food's sake be throwing down God's work.  All food is pure; but a man is in the wrong if his food is a snare  to others.
#BCV:Romans 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:21">21</verse></sup> The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything that tends to your brother's  fall.
#BCV:Romans 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:22">22</verse></sup> As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions sanction.
#BCV:Romans 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 14:23">23</verse></sup> But he who has misgivings and yet eats meat is condemned already, because his conduct is not based on faith; for all conduct not based on faith is sinful.
#BCV:Romans 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 15:1">15</verse></font> As for us who are strong, our duty is to bear with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not seek our own pleasure.
#BCV:Romans 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:2">2</verse></sup> Let each of us endeavour to please his fellow Christian, aiming at a blessing calculated to build him up.
#BCV:Romans 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:3">3</verse></sup> For even the Christ did not seek His own pleasure. His principle was, "The reproaches which they  addressed to Thee have fallen on me."
#BCV:Romans 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:4">4</verse></sup> For all that was written of old has been written for our instruction, so that we may always have hope through the power of endurance and the  encouragement which the Scriptures afford.
#BCV:Romans 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:5">5</verse></sup> And may God,  the giver of power of endurance and of that encouragement, grant you to be in full sympathy with one another in accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,
#BCV:Romans 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:6">6</verse></sup> so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Romans 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:7">7</verse></sup> Habitually therefore give one another a friendly reception, just as Christ also has received you, and thus promote the glory of God.
#BCV:Romans 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:8">8</verse></sup> My meaning is that Christ has become  a servant to the people of Israel in vindication of God's truthfulness--  in showing how sure are the promises made to our forefathers--
#BCV:Romans 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:9">9</verse></sup> and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in acknowledgment of His mercy. So it is written, "For this reason I will praise Thee among the Gentiles, and sing psalms in honour of Thy name."
#BCV:Romans 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:10">10</verse></sup> And again the Psalmist says, "Be glad, ye Gentiles, in company with His People."
#BCV:Romans 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:11">11</verse></sup> And again, "Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and let all the people extol Him."
#BCV:Romans 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:12">12</verse></sup> And again Isaiah says, "There shall be the Root of Jesse and One who rises up to rule the Gentiles. On Him shall the Gentiles build their hopes."
#BCV:Romans 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:13">13</verse></sup> May God, the giver of hope, fill you with  continual joy and peace  because you trust in Him--so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:Romans 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:14">14</verse></sup> But as to you, brethren, I am convinced--  yes, I Paul am convinced--that, even apart from my teaching, you are already full of goodness of heart, and enriched with complete Christian knowledge, and are also competent to instruct one another.
#BCV:Romans 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:15">15</verse></sup> But I write to you the more boldly--partly as reminding you of what you already know--because of the  authority graciously entrusted to me by God,
#BCV:Romans 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:16">16</verse></sup> that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, doing priestly duties in connexion with God's Good News so that the sacrifice--namely the Gentiles--may be acceptable to Him, being (as it is)
#BCV:Romans 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:17">17</verse></sup> I can therefore glory in Christ Jesus concerning the work for God in which I am engaged.
#BCV:Romans 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:18">18</verse></sup> For I will not presume to mention any of the results that Christ has brought about by other agency than mine in securing the obedience of the Gentiles by word or deed,
#BCV:Romans 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:19">19</verse></sup> with power manifested in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.  But--to speak simply of my own labours--beginning in Jerusalem and the outlying districts, I  have proclaimed without reserve, even as far as Illyricum, the Good News of the Christ;
#BCV:Romans 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:20">20</verse></sup> making it my ambition, however, not to tell the Good News where Christ's name was already known, for fear I should be building on another man's foundation.
#BCV:Romans 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:21">21</verse></sup> But, as Scripture says, "Those shall see, to whom no report about Him has hitherto come, and those who until now have not heard shall understand."
#BCV:Romans 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:22">22</verse></sup> And it is really  this which has again and again prevented my coming to you.
#BCV:Romans 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:23">23</verse></sup> But now, as there is no more unoccupied ground in this part of the world, and I have for years past been eager to pay you a visit,
#BCV:Romans 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:24">24</verse></sup> I hope, as soon as ever I extend my travels into Spain, to see you on my way and be helped forward by you on my journey, when I have first enjoyed being with you for a time.
#BCV:Romans 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:25">25</verse></sup> But at present I am going to Jerusalem to serve God's people,
#BCV:Romans 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:26">26</verse></sup> for Macedonia and Greece have kindly contributed a certain sum in relief of the poor among God's people, in Jerusalem.
#BCV:Romans 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:27">27</verse></sup> Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a debt they owed them. For seeing that the Gentiles have been admitted in to partnership with the Jews in their spiritual blessings, they in turn are under an obligation to render sacred service to the Jews in temporal things.
#BCV:Romans 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:28">28</verse></sup> So after  discharging this duty, and making sure that these kind gifts reach  those for whom they are intended, I shall start for Spain, passing through Rome on my way there;
#BCV:Romans 15:29
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:29">29</verse></sup> and I know that when I come to you it will be with a vast amount of blessing from Christ.
#BCV:Romans 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:30">30</verse></sup> But I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love which His Spirit inspires, to help me by wrestling in prayer to God on my behalf,
#BCV:Romans 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:31">31</verse></sup> asking that I may escape unhurt from those in Judaea who are disobedient, and that the service which I am going to Jerusalem to render may be well received by the Church there,
#BCV:Romans 15:32
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:32">32</verse></sup> in order that if God be willing I may come to you with a glad heart, and may enjoy a time of rest with you.
#BCV:Romans 15:33
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 15:33">33</verse></sup> May God, who gives peace be with you all! Amen.
#BCV:Romans 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Romans 16:1">16</verse></font> Herewith I introduce our sister Phoebe to you,  who is a  servant of the Church at Cenchreae,
#BCV:Romans 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:2">2</verse></sup> that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a manner worthy of God's people, and may assist her in any matter in which she may need help. For she has indeed been a kind friend to many, including myself.
#BCV:Romans 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:3">3</verse></sup> Greetings to Prisca and Aquila my fellow labourers in the work of Christ Jesus--
#BCV:Romans 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:4">4</verse></sup> friends who have endangered their own lives for mine. I am grateful to them, and not I alone, but all the Gentile Churches also.
#BCV:Romans 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:5">5</verse></sup> Greetings, too, to  the Church that meets at their house. Greetings to my dear Epaenetus, who was the earliest convert to Christ in the province of Asia;
#BCV:Romans 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:6">6</verse></sup> to Mary who has laboured strenuously among you;
#BCV:Romans 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:7">7</verse></sup> and to Andronicus and  Junia, my  countrymen, who once shared my imprisonment. They  are of note among the Apostles, and  are Christians of longer standing than myself.
#BCV:Romans 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:8">8</verse></sup> Greetings to Ampliatus, dear to me in the Lord;
#BCV:Romans 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:9">9</verse></sup> to Urban, our fellow labourer in Christ, and to my dear Stachys.
#BCV:Romans 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:10">10</verse></sup> Greetings to Apella, that veteran believer; and to the members of the household of Aristobulus.
#BCV:Romans 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:11">11</verse></sup> Greetings to my countryman, Herodion; and to the believing members of the household of Narcissus.
#BCV:Romans 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:12">12</verse></sup> Greetings to those Christian workers, Tryphaena and Tryphosa; also to dear Persis, who has laboured strenuously in the Lord's work.
#BCV:Romans 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:13">13</verse></sup> Greetings to Rufus, who is one of the Lord's chosen people; and to his mother, who has also been a mother to me.
#BCV:Romans 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:14">14</verse></sup> Greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and to the brethren associated with them;
#BCV:Romans 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:15">15</verse></sup> to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and Olympas, and to all God's people associated with them.
#BCV:Romans 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:16">16</verse></sup> Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the Churches of Christ send greetings to you.
#BCV:Romans 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:17">17</verse></sup> But I beseech you, brethren, to keep a watch on those who are causing the divisions among you, and are leading others into sin, in defiance of the instruction which you have received; and  habitually to shun them.
#BCV:Romans 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:18">18</verse></sup> For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our Lord, but are slaves to their own appetites; and by their plausible words and their flattery they utterly deceive the minds of the simple.
#BCV:Romans 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:19">19</verse></sup> Your  fidelity to the truth is everywhere known. I rejoice over you, therefore, but I wish you to be wise as to what is good, and simple-minded as to what is evil.
#BCV:Romans 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:20">20</verse></sup> And  before long, God  the giver of peace will crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus  Christ be with you!
#BCV:Romans 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:21">21</verse></sup> Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, and so do my countrymen Lucius, Jason and Sosipater.
#BCV:Romans 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:22">22</verse></sup> I, Tertius, who write this letter, send you Christian greetings.
#BCV:Romans 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:23">23</verse></sup> Gaius, my host, who is also the host  of the whole Church, greets you. So do Erastus, the treasurer of the city, and Quartus our brother.
#BCV:Romans 16:24
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:24">24</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Romans 16:25
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:25">25</verse></sup> To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as declared in the Good News which I am spreading, and the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the unveiling of the Truth which in the periods of past Ages remained unuttered,
#BCV:Romans 16:26
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:26">26</verse></sup> but has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to  obedience to the faith--
#BCV:Romans 16:27
<sup><verse bcv="Romans 16:27">27</verse></sup> to God, the only wise, through Jesus Christ,  even to Him be the glory through all the Ages! Amen.

#OUTLINE:1,1 Corinthians
#TOPIC:CORINTHIANS, FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
<heading><h1>PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS</h1>
The genuineness of the two Letters to the Corinthians has never been seriously disputed. The first was written by the apostle
Paul, probably in the early spring of 56 A.D., just before he left Ephesus for Troas in the course of his third missionary journey
(<bc=Acts 19>Acts xix.).</bc> The church at Corinth had been founded by himduring his previous tour (<bc=Acts 18>Acts xviii.).</bc> After some hesitation he had been induced to preach at Corinth, and in spite of the opposition of the Jews such great success attended his efforts that he remained there for more than eighteen months. The furious attack upon him which was frustrated by Gallio, gave impetus
to the new cause, so that when the apostle left, there was a comparatively strong church there, consisting mostly of Greeks, but
including not a few Jews also. The dangers, however, arising out of the temperament and circumstances of the Corinthians soon manifested themselves. The city was the capital of Roman Greece, a wealthy commercial centre, and the home of a restless, superficial intellectualism. Exuberant verbosity,
selfish display, excesses at the Lord's table, unseemly behaviour
of women at meetings for worship, and also abuse of spiritual
gifts, were complicated by heathen influences and the corrupting customs of idolatry, more especially under the supposed
protection of Poseidon and Aphrodite. Hence the apostle's
pleas, rebukes and exhortations. Most of all noteworthy is his
forceful treatment of the subject of the resurrection of Christ
and this only a quarter of a century after the event, Corinth being all the time easily accessible from Jerusalem. Of the
Letter mentioned in v. 9 we know nothing.

#BCV:1 Corinthians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS</h1>
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, called to be an Apostle of  Christ Jesus through the will of God--and our brother Sosthenes:
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:2">2</verse></sup> To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women  consecrated in Christ Jesus, called  to be  saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--  their Lord as well as ours.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:3">3</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:4">4</verse></sup> I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you  in Christ Jesus--
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:5">5</verse></sup> that you have been  so richly blessed in Him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:6">6</verse></sup> Thus my testimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:7">7</verse></sup> so that there is no gift of God in which you  consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:8">8</verse></sup> who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:9">9</verse></sup> God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called  into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:10">10</verse></sup> Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to  cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:11">11</verse></sup> For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:12">12</verse></sup> What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to  Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:13">13</verse></sup> Is the Christ  in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized  to be Paul's adherents?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:14">14</verse></sup> I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius--
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:15">15</verse></sup> for fear people should say that you were baptized  to be my adherents.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:16">16</verse></sup> I did, however, baptize Stephanas' household also: but I do not think that I baptized any one else.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:17">17</verse></sup> Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Good News; and not in merely wise words--lest the Cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:18">18</verse></sup> For  the Message of the Cross is  foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:19">19</verse></sup> For so it stands written, "I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of  the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:20">20</verse></sup> Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:21">21</verse></sup> For after the world by its wisdom--as God in His wisdom had ordained--had failed to gain the knowledge of God, God was pleased, by the apparent foolishness of the Message which we preach, to save those who accepted it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:22">22</verse></sup> Seeing that Jews demand  miracles, and Greeks go in search of wisdom,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:23">23</verse></sup> while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:24">24</verse></sup> but to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:25">25</verse></sup> Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:26">26</verse></sup> For consider, brethren, God's call to you.  Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:27">27</verse></sup> But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:28">28</verse></sup> and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things  that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:29">29</verse></sup> to prevent any mortal man from boasting in the presence of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:30">30</verse></sup> But you--and it is all God's doing--are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and  deliverance;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 1:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 1:31">31</verse></sup> in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:1">2</verse></font> And as for myself, brethren, when I came to you, it was not with surpassing power of eloquence or earthly wisdom that I came, announcing to you  that which God had commanded me to bear witness to.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:2">2</verse></sup> For I determined to be utterly ignorant, when among you, of everything except of Jesus Christ, and of Him as having been crucified.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:3">3</verse></sup> And so far as I myself was concerned, I came to you  in conscious feebleness and in fear and in deep anxiety.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:4">4</verse></sup> And my language and the Message that I proclaimed were not adorned with persuasive words of earthly wisdom, but depended upon truths which the Spirit taught and mightily carried home;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:5">5</verse></sup> so that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man but on the power of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:6">6</verse></sup> Yet when we are among mature believers we do speak words of wisdom; a wisdom not belonging, however, to the present age nor to the leaders of the present age who are soon to pass away.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:7">7</verse></sup> But in dealing with truths hitherto kept secret we speak of God's wisdom--that hidden wisdom which, before the world began, God pre-destined, so that it should result in glory to us;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:8">8</verse></sup> a wisdom which not one of the leaders of the present age  possesses, for if they had  possessed it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:9">9</verse></sup> But--to use the words of Scripture--we speak of things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, and which have never entered the heart of man: all that God has in readiness for them that love Him.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:10">10</verse></sup> For us, however, God has drawn aside the veil through the teaching of the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, including the depths of the divine nature.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:11">11</verse></sup> For, among human beings, who knows a man's inner thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? In the same way, also, only God's Spirit is acquainted with God's inner thoughts.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:12">12</verse></sup> But we have not received  the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may know the blessings that have been so freely given to us by God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:13">13</verse></sup> Of these we speak--not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches--adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual  truths.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:14">14</verse></sup> The  unspiritual man rejects the  things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:15">15</verse></sup> But the spiritual man judges of everything, although he is himself judged by no one.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 2:16">16</verse></sup> For who has penetrated the mind of the Lord, and will instruct Him? But *we* have the mind of Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:1">3</verse></font> And as for myself, brethren, I found it impossible to speak to you as spiritual men. It had to be as to worldlings--mere babes in Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:2">2</verse></sup> I fed you with milk and not with solid food, since for this you were not yet strong enough. And even now you are not strong enough:
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:3">3</verse></sup> you are still unspiritual. For  so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:4">4</verse></sup> For when some one says, "I belong to Paul," and another says, "I belong to Apollos," is not this the way men of the world speak?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:5">5</verse></sup> What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are just God's servants, through whose efforts, and as the Lord granted power to each, you accepted the faith.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:6">6</verse></sup> I planted and Apollos watered; but it was God who was, all the time, giving the increase.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:7">7</verse></sup> So that neither the planter nor the waterer is of any importance. God who gives the increase is all in all.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:8">8</verse></sup> Now in aim and purpose the planter and the waterer are one; and yet each will receive his own special reward, answering to his own special work.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:9">9</verse></sup> Apollos and I are simply fellow workers  for and with God, and you are *God's* field-- *God's* building.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:10">10</verse></sup> In discharge of the task which God graciously entrusted to me, I--like a competent master-builder--have laid a foundation, and others are building upon it. But let every one be careful how and what he builds.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:11">11</verse></sup> For no one can lay any other foundation in addition to that which is already laid, namely Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:12">12</verse></sup> And whether the building which any one  is erecting on that foundation be of gold or silver or costly stones, of timber or hay or straw--
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:13">13</verse></sup> the true character of each individual's work will become manifest. For  the day of Christ will disclose it, because that day  is soon to come upon us clothed in fire, and as for the quality of every one's work-- the fire is the thing which will test it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:14">14</verse></sup> If any one's work--the building which he has erected--stands the test, he will be rewarded.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:15">15</verse></sup> If any one's work is burnt up, he will suffer the loss of it; yet he will himself be rescued, but only, as it were, by passing through the fire.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:16">16</verse></sup> Do you not know that you are God's Sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God has His home within you?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:17">17</verse></sup> If any one is marring the Sanctuary of God, him will God mar; for the Sanctuary of God is holy, which you all are.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:18">18</verse></sup> Let no one deceive himself. If any man imagines that he is wise,  compared with the rest of you, with the wisdom of the present age, let him become "foolish" so that he may be wise.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:19">19</verse></sup> This world's wisdom is "foolishness" in God's sight; for it is written, "He snares the wise with their own cunning."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:20">20</verse></sup> And again, "The Lord takes knowledge of the reasonings of the wise--how useless they are."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:21">21</verse></sup> Therefore let no one boast about  his human teachers.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:22">22</verse></sup> For everything belongs to you--be it Paul or Apollos or  Peter, the world or life or death,  things present or future--everything belongs to you;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 3:23">23</verse></sup> and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:1">4</verse></font> As for  us Apostles, let any one take this view of us--we are Christ's  officers, and stewards of God's secret truths.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:2">2</verse></sup> This being so, it follows that fidelity is what is required in stewards.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:3">3</verse></sup> I however am very little concerned at undergoing your scrutiny, or that of other men; in fact I do not even scrutinize myself.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:4">4</verse></sup> Though I am not conscious of having been in any way unfaithful, yet I do not for that reason stand acquitted; but He whose scrutiny I must undergo is the Lord.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:5">5</verse></sup> Therefore form no premature judgements, but wait until the Lord  returns. He will  both bring to light the secrets of darkness and will openly disclose the motives that have been in people's hearts; and then the praise which each man deserves will come to him from God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:6">6</verse></sup> In writing this much, brethren,  with special reference  to Apollos and myself, I have done so for your sakes, in order to teach you by our example what those words mean, which say, "Nothing beyond what is written!" --so that you may cease to take sides in boastful rivalry, for one teacher against another.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:7">7</verse></sup> Why, who gives you your superiority, my brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? And if you really  did receive it, why boast as if this were not so?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:8">8</verse></sup> Every one of you already  has all that heart can desire; already you  have grown rich; without waiting for us, you  have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:9">9</verse></sup> God, it seems to me, has  exhibited us Apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; for we have come to be a spectacle to all creation--alike to angels and to men.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:10">10</verse></sup> We, for Christ's sake, are labeled as "foolish";  you, as Christians, are men of shrewd intelligence. We are mere weaklings: you are strong. You are in high repute: we are outcasts.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:11">11</verse></sup> To this very moment we endure both hunger and thirst, with scanty clothing and many a blow.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:12">12</verse></sup> Homes we have none. Wearily we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we bear it patiently;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:13">13</verse></sup> when slandered, we try to conciliate. We have  come to be regarded as the mere dirt and filth of the world--the refuse of the universe, even to this hour.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:14">14</verse></sup> I am not writing all this to shame you, but I am offering you advice as my dearly-loved children.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:15">15</verse></sup> For even if you were to have ten thousand  spiritual instructors--for all that you could not have several fathers. It is I who in Christ Jesus became your father through the Good News.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:16">16</verse></sup> I entreat you therefore to become like me.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:17">17</verse></sup> For this reason I  have sent Timothy to you.  Spiritually he is my dearly-loved and faithful child. He will remind you of my  habits as a Christian teacher--the manner in which I teach everywhere in every Church.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:18">18</verse></sup> But some of you have been puffed up through getting the idea that I am not coming to  Corinth.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:19">19</verse></sup> But, if the Lord is willing, I shall come to you without delay; and then I shall know not the fine speeches of these conceited people, but their power.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:20">20</verse></sup> For  Apostolic authority is not a thing of words, but of power.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 4:21">21</verse></sup> Which shall it be? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in a loving and tender spirit?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:1">5</verse></font> It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and of a kind unheard of even among the Gentiles--a man has his father's wife!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:2">2</verse></sup> And you, instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this deed of shame, are filled with self-complacency!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:3">3</verse></sup> I for my part, present with you in spirit although absent in body, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has so acted.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:4">4</verse></sup> In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are all assembled and my spirit is with you, together with the power of our Lord Jesus,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:5">5</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:6">6</verse></sup> It is no good thing--this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little  yeast  corrupts the whole of the dough?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:7">7</verse></sup> Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be dough of a new kind; for in fact you *are*  free from corruption. For our Passover Lamb has already been offered in sacrifice--even Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:8">8</verse></sup> Therefore let us keep our festival not with old yeast nor with the yeast of what is evil and mischievous, but with bread free from yeast--the bread of  transparent sincerity and of truth.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:9">9</verse></sup> I wrote to you  in that letter that you were not to associate with fornicators;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:10">10</verse></sup> not that in this world you are to keep wholly aloof from such as they, any more than from people who are avaricious and greedy of gain, or from worshippers of idols. For that would mean that you would be compelled to go out of the world altogether.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:11">11</verse></sup> But what I meant was that you were not to associate with any one bearing the name of "brother," if he was addicted to fornication or avarice or idol-worship or abusive language or hard-drinking or greed of gain. With such a man you ought not even to eat.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:12">12</verse></sup> For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are within the Church
#BCV:1 Corinthians 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 5:13">13</verse></sup> while you leave to God's judgement those who are outside? Remove the wicked man from among you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:1">6</verse></font> If one of you has a grievance against an opponent, does he dare to go to law before irreligious men and not before God's people?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:2">2</verse></sup> Do you not know that God's people will sit in judgement upon the world? And if you are the court before which the world  is to be judged, are you unfit to deal with these petty matters?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:3">3</verse></sup> Do you not know that we are to sit in judgement upon angels--to say nothing of things belonging to this life?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:4">4</verse></sup> If therefore you have things belonging to this life which need to be decided, is it  men who are absolutely nothing in the Church--is it *they* whom you make your judges?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:5">5</verse></sup> I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there does not exist among you a single wise man competent to decide between  a man and his brother,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:6">6</verse></sup> but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:7">7</verse></sup> To say no more, then, it is altogether a defect in you that you have law-suits with one another. Why not rather endure injustice? Why not rather submit to being defrauded?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:8">8</verse></sup> On the contrary you yourselves inflict injustice and fraud, and upon brethren too.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:9">9</verse></sup> Do you not know that unrighteous men will not inherit God's Kingdom? Cherish no delusion here. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor any who are guilty of unnatural crime,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:10">10</verse></sup> nor theives, nor avaricious people, nor any who are addicted to hard drinking, to abusive language or to greed of gain, will inherit God's Kingdom.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:11">11</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:12">12</verse></sup> Everything is allowable to me, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable to me, but  to nothing will I become a slave.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:13">13</verse></sup> Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. Yet the body does not exist for the purpose of fornication, but for the Master's service, and the Master exists for the body;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:14">14</verse></sup> and as God by His power raised the Master to life, so He will also raise us up.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:15">15</verse></sup> Do you not know that your bodies are  members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:16">16</verse></sup> Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute is one with her in body? For God says, "The two shall become one."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:17">17</verse></sup> But he who is in union with the Master is one with Him in spirit.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:18">18</verse></sup> Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:19">19</verse></sup> Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 6:20">20</verse></sup> And you are not your own, for you have been  redeemed at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:1">7</verse></font> I now deal with the subjects mentioned in your letter. It is well for a man to abstain altogether from marriage.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:2">2</verse></sup> But because there is so much fornication every man should have a wife of his own, and every woman should have a husband.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:3">3</verse></sup> Let a man pay his wife her due, and let a woman also pay her husband his.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:4">4</verse></sup> A married woman is not mistress of her own person: her husband has certain rights. In the same way a married man is not master of his own person: his wife has certain rights.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:5">5</verse></sup> Do not refuse one another, unless perhaps it is just for a time and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and may then associate again; lest the Adversary begin to tempt you because of your deficiency in self-control.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:6">6</verse></sup> Thus much in the way of concession, not of command.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:7">7</verse></sup> Yet I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from God--one in one direction and one in another.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:8">8</verse></sup> But I tell the unmarried, and women who are widows, that it is well for them to remain as I am.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:9">9</verse></sup> If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:10">10</verse></sup> But to those already married my instructions are--yet not mine, but the Lord's--that a wife is not to leave her husband;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:11">11</verse></sup> or if she has already left him, let her either remain as she is or be reconciled to him; and that a husband is not to send away his wife.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:12">12</verse></sup> To  the rest it is I who speak--not the Lord. If a brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:13">13</verse></sup> And a woman who has an unbelieving husband--if he consents to live with her, let her not separate from him.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:14">14</verse></sup> For, in such cases, the unbelieving husband  has become--and is--holy through union with a Christian woman, and the unbelieving wife is holy through union with a Christian brother. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but in reality they have a place among God's people.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:15">15</verse></sup> If, however, the unbeliever  is determined to leave, let him or her do so. Under such circumstances the Christian man or woman is no slave; God  has called us  to live lives of peace.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:16">16</verse></sup> For what assurance have you, O woman, as to whether  you will save your husband? Or what assurance have you, O man, as to whether you will save your wife?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:17">17</verse></sup> Only, whatever be  the condition in life which the Lord has assigned to each individual--and whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him--in that let him continue.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:18">18</verse></sup> This is what I command in all the Churches. Was any one already circumcised when called? Let him not have recourse to the surgeons. Was any one uncircumcised when called? Let him remain uncircumcised.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:19">19</verse></sup> Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing: obedience to God's commandments is everything.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:20">20</verse></sup> Whatever be the  condition in life in which a man was, when he was called, in that let him continue.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:21">21</verse></sup> Were you a slave when God called you? Let not that weigh on your mind. And yet if you can get your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:22">22</verse></sup> For  a Christian, if he was a slave when called, is the Lord's freed man, and in the same way a free man, if called, becomes the slave of Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:23">23</verse></sup> You have all been  redeemed at infinite cost:  do not become slaves to men.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:24">24</verse></sup> Where each one stood when he was called, there, brethren, let him still stand--close to God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:25">25</verse></sup> Concerning unmarried women I have no command to give you from the Lord; but I offer you my opinion, which is that of a man who, through the Lord's mercy, is deserving of your confidence.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:26">26</verse></sup> I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:27">27</verse></sup> Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to get free. Are you free from the marriage bond? Do not seek for a wife.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:28">28</verse></sup> Yet  if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a maiden marries, she has not sinned. Such people, however, will have  outward trouble. But I am for sparing you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:29">29</verse></sup> Yet of this I warn you, brethren:  the time has been  shortened--so that henceforth those who have wives should be as though they had none,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:30">30</verse></sup> those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:31">31</verse></sup> and those who use the world as not using it to the full. For the world as it now exists is passing away.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:32
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:32">32</verse></sup> And I would have you free from worldly anxiety. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord's business--how he shall please the Lord;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:33
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:33">33</verse></sup> but a married man concerns himself with the business of the world--how he shall please his wife.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:34
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:34">34</verse></sup> There is a difference too between a married and an unmarried woman. She who is unmarried concerns herself with the Lord's business--that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but the married woman concerns herself with the business of the world--how she shall please her husband.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:35
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:35">35</verse></sup> Thus much I say in your own interest; not to lay a trap for you, but to help towards what is becoming, and enable you to wait on the Lord without distraction.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:36
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:36">36</verse></sup> If, however, a father thinks he is acting unbecomingly towards his still unmarried daughter if she be past the bloom of her youth, and so the matter is urgent, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin;  she and her suitor should be allowed to marry.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:37
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:37">37</verse></sup> But if a father stands firm in his resolve, being free from all external constraint and having a legal right to act as he pleases, and in his own mind has come to the decision to keep his daughter unmarried, he will do well.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:38
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:38">38</verse></sup> So that he who gives his daughter in marriage does well, and yet he who does not give her in marriage will do better.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:39
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:39">39</verse></sup> A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband  dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 7:40
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 7:40">40</verse></sup> But in my judgement, her state is a  more enviable one if she remains as she is; and I also think that I have the Spirit of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:1">8</verse></font> Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we  already understand--because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:2">2</verse></sup> If any one imagines that he already possesses any true knowledge, he has as yet attained to no knowledge of the kind to which he ought to have attained;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:3">3</verse></sup> but if any one loves God, that man is known by God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:4">4</verse></sup> As to eating things which have been sacrificed to idols, we are fully aware  that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:5">5</verse></sup> For if so-called gods do exist, either in Heaven or on earth--and in fact there are many such gods and many such lords--
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:6">6</verse></sup> yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:7">7</verse></sup> But  all believers do not recognize these facts. Some,  from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:8">8</verse></sup> It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:9">9</verse></sup> But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:10">10</verse></sup> For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining  at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer)
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:11">11</verse></sup> Why,  your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--your brother, for whom Christ died!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:12">12</verse></sup> Moreover when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak consciences, you are, in reality, sinning against Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 8:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food, for fear I should cause my brother to fall.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:1">9</verse></font> Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I  have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:2">2</verse></sup> If to other men I am not an Apostle, yet at any rate I am one to you; for your very existence as a Christian Church is the seal of my Apostleship.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:3">3</verse></sup> That is how I vindicate myself to those who criticize me.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:4">4</verse></sup> Have we not a right  to claim food and drink?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:5">5</verse></sup> Have we not a right to take with us on our journeys a Christian sister as our wife, as the rest of the Apostles do--and the Lord's brothers and  Peter?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:6">6</verse></sup> Or again, is it only  Barnabas and myself who are not at liberty to give up working with our hands?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:7">7</verse></sup> What soldier ever serves at his own cost? Who plants a vineyard and yet does not eat any of the grapes? Or who tends a  herd of cattle and yet does not taste their milk?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:8">8</verse></sup> Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:9">9</verse></sup> For in the Law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:10">10</verse></sup> Is God simply thinking about the oxen? Or is it really in our interest that He speaks? Of course, it was written in our interest, because  it is His will that when a plough-man ploughs, and a thresher threshes, it should be in the hope of sharing that which comes as the result.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:11">11</verse></sup> If it is we who sowed the spiritual grain in you, is it a great thing that we should reap a temporal harvest from you?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:12">12</verse></sup> If other teachers  possess that right over you, do not we possess it much more? Yet we have not availed ourselves of the right, but we patiently endure all things rather than hinder in the least degree the progress of the Good News of the Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:13">13</verse></sup> Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites have their food from  the sacred place, and that those who serve at the altar all alike share with the altar?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:14">14</verse></sup> In the same way the Lord also  directed those who proclaim the Good News to maintain themselves by the Good News.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:15">15</verse></sup> But I, for my part,  have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of  these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:16">16</verse></sup> If I go on preaching the Good News, that is nothing for me to boast of; for the necessity is imposed upon me; and alas for me, if I fail to preach it!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:17">17</verse></sup> And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:18">18</verse></sup> What are  my wages then? The very fact that the Good News which I preach will cost my hearers nothing,  so that I cannot be charged with  abuse of my privileges as a Christian preacher.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:19">19</verse></sup> Though free from all human control, I  have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning  as many converts as possible.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:20">20</verse></sup> To the Jews I have become like a Jew in order to win Jews; to men under the Law as if I were under the Law--although I am not--in order to win those who are under the Law;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:21">21</verse></sup> to men without Law as if I were without Law--although I am not without Law in relation to God but am abiding in Christ's Law--in order to win those who are without Law.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:22">22</verse></sup> To the weak I have become weak, so as to gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, in the hope that in every one of these ways I may save some.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:23">23</verse></sup> And I do everything for the sake of the Good News, that I may share with my hearers in its benefits.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:24">24</verse></sup> Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:25">25</verse></sup> But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:26">26</verse></sup> That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 9:27">27</verse></sup> but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly,  after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be  rejected.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:1">10</verse></font> For I would have you remember, brethren, how our forefathers were all of them  sheltered by the cloud, and all got safely through the  Red Sea.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:2">2</verse></sup> All were baptized in the cloud and in the sea  to be followers of Moses.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:3">3</verse></sup> All ate the same  spiritual food,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:4">4</verse></sup> and all drank the same  spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them--and that rock was the Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:5">5</verse></sup> But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the Desert.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:6">6</verse></sup> And in this they became a warning to us, to teach us not to be eager, as they were eager, in pursuit of what is evil.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:7">7</verse></sup> And you must not be worshippers of idols, as some of them were. For it is written, "The People sat down to eat and drink, and stood up  to dance."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:8">8</verse></sup> Nor may we be fornicators, like some of them who committed fornication and on a single day  23,000 of them fell dead.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:9">9</verse></sup> And do not let us  test the Lord too far, as some of them tested Him and were destroyed by the serpents.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:10">10</verse></sup> And do not be discontented, as some of them were, and they were destroyed by the Destroyer.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:11">11</verse></sup> All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us  upon whom the  ends of the Ages have come.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:12">12</verse></sup> So then let him who thinks he is standing securely beware of falling.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:13">13</verse></sup> No  temptation  has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:14">14</verse></sup> Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:15">15</verse></sup> I speak as to men of sense: judge for yourselves of what I say.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:16">16</verse></sup> The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:17">17</verse></sup> Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:18">18</verse></sup> Look at the Israelites--the nation and their ritual. Are not those who eat the sacrifices joint-partakers in the altar?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:19">19</verse></sup> Do I mean that a thing sacrificed to an idol is what it claims to be, or that an idol is a real thing?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:20">20</verse></sup> No, but that which  the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God; and I would not have you  have fellowship with one another through the demons.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:21">21</verse></sup> You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons: you cannot be joint-partakers both in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:22">22</verse></sup> Or are we actually arousing the Lord  to jealousy. Are we stronger than He is?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:23">23</verse></sup> Everything is allowable, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable, but everything does not build others up.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:24">24</verse></sup> Let no one be for ever seeking his own good, but let each seek that of his fellow man.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:25">25</verse></sup> Anything that is for sale in the meat market, eat, and ask no questions  for conscience' sake;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:26">26</verse></sup> for the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:27">27</verse></sup> If an unbeliever gives you an invitation and you are disposed to accept it, eat whatever is put before you, and ask no questions for conscience' sake.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:28">28</verse></sup> But  if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice;" abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:29">29</verse></sup> But now I mean his conscience, not your own.  "Why, on what ground," you may object, "is the question of my liberty of action to be decided by a conscience not my own?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:30">30</verse></sup> If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?"
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:31">31</verse></sup> Whether, then, you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, let everything be done to the glory of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:32">32</verse></sup> Do not be causes of stumbling either to Jews or to Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 10:33">33</verse></sup> That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:1">11</verse></font> Be imitators of me, in so far as I in turn am an imitator of Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:2">2</verse></sup> Now I commend you for remembering me in everything, and because you hold fast truths and practices precisely as I have taught them to you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:3">3</verse></sup> I would have you know, however, that of every man, Christ is the Head, that of a woman her husband is the Head, and that God is Christ's Head.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:4">4</verse></sup> A man  who wears a veil when praying or  prophesying dishonors his Head;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:5">5</verse></sup> but  a woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her Head, for  it is exactly the same as if she had her hair cut short.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:6">6</verse></sup> If a woman will not wear a veil, let her also cut off her hair. But since it is a dishonor to a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:7">7</verse></sup> For a man ought not to have a veil on his head, since he is the image and glory of God; while woman is the glory of man.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:8">8</verse></sup> Man does not take his origin from woman, but woman takes hers from man.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:9">9</verse></sup> For man was not created for woman's sake, but woman for man's.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:10">10</verse></sup> That is why a woman ought to have on her head  a symbol of subjection,  because of the angels.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:11">11</verse></sup> Yet,  in the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man independent of woman.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:12">12</verse></sup> For  just as woman originates from man, so also man comes into existence through woman, but everything springs originally from God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:13">13</verse></sup> Judge of this for your own selves: is it seemly for a woman to pray to God when she is unveiled?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:14">14</verse></sup> Does not  Nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:15">15</verse></sup> but that if a woman has long hair it is her glory, because her hair  was given her for a covering?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:16">16</verse></sup> But if any one is inclined to be contentious on the point, we have no such custom, nor have the Churches of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:17">17</verse></sup> But while giving you these instructions, there is one thing I cannot praise--your meeting together, with bad rather than good results.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:18">18</verse></sup> for, in the first place, when you meet  as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:19">19</verse></sup> For there must of necessity be differences of opinion among you, in order that it may be plainly seen who are the men of sterling worth among you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:20">20</verse></sup> When, however, you meet in one place, there is no eating the Supper of the Lord;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:21">21</verse></sup> for it is his own supper of which each of you is in a hurry to partake, and  one eats like a hungry man, while another has already drunk to excess.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:22">22</verse></sup> Why, have you no homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you wish to show your contempt for the Church of God and make those who have no homes feel ashamed? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I certainly do not praise you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:23">23</verse></sup> For it was from the Lord that I received the facts which, in turn, I handed on to you;  how that the Lord Jesus, on the night He  was to be betrayed, took some bread,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:24">24</verse></sup> and after giving thanks He broke it and said, "This is my body which is  about to be broken for you. Do this in memory of me."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:25">25</verse></sup> In the same way, when the meal was over, He also took the cup. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant  of which my blood is the pledge. Do this, every time that you drink it, in memory of me."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:26">26</verse></sup> For every time that you eat this bread and drink from the cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death--until He  returns.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:27">27</verse></sup> Whoever, therefore,  in an unworthy manner, eats the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord  sins against the body and blood of the Lord.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:28">28</verse></sup> But let a man examine himself, and, having done that, then let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:29">29</verse></sup> For any one who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself, if he fails to  estimate the body aright.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:30">30</verse></sup> That is why many among you are sickly and out of health, and why not a few  die.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:31">31</verse></sup> If, however, we estimated ourselves aright, we should not be judged.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:32">32</verse></sup> But when we are judged by the Lord, chastisement follows, to save us from being condemned along with the world.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:33">33</verse></sup> Therefore, brethren, when you come together for this meal, wait for one another.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 11:34
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 11:34">34</verse></sup> If any one is hungry, let him eat at home; so that your coming together may not lead to judgement.  The other matters I will deal with whenever I come.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:1">12</verse></font> It is important, brethren, that you should have clear knowledge on the subject of spiritual  gifts.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:2">2</verse></sup> You know that when you were heathens you went astray after dumb idols, wherever you  happened to be led.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:3">3</verse></sup> For this reason I would have you understand that no one speaking under the influence of The Spirit of God ever says, "Jesus is accursed," and that no one is able to say, "Jesus is Lord," except under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:4">4</verse></sup> Now there are various kinds of gifts, but there is one and the same Spirit;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:5">5</verse></sup> various forms of official service, and yet one and the same Lord;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:6">6</verse></sup> diversities in work, and yet one and the same God--He who in each person brings about the whole result.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:7">7</verse></sup> But to each of us a manifestation of the Spirit has been granted for the common good.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:8">8</verse></sup> To one the utterance of wisdom has been granted through the Spirit; to another the utterance of knowledge  in accordance with the will of the same Spirit;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:9">9</verse></sup> to a third man, by means of the same Spirit, special faith; to another various gifts of healing, by means of the one Spirit;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:10">10</verse></sup> to another the exercise of miraculous powers;  to another the gift of  prophecy; to another the power of discriminating between prophetic utterances; to another varieties of the gift of 'tongues;' to another the interpretation of tongues.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:11">11</verse></sup> But these results are all brought about by one and the same Spirit, who  bestows His gifts upon each of us in accordance with His own will.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:12">12</verse></sup> For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many as they are, constitute but one body,  so it is with  the Church of Christ.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:13">13</verse></sup> For, in fact, in one Spirit all of us--whether we are Jews or  Gentiles, slaves or free men--were baptized to form but one body; and we were all  nourished by that one Spirit.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:14">14</verse></sup> For the human body does not consist of one part, but of many.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:15">15</verse></sup> Were the foot to say, "Because I am not a  hand I am not a part of the body," that would not make it any the less a part of the body.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:16">16</verse></sup> Or were the ear to say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that would not make it any the less a part of the body.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:17">17</verse></sup> If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the nostrils be?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:18">18</verse></sup> But, as a matter of fact, God has arranged the parts in the body--every one of them--as He has seen fit.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:19">19</verse></sup> If they were all one part, where would the body be?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:20">20</verse></sup> But, as a matter of fact, there are many parts and but one body.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:21">21</verse></sup> It is also impossible for the eye to say to the hand, "I do not need you;" or again for the head to say to the feet, "I do not need you."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:22">22</verse></sup> No, it is quite otherwise. Even those parts of the body which are apparently somewhat feeble are yet indispensable;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:23">23</verse></sup> and those which we deem less honorable we clothe with more abundant honor; and so our ungraceful parts come to have a more abundant grace, while our graceful parts have everything they need.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:24">24</verse></sup> But it was God who  built up the body, and bestowed more abundant honor on the part that felt the need,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:25">25</verse></sup> that there might be no disunion in the body, but that all the members might entertain the same anxious care for one another's welfare.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:26">26</verse></sup> And if one part is suffering, every other part suffers with it; or if one part is receiving special honor, every other part  shares in the joy.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:27">27</verse></sup> As for you, you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members of it.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:28">28</verse></sup> And  by God's appointment there are in the Church--first Apostles, secondly  Prophets, thirdly teachers. Then come miraculous powers, and then ability to cure diseases or render loving service, or powers of organization, or varieties of the gift of 'tongues.'
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:29">29</verse></sup> Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all teachers?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:30">30</verse></sup> Have all miraculous powers? Have all ability to cure diseases? Do all speak in 'tongues'? Do all interpret?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 12:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 12:31">31</verse></sup> But always seek to excel in the greater gifts. And now I will point out to you a way of life which transcends all others.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:1">13</verse></font> If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but am destitute of Love, I have but become a loud-sounding trumpet or a clanging cymbal.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:2">2</verse></sup> If I possess the gift of prophecy and am versed in all mysteries and all knowledge, and have such absolute faith that I can remove mountains, but am destitute of Love, I am nothing.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:3">3</verse></sup> And if I  distribute all my possessions to the poor, and give up my body  to be burned, but am destitute of Love, it profits me nothing.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:4">4</verse></sup> Love is patient and kind. Love knows neither envy nor jealousy.  Love is not forward and self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:5">5</verse></sup> She does not behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself, nor blaze out in passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:6">6</verse></sup> She finds no pleasure in injustice done to others, but joyfully sides with the truth.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:7">7</verse></sup> She knows how to be silent. She is full of trust, full of hope, full of patient endurance.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:8">8</verse></sup> Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be  done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be  brought to an end.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:9">9</verse></sup> For our knowledge is imperfect, and so is our prophesying;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:10">10</verse></sup> but when the perfect state of things is come, all that is imperfect will be brought to an end.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:11">11</verse></sup> When I was a child, I talked like a child,  felt like a child, reasoned like a child: when I  became a man,  I  put from me childish ways.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:12">12</verse></sup> For the present we see things as if in a mirror,  and are puzzled; but then we shall see them face to face. For the present the knowledge I gain is imperfect; but then I shall know fully, even as  I am fully known.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 13:13">13</verse></sup> And so there remain Faith, Hope, Love--these three; and of these the greatest is Love.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:1">14</verse></font> Be eager in your pursuit of this Love, and be earnestly ambitious for spiritual gifts, but let it be chiefly so in order that you may prophesy.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:2">2</verse></sup> For he who speaks in an unknown tongue is not speaking to men, but to God; for no one understands him. Yet in the Spirit he is speaking secret truths.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:3">3</verse></sup> But he who  prophesies speaks to men words of edification,  encouragement and comfort.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:4">4</verse></sup> He who speaks in an unknown tongue  does good to himself, but he who prophesies  does good to the Church.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:5">5</verse></sup> I should be right glad were you all to speak in 'tongues,' but yet more glad were you all to prophesy. And, in fact, the man who prophesies is superior to him who speaks in 'tongues,' except when the latter  can interpret in order that the Church may get a blessing.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:6">6</verse></sup> But, brethren, as things are, if I come to you speaking in 'tongues,' what benefit shall I confer on you,  if the utterance is neither in the form of a revelation nor of additional knowledge nor of prophecy nor of teaching?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:7">7</verse></sup> Even inanimate things--flutes or harps, for instance--when yielding a sound, if they make no distinction in the notes, how shall the tune which is played on the flute or the harp be known?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:8">8</verse></sup> If the bugle--to take another example--gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:9">9</verse></sup> And so with you; if with the living voice you fail to utter intelligible words, how will people know what you are saying? You will be talking to the winds.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:10">10</verse></sup> There are, we will suppose, a great number of languages in the world, and no creature is without a language.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:11">11</verse></sup> If, however, I do not know the meaning of the particular language, I shall seem to the speaker of it, and he to me, to be merely talking some foreign tongue.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore, seeing that you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them so as to  benefit the Church.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore let a man who has the gift of tongues pray for the power of interpreting them.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:14">14</verse></sup> For if I pray in an unknown tongue,  my spirit prays, but my understanding is barren.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:15">15</verse></sup> How then does the matter stand? I will pray in spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also. I will  praise God in spirit, and I will praise Him with my understanding also.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:16">16</verse></sup> Otherwise, if you bless God in spirit only, how shall he who is in the position of an ungifted man say the 'Amen' to your giving of thanks, when he does not know what your words mean?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:17">17</verse></sup> Rightly enough you are giving thanks, and yet your neighbor is not  benefited.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:18">18</verse></sup> I speak in a tongue, thank God, more than all of you;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:19">19</verse></sup> but in the Church I would rather speak five words with my understanding--so as to instruct others also--than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:20">20</verse></sup> Brethren, do not prove yourselves to be children in your minds. As regards evil, indeed, be utter babes, but as regards your minds prove yourselves to be men of ripe years.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:21">21</verse></sup> In the Law it stands written, "'By men of unknown tongues and by the lips of an unknown nation will I speak to this People, but even then they will not listen to Me', says the Lord."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:22">22</verse></sup> This shows that the gift of tongues is intended as a sign not to those who believe but to unbelievers, but  prophecy is intended not for unbelievers but for those who believe.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:23">23</verse></sup> Accordingly if the whole Church has assembled and all are speaking in 'tongues,' and there come in ungifted men, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are all mad?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:24">24</verse></sup> If, on the other hand, every one is prophesying and an unbeliever or an ungifted man comes in, he is convicted by all and closely examined by all,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:25">25</verse></sup> and the hidden evils of his heart are brought to light. And, as the result, he will fall on his face and worship God, and will report to others that of a truth God is among you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:26">26</verse></sup> What then, brethren? Whenever you assemble, there is not one of you who is not ready either with a song of praise, a sermon, a revelation, a 'tongue,' or an interpretation. Let everything be done with a view to the  building up of faith and character.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:27">27</verse></sup> If there is speaking in an unknown tongue, only two or at the most three should speak, and they should do so one at a time, and one should interpret;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:28">28</verse></sup> or if there is no interpreter, let the man with the gift be silent in the Church, speaking to himself and to God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:29">29</verse></sup> But if there are Prophets, let two or three speak and let the rest  judge.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:30">30</verse></sup> And if anything is revealed to some one else who is  seated there, let the first be silent.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:31">31</verse></sup> For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged:
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:32
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:32">32</verse></sup> and the spirits of Prophets yield submission to Prophets.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:33
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:33">33</verse></sup> For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace,  as He is in all the Churches of His people.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:34
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:34">34</verse></sup> Let  married women be silent in the Churches, for they are not permitted to speak. They must be content with a subordinate place, as the Law also says;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:35
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:35">35</verse></sup> and if they wish to ask questions, they should ask  their own husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a married woman to speak at a Church assembly.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:36
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:36">36</verse></sup> Was it from you that God's Message first went forth, or is it to you only that it has come?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:37
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:37">37</verse></sup> If any one deems himself to be a Prophet or a man with spiritual gifts,  let him recognize as the Lord's command all that I am now writing to you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:38
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:38">38</verse></sup> But if any one is ignorant,  let him be ignorant.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:39
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:39">39</verse></sup> The conclusion, my brethren, is this. Be earnestly ambitious to prophesy, and do not check speaking with tongues;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 14:40
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 14:40">40</verse></sup> only let everything be done in a becoming and orderly manner.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:1">15</verse></font> But let me recall to you, brethren, the Good News which I brought you, which you accepted, and on which you are standing,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:2">2</verse></sup> through which also you are obtaining salvation, if you bear in mind the words in which I proclaimed it--unless indeed your faith has been unreal  from the very first.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:3">3</verse></sup> For I repeated to you the all-important fact which also I had been taught, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:4">4</verse></sup> that He was buried; that He rose to life again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:5">5</verse></sup> and was seen by  Peter, and then by the Twelve.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:6">6</verse></sup> Afterwards He was seen by more than five hundred brethren  at once, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have now fallen asleep.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:7">7</verse></sup> Afterwards He was seen by James, and then by all the Apostles.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:8">8</verse></sup> And last of all, as to one of untimely birth, He appeared to me also.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:9">9</verse></sup> For I am  the least of the Apostles, and am not fit to be called an Apostle--because I persecuted the Church of God.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:10">10</verse></sup> But what I am I am by the grace of God, and His grace bestowed upon me did not prove ineffectual. But I labored more strenuously than all the rest--yet it was not I, but God's grace working with me.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:11">11</verse></sup> But whether it is I or they, this is the way we preach and the way that you came to believe.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:12">12</verse></sup> But if Christ is preached as having risen from the dead, how is it that some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:13">13</verse></sup> If there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself has not risen to life.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:14">14</verse></sup> And if Christ has not risen, it follows that what we preach is a delusion, and that your faith also is  a delusion.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:15">15</verse></sup> Nay more, we are actually being discovered to be bearing false witness about God, because we have testified that God raised Christ to life, whom He did not raise, if in reality none of the dead are raised.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:16">16</verse></sup> For if none of the dead are raised to life, then Christ has not risen;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:17">17</verse></sup> and if Christ has not risen, your faith is  a vain thing--you are still in your sins.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:18">18</verse></sup> It follows also that those who  have fallen asleep in Christ  have perished.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:19">19</verse></sup> If in this present life we  have a *hope* resting on Christ,  and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than all the rest of the world.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:20">20</verse></sup> But, in reality, Christ *has* risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:21">21</verse></sup> For seeing that death came through man, through man comes also the resurrection of the dead.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:22">22</verse></sup> For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:23">23</verse></sup> But this will happen to each in the right order--Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at His return.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:24">24</verse></sup> Later on, comes  the End, when He is to surrender the Kingship  to God, the Father, when He shall have  overthrown all other government and all other authority and power.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:25">25</verse></sup> For He must continue King until  He shall have put all His enemies under His feet.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:26">26</verse></sup> The last enemy that is to be  overthrown is Death;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:27">27</verse></sup> for He  will have put all things in subjection under His feet. And when He shall have declared that "All things  are in subjection," it will be with the manifest exception of Him who has reduced them all to subjection to Him.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:28">28</verse></sup> But when the whole universe has been made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to Him who has made the universe subject to Him, in order that GOD may be  all in all.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:29">29</verse></sup> Otherwise  what will become of those who got themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead do not rise at all,  why are these baptized for them?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:30
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:30">30</verse></sup> Why also do  we Apostles expose ourselves to danger every hour?
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:31
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:31">31</verse></sup> I protest, brethren, as surely as I glory over you--which I may justly do in Christ Jesus our Lord--that I die day by day.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:32
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:32">32</verse></sup> If from merely human motives I  have fought with  wild beasts in Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:33
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:33">33</verse></sup> Do not deceive yourselves: "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:34
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:34">34</verse></sup> Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:35
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:35">35</verse></sup> But some one will say, "How can the dead rise? And with what kind of body do they come back?"
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:36
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:36">36</verse></sup> Foolish man! the seed you yourself sow has no life given to it unless it first dies;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:37
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:37">37</verse></sup> and as for what you sow, it is not the plant which is to be that you are sowing, but a bare grain, of wheat (it may be)
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:38
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:38">38</verse></sup> and to each kind of seed a body of its own.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:39
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:39">39</verse></sup> All flesh is not the same: there is human flesh, and flesh of cattle, of birds, and of fishes.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:40
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:40">40</verse></sup> There are bodies which are celestial and there are bodies which are earthly, but the glory of the celestial ones is one thing, and that of the earthly ones is another.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:41
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:41">41</verse></sup> There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:42
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:42">42</verse></sup> It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in a state of decay, it is raised free from decay;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:43
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:43">43</verse></sup> it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:44
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:44">44</verse></sup> an  animal body is sown, a spiritual body is raised.  As surely as there is an animal body, so there is also a spiritual body.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:45
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:45">45</verse></sup> In the same way also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal"; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:46
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:46">46</verse></sup> Nevertheless, it is not what is spiritual that came first, but what is animal; what is spiritual came afterwards.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:47
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:47">47</verse></sup> The first man is a man of earth, earthy; the second man is from Heaven.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:48
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:48">48</verse></sup> What the earthy one is, that also are those who are earthy; and what the heavenly One is, that also are those who are heavenly.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:49
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:49">49</verse></sup> And as we have borne a resemblance to the earthy one, let us see to it that we also bear a resemblance to the heavenly One.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:50
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:50">50</verse></sup> But this I tell you, brethren:  our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:51
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:51">51</verse></sup> I tell you  a truth hitherto kept secret: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:52
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:52">52</verse></sup> in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of  the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incapable of decay, and *we* shall be changed.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:53
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:53">53</verse></sup> For so it must be: this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:54
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:54">54</verse></sup> But when this perishable nature has put on what is imperishable, and this mortality has put on immortality, then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled, "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:55
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:55">55</verse></sup> "Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy  sting?"
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:56
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:56">56</verse></sup> Now sin is the sting of death, and sin derives its power from the Law;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:57
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:57">57</verse></sup> but God be thanked who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
#BCV:1 Corinthians 15:58
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 15:58">58</verse></sup> Therefore, my dear brethren, be firm, unmovable, busily occupied at all times in the Lord's work, knowing that your toil is not fruitless  in the Lord.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:1">16</verse></font> As to the collection for God's people, what I have directed the Churches of Galatia to do, you must do also.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:2">2</verse></sup> On the first day of every week let each of you put on one side and store up at his home  whatever gain has been granted to him; so that whenever I come, there may then be no collections going on.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:3">3</verse></sup> And when I am with you, whatever brethren you accredit by letter I will send to carry your kind gift to Jerusalem.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:4">4</verse></sup> And if it is worth while for me also to make the journey, they shall go as my companions.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:5">5</verse></sup> I shall come to you after passing through Macedonia; for my plan will be to pass through Macedonia;
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:6">6</verse></sup> and I shall make some stay with you perhaps, or even spend the winter with you, in order that you may help me forward, whichever way I travel.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:7">7</verse></sup> For I do not wish to see you on this occasion merely in passing; but if the Lord permits, I hope to remain some time with you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:8">8</verse></sup> I shall remain in Ephesus, however, until  the time of the Harvest Festival,
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:9">9</verse></sup> for a wide door stands open before me which demands great efforts, and we have many opponents.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:10">10</verse></sup> If Timothy pays you a visit, see that he is free from fear in his relations with you; for he is engaged in the Master's work just as I am.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:11">11</verse></sup> Therefore let no one slight him, but all of you should help him forward in peace to join me; for I am waiting for him and  others of the brethren.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:12">12</verse></sup> As for our brother Apollos, I have repeatedly urged him to accompany the brethren who are  coming to you: but he is quite resolved not to do so at present. He will come, however, when he has a good opportunity.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:13">13</verse></sup> Be on the alert; stand firm in the faith; acquit yourselves like men; be strong.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:14">14</verse></sup> Let all that you do be done  from motives of love.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:15">15</verse></sup> And I beseech you, brethren--you know the household of Stephanas, how they were the earliest Greek converts to Christ, and have devoted themselves to the service of God's people--
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:16">16</verse></sup> I beseech you, on your part, to show deference to such men, and to every one who participates in their work and toils hard.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:17">17</verse></sup> It is a joy to me that Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus have now arrived, because  what was wanting so far as you are concerned they have supplied.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:18">18</verse></sup> They have refreshed my spirit,  and yours. Acknowledge such men as these.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:19">19</verse></sup> The Churches in the province of Asia send you greetings; and Aquila and Prisca, in hearty Christian love, do the same, together with the Church which meets  at their house.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:20">20</verse></sup> The brethren all send greetings to you. Greet one another  with a holy kiss.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:21">21</verse></sup> The final greeting of me--Paul--with my own hand.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:22">22</verse></sup> If any one is destitute of love to the Lord, let him be accursed.  OUR LORD IS COMING.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:23">23</verse></sup> The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
#BCV:1 Corinthians 16:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Corinthians 16:24">24</verse></sup> My love in Christ Jesus be with you all.

#OUTLINE:1,2 Corinthians
#TOPIC:CORINTHIANS, SECOND EPISTLE TO THE
<heading><h1>PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS</h1>
The second Letter to the Corinthians was probably written
in the autumn of 56 a.d., the first Letter to them having been
sent in the spring of that year. But there are other letters of which we have no clear account. One, lost to us, evidently
preceded the first Letter (i Cor. v. 9). In our "second" Letter we find mention (ii. 2, 4) of a severe communication which
could not but give pain. Can this have been our "first" to the Corinthians? Some think not, in which case there must have
been an "intermediate" letter. This some students find in 2 Cor. X. i-xiii. 10. If so, there must have been four letters. Some have thought that in 2 Cor. vi. 14-vii. i, and viii., ix. yet another is embedded, making possibly five in all. The reader must form his own conclusions, inasmuch as the evidence is almost entirely internal. On the whole it would seem that our
first Letter, conveyed by Titus, had produced a good effect in the Corinthian church, but that this wore off, and that Titus returned to the apostle at Ephesus with such disquieting news
that a visit of Paul just then to Corinth would have been very embarrassing, alike for the church and the apostle. Hence, instead of going, he writes a "painful" letter and sends it by the same messenger, proceeding himself to Troas and thence to Macedonia where, in great tension of spirit, he awaits the return of Titus. At last there comes a reassuring account, the relief derived from which is so great that our second Letter is written, with the double purpose of comforting those who had been so sharply rebuked, and of preventing the recurrence of the evils which had called forth the remonstrance. In this way both the tenderness and the severity of the present Letter may be explained.

#BCV:2 Corinthians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS</h1>
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and our brother Timothy: To the Church of God in Corinth, with all God's people throughout  Greece.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:2">2</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:3">3</verse></sup> Heartfelt thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--the  Father who is full of compassion and the God who gives all  comfort.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:4">4</verse></sup> He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:5">5</verse></sup> For just as we have more than our share of suffering for the Christ, so also through the Christ we have more than our share of comfort.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:6">6</verse></sup> But if, on the one hand, we are enduring affliction, it is  for your comfort and salvation; and if, on the other hand, we are receiving comfort, it is for your comfort which is produced within you through your patient fortitude under the same sufferings as those which we also are enduring.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:7">7</verse></sup> And our hope for you is stedfast; for we know that as you are partners with us in the sufferings, so you are also partners in the comfort.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:8">8</verse></sup> For as for our troubles which came upon us in  the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down,  and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:9">9</verse></sup> Nay, we had, as we still have, the  sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:10">10</verse></sup> He it is who rescued us from so imminent a death, and will do so again; and we have a firm hope in Him that He will also rescue us in all the future,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:11">11</verse></sup> while you on your part lend us your aid in entreaty for us, so that from many lips thanksgivings may rise on our behalf for the boon granted to us at the intercession of many.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:12">12</verse></sup> For the reason for our boasting is this--the testimony of our own conscience that it was in holiness and with  pure motives before God, and in reliance not on worldly wisdom but on the gracious help of God, that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and above all in our relations with you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:13">13</verse></sup> For we are writing to you nothing different from what we have written before, or from what indeed you already recognize as truth and will, I trust, recognize as such to the very end;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:14">14</verse></sup> just as some few of you have recognized us as your reason for boasting, even as you will be ours, on the day of Jesus our Lord.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:15">15</verse></sup> It was because I entertained this confidence that I intended to visit you  before going elsewhere--so that you might receive a twofold  proof of God's favour--
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:16">16</verse></sup> and to pass by way of Corinth into Macedonia. Then my plan was to return from Macedonia to you, and be helped forward by you to Judaea.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:17">17</verse></sup> Did I display any  vacillation or caprice in this? Or the purposes which I form--do I form them on worldly principles, now crying "Yes, yes," and now "No, no"?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:18">18</verse></sup> As certainly as God is faithful, our language to you is not now "Yes" and now "No."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:19">19</verse></sup> For Jesus Christ the Son of God--He who was proclaimed among you by us, that is by  Silas and Timothy and myself--did not show Himself a waverer between "Yes" and "No." But it  was and always is "Yes" with Him.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:20">20</verse></sup> For all the promises of God, whatever their number, have  their confirmation in Him; and for this reason through Him also our "Amen" acknowledges their truth  and promotes the glory of God through our faith.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:21">21</verse></sup> But He who is making us as well as you stedfast through union with  the Anointed One, and has anointed us, is God,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:22">22</verse></sup> and He has also set His seal upon us, and has  put  His Spirit into our hearts as a pledge and foretaste of future blessing.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:23">23</verse></sup> But as for me, as my soul shall answer for it, I appeal to God as my witness, that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 1:24">24</verse></sup> Not that we want to lord it over you in respect of your faith--we do, however, desire to help your joy--for in the matter of your faith you are standing firm.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:1">2</verse></font> But, so far as I am concerned, I have resolved not to have a painful visit the next time I come to see you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:2">2</verse></sup> For if I of all men give you pain, who then is there to gladden my heart, but the very persons to whom I give pain?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:3">3</verse></sup> And I write this to you in order that when I come I may not receive pain from those who ought to give me joy, confident as I am as to all of you that my joy is the joy of you all.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:4">4</verse></sup> For with many tears I write to you, and in deep suffering and depression of spirit, not in order to grieve you, but in the hope of showing you how brimful my heart is with love for you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:5">5</verse></sup> Now if any one has caused sorrow, it has been caused not so much to me, as in some degree--for I have no wish to exaggerate--to all of you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:6">6</verse></sup> In the case of such a person the punishment which was inflicted by the majority of you is enough.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:7">7</verse></sup> So that you may now take the opposite course, and forgive him  rather and comfort him, for fear he should perhaps be driven to despair by his excess of grief.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:8">8</verse></sup> I beg you therefore fully to reinstate him in your love.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:9">9</verse></sup> For in writing to you I have also this object in view--to discover by experience whether you are prepared to be obedient in every respect.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:10">10</verse></sup> When you forgive a man an offence I also forgive it; for in fact what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has always been for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:11">11</verse></sup> for fear Satan should gain an advantage over us. For we are not ignorant of his  devices.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:12">12</verse></sup> Now when I came into  the Troad to spread there the Good News about the Christ, even though in the Lord's providence a door stood open before me,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:13">13</verse></sup> yet, obtaining no relief for my spirit because I did not find our brother Titus, I bade them farewell and went on into Macedonia.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:14">14</verse></sup> But to God be the thanks who in Christ ever heads our  triumphal procession, and by our hands waves in every place that sweet incense, the knowledge of Him.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:15">15</verse></sup> For we are a fragrance of Christ grateful to God in those  whom He is saving and in those who are perishing;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:16">16</verse></sup> to the last-named an odor of death predictive of death, and to the others an odor of life predictive of life. And for such service as this who is competent?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 2:17">17</verse></sup> We are; for,  unlike most teachers, we are not fraudulent hucksters of God's Message; but with  transparent motives, as commissioned by God, in God's presence and in communion with Christ, so we speak.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:1">3</verse></font> Do you say that this is self-recommendation once more? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:2">2</verse></sup> Our letter of recommendation is yourselves--a letter written on our hearts and everywhere known and read.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:3">3</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:4">4</verse></sup> Such is the confidence which we have through Christ in the presence of God;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:5">5</verse></sup> not that of ourselves we are competent to decide anything by our own reasonings, but our competency comes from God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:6">6</verse></sup> It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new  Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:7">7</verse></sup> If, however, the service  that proclaims death--its code being engraved in writing upon stones--came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face--a vanishing brightness;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:8">8</verse></sup> will not the service of the Spirit be far more glorious?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:9">9</verse></sup> For if the service which pronounces doom  had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:10">10</verse></sup> For, in fact, that which was once resplendent in glory has no glory at all in this respect, that it pales before the glory which surpasses it.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:11">11</verse></sup> For if that which was to be abolished came with glory, much more is that which is permanent arrayed in glory.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore, cherishing a hope like this, we speak without reserve, and we do not imitate Moses,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:13">13</verse></sup> who used to throw a veil over his face to hide from the gaze of the children of Israel the passing away of what was but transitory.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:14">14</verse></sup> Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day during the reading of the book of the  ancient Covenant, the same veil  remains unlifted, because it is only in Christ that it is to be abolished.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:15">15</verse></sup> Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their  hearts.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:16">16</verse></sup> But whenever  the heart of the nation shall have returned to the Lord, the veil will be withdrawn.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:17">17</verse></sup> Now by "the Lord" is meant the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,  freedom is enjoyed.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 3:18">18</verse></sup> And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from one degree of radiant holiness to another, even as derived from the Lord the Spirit.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:1">4</verse></font> Therefore, being engaged in this service and being mindful of the mercy which has been shown us, we are not cowards.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:2">2</verse></sup> Nay, we have renounced the secrecy which marks a feeling of shame. We practice no cunning tricks, nor do we adulterate God's Message. But by a full clear statement of the truth we strive to commend ourselves in the presence of God to every human conscience.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:3">3</verse></sup> If, however, the meaning of our Good News has been veiled,  the veil has been on the hearts of those who are on the way to perdition,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:4">4</verse></sup> in whom the god of this present age has blinded their unbelieving minds so as to shut out the sunshine of the Good News of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:5">5</verse></sup> 
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:6">6</verse></sup> For God who said, "Out of darkness let light shine," is He who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory, which is radiant on the face of Christ.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:7">7</verse></sup> But we have  this treasure in  a fragile vase of clay, in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be seen to belong to God, and not to originate in us.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:8">8</verse></sup> We are hard pressed, yet never in absolute distress; perplexed, yet never utterly baffled;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:9">9</verse></sup> pursued, yet never left unsuccoured; struck to the ground, yet never slain;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:10">10</verse></sup> always, wherever we go, carrying with us in our bodies the putting to death of Jesus, so that in our bodies it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:11">11</verse></sup> For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus, so that in this mortal nature of ours it may also be clearly shown that Jesus lives.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:12">12</verse></sup> Thus we are constantly dying, while you are in full enjoyment of Life.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:13">13</verse></sup> But possessing the same Spirit of faith as he who wrote, "I believed, and therefore I have spoken," we also believe, and therefore we speak.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:14">14</verse></sup> For we know that He who  raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise us also to be with Jesus, and will cause  both us and you to stand in His own presence.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:15">15</verse></sup> For  everything is for your sakes, in order that grace, being more richly bestowed because of the thanksgivings of the increased number, may more and more promote the glory of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:17">17</verse></sup> For this  our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us a preponderating, yes, a vastly preponderating, and eternal weight of glory;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 4:18">18</verse></sup> while  we look not at things seen, but things unseen; for things seen are temporary, but things unseen are eternal.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:1">5</verse></font> For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:2">2</verse></sup> For in this one we sigh, because we long to put on over it our dwelling which comes from Heaven--
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:3">3</verse></sup> if indeed having really put on a  robe we shall not be found to be unclothed.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:4">4</verse></sup> Yes, we who are in this tent certainly do sigh under our burdens, for  we do not wish to lay aside that with which we are now clothed, but to put on more, so that our mortality may be  absorbed in Life.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:5">5</verse></sup> And He who formed us with this very end in view is God, who has given us His Spirit as  a pledge and foretaste of that bliss.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:6">6</verse></sup> We have therefore a cheerful confidence. We know that while we are at home in the body we are banished from the Lord;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:7">7</verse></sup> for we are living a life of faith, and not one of sight.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:8">8</verse></sup> So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:9">9</verse></sup> And for this reason also we make it our ambition, whether at home or in exile, to please Him perfectly.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:10">10</verse></sup> For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be  worthless.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:11">11</verse></sup> Therefore, because we realize how greatly the Lord is to be feared, we are endeavouring to win men over, and God recognizes what our motives are, and I hope that you, in your hearts, recognize them too.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:12">12</verse></sup> We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:13">13</verse></sup> For if we have been beside ourselves, it has been for God's glory; or if we are now in our right senses, it is in order to be of service to you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:14">14</verse></sup> For the love of Christ overmasters us, the conclusion at which we have arrived being this--that One having died for all, His death was their death,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:15">15</verse></sup> and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore for the future we know no one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ as a man, yet now we do so no longer.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:17">17</verse></sup> So that if any one is in Christ,  he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:18">18</verse></sup> And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has appointed us to serve in the ministry of reconciliation.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:19">19</verse></sup> We are to tell how God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging men's transgressions to their account, and that He has entrusted  to us the Message of this reconciliation.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:20">20</verse></sup> On Christ's behalf therefore we come as ambassadors, God, as it were, making entreaty through our lips: we, on Christ's behalf, beseech men to be reconciled to God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 5:21">21</verse></sup> He has made Him who knew nothing of sin to be sin for us, in order that in Him we may become the righteousness of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:1">6</verse></font> And you also we, as God's fellow workers, entreat not to be found to have received His grace to no purpose.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:2">2</verse></sup> For He says, "At a time of welcome I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have succoured you." Now is the time of loving welcome! Now is the day of salvation!
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:3">3</verse></sup> We endeavour to give people no cause for stumbling in anything, lest the work we are doing should fall into discredit.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:4">4</verse></sup> On the contrary, as God's servants, we seek their full approval--by unwearied endurance, by afflictions, by distress, by helplessness;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:5">5</verse></sup> by floggings, by imprisonments; by facing riots, by toil, by sleepless watching, by hunger and thirst;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:6">6</verse></sup> by purity of life, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:7">7</verse></sup> by the proclamation of the truth, by the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness, wielded in both hands;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:8">8</verse></sup> through honour and ignominy, through calumny and praise. We are looked upon as impostors and yet are true men;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:9">9</verse></sup> as obscure persons, and yet are well known; as on the point of death, and yet, strange to tell, we live; as under God's discipline, and yet we are not deprived of life;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:10">10</verse></sup> as sad, but we are always joyful; as poor, but we bestow wealth on many; as having nothing, and yet we securely possess all things.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:11">11</verse></sup> O Corinthians, our lips are unsealed to you: our heart is expanded.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:12">12</verse></sup> There is no narrowness in our love to you: the narrowness is in your own feelings.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:13">13</verse></sup> And in just requital--I speak as to my children--let your hearts expand also.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:14">14</verse></sup> Do not come into close association with unbelievers, like oxen yoked with asses. For what is there in common between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what partnership has light with darkness?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:15">15</verse></sup> Where can harmony between Christ and Belial be found? Or what participation has a believer with an unbeliever?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:16">16</verse></sup> And what compact has the Temple of God with idols? For *we* are the Temple of the  ever-living God; as God has said, "I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; and will be their God, and it is they who shall be My people."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:17">17</verse></sup> Therefore, "'Come out from among them and separate yourselves,' says the Lord, 'and touch nothing impure; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 6:18">18</verse></sup> and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord the Ruler of all."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:1">7</verse></font> Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:2">2</verse></sup> Make room for us in your hearts. There is not one of you whom we have wronged, not one to whom we have done harm, not one over whom we have gained any selfish advantage.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:3">3</verse></sup> I do not say this  to imply blame, for, as I have already said, you have such a place in our hearts that we would die with you or live with you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:4">4</verse></sup> I have great confidence in you: very loudly do I boast of you. I am filled with comfort: my heart overflows with joy amid all our affliction.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:5">5</verse></sup> For even after our arrival in Macedonia we could get no relief such as human nature craves. We were greatly harassed; there were conflicts without and fears within.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:6">6</verse></sup> But He who comforts the depressed--even God--  comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:7">7</verse></sup> but also by the fact that he had felt comforted on your account, and by the report which he brought of your eager affection, of your grief, and of your jealousy on my behalf, so that I rejoiced more than ever.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:8">8</verse></sup> For if I gave you pain by that letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it then.  I see that that letter, even though for a time it gave you pain,  had a salutary effect.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:9">9</verse></sup> Now I rejoice, not in your grief, but because the grief led to repentance; for you sorrowed with a godly sorrow, which prevented you from receiving injury from us in any respect.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:10">10</verse></sup> For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, a repentance not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world finally produces death.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:11">11</verse></sup> For mark the effects of this very thing--your having sorrowed with a godly sorrow--what earnestness it has called forth in you,  what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing affection, what jealousy, what meting out of justice! You have completely wiped away reproach from yourselves in the matter.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore, though I wrote to you, it was not to punish the offender, nor to secure justice for him who had suffered the wrong, but it was chiefly in order that your earnest feeling on our behalf might become manifest to yourselves in the sight of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:13">13</verse></sup> For this reason we feel comforted; and--in addition to this our comfort--we have been filled with all the deeper joy at Titus's joy, because his spirit  has been set at rest by you all.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:14">14</verse></sup> For however I may have boasted to him about you, I have no reason to feel ashamed; but as we have in all respects spoken the truth to you, so also our boasting to Titus about you has turned out to be the truth.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:15">15</verse></sup> And his strong and tender affection is all the more drawn out towards you when he recalls to mind  the obedience which all of you manifested by the timidity and nervous anxiety with which you welcomed him.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 7:16">16</verse></sup> I rejoice that I have absolute confidence in you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:1">8</verse></font> But we desire to let you know, brethren, of the grace of God which has been bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:2">2</verse></sup> how, while passing through great trouble, their boundless joy even amid their deep poverty has overflowed to increase their generous liberality.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:3">3</verse></sup> For I can testify that to the utmost of their power, and even beyond their power, they have of their own free will given help.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:4">4</verse></sup> With earnest entreaty they begged from us the  favour of being allowed to share in the service now being rendered to God's people.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:5">5</verse></sup> They not only did this, as we had expected, but first of all in obedience to God's will they gave  their own selves to the Lord and to us.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:6">6</verse></sup> This led us to urge Titus that, as he had previously been the one who commenced the work, so he should now go and complete among you this act of beneficence also.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:7">7</verse></sup> Yes, just as you are already  very rich in faith, readiness of speech, knowledge, unwearied zeal, and in the love  that is in you, implanted by us, see to it that this grace of liberal giving also flourishes in you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:8">8</verse></sup> I am not saying this by way of command, but to test by the standard of other men's earnestness the genuineness of your love also.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:9">9</verse></sup> For you know the condescending goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ--how for your sakes He became poor, though He was rich, in order that you through His poverty might grow rich.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:10">10</verse></sup> But in this matter I give you an opinion; for my doing this helps forward your own intentions, seeing that not only have you begun operations, but a year ago you already had the desire to do so.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:11">11</verse></sup> And now complete the doing also, in order that, just as there was then the eagerness in desiring, there may now be the accomplishment in proportion to your means.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:12">12</verse></sup> For, assuming the earnest willingness, the gift is acceptable according to whatever a man has, and not according to what he has not.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:13">13</verse></sup> I do not urge you to give in order that others may have relief while you are unduly pressed,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:14">14</verse></sup> but that, by equalization of burdens, your superfluity having in the present emergency supplied their deficiency, their superfluity may in turn be a supply for your deficiency later on, so that there may be equalization of burdens.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:15">15</verse></sup> Even as it is written, "He who gathered much had not  too much, and he who gathered little had not  too little."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:16">16</verse></sup> But thanks be to God that He inspires the heart of Titus with the same deep interest in you;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:17">17</verse></sup> for Titus welcomed our request, and, being thoroughly in earnest, comes to you of his own free will.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:18">18</verse></sup> And we send with him the brother whose  praises for his earnestness in proclaiming the Good News are heard throughout all the Churches.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:19">19</verse></sup> And more than that, he is the one who was chosen by the  vote of the Churches to travel with us, sharing our commission in the administration of this generous gift to promote the Lord's glory and gratify our own strong desire.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:20">20</verse></sup> For against one thing we are on our guard--I mean against blame being thrown upon us in respect to these large and liberal contributions which are under our charge.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:21">21</verse></sup> For we seek not only God's approval of our integrity, but man's also.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:22">22</verse></sup> And we send with them our brother, of whose zeal we have had frequent proof in many matters, and who is now more zealous than ever through the strong confidence which he has in you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:23
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:23">23</verse></sup> As for Titus, remember that he is a partner with me, and is my comrade in my labours for you. And as for our brethren, remember that they are  delegates from the Churches, and are men in whom Christ is glorified.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 8:24
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 8:24">24</verse></sup> Exhibit therefore to the Churches a proof of your love, and a justification of our boasting to these brethren about you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:1">9</verse></font> As to the services which are being rendered to God's people, it is really unnecessary for me to write to you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:2">2</verse></sup> For I know your earnest willingness, on account of which I habitually boast of you to the Macedonians, pointing out to them that for a whole year you in Greece have been ready; and the greater number of them have been spurred on by your ardour.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:3">3</verse></sup> Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:4">4</verse></sup> for fear that, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we--not to say you yourselves--should be put to the blush in respect to this confidence.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:5">5</verse></sup> I have thought it absolutely necessary therefore to request these brethren to visit you before I myself come, and to make sure beforehand that the  gift of love which you have already promised may be ready as a gift of love, and may not seem to have been something which I have extorted from you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:6">6</verse></sup> But do not forget that he who sows with a niggardly hand will also reap a niggardly crop, and that he who sows  bountifully will also reap bountifully.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:7">7</verse></sup> Let each contribute  what he has decided upon in his own mind, and not do it reluctantly or under compulsion. "It is a cheerful giver that God loves."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:8">8</verse></sup> And God is able to bestow every blessing on you in abundance, so that  richly enjoying all sufficiency at all times, you may have ample means for all good works.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:9">9</verse></sup> As it is written, "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his  almsgiving remains for ever."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:10">10</verse></sup> And God who  continually supplies seed for the sower and bread for eating,  will supply you with seed and multiply it, and will cause your almsgiving to yield a plentiful harvest.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:11">11</verse></sup> May you be  abundantly enriched so as to show all liberality, such as through our instrumentality brings thanksgiving to God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:12">12</verse></sup> For the service rendered in this sacred gift not only helps to relieve the wants of God's people, but it is also rich in its results and awakens a chorus of thanksgiving to God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:13">13</verse></sup> For,  by the practical proof of it which you exhibit in this service, you cause God to be extolled for your  fidelity to your professed adherence to the Good News of the Christ, and for the liberality of your contributions for them and for  all who are in need,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:14">14</verse></sup> while they themselves also in supplications on your behalf pour out their longing love towards you because of God's surpassing grace which is resting upon you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 9:15">15</verse></sup> Thanks be to God for His  unspeakably precious  gift!
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:1">10</verse></font> But as for me Paul, I entreat you by the gentleness and self-forgetfulness of Christ--I who when among you have not an imposing personal presence, but when absent am fearlessly outspoken in dealing with you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:2">2</verse></sup> I beseech you not to compel me when present to make a bold display of the confidence with which I reckon I shall show my 'courage' against some who reckon that we are guided by worldly principles.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:3">3</verse></sup> For, though we are still living in the world, it is no worldly warfare that we are waging.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:4">4</verse></sup> The weapons with which we fight are not human weapons, but are mighty for God in overthrowing strong fortresses.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:5">5</verse></sup> For we overthrow arrogant 'reckonings,' and every stronghold that towers high in defiance of the knowledge of God, and we carry off every thought as if into slavery--into subjection to Christ;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:6">6</verse></sup> while we hold ourselves in readiness to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as ever you  as a Church have fully shown your obedience.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:7">7</verse></sup> Is it outward appearances you look to? If any man is confident as regards himself that he specially belongs to Christ, let him consider again and reflect that just as he belongs to Christ, so also do we.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:8">8</verse></sup> If, however, I were to boast more loudly of our  Apostolic authority, which the Lord has given us that we may build you up, not  pull you down, I should have no reason to feel ashamed.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:9">9</verse></sup> Let it not seem as if I wanted to frighten you by my letters.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:10">10</verse></sup> For they say "His letters are authoritative and forcible, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and as for eloquence, he has none."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:11">11</verse></sup> Let such people take this into their reckoning, that whatever we are in word by our letters when absent, the same are we also in act when present.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:12">12</verse></sup> For we have not the 'courage' to rank ourselves among, or compare ourselves with, certain persons distinguished by their self-commendation. Yet they are not wise, measuring themselves, as they do, by one another and comparing themselves with one another.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:13">13</verse></sup> We, however, will not exceed due limits in our boasting, but will keep within the limits of the sphere which God has assigned to us as a limit, which reaches even to you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:14">14</verse></sup> For there is no undue stretch of authority on our part, as though it did not extend to you. We pressed on even to Corinth, and were the first to proclaim to you the Good News of the Christ.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:15">15</verse></sup> We do not exceed our due limits, and take credit for other men's labours; but we entertain the hope that, as your faith grows, we shall gain promotion among you--still keeping within our own sphere--promotion to a larger field of labour,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:16">16</verse></sup> and shall tell the Good News in the districts beyond you, not boasting in another man's sphere about work already done by him.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:17">17</verse></sup> But "whoever boasts, let his boast be in the Lord."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 10:18">18</verse></sup> For it is not the man that commends himself who is really approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:1">11</verse></font> I wish you could have borne with a little  foolish boasting on my part. Nay, do bear with me.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:2">2</verse></sup> I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:3">3</verse></sup> But I am afraid that, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:4">4</verse></sup> If indeed  some visitor is proclaiming among you another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or if you are receiving a Spirit different from the One you have already received or a Good News different from that which you have already welcomed, your toleration is admirable!
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:5">5</verse></sup> Why, I reckon myself in no respect inferior to those superlatively great Apostles.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:6">6</verse></sup> And if in the matter of speech I am no orator, yet in knowledge I am not deficient. Nay, we have in every way made that  fully evident to you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:7">7</verse></sup> Is it a sin that I abased myself in order for you to be exalted, in that I proclaimed God's Good News to you without fee or reward?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:8">8</verse></sup> Other Churches I robbed, receiving pay from them in order to do you service.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:9">9</verse></sup> And when I was with you and my resources failed, there was no one to whom I became a burden--for the brethren when they came from Macedonia fully supplied my wants--and I kept myself from being in the least a burden to you, and will do so still.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:10">10</verse></sup> Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:11">11</verse></sup> And why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:12">12</verse></sup> But I will persist in the same line of conduct in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who desire an opportunity of getting themselves recognized as being on a level with us in the matters about which they boast.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:13">13</verse></sup> For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:14">14</verse></sup> And no wonder.  Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:15">15</verse></sup> It is therefore no great thing for his servants also to disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be in accordance with their actions.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:16">16</verse></sup> To return to what I was saying. Let no one suppose that I am  foolish. Or if you must, at any rate make allowance for me as being foolish, in order that I, as well as they, may boast a little.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:17">17</verse></sup> What I am now saying, I do not say by the Lord's command, but as a fool in his folly might, in this reckless boasting.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:18">18</verse></sup> Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:19">19</verse></sup> Wise as you yourselves are, you find pleasure in tolerating fools.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:20">20</verse></sup> For you tolerate it, if any one enslaves you, lives at your expense, makes off with your property, gives himself airs, or  strikes you on the face.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:21">21</verse></sup> I use the language of self-disparagement, as though I were admitting our own feebleness. Yet for whatever reason any one is 'courageous' --I speak in mere folly--I also am courageous.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:22">22</verse></sup> Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:23">23</verse></sup> Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if I were out of my mind.)
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:24">24</verse></sup> From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:25">25</verse></sup> Three times I have been beaten with Roman rods, once I have been stoned, three times I have been shipwrecked, once for full four and twenty hours  I was floating on the open sea.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:26">26</verse></sup> I have served Him by frequent travelling, amid dangers in crossing rivers, dangers from robbers; dangers from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles; dangers in the city, dangers in the Desert, dangers by sea, dangers from spies in our midst;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:27">27</verse></sup> with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:28">28</verse></sup> And besides other things, which I pass over, there is that which presses on me daily--my anxiety for all the Churches.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:29">29</verse></sup> Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is  led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:30">30</verse></sup> If boast I must, it shall be of things which display my weakness.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:31">31</verse></sup> The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--He who is blessed throughout the Ages--knows that I am speaking the truth.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:32">32</verse></sup> In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,
#BCV:2 Corinthians 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 11:33">33</verse></sup> but through an  opening in the wall I was let down in a basket, and so escaped his hands.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:1">12</verse></font> I am compelled to boast. It is not a profitable employment, but I will proceed to  visions and revelations  granted me by the Lord.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:2">2</verse></sup> I know a Christian man who fourteen years ago--  whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows--was caught up (this man of whom I am speaking)
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:3">3</verse></sup> And I know that this man--  whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:4">4</verse></sup> God knows--was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable things which no human being is permitted to repeat.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:5">5</verse></sup> Of such a one I will boast; but of myself I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:6">6</verse></sup> If however I  should choose to boast, I should not be a fool for so doing, for I should be speaking the truth. But I forbear, lest any one should be led to estimate me more highly than what his own eyes attest, or more highly than what he hears from my lips.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:7">7</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:8">8</verse></sup> As for this, three times have I besought the Lord to rid me of him;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:9">9</verse></sup> but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for  power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:10">10</verse></sup> In fact I take pleasure in infirmities, in the bearing of insults, in distress, in persecutions, in grievous difficulties--for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:11">11</verse></sup> It is foolish of me to write all this, but you have compelled me to do so. Why, you ought to have been my vindicators; for in no respect have I been inferior to these superlatively great Apostles, even though in myself I am nothing.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:12">12</verse></sup> The signs that characterize the true Apostle have been done among you, accompanied by unwearied fortitude, and by tokens and marvels and displays of power.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:13">13</verse></sup> In what respect, therefore, have you been worse dealt with than other Churches, except that I myself never hung as  a dead weight upon you? Forgive the injustice I thus did you!
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:14">14</verse></sup> See, I am now for the third time prepared to visit you, but I will not be  a dead weight to you. I desire not your money, but yourselves; for children ought not to put by for their parents, but parents for their children.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:15">15</verse></sup> And as for me, most gladly will I spend all I have and be utterly spent for your salvation.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:16">16</verse></sup> If I love you  so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But  being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:17">17</verse></sup> Have I gained any selfish advantage over you through any one of the messengers I have sent to you?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:18">18</verse></sup> I begged Titus to visit you, and sent our other brother with him. Did Titus gain any selfish advantage over you? Were not  he and I guided by one and the same Spirit, and did we not walk in the same steps?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:19">19</verse></sup> You are imagining, all this time, that we are making our defense at your bar. In reality it is as in God's presence and in communion with Christ  that we speak; but, dear friends, it is all with a view to your progress in goodness.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:20">20</verse></sup> For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may not find you to be what I desire, and that you may find me to be what you do not desire; that perhaps there may be contention, jealousy, bitter feeling, party spirit, ill-natured talk, backbiting, undue eulogy, unrest;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 12:21">21</verse></sup> and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many  whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:1">13</verse></font> This intended visit of mine is my third visit to you. "On the evidence of two or three witnesses every charge shall be sustained."
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:2">2</verse></sup> Those who cling to their old sins, and indeed all of you, I have forewarned and still forewarn (as I did on my second visit when present, so I do now, though absent)
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:3">3</verse></sup> since you want a practical proof of the fact that Christ speaks by my lips--He who is not feeble towards you, but powerful among you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:4">4</verse></sup> For though it is true that He was crucified through weakness, yet He now lives through the power of God. We also are weak,  sharing His weakness, but with Him we shall be full of life to deal with you through the power of God.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:5">5</verse></sup> Test yourselves to discover whether you are true believers: put your own selves under examination. Or do you not know that Jesus Christ is within you, unless you are insincere?
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:6">6</verse></sup> But I trust that you will recognize that we are not insincere.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:7">7</verse></sup> And our prayer to God is that you may do nothing wrong; not in order that our sincerity may be demonstrated, but  that you may do what is right, even though our sincerity may seem to be doubtful.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:8">8</verse></sup> For we have no power against the truth, but only for the furtherance of the truth;
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:9">9</verse></sup> and it is a joy to us when we are powerless, but you are strong. This we also pray for--the perfecting of your characters.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:10">10</verse></sup> For this reason I write thus while absent, that when present I may not have to act severely in the exercise of the authority which the Lord has given me for building up, and not for pulling down.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:11">11</verse></sup> Finally, brethren,  be joyful, secure perfection of character, take courage, be of one mind, live in peace. And then God who gives love and peace will be with you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:12">12</verse></sup> Salute one another with a holy kiss.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:13">13</verse></sup> All God's people here send greetings to you.
#BCV:2 Corinthians 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Corinthians 13:14">14</verse></sup> May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and  the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

#OUTLINE:1,Galatians
#TOPIC:GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS</h1>
There is no question as to the genuineness of this Pauline
Letter, but it differs from most other writings of the apostle in being addressed to "churches" rather than to a single community. It seems now, however, impossible to decide the precise meaning of the term "Galatia." Two distinct views are held by modern scholars. One, known as the "North Galatia theory," maintains that this Letter was addressed to the churches
of Ancyra, Tavium, Pessinus and possibly other cities. Theother, the "South Galatian theory," holds that the congregations intended were those of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe and
Lystra. In any case the population was very mixed, consisting of Phrygians, Greeks, Romans, Gauls and Jews. Judging from
the apostle's remonstrances, the two latter seem to have preponderated. The date of the Letter cannot be exactly fixed. The periods assigned by recent scholarship vary from 46 A.D.
to 58 A.D., but the medium estimate of 53 A.D., adopted by
Harnack and Ramsay, satisfies all the requirements of the case. The apostle certainly visited Galatia during his second missionary tour, perhaps about 51 A.D., and although suffering from
illness was received with enthusiasm. After a short stay he departed cherishing a joyful confidence as to his converts there. But when, less than three years afterwards, he came again, he
found that the leaven of Judaism, working on the fickle Gallic temperament, had produced a definite apostasy, insomuch that both the freedom of individual believers and his own apostolic
authority were in danger. Even his personal presence (Acts
<bcv=Acts 18:23>xviii. 23)</bcv> did not end the difficulty. Hence, possibly during
his journey between Macedonia and Achaia, he sent this Letter.
Its rugged and incoherent style shows that it was dictated under
great stress of feeling, and the doctrine of justification by faith
is stated more emphatically than in any other of his writings. But his earnest insistence upon the "fruit of the Spirit" proves
that his ideal of practical holiness was rather strengthened than impaired by his plea for faith as the mainspring of Christian
life.

#BCV:Galatians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS</h1>
#BCV:Galatians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from among the dead--
#BCV:Galatians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:2">2</verse></sup> and all the brethren who are with me: To the Churches of Galatia.
#BCV:Galatians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:3">3</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
#BCV:Galatians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:4">4</verse></sup> who gave Himself to suffer for our sins in order to rescue us from the present wicked age in accordance with the will of our God and Father.
#BCV:Galatians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:5">5</verse></sup> To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:Galatians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:6">6</verse></sup> I marvel that you are so readily leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a different Good News.
#BCV:Galatians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:7">7</verse></sup> For other "Good News" there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ.
#BCV:Galatians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:8">8</verse></sup> But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be accursed.
#BCV:Galatians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:9">9</verse></sup> What I have just said I repeat--if any one is preaching to you a Good News other than that which you originally received, let him be accursed.
#BCV:Galatians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:10">10</verse></sup> For is it man's favour or God's that I aspire to? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still a man-pleaser, I should not be Christ's bondservant.
#BCV:Galatians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:11">11</verse></sup> For I must tell you, brethren, that the Good News which was proclaimed by me is not such as man approves of.
#BCV:Galatians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:12">12</verse></sup> For, in fact, it was not from man that I received or learnt it, but by a revelation from Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Galatians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:13">13</verse></sup> For you have heard of my early career in Judaism--how I furiously persecuted the Church of God, and made havoc of it;
#BCV:Galatians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:14">14</verse></sup> and how in devotion to Judaism I outstripped many men of my own age among my people, being far more zealous than they on behalf of the traditions of my forefathers.
#BCV:Galatians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:15">15</verse></sup> But when He who set me apart even from my birth, and called me by His grace,
#BCV:Galatians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:16">16</verse></sup> saw fit to reveal His Son within me in order that I might tell among the Gentiles the Good News concerning Him, at once I did not confer with any human being,
#BCV:Galatians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:17">17</verse></sup> nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were my seniors in the Apostleship, but I went away into Arabia, and afterwards came back to Damascus.
#BCV:Galatians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:18">18</verse></sup> Then, three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to inquire for  Peter, and I spent a fortnight with him.
#BCV:Galatians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:19">19</verse></sup> I saw none of the other Apostles, except James, the Lord's brother.
#BCV:Galatians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:20">20</verse></sup> In making these assertions I am speaking the truth, as in the sight of God.
#BCV:Galatians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:21">21</verse></sup> Afterwards I visited Syria and Cilicia.
#BCV:Galatians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:22">22</verse></sup> But to the Christian Churches in Judaea I was personally unknown.
#BCV:Galatians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:23">23</verse></sup> They only heard it said, "He who was once our persecutor is now telling the Good News of the faith of which he formerly made havoc."
#BCV:Galatians 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 1:24">24</verse></sup> And they gave glory to God on my account.
#BCV:Galatians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 2:1">2</verse></font> Later still, after an interval of fourteen years, I again went up to Jerusalem in company with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
#BCV:Galatians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:2">2</verse></sup> I went up in obedience to a revelation of God's will; and I explained to them the Good News which I proclaim among the Gentiles. To the leaders of the Church this explanation was made in private, lest by any means I should be running, or should already have run, in vain.
#BCV:Galatians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:3">3</verse></sup> But although my companion Titus was a Greek they did not insist upon even his being circumcised.
#BCV:Galatians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:4">4</verse></sup> Yet there was danger of this through the false brethren secretly introduced into the Church, who had stolen in to spy out the  freedom which is ours in Christ Jesus, in order to rob us of it.
#BCV:Galatians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:5">5</verse></sup> But not for an hour did we give way and submit to them; in order that the Good News might continue with you in its integrity.
#BCV:Galatians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:6">6</verse></sup> From those leaders I gained nothing new. Whether they were men of importance or not, matters nothing to me--God recognizes no external distinctions. To me, at any rate, the leaders imparted nothing new.
#BCV:Galatians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:7">7</verse></sup> Indeed, when they saw that I was entrusted with the preaching of the Good News to the Gentiles as Peter had been with that to the Jews--
#BCV:Galatians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:8">8</verse></sup> for He who had been at work within Peter with a view to his Apostleship to the Jews had also been at work within me with a view to my Apostleship to the Gentiles--
#BCV:Galatians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:9">9</verse></sup> and when they perceived the  mission which was graciously entrusted to me, they (that is to say, James,  Peter, and John, who were considered to be the pillars of the Church)
#BCV:Galatians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:10">10</verse></sup> Only they urged that we should remember their poor--a thing which was uppermost in my own mind.
#BCV:Galatians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:11">11</verse></sup> Now when  Peter visited Antioch, I remonstrated with him to his face, because he had incurred just censure.
#BCV:Galatians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:12">12</verse></sup> For until certain persons came from James he had been accustomed to eat with Gentiles; but as soon as these persons came, he withdrew and separated himself for fear of the Circumcision party.
#BCV:Galatians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:13">13</verse></sup> And along with him the other Jews also concealed their real opinions, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their lack of straightforwardness.
#BCV:Galatians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:14">14</verse></sup> As soon as I saw that they were not walking uprightly in the spirit of the Good News, I said to  Peter, before them all, "If you, though you are a Jew, live as a Gentile does, and not as a Jew, how can you make the Gentiles follow Jewish customs?
#BCV:Galatians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:15">15</verse></sup> You and I, though we are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,
#BCV:Galatians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:16">16</verse></sup> know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.
#BCV:Galatians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:17">17</verse></sup> But if while we are seeking in Christ acquittal from guilt we ourselves are convicted of sin, Christ then encourages us to sin! No, indeed.
#BCV:Galatians 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:18">18</verse></sup> Why, if I am now rebuilding that structure of sin which I had demolished, I am thereby constituting myself a transgressor;
#BCV:Galatians 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:19">19</verse></sup> for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God.
#BCV:Galatians 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:20">20</verse></sup> I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.
#BCV:Galatians 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 2:21">21</verse></sup> I do not nullify the grace of God; for if acquittal from guilt is obtainable through the Law, then Christ has died in vain."
#BCV:Galatians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 3:1">3</verse></font> You foolish Galatians! Whose sophistry has bewitched you--you to whom Jesus Christ has been vividly portrayed  as on the Cross?
#BCV:Galatians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:2">2</verse></sup> Answer me this one question, "Is it on the ground of your obedience to the Law that you received the Spirit, or is it because, when you heard, you believed?"
#BCV:Galatians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:3">3</verse></sup> Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to reach perfection through what is external?
#BCV:Galatians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:4">4</verse></sup> Have you  endured such sufferings to no purpose--if indeed it has been to no purpose?
#BCV:Galatians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:5">5</verse></sup> He who gives you His Spirit and works miracles among you--does He do so on the ground of your obedience to the Law, or is it the result of your having heard and believed:
#BCV:Galatians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:6">6</verse></sup> even as Abraham believed God, and his faith was placed to his account as righteousness?
#BCV:Galatians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:7">7</verse></sup> Notice therefore that those who possess faith are true sons of Abraham.
#BCV:Galatians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:8">8</verse></sup> And the Scripture, foreseeing that in consequence of faith God would declare the nations to be free from guilt, sent beforehand the Good News to Abraham, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
#BCV:Galatians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:9">9</verse></sup> So we see that it is those who possess faith that are blessed with believing Abraham.
#BCV:Galatians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:10">10</verse></sup> All who are depending upon their own obedience to the Law are under a curse, for it is written, "Cursed is every one who does not remain faithful to all the precepts of the Law, and practise them."
#BCV:Galatians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:11">11</verse></sup> It is evident, too, that no one can find acceptance with God simply by obeying the Law, because "the righteous shall live by faith,"
#BCV:Galatians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:12">12</verse></sup> and the Law has nothing to do with faith. It teaches that "he who does these things shall live by doing them."
#BCV:Galatians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:13">13</verse></sup> Christ has purchased our freedom from the curse of the Law by becoming accursed for us--because "Cursed is every one who is hanged upon a tree."
#BCV:Galatians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:14">14</verse></sup> Our freedom has been thus purchased in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing belonging to Abraham may come upon the nations, so that through faith we may receive the promised Spirit.
#BCV:Galatians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:15">15</verse></sup> Brethren, even a covenant made by a man--to borrow an illustration from daily life--when once formally sanctioned is not liable to be set aside or added to.
#BCV:Galatians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:16">16</verse></sup> (Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say 'and to seeds,' as if speaking of many, but 'and to your seed,' since He spoke of only one--and this is Christ.)
#BCV:Galatians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:17">17</verse></sup> I mean that the Covenant which God had already formally made is not abrogated by the Law which was given four hundred and thirty years later--so as to annul the promise.
#BCV:Galatians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:18">18</verse></sup> For if the inheritance comes through obedience to Law, it no longer comes because of a promise. But, as a matter of fact, God has granted it to Abraham in fulfilment of a promise.
#BCV:Galatians 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:19">19</verse></sup> Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of  defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.
#BCV:Galatians 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:20">20</verse></sup> But there cannot be a mediator where only one individual is concerned.
#BCV:Galatians 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:21">21</verse></sup> God, however, is only one. Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? No, indeed; for if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.
#BCV:Galatians 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:22">22</verse></sup> But Scripture has shown that all mankind are the prisoners of sin, in order that the promised blessing, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who believe.
#BCV:Galatians 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:23">23</verse></sup> Before this faith came, we Jews were perpetual prisoners under the Law, living under restraints and limitations in preparation for the faith which was soon to be revealed.
#BCV:Galatians 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:24">24</verse></sup> So that the Law has acted the part of a tutor-slave  to lead us to Christ, in order that through faith we may be declared to be free from guilt.
#BCV:Galatians 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:25">25</verse></sup> But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor-slave.
#BCV:Galatians 3:26
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:26">26</verse></sup> You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus;
#BCV:Galatians 3:27
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:27">27</verse></sup> for all of you who have been baptized  into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ.
#BCV:Galatians 3:28
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:28">28</verse></sup> In Him the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free man, male and female, disappear; you are all one in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Galatians 3:29
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 3:29">29</verse></sup> And if you belong to Christ, then you are indeed true descendants of Abraham, and are heirs in fulfilment of the promise.
#BCV:Galatians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 4:1">4</verse></font> Now I say that so long as  an heir is a child, he in no respect differs from a slave, although he is the owner of everything,
#BCV:Galatians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:2">2</verse></sup> but he is under the control of guardians and trustees until the time his father has appointed.
#BCV:Galatians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:3">3</verse></sup> So we also, when spiritually we were children, were subject to the world's rudimentary notions, and were enslaved.
#BCV:Galatians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:4">4</verse></sup> But, when the time was fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born subject to Law,
#BCV:Galatians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:5">5</verse></sup> in order to purchase the freedom of all who were subject to Law, so that we might receive recognition as sons.
#BCV:Galatians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:6">6</verse></sup> And because you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of His Son to enter your hearts and cry "Abba! our Father!"
#BCV:Galatians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:7">7</verse></sup> Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir also through God's own act.
#BCV:Galatians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:8">8</verse></sup> But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist.
#BCV:Galatians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:9">9</verse></sup> Now, however, having come to know God--or rather to be known by Him--how is it you are again turning back to weak and worthless rudimentary notions to which you are once more willing to be enslaved?
#BCV:Galatians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:10">10</verse></sup> You scrupulously observe days and months, special seasons, and years.
#BCV:Galatians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:11">11</verse></sup> I am alarmed about you, and am afraid that I have perhaps bestowed labour upon you to no purpose.
#BCV:Galatians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:12">12</verse></sup> Brethren, become as I am, I beseech you; for I have also become like you. In no respect did you behave badly to me.
#BCV:Galatians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:13">13</verse></sup> And you know that in those early days it was on account of  bodily infirmity that I proclaimed the Good News to you,
#BCV:Galatians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:14">14</verse></sup> and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you, you did not regard with contempt or loathing, but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself!
#BCV:Galatians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:15">15</verse></sup> I ask you, then, what has become of your  self-congratulations? For I bear you witness that had it been possible you would have torn out your own eyes and have given them to me.
#BCV:Galatians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:16">16</verse></sup> Can it be that I have become your enemy through speaking the truth to you?
#BCV:Galatians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:17">17</verse></sup> These men pay court to you, but not with honourable motives. They want to exclude you, so that you may pay court to them.
#BCV:Galatians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:18">18</verse></sup> It is always an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause; always, and not only when I am with you, my children--
#BCV:Galatians 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:19">19</verse></sup> you for whom I am again, as it were, undergoing the pains of childbirth, until Christ is fully formed within you.
#BCV:Galatians 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:20">20</verse></sup> Would that I were with you and could  change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
#BCV:Galatians 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:21">21</verse></sup> Tell me--you who want to continue to be subject to Law--will you not listen to the Law?
#BCV:Galatians 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:22">22</verse></sup> For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl and one by the free woman.
#BCV:Galatians 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:23">23</verse></sup> But we see that the child of the slave-girl was born in the common course of nature; but the child of the free woman in fulfilment of the promise.
#BCV:Galatians 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:24">24</verse></sup> All this is allegorical; for the women represent two Covenants. One has its origin on Mount Sinai, and bears children destined for slavery.
#BCV:Galatians 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:25">25</verse></sup> This is Hagar;  for the name Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage together with her children.
#BCV:Galatians 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:26">26</verse></sup> But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and *she* is *our* mother.
#BCV:Galatians 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:27">27</verse></sup> For it is written, "Rejoice, thou  barren woman that bearest not, break forth into a joyful cry, thou that dost not travail with child. For the desolate woman has many children--more indeed than she who has the husband."
#BCV:Galatians 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:28">28</verse></sup> But you, brethren, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment of a promise.
#BCV:Galatians 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:29">29</verse></sup> Yet just as, at that time, the child born in the common course of nature persecuted the one whose birth was due to the power of the Spirit, so it is now.
#BCV:Galatians 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:30">30</verse></sup> But what says the Scripture? "Send away the slave-girl and her son, for never shall the slave-girl's son share the inheritance with the son of the free woman."
#BCV:Galatians 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 4:31">31</verse></sup> Therefore, brethren, since we are not the children of a slave-girl, but of the free woman--
#BCV:Galatians 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 5:1">5</verse></font> Christ having made us gloriously free--stand fast and do not again be hampered with the yoke of slavery.
#BCV:Galatians 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:2">2</verse></sup> Remember that it is I Paul who tell you that if you receive circumcision Christ will avail you nothing.
#BCV:Galatians 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:3">3</verse></sup> I once more protest to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to obey the whole Law of Moses.
#BCV:Galatians 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:4">4</verse></sup> Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.
#BCV:Galatians 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:5">5</verse></sup> *We* have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an  acceptance with God which is to come through faith.
#BCV:Galatians 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:6">6</verse></sup> For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only faith working through love.
#BCV:Galatians 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:7">7</verse></sup> You were running the race nobly! Who has interfered and caused you to swerve from the truth?
#BCV:Galatians 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:8">8</verse></sup> No such teaching ever proceeded from Him who is calling you.
#BCV:Galatians 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:9">9</verse></sup> A little  yeast  corrupts the whole of the dough.
#BCV:Galatians 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:10">10</verse></sup> For my part I have  strong confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt my view of the matter. But the man--be he who he may--who is troubling you, will have to bear the full weight of the judgement to be pronounced on him.
#BCV:Galatians 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:11">11</verse></sup> As for me, brethren, if I am still a preacher of circumcision, how is it that I am still suffering persecution? In that case the Cross has ceased to be a stumbling-block!
#BCV:Galatians 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:12">12</verse></sup> Would to God that those who are unsettling your faith would even  mutilate themselves.
#BCV:Galatians 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:13">13</verse></sup> You  however, brethren, were called to  freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.
#BCV:Galatians 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:14">14</verse></sup> For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, "You are to love your  fellow man equally with yourself."
#BCV:Galatians 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:15">15</verse></sup> But if you are perpetually snarling and snapping at one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.
#BCV:Galatians 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:16">16</verse></sup> This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not  indulge the cravings of  your lower natures.
#BCV:Galatians 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:17">17</verse></sup> For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.
#BCV:Galatians 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:18">18</verse></sup> But if  the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law.
#BCV:Galatians 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:19">19</verse></sup> Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery;
#BCV:Galatians 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:20">20</verse></sup> enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions,  envyings;
#BCV:Galatians 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:21">21</verse></sup> hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.
#BCV:Galatians 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:22">22</verse></sup> The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence;
#BCV:Galatians 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:23">23</verse></sup> good faith, meekness, self-restraint.
#BCV:Galatians 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:24">24</verse></sup> Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.
#BCV:Galatians 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:25">25</verse></sup> If we are living by the Spirit's power, let our conduct also be governed by the Spirit's power.
#BCV:Galatians 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 5:26">26</verse></sup> Let us not become vain-glorious, challenging one another, envying one another.
#BCV:Galatians 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Galatians 6:1">6</verse></font> Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest  he also fall into temptation.
#BCV:Galatians 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:2">2</verse></sup> Always carry one another's burdens, and so  obey the whole of Christ's Law.
#BCV:Galatians 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:3">3</verse></sup> For if there is any one who thinks himself to be somebody when he is nobody, he is deluding himself.
#BCV:Galatians 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:4">4</verse></sup> But let every man scrutinize his own conduct, and then he will find out, not with reference to another but with reference to himself, what he has to boast of.
#BCV:Galatians 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:5">5</verse></sup> For every man will have to carry his own load.
#BCV:Galatians 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:6">6</verse></sup> But let those who receive instruction in Christian truth share with their instructors all temporal blessings.
#BCV:Galatians 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:7">7</verse></sup> Do not deceive yourselves. God is not to be scoffed at. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
#BCV:Galatians 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:8">8</verse></sup> He who sows in the field of his lower nature, will from that nature reap  destruction; but he who sows to serve the Spirit will from the Spirit reap the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:Galatians 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:9">9</verse></sup> Let us not abate our courage in doing what is right; for in due time we shall reap a reward, if we do not faint.
#BCV:Galatians 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:10">10</verse></sup> So then,  as we have opportunity, let us labour for the good of all, and especially of those who belong  to the household of the faith.
#BCV:Galatians 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:11">11</verse></sup> See in what large letters  I am writing to you with my own hand.
#BCV:Galatians 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:12">12</verse></sup> All who desire to display their zeal for external observances try to compel you to receive circumcision, but their real object is simply to escape being persecuted for the Cross of Christ.
#BCV:Galatians 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:13">13</verse></sup> For these very men do not really keep the Law of Moses, but they would have you receive circumcision in order that they may glory in *your* bodies.
#BCV:Galatians 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:14">14</verse></sup> But as for me, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,  upon which the world  is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world.
#BCV:Galatians 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:15">15</verse></sup> For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.
#BCV:Galatians 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:16">16</verse></sup> And all who  shall regulate their lives by this principle--may peace and mercy be given to them--and to the true Israel of God.
#BCV:Galatians 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:17">17</verse></sup> From this time onward let no one trouble me; for, as for me, I bear, branded on my body,  the scars of Jesus as my Master.
#BCV:Galatians 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Galatians 6:18">18</verse></sup> May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits, brethren. Amen.

#OUTLINE:1,Ephesians
#TOPIC:EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS</h1>
This appears to have been a kind of circular Letter to the churches in Roman Asia, and was not addressed exchisively to Ephesus. Ephesus was a well-known seaport and the principal city in Roman Asia. It was famous alike for its wonderful
temple, containing the shrine of Diana, and for its vast theatre which was capable of accommodating 50,000 persons. Paul was forbidden at first to preach in Roman Asia (<bcv=Acts 16:6>Acts xvi. 6),</bcv> but he afterwards visited Ephesus in company with Priscilla and Aquila (<bcv=Acts 18:19>Acts xviii. 19).</bcv> About three years later (<bcv=Acts 19:1>Acts xix. i)</bcv> he came again and remained for some time - probably from
54 to 57 A.D. - preaching and arguing in the school of Tyrannus, until driven away through the tumult raised by
Demetrius. He then went to Jerusalem, by way of Miletus, but was arrested in the uproar created by the Jews and was
taken first to Caesarea (<bcv=Acts 23:23>Acts xxiii. 23),</bcv> and thence to Rome
(Acts xxviii. 16). This was probably in the spring of 61 A.D. Late in 62 or early in 63 A.D., this Letter was written, together
with the companion Letters to the Philippians, the Colossians,
and Philemon.

#BCV:Ephesians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS</h1>
#BCV:Ephesians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God: To God's people who are in Ephesus--believers in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:2">2</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:3">3</verse></sup> Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has crowned us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ;
#BCV:Ephesians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:4">4</verse></sup> even as, in His love,  He chose us as His own in Christ before the creation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish in His presence.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:5">5</verse></sup> For He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ--such being His gracious will and pleasure--
#BCV:Ephesians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:6">6</verse></sup> to the praise of the splendour of His grace with which He has  enriched us in the beloved One.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:7">7</verse></sup> It is in Him, and through the shedding of His blood, that we have our  deliverance--the forgiveness of our offences--so abundant was God's grace,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:8">8</verse></sup> the grace which He, the possessor of all wisdom and understanding, lavished upon us,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:9">9</verse></sup> when He made known to us the secret of His will. And this is in harmony with God's merciful purpose
#BCV:Ephesians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:10">10</verse></sup> for the government of the world when the times are ripe for it--the purpose which He has cherished in His own mind  of restoring the whole creation to find its one Head in Christ; yes, things in Heaven and things on earth, to find their one Head in Him.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:11">11</verse></sup> In Him we Jews have been made heirs, having been chosen beforehand in accordance with the intention of Him whose might carries out in everything the design of His own will,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:12">12</verse></sup> so that we should be devoted to the extolling of His glorious attributes--we who were the first to fix our hopes on Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:13">13</verse></sup> And in Him you Gentiles also, after listening to the Message of the truth, the Good News of your salvation--having believed in Him--were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit;
#BCV:Ephesians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:14">14</verse></sup> that Spirit being a pledge and foretaste of our inheritance, in anticipation of its full redemption--the inheritance which He has purchased  to be specially His for the extolling of His glory.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:15">15</verse></sup> For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which prevails among you, and  of your love for all God's people,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:16">16</verse></sup> offer never ceasing thanks on your behalf while I make mention of you in my prayers.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:17">17</verse></sup> For I always beseech the God of our Lord Jesus Christ--the Father  most glorious--to give you  a spirit of wisdom and penetration through an intimate knowledge of Him,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:18">18</verse></sup> the eyes of your  understanding being enlightened so that you may know what is the hope which His call to you inspires, what the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in God's people,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:19">19</verse></sup> and what the transcendent greatness of His power  in us believers as seen in the working of His infinite might
#BCV:Ephesians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:20">20</verse></sup> when He displayed it in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His own right hand in the heavenly realms,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:21">21</verse></sup> high above all other government and authority and power and dominion, and every title of sovereignty used either in this Age or in the Age to come.
#BCV:Ephesians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:22">22</verse></sup> God has put all things under His feet, and has appointed Him universal and supreme Head of the Church, which is His Body,
#BCV:Ephesians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 1:23">23</verse></sup> the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:1">2</verse></font> To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:2">2</verse></sup> which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the  powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:3">3</verse></sup> Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our  lower natures, indulging the cravings of those  natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state  deserving of anger like all others.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:4">4</verse></sup> But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:5">5</verse></sup> caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that  you have been saved--
#BCV:Ephesians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:6">6</verse></sup> raised us with Him from the dead, and enthroned us with Him in the heavenly realms as being in Christ Jesus,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:7">7</verse></sup> in order that, by His goodness to us in Christ Jesus, He might display in the Ages to come the transcendent riches of His grace.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:8">8</verse></sup> For it is by grace that  you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit--
#BCV:Ephesians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:9">9</verse></sup> so that it may be impossible for any one to boast.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:10">10</verse></sup> For we are God's own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He has  pre-destined us to practise.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:11">11</verse></sup> Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:12">12</verse></sup> At that time you were living apart from Christ, estranged from the Commonwealth of Israel, with no share by birth in the Covenants which are based on the Promises, and you had no hope and no God, in all the world.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:13">13</verse></sup> But now in Christ Jesus you who once were so far away have been brought near through the death of Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:14">14</verse></sup> For He is our peace--He who has made  Jews and Gentiles one, and in His own human nature has broken down the hostile dividing wall,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:15">15</verse></sup> by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:16">16</verse></sup> thus effecting peace, and to reconcile Jews and Gentiles in one body to God, by means of His cross--slaying by it their mutual enmity.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:17">17</verse></sup> So He came and proclaimed good news of peace to you who were so far away, and peace to those who were near;
#BCV:Ephesians 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:18">18</verse></sup> because it is through Him that Jews and Gentiles alike have  access through one Spirit to the Father.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:19">19</verse></sup> You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.
#BCV:Ephesians 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:20">20</verse></sup> You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,
#BCV:Ephesians 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:21">21</verse></sup> in union with whom  the whole fabric, fitted and closely joined together, is growing so as to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord;
#BCV:Ephesians 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 2:22">22</verse></sup> in whom you also are being built up together to become a fixed abode for God through the Spirit.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:1">3</verse></font> For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--
#BCV:Ephesians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:2">2</verse></sup> if, that is, you have heard of the  work which God has graciously entrusted to me for your benefit,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:3">3</verse></sup> and that by a revelation the truth hitherto kept secret was made known to me as I have already briefly explained it to you.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:4">4</verse></sup> By means of that explanation, as you read it, you can judge of my insight into the truth of Christ
#BCV:Ephesians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:5">5</verse></sup> which in earlier ages was not made known to the human race, as it has now been revealed to His holy Apostles and Prophets through the Spirit--
#BCV:Ephesians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:6">6</verse></sup> I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:7">7</verse></sup> in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:8">8</verse></sup> To me who am  less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted--to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the  exhaustless wealth of Christ,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:9">9</verse></sup> and to show  all men in a clear light what my stewardship is. It is the stewardship of the truth which from all the Ages lay concealed in the mind of God, the Creator of all things--
#BCV:Ephesians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:10">10</verse></sup> concealed in order that the Church might now be used to display to the powers and authorities in the heavenly realms the innumerable aspects of God's wisdom.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:11">11</verse></sup> Such was the  eternal purpose which He had formed in Christ Jesus our Lord,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:12">12</verse></sup> in whom we have this bold and confident access through our faith in Him.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore I entreat you not to lose heart in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf, for they bring you honour.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:14">14</verse></sup> For this reason, on bended knee I beseech the Father,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:15">15</verse></sup> from whom  the whole family in Heaven and on earth derives its name,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:16">16</verse></sup> to grant you--in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections--to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:17">17</verse></sup> I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through your faith; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea,
#BCV:Ephesians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:18">18</verse></sup> as it is grasped by all God's people, of the breadth and length, the height and depth--
#BCV:Ephesians 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:19">19</verse></sup> yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God's own standard of completeness.
#BCV:Ephesians 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:20">20</verse></sup> Now to Him who, in exercise of His power that is at work within us, is able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts--
#BCV:Ephesians 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 3:21">21</verse></sup> to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, world without end! Amen.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:1">4</verse></font> I, then, the prisoner for the Master's sake, entreat you to live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received--
#BCV:Ephesians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:2">2</verse></sup> with all lowliness of mind and unselfishness, and with patience, bearing with one another lovingly, and earnestly striving to maintain,
#BCV:Ephesians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:3">3</verse></sup> in the uniting bond of peace, the unity given by the Spirit.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:4">4</verse></sup> There is but one body and but one Spirit, as also when you were called you had one and the same hope held out to you.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:5">5</verse></sup> There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
#BCV:Ephesians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:6">6</verse></sup> and one God and Father of all, who rules over all, acts through all, and dwells in all.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:7">7</verse></sup> Yet to each of us individually  grace was given, measured out with the munificence of Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:8">8</verse></sup> For this reason Scripture says: "He  re-ascended on high, He led captive  a host of captives,  and gave gifts to men."
#BCV:Ephesians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:9">9</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Ephesians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:10">10</verse></sup> He who descended is the same as He who ascended again far above all the Heavens in order  to fill the universe.)
#BCV:Ephesians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:11">11</verse></sup> And He Himself appointed some to be Apostles, some to be Prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers,
#BCV:Ephesians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:12">12</verse></sup> in order fully to equip His people for the work of serving--for the building up of Christ's body--
#BCV:Ephesians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:13">13</verse></sup> till we all of us arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:14">14</verse></sup> So we shall no longer be babes nor shall we resemble mariners tossed on the waves and carried about with every changing wind of doctrine according to men's cleverness and unscrupulous cunning, making use of every shifting device to mislead.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:15">15</verse></sup> But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:16">16</verse></sup> Dependent on Him, the whole body--its various parts closely fitting and firmly adhering to one another--  grows by the aid of every  contributory link, with power proportioned to the need of each individual part, so as to build itself up in a spirit of love.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:17">17</verse></sup> Therefore I  warn you, and I implore you in the name of the Master, no longer to live as the Gentiles in their perverseness live,
#BCV:Ephesians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:18">18</verse></sup> with darkened understandings, having by reason of the ignorance which is deep-seated in them and the insensibility of their moral nature, no share in the Life which God gives.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:19">19</verse></sup> Such men being past feeling  have abandoned themselves to impurity, greedily indulging in every kind of profligacy.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:20">20</verse></sup> But these are not the lessons which you have learned from Christ;
#BCV:Ephesians 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:21">21</verse></sup> if at least you have heard His voice and in Him have been taught--and this is true Christian teaching--
#BCV:Ephesians 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:22">22</verse></sup> to put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which  is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses,
#BCV:Ephesians 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:23">23</verse></sup> and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds and clothe yourselves
#BCV:Ephesians 4:24
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:24">24</verse></sup> with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:25
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:25">25</verse></sup> For this reason, laying aside falsehood, every one of you should speak the truth to his fellow man; for we are, as it were, parts of one another.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:26
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:26">26</verse></sup> If angry, beware of sinning. Let not your irritation last until the sun goes down;
#BCV:Ephesians 4:27
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:27">27</verse></sup> and do not leave room for the Devil.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:28
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:28">28</verse></sup> He who has been a thief must steal no more, but, instead of that, should work with his  own hands in honest industry, so that he may have something of which he can give the needy a share.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:29
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:29">29</verse></sup> Let no unwholesome words ever pass your lips, but let all your words be good for benefiting others according to the need of the moment, so that they may be a means of blessing to the hearers.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:30
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:30">30</verse></sup> And beware of grieving the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you have been sealed in preparation for the day of Redemption.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:31
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:31">31</verse></sup> Let all bitterness and all passionate feeling, all anger and loud insulting language, be unknown among you--and also every kind of malice.
#BCV:Ephesians 4:32
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 4:32">32</verse></sup> On the contrary learn to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ  has also forgiven you.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:1">5</verse></font> Therefore be imitators of God, as His dear children.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:2">2</verse></sup> And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:3">3</verse></sup> But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they  ought not to be named among God's people.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:4">4</verse></sup> Avoid shameful and foolish talk and low jesting--they are all alike discreditable--and in place of these give thanks.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:5">5</verse></sup> For be well assured that no fornicator or immoral person and no money-grubber--or in other words idol-worshipper--has any share awaiting him in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:6">6</verse></sup> Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming upon the  disobedient.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:7">7</verse></sup> Therefore do not become sharers with them.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:8">8</verse></sup> There was a time when you were nothing but darkness. Now, as Christians, you are Light itself.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:9">9</verse></sup> Live and act as sons of Light--for the effect of the Light is seen in every kind of goodness, uprightness and truth--
#BCV:Ephesians 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:10">10</verse></sup> and learn in your own experiences what is fully pleasing to the Lord.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:11">11</verse></sup> Have nothing to do with the barren unprofitable deeds of darkness, but, instead of that,  set your faces against them;
#BCV:Ephesians 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:12">12</verse></sup> for the things which are done by these people in secret it is disgraceful even to speak of.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:13">13</verse></sup> But everything can be tested by the light and thus be shown in its true colors; for whatever shines of itself is light.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:14">14</verse></sup> For this reason it is said, "Rise, sleeper; rise from among the dead, and Christ will shed light upon you."
#BCV:Ephesians 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:15">15</verse></sup> Therefore be very careful how you live and act. Let it not be as unwise men, but as wise.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:16">16</verse></sup> Buy up your opportunities, for these are evil times.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:17">17</verse></sup> On this account do not prove yourselves wanting in sense, but try to understand what the Lord's will is.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:18">18</verse></sup> Do not over-indulge in wine--a thing in which excess is so easy--
#BCV:Ephesians 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:19">19</verse></sup> but  drink deeply of God's Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and offer praise in your hearts to the Lord.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:20">20</verse></sup> Always and for everything let your thanks to God the Father be presented in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
#BCV:Ephesians 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:21">21</verse></sup> and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:22">22</verse></sup> Married women, submit to your own husbands as if to the Lord;
#BCV:Ephesians 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:23">23</verse></sup> because a husband is the Head of his wife as Christ also is the Head of the Church, being indeed the Saviour of this His Body.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:24">24</verse></sup> And just as the Church submits to Christ, so also married women should be entirely submissive to their husbands.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:25">25</verse></sup> Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her;
#BCV:Ephesians 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:26">26</verse></sup> in order to make her holy, cleansing her with  the baptismal water by the word,
#BCV:Ephesians 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:27">27</verse></sup> that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:28">28</verse></sup> So too married men ought to love their wives as much as they love themselves. He who loves his wife loves himself.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:29
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:29">29</verse></sup> For never yet has a man hated his own body. On the contrary he feeds and cherishes it, just as Christ feeds and cherishes the Church;
#BCV:Ephesians 5:30
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:30">30</verse></sup> because we are, as it were, parts of His Body.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:31
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:31">31</verse></sup> "For this reason a man is to leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be as one."
#BCV:Ephesians 5:32
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:32">32</verse></sup> That is a great truth hitherto kept secret: I mean the truth concerning Christ and the Church.
#BCV:Ephesians 5:33
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 5:33">33</verse></sup> Yet I insist that among you also, each man is to love his own wife as much as he loves himself, and let a married woman see to it that she treats her husband with respect.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:1">6</verse></font> Children,  be obedient to your parents as a Christian duty, for it is a duty.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:2">2</verse></sup> "Honour your father and your mother" --this is the first Commandment which has a promise added to it--
#BCV:Ephesians 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:3">3</verse></sup> "so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth."
#BCV:Ephesians 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:4">4</verse></sup> And you, fathers, do not  irritate your children, but bring them up tenderly with true Christian training and advice.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:5">5</verse></sup> Slaves,  be obedient to your earthly masters, with respect and eager anxiety to please and with simplicity of motive as if you were obeying Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:6">6</verse></sup> Let it not be in acts of eye-service as if you had but to please men, but as Christ's bondservants who are doing God's will from the heart.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:7">7</verse></sup> With right good will, be faithful to your duty as service rendered to the Lord and not to man.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:8">8</verse></sup> You well know that whatever right thing any one does, he will receive a requital for it from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:9">9</verse></sup> And you masters, act towards your slaves on the same principles, and refrain from threats. For you know that in Heaven there is One who is your Master as well as theirs, and that  merely earthly distinctions there are none with Him.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:10">10</verse></sup> In conclusion, strengthen yourselves in the Lord and in the power which His supreme might imparts.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:11">11</verse></sup> Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:12">12</verse></sup> For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on  the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:14">14</verse></sup> Stand therefore, first fastening round you the girdle of truth and putting on the breastplate of uprightness
#BCV:Ephesians 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:15">15</verse></sup> as well as the shoes of the Good News of peace--  a firm foundation for your feet.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:16">16</verse></sup> And  besides all these take the great shield of faith, on which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the Wicked one;
#BCV:Ephesians 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:17">17</verse></sup> and  take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:18">18</verse></sup> Pray with  unceasing prayer and entreaty on every fitting occasion in the Spirit, and be always on the alert to seize opportunities for doing so, with  unwearied persistence and entreaty on behalf of all God's people,
#BCV:Ephesians 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:19">19</verse></sup> and ask on my behalf that words may be given to me so that, outspoken and fearless, I may make known the truths (hitherto kept secret)
#BCV:Ephesians 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:20">20</verse></sup> to spread which I am an ambassador in chains--so that when telling them I may speak out boldly as I ought.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:21">21</verse></sup> But in order that you also may know how I am doing, Tychicus our dearly-loved brother and faithful helper in the Lord's service will tell you everything.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:22
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:22">22</verse></sup> I have sent him to you for the very purpose--that you may know about us and that he may encourage you.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:23
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:23">23</verse></sup> Peace be to the brethren, and love combined with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Ephesians 6:24
<sup><verse bcv="Ephesians 6:24">24</verse></sup> May grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with perfect sincerity.

#OUTLINE:1,Philippians
#TOPIC:PHILIPPIANS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS</h1>
This Letter was written shortly before that to the Ephesians,
probably late in 61 or early in 62 A.D. Epaphroditus had been
sent to Rome to assure the apostle, in his imprisonment, of the tender and practical sympathy of the Philippian disciples
(<bcv=Philippians 2:25>Phil. ii. 25;</bcv> <bcv=Philippians 4:15-16>iv. 15, 16).</bcv> The messenger, however, fell ill upon
his arrival, and only on his recovery could Paul, as in this Letter, express his appreciation of the thoughtful love of the
Philippians. The apostle appears to have visited the city three times. In 52 a.d. it was the place of his first preaching
in Europe (<bcv=Acts 16:12>Acts xvi. 12);</bcv> but he came again in 57 and in 58 A.D. (<bcv=Acts 20:2>Acts XX. 2,</bcv> <bcv=Acts 20:6>6),</bcv> on the last occasion spending the Passover
season there. Two special traits in the Macedonian character
are recognized by the apostle in this Letter; the position and
influence of women, and the financial liberality of the
Philippians. It is remarkable that a church displaying such
characteristics, and existing in a Roman "colonia," should have lived, as this one did, "without a history, and have
perished without a memorial."

#BCV:Philippians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS</h1>
#BCV:Philippians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Philippians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus: To all God's people in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with  the ministers of the Church and their assistants.
#BCV:Philippians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:2">2</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Philippians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:3">3</verse></sup> I thank my God at  my every remembrance of you--
#BCV:Philippians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:4">4</verse></sup> always when offering any prayer on behalf of you all, finding a joy in offering it.
#BCV:Philippians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:5">5</verse></sup> I thank my God, I say, for your cooperation in spreading the Good News, from the time it first came to you even until now.
#BCV:Philippians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:6">6</verse></sup> For of this I am confident, that He who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Philippians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:7">7</verse></sup> And I am justified in having this confidence about you all, because, both during my imprisonment and when I stand up in  defence of the Good News or to confirm its truth, I have you in my heart, sharers as you all are in the same grace as myself.
#BCV:Philippians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:8">8</verse></sup> For God is my witness how I yearn over all of you with tender Christian affection.
#BCV:Philippians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:9">9</verse></sup> And it is my prayer that your love may be more and more accompanied by clear knowledge and keen perception, for  testing things that differ,
#BCV:Philippians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:10">10</verse></sup> so that you may be men of transparent character, and may be blameless, in preparation for the day of Christ,
#BCV:Philippians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:11">11</verse></sup> being filled with these fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ--  to the glory and praise of God.
#BCV:Philippians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:12">12</verse></sup> Now I would have you know, brethren, that what I have gone through has turned out to the furtherance of the Good News rather than otherwise.
#BCV:Philippians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:13">13</verse></sup> And thus it has become notorious among all the Imperial Guards, and everywhere, that it is  for the sake of Christ that I am a prisoner;
#BCV:Philippians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:14">14</verse></sup> and the greater part of the brethren, made confident in the Lord  through my imprisonment, now speak of God's Message without fear, more boldly than ever.
#BCV:Philippians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:15">15</verse></sup> Some indeed actually preach Christ out of envy and contentiousness but there are also others who do it from good will.
#BCV:Philippians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:16">16</verse></sup> These latter preach Him from love to me, knowing that I am here for the defence of the Good News;
#BCV:Philippians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:17">17</verse></sup> while  the others proclaim Him from motives of rivalry, and insincerely, supposing that by this they are embittering my imprisonment.
#BCV:Philippians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:18">18</verse></sup> What does it matter, however? In any case Christ is preached--either perversely or in honest truth; and in that I rejoice, yes,  and will rejoice.
#BCV:Philippians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:19">19</verse></sup> For I know that it will result in my  salvation through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
#BCV:Philippians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:20">20</verse></sup> in fulfilment of my  eager expectation and hope that I shall never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.
#BCV:Philippians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:21">21</verse></sup> For, with me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
#BCV:Philippians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:22">22</verse></sup> But since to live means a longer stay on earth, that implies more labour for me--and not unsuccessful labour; and which I am to choose I cannot tell.
#BCV:Philippians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:23">23</verse></sup> I am in a dilemma, my earnest desire being to depart and be with Christ, for that is far, far better.
#BCV:Philippians 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:24">24</verse></sup> But for your sakes it is more important that I should still remain in the body.
#BCV:Philippians 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:25">25</verse></sup> I am convinced of this, and I know that I shall remain, and shall go on working side by side with you all, to promote your progress and joy in the faith;
#BCV:Philippians 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:26">26</verse></sup> so that, as Christians, you may have additional reason for glorying about me as the result of my being with you again.
#BCV:Philippians 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:27">27</verse></sup> Only let the lives you live be worthy of the Good News of the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see you or, being absent, only hear of you, I may know that you are standing fast in one spirit and with one mind, fighting shoulder to shoulder  for the faith of the Good News.
#BCV:Philippians 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:28">28</verse></sup> Never for a moment quail before your antagonists. Your fearlessness will be to them a sure token of impending destruction, but to you it will be a sure token of your salvation--a token coming from God.
#BCV:Philippians 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:29">29</verse></sup> For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ--not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf;
#BCV:Philippians 1:30
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 1:30">30</verse></sup> maintaining, as you do, the same kind of conflict that  you once saw in me and which you still hear  that I am engaged in.
#BCV:Philippians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Philippians 2:1">2</verse></font> If then I can appeal to you as the followers of Christ, if there is any persuasive power in love and any common sharing of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compassion, make my joy complete by being of one mind,
#BCV:Philippians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:2">2</verse></sup> united by mutual love, with harmony of feeling giving your minds to one and the same object.
#BCV:Philippians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:3">3</verse></sup> Do nothing in a spirit of factiousness or of vainglory, but, with true humility, let every one regard the rest as being of more account than himself;
#BCV:Philippians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:4">4</verse></sup> each fixing his attention, not simply on his own  interests, but on those of others also.
#BCV:Philippians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:5">5</verse></sup> Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Philippians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:6">6</verse></sup> Although from the beginning He  had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped.
#BCV:Philippians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:7">7</verse></sup> Nay,  He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of  a bondservant by becoming a man like other men.
#BCV:Philippians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:8">8</verse></sup> And  being recognized as truly human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; yes, to die on a cross.
#BCV:Philippians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:9">9</verse></sup> It is in consequence of this that God has also so highly exalted Him, and has conferred on Him the Name which is supreme above every other,
#BCV:Philippians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:10">10</verse></sup> in order that in the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, of beings in Heaven, of those on the earth, and of those in the underworld,
#BCV:Philippians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:11">11</verse></sup> and that every tongue should confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
#BCV:Philippians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore, my dearly-loved friends, as I have always found you obedient, labour earnestly with fear and trembling--not merely as though I were present with you, but much more now since I am absent from you--labour earnestly, I say, to make sure of your own salvation.
#BCV:Philippians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:13">13</verse></sup> For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.
#BCV:Philippians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:14">14</verse></sup> Be ever on your guard against a grudging and contentious spirit,
#BCV:Philippians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:15">15</verse></sup> so that you may always prove yourselves to be blameless and spotless--irreproachable children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as heavenly lights  in the world,
#BCV:Philippians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:16">16</verse></sup> holding out to them a Message of Life. It will then be my glory on the day of Christ that I did not run my race in vain nor toil in vain.
#BCV:Philippians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:17">17</verse></sup> Nay, even if my life is to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice, and I congratulate you all.
#BCV:Philippians 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:18">18</verse></sup> And I bid you also share my gladness, and congratulate me.
#BCV:Philippians 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:19">19</verse></sup> But, if the Lord permits it, I hope before long to send Timothy to you, that I, in turn, may be cheered by getting news of you.
#BCV:Philippians 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:20">20</verse></sup> For I have no one likeminded with him, who will cherish a genuine care for you.
#BCV:Philippians 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:21">21</verse></sup> Everybody concerns himself about his own interests, not about those of Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Philippians 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:22">22</verse></sup> But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
#BCV:Philippians 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:23">23</verse></sup> So it is he that I hope to send as soon as ever I see how things go with me;
#BCV:Philippians 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:24">24</verse></sup> but trusting, as I do, in the Lord, I believe that I shall myself also come to you before long.
#BCV:Philippians 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:25">25</verse></sup> Yet I  deem it important to send Epaphroditus to you now--he is my brother and comrade both in labour and in arms, and is your messenger who has ministered to my needs.
#BCV:Philippians 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:26">26</verse></sup> I send him because he is longing  to see you all and is distressed at your having heard of his illness.
#BCV:Philippians 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:27">27</verse></sup> For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.
#BCV:Philippians 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:28">28</verse></sup> I am therefore all the more eager to send him, in the hope that when you see him  again you may be glad and I may have the less sorrow.
#BCV:Philippians 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:29">29</verse></sup> Receive him therefore with heartfelt Christian joy, and hold in honour men like him;
#BCV:Philippians 2:30
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 2:30">30</verse></sup> because it was for the sake of Christ's work that he came so near death, hazarding, as he did, his very life in endeavouring to make good any deficiency that there might be in your gifts to me.
#BCV:Philippians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Philippians 3:1">3</verse></font> In conclusion, my brethren, be joyful in the Lord. For me to give you the same warnings as before is not irksome to me, while so far as you are concerned it is a safe precaution.
#BCV:Philippians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:2">2</verse></sup> Beware of 'the dogs,' the  bad workmen, the self-mutilators.
#BCV:Philippians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:3">3</verse></sup> For we are the true circumcision--we who  render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in  outward ceremonies:
#BCV:Philippians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:4">4</verse></sup> although I myself might have some excuse for confidence in outward ceremonies. If any one else claims a right to trust in them, far more may I:
#BCV:Philippians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:5">5</verse></sup> circumcised, as I was, on the eighth day, a member of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee;
#BCV:Philippians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:6">6</verse></sup> as to zeal, a persecutor of the Church; as to the righteousness which comes through Law, blameless.
#BCV:Philippians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:7">7</verse></sup> Yet all that was gain to me--for Christ's sake I have reckoned it loss.
#BCV:Philippians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:8">8</verse></sup> Nay, I even reckon all things as  pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him,
#BCV:Philippians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:9">9</verse></sup> not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith.
#BCV:Philippians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:10">10</verse></sup> I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died;
#BCV:Philippians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:11">11</verse></sup> in the hope that I may attain to  the resurrection from among the dead.
#BCV:Philippians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:12">12</verse></sup> I do not say that I have already won the race or have already  reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.
#BCV:Philippians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:13">13</verse></sup> Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me,
#BCV:Philippians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:14">14</verse></sup> with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's  heavenward call in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Philippians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:15">15</verse></sup> Therefore let all of us who are mature believers cherish these thoughts; and if in any respect you think differently, that also God will make clear to you.
#BCV:Philippians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:16">16</verse></sup> But whatever be the point that we have already reached, let us persevere in the same course.
#BCV:Philippians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:17">17</verse></sup> Brethren, vie with one another in imitating me, and carefully observe those who follow the example which we have set you.
#BCV:Philippians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:18">18</verse></sup> For there are  many whom I have often described to you, and I now even with tears describe them, as being enemies to the Cross of Christ.
#BCV:Philippians 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:19">19</verse></sup> Their end is destruction, their bellies are their God, their glory is in their shame, and their minds are devoted to earthly things.
#BCV:Philippians 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:20">20</verse></sup> We, however, are free citizens of Heaven, and we are waiting with longing expectation for the coming from Heaven of  a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
#BCV:Philippians 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 3:21">21</verse></sup> who, in the exercise of the power which He has even to subject all things to Himself, will transform this body of our humiliation until it resembles His own glorious body.
#BCV:Philippians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Philippians 4:1">4</verse></font> Therefore, my brethren, dearly loved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my dearly-loved ones.
#BCV:Philippians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:2">2</verse></sup> I entreat Euodia, and I entreat Syntyche, to be of one mind,  as sisters in Christ.
#BCV:Philippians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:3">3</verse></sup> Yes, and I beg you also, my faithful yoke-fellow, to help these women who have shared my toil in connection with the Good News, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are recorded in the Book of Life.
#BCV:Philippians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:4">4</verse></sup> Always be glad in the Lord: I will repeat it, be glad.
#BCV:Philippians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:5">5</verse></sup> Let your  forbearing spirit be known to every one--the Lord is near.
#BCV:Philippians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:6">6</verse></sup> Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God.
#BCV:Philippians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:7">7</verse></sup> And then the peace of God, which transcends all our powers of thought, will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in union with Christ Jesus.
#BCV:Philippians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:8">8</verse></sup> Finally, brethren, whatever is  true, whatever wins respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute--if there is any virtue or anything deemed worthy of praise--cherish the thought of these things.
#BCV:Philippians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:9">9</verse></sup> The doctrines and  the line of conduct which I taught you--both what you heard and what you saw in me--  hold fast to them; and God who gives peace will be with you.
#BCV:Philippians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:10">10</verse></sup> But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.
#BCV:Philippians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:11">11</verse></sup> I do not refer to this through fear of privation, for (for my part)
#BCV:Philippians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:12">12</verse></sup> I know both how to live in humble circumstances and how to live amid abundance. I am  fully initiated into all the mysteries both of fulness and of hunger, of abundance and of want.
#BCV:Philippians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:13">13</verse></sup> I have strength for anything through Him who gives me power.
#BCV:Philippians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:14">14</verse></sup> Yet I thank you for taking your share in my troubles.
#BCV:Philippians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:15">15</verse></sup> And you men and women of Philippi also know that at the first preaching of the Good News, when I had left Macedonia, no other Church except yourselves held communication with me about giving and receiving;
#BCV:Philippians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:16">16</verse></sup> because even in Thessalonica you sent several times to minister to my needs.
#BCV:Philippians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:17">17</verse></sup> Not that I crave for gifts from you, but I do want to see abundant fruit bring you honour.
#BCV:Philippians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:18">18</verse></sup> I have enough of everything--and more than enough. My wants are fully satisfied now that I have received from the hands of Epaphroditus the generous gifts which you sent me--they are a fragrant odor, an acceptable sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.
#BCV:Philippians 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:19">19</verse></sup> But my God--so great is His  wealth of glory in Christ Jesus--will fully supply every need of yours.
#BCV:Philippians 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:20">20</verse></sup> And to our God and Father be the glory throughout the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:Philippians 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:21">21</verse></sup> My Christian greetings to every one of God's people. The brethren who are with me send their greetings.
#BCV:Philippians 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:22">22</verse></sup> All God's people here greet you--especially the members of Caesar's household.
#BCV:Philippians 4:23
<sup><verse bcv="Philippians 4:23">23</verse></sup> May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.

#OUTLINE:1,Colossians
#TOPIC:COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS</h1>
This Letter belongs to the same group as those to the
Philippians, the Ephesians, and Philemon, and was probably
written from Rome about 63 A.D. Colossae was a town in Phrygia, on the river Lycus, and was destroyed by an earthquake in the seventh year of Nero's reign. The church was not founded by Paul himself (Col. ii. i), but by Epaphras (Col. i. 7; iv. 12), and this Letter arose out of a visit which Epaphras
paid to the apostle, for the purpose of discussing with him the development, at Colossae, of certain strange doctrines which
appear to have been a kind of early Gnosticism. Paul here
writes to support the authority and confirm the teaching of Epaphras.

#BCV:Colossians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS</h1>
#BCV:Colossians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Colossians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and Timothy our brother:
#BCV:Colossians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:2">2</verse></sup> To the people of God and the believing brethren at  Colossae who are in Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father.
#BCV:Colossians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:3">3</verse></sup> We give thanks  to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do,
#BCV:Colossians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:4">4</verse></sup> because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people,
#BCV:Colossians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:5">5</verse></sup> on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News.
#BCV:Colossians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:6">6</verse></sup> For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as  it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when  first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God,
#BCV:Colossians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:7">7</verse></sup> as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead,
#BCV:Colossians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:8">8</verse></sup> and moreover he has informed us of your love, which is inspired by the Spirit.
#BCV:Colossians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:9">9</verse></sup> For this reason we also, from the day we  first received these tidings,  have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;
#BCV:Colossians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:10">10</verse></sup> so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.
#BCV:Colossians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:11">11</verse></sup> Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and long-suffering;
#BCV:Colossians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:12">12</verse></sup> and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light.
#BCV:Colossians 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:13">13</verse></sup> It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son,
#BCV:Colossians 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:14">14</verse></sup> in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins.
#BCV:Colossians 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:15">15</verse></sup> Christ is the  visible representation of the invisible God,  the Firstborn and Lord of all creation.
#BCV:Colossians 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:16">16</verse></sup> For  in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen,  thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers--all were created,  and exist through and for Him.
#BCV:Colossians 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:17">17</verse></sup> And  HE IS before all things and in and through Him the universe is a harmonious whole.
#BCV:Colossians 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:18">18</verse></sup> Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.
#BCV:Colossians 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:19">19</verse></sup> For it was the Father's gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him.
#BCV:Colossians 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:20">20</verse></sup> And God purposed through Him to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through His blood, which was shed upon the Cross--to reconcile to Himself through Him, I say, things on earth and things in Heaven.
#BCV:Colossians 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:21">21</verse></sup> And you, estranged as you once were and even hostile in your minds, amidst your evil deeds,
#BCV:Colossians 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:22">22</verse></sup> He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;
#BCV:Colossians 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:23">23</verse></sup> if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.
#BCV:Colossians 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:24">24</verse></sup> Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.
#BCV:Colossians 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:25">25</verse></sup> I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--
#BCV:Colossians 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:26">26</verse></sup> the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people,
#BCV:Colossians 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:27">27</verse></sup> to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that 'Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'
#BCV:Colossians 1:28
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:28">28</verse></sup> Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.
#BCV:Colossians 1:29
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 1:29">29</verse></sup> To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.
#BCV:Colossians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Colossians 2:1">2</verse></font> For I would have you know in how severe a struggle I am engaged on behalf of you and the brethren in Laodicea and of all who have not known me personally,
#BCV:Colossians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:2">2</verse></sup> in order that their hearts may be cheered, they themselves being welded together in love and enjoying all the advantages of a reasonable certainty, till at last they attain the full knowledge of God's truth, which is Christ Himself.
#BCV:Colossians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:3">3</verse></sup> In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up, hidden from view.
#BCV:Colossians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:4">4</verse></sup> I say this to prevent your being misled by any one's plausible sophistry.
#BCV:Colossians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:5">5</verse></sup> For although, as you say, I am absent from you in body, yet in spirit I am present with you and am delighted to witness your good  discipline and the  solid front presented by your faith in Christ.
#BCV:Colossians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:6">6</verse></sup> As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord,  live and act in vital union with Him;
#BCV:Colossians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:7">7</verse></sup> having the roots of your being firmly planted in Him, and continually building yourselves up in Him, and always being increasingly confirmed in the faith as you were taught it, and abounding  in it with thanksgiving.
#BCV:Colossians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:8">8</verse></sup> Take care lest there be some one who leads you away as prisoners by means of his philosophy and idle fancies, following human traditions and the world's crude notions instead of following Christ.
#BCV:Colossians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:9">9</verse></sup> For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,
#BCV:Colossians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:10">10</verse></sup> and He is the  Lord of all  princes and rulers.
#BCV:Colossians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:11">11</verse></sup> In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;
#BCV:Colossians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:12">12</verse></sup> having been buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead.
#BCV:Colossians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:13">13</verse></sup> And to you--dead as you once were in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your natural state--He has nevertheless given Life with Himself, having forgiven us all our transgressions.
#BCV:Colossians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:14">14</verse></sup> The bond,  with its requirements, which was in force against us and was hostile to us, He cancelled, and cleared it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross.
#BCV:Colossians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:15">15</verse></sup> And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them.
#BCV:Colossians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore suffer no one to sit in judgement on you as to eating or drinking or with regard to a festival, a new moon or a sabbath.
#BCV:Colossians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:17">17</verse></sup> These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
#BCV:Colossians 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:18">18</verse></sup> Let no one defraud you of your prize,  priding himself on his humility and on his worship of the angels, and taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and idly puffed up with his unspiritual thoughts.
#BCV:Colossians 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:19">19</verse></sup> Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.
#BCV:Colossians 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:20">20</verse></sup> If you have died with Christ and have escaped from the world's rudimentary notions, why, as though your life still belonged to the world, do you submit to such precepts as
#BCV:Colossians 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:21">21</verse></sup> "Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
#BCV:Colossians 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:22">22</verse></sup> referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?
#BCV:Colossians 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 2:23">23</verse></sup> These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.
#BCV:Colossians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Colossians 3:1">3</verse></font> If however you  have risen with Christ,  seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand.
#BCV:Colossians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:2">2</verse></sup> Give your minds to the things that are above, not to the things that are on the earth.
#BCV:Colossians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:3">3</verse></sup> For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
#BCV:Colossians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:4">4</verse></sup> When Christ appears--He is  our true Life--then you also will appear with Him in glory.
#BCV:Colossians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:5">5</verse></sup> Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.
#BCV:Colossians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:6">6</verse></sup> It is on account of these very sins that God's anger is coming,
#BCV:Colossians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:7">7</verse></sup> and you also were once addicted to them, while you were living under their power.
#BCV:Colossians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:8">8</verse></sup> But now you must rid yourselves of every kind of sin--angry and passionate outbreaks, ill-will, evil speaking, foul-mouthed abuse--so that these may never soil your lips.
#BCV:Colossians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:9">9</verse></sup> Do not speak falsehoods to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its doings,
#BCV:Colossians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:10">10</verse></sup> and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.
#BCV:Colossians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:11">11</verse></sup> In that new creation  there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man, but Christ is everything and is  in all of us.
#BCV:Colossians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:12">12</verse></sup> Clothe yourselves therefore, as God's own people holy and dearly loved, with tender-heartedness, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;
#BCV:Colossians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:13">13</verse></sup> bearing with one another and readily forgiving each other, if any one has a grievance against another. Just as  the Lord has forgiven you, you also must forgive.
#BCV:Colossians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:14">14</verse></sup> And over all these put on love, which is the perfect bond of union;
#BCV:Colossians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:15">15</verse></sup> and let the peace which Christ gives settle all questionings in your hearts, to which peace indeed you were called as belonging to His one Body; and be thankful.
#BCV:Colossians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:16">16</verse></sup> Let the teaching  concerning Christ remain as a rich treasure in your hearts.  In all wisdom teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and sing with grace in your hearts to God.
#BCV:Colossians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:17">17</verse></sup> And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything  in the name of the Lord Jesus, and let it be through Him that you give thanks to God the Father.
#BCV:Colossians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:18">18</verse></sup> Married women, be submissive to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
#BCV:Colossians 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:19">19</verse></sup> Married men, be affectionate to your wives, and do not treat them harshly.
#BCV:Colossians 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:20">20</verse></sup> Children be obedient to your parents in everything; for that is right for Christians.
#BCV:Colossians 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:21">21</verse></sup> Fathers, do not fret and harass your children, or you may make them sullen and morose.
#BCV:Colossians 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:22">22</verse></sup> Slaves, be obedient in everything to your earthly masters; not  in acts of eye service, as aiming only to please men, but with simplicity of purpose, because you fear the Lord.
#BCV:Colossians 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:23">23</verse></sup> Whatever you are doing, let your hearts be in your work, as a thing done for the Lord and not for men.
#BCV:Colossians 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:24">24</verse></sup> For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.
#BCV:Colossians 3:25
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 3:25">25</verse></sup> The man who perpetrates a wrong will find the wrong repaid to him; and with God there are  no merely earthly distinctions.
#BCV:Colossians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Colossians 4:1">4</verse></font> Masters, deal justly and equitably with your slaves, knowing that you too have a Master in Heaven.
#BCV:Colossians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:2">2</verse></sup> Be earnest and unwearied in prayer, being on the alert in it and in your giving of thanks.
#BCV:Colossians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:3">3</verse></sup> And pray at the same time for us also, that God may open for us a door for preaching, for us to tell the truth concerning Christ for the sake of which I am even a prisoner.
#BCV:Colossians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:4">4</verse></sup> Then I shall proclaim it fully, as it is my duty to do.
#BCV:Colossians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:5">5</verse></sup> Behave wisely in relation to the outside world, buying up your opportunities.
#BCV:Colossians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:6">6</verse></sup> Let your language be always seasoned with the salt of grace, so that you may know how to give every man  a fitting answer.
#BCV:Colossians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:7">7</verse></sup> Tychicus, our much-loved brother, a trusty assistant and fellow servant with us in the Lord's work, will give you every information about me.
#BCV:Colossians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:8">8</verse></sup> And for this very purpose I send him to you that you may know how we are faring; and that he may cheer your hearts.
#BCV:Colossians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:9">9</verse></sup> And with him I send our dear and trusty brother Onesimus, who is one of yourselves. They will inform you of everything here.
#BCV:Colossians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:10">10</verse></sup> Aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends greeting to you, and so does Barnabas's cousin Mark. You have received instructions as to him; if he comes to you, give him a welcome.
#BCV:Colossians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:11">11</verse></sup> Jesus, called Justus, also sends greeting. These three are Hebrew converts. They alone among such have worked loyally with me for the Kingdom of God--they are men who have been a comfort to me.
#BCV:Colossians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:12">12</verse></sup> Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, sends greetings to you, always wrestling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand firm--Christians of ripe character and of clear conviction as to everything which is God's will.
#BCV:Colossians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:13">13</verse></sup> For I can bear witness to the deep interest he takes in you and in the brethren at Laodicea and in those at Hierapolis.
#BCV:Colossians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:14">14</verse></sup> Luke, the dearly-loved physician, salutes you, and so does Demas.
#BCV:Colossians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:15">15</verse></sup> Christian greetings to the brethren at Laodicea, especially to Nymphas, and to  the Church that meets at their house.
#BCV:Colossians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:16">16</verse></sup> And when this Letter has been read  among you, let it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and you in turn must read the one I am sending to Laodicea.
#BCV:Colossians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:17">17</verse></sup> And tell Archippus to discharge carefully the duties devolving upon him as a servant of the Lord.
#BCV:Colossians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="Colossians 4:18">18</verse></sup> I Paul add with my own hand this final greeting. Be mindful of me in my imprisonment. Grace be with you.

#OUTLINE:1,1 Thessalonians
#TOPIC:THESSALONIANS, EPISTLES TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS</h1>
During his second missionary tour (Acts xvii.), Paul came to Thessalonica and preached the Good News there with no little success. The city - which had had its name given it by Cassander, after his wife, the sister of Alexander the Greatwas the most populous in Macedonia, besides being a "free
city" and the seat of the Roman pro-consular administration. Very soon, however, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the mob against Paul and Silas, and dragged Jason before the magistrates. Hence the brethren sent the missionaries away by night
to Beroea, being alarmed for their safety. As the apostle wasnaturally anxious about the persecuted flock which he had beenobliged to leave behind, he made two attempts to return to them, but these being frustrated (i Thess. ii. i8), he then sent Timothy, from Athens, to inquire after their welfare and encourage them. The report brought back was on the whole satisfactory, but left occasion for the self-defence, the warnings and the exhortations of this Letter, which was then sent from Corinth, probably in 53 A.D.

#BCV:1 Thessalonians 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS</h1>
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul,  Silas, and Timothy: To the Church  of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:2">2</verse></sup> We continually give thanks to God because of you all, while we make mention of you in our prayers.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:3">3</verse></sup> For we never fail to remember your works of faith and labours of love and your persistent and unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:4">4</verse></sup> knowing as we do, brethren, that you are beloved by God and that He has chosen you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:5">5</verse></sup> The Good News that we brought you did not come to you in words only, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit and with much certainty, for you know the sort of men we became among you, as examples for your sakes.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:6">6</verse></sup> And you followed the pattern set you by us and by the Master, after you had received the Message amid severe persecution, and yet with the joy which the Holy Spirit gives,
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:7">7</verse></sup> so that you became a pattern to all the believers throughout Macedonia and  Greece.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:8">8</verse></sup> For it was not only from you that the Master's Message  sounded forth throughout Macedonia and  Greece; but everywhere your faith in God has become known, so that it is unnecessary for us to say anything about it.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:9">9</verse></sup> For when  others speak of us they report the reception we had from you, and how you turned from your idols to God, to be bondservants of the true and ever-living God,
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 1:10">10</verse></sup> and to await the return from Heaven of His Son, whom He raised from among the dead--even Jesus, our Deliverer from God's coming anger.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:1">2</verse></font> For you yourselves, brethren, know that our visit to you  did not fail of its purpose.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:2">2</verse></sup> But, as you will remember, after we had already met with suffering and outrage at Philippi, we summoned up boldness, by the help of our God, to tell you God's Good News amid much opposition.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:3">3</verse></sup> For our  preaching was not grounded on a delusion, nor prompted by mingled motives, nor was there fraud in it.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:4">4</verse></sup> But as God tested and approved us before entrusting us with His Good News, so in what we say we are seeking not to please men but to please God, who tests and approves our motives.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:5">5</verse></sup> For, as you are well aware, we have never used the language of flattery nor have we found pretexts for enriching ourselves--God is our witness;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:6">6</verse></sup> nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:7">7</verse></sup> On the contrary, in our relations to you  we showed ourselves as gentle as a mother is when she tenderly nurses her own children.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:8">8</verse></sup> Seeing that we were thus drawn affectionately towards you, it would have been a joy to us to have imparted to you not only God's Good News, but to have given our very  lives also, because you had become very dear to us.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:9">9</verse></sup> For  you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: how, working night and day so as not to become a burden to any one of you, we came and proclaimed among you God's Good News.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:10">10</verse></sup> You yourselves are witnesses--and God is witness--how holy and upright and blameless our dealings with you believers were.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:11">11</verse></sup> For you know that we acted towards every one of you as a father does towards his own children, encouraging and cheering you,
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:12">12</verse></sup> and imploring you to live lives worthy of fellowship with God who is inviting you to share His own Kingship and glory.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:13">13</verse></sup> And for this further reason we render unceasing thanks to God, that when you received God's Message from our lips, it was as no mere message from men that you embraced it, but as--what it really is--God's Message, which also does its work  in the hearts of you who believe.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:14">14</verse></sup> For you, brethren, followed the example of the Churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judaea; seeing that you endured the same ill-treatment at the hands of your countrymen, as they did at the hands of the Jews.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:15">15</verse></sup> Those Jewish persecutors killed both the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and drove us out of their midst. They are displeasing to God, and are the enemies of all mankind;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:16">16</verse></sup> for they still try to prevent our preaching to the Gentiles so that they may find salvation. They thus continually fill up the measure of their own sins, and God's anger in its severest form has overtaken them.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:17">17</verse></sup> But we, brethren, having been for a short time separated from you in bodily presence, though not in heart, endeavoured all the more earnestly, with intense longing, to see you face to face.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:18">18</verse></sup> On this account we wanted to come to you--at least I Paul wanted again and again to do so--but Satan hindered us.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:19">19</verse></sup> For what is our hope or joy, or the crown of which we boast? Is it not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His Coming?
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 2:20">20</verse></sup> Yes, you are our glory and our joy.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:1">3</verse></font> So when we could endure it no longer, we decided to remain behind in Athens alone;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:2">2</verse></sup> and sent Timothy our brother and  God's minister in the service of Christ's Good News, that he might help you spiritually and encourage you in your faith;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:3">3</verse></sup> that none of you might be unnerved by your present trials: for you yourselves know that they are our appointed lot.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:4">4</verse></sup> For even when we were with you, we forewarned you, saying, "We are soon to suffer affliction;" and this actually happened, as you well know.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:5">5</verse></sup> For this reason I also, when I could no longer endure the uncertainty, sent to know the condition of your faith, lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:6">6</verse></sup> But now that Timothy has recently come back to us from you, and has brought us the happy tidings of your faith and love, and has told us how you still cherish a constant and affectionate recollection of us, and are longing to see us as we also long to see you--
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:7">7</verse></sup> for this reason in our distress and trouble we have been comforted about you, brethren, by your faith.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:8">8</verse></sup> For now life is for us life indeed, since you are standing fast in the Lord.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:9">9</verse></sup> For what thanksgiving on your behalf can we possibly offer to God in return for all the joy which fills our souls before our God for you,
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:10">10</verse></sup> while night and day, with intense earnestness, we pray that we may see your faces, and may bring to perfection whatever may be still lacking in your faith?
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:11">11</verse></sup> But may our God and Father Himself--and our Lord Jesus--guide us on our way to you;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:12">12</verse></sup> and as for you, may the Lord teach you to love one another and all men, with a growing and a glowing love, resembling our love for you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 3:13">13</verse></sup> Thus He will build up your characters, so that you will be faultlessly holy in the presence of our God and Father at the Coming of our Lord Jesus with all His  holy ones.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:1">4</verse></font> Moreover, brethren, as you learnt from our lips the lives which you ought to live, and do live, so as to please God, we beg and exhort you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live them more and more truly.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:2">2</verse></sup> For you know the commands which we laid upon you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:3">3</verse></sup> For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:4">4</verse></sup> that each man among you shall know how to procure a  wife who shall be his own in purity and honour;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:5">5</verse></sup> that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:6">6</verse></sup> and  that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:7">7</verse></sup> God has not called us to an unclean life, but to one of purity.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:8">8</verse></sup> Therefore  a defiant spirit in such a case provokes not man but God, who puts His Holy Spirit into your hearts.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:9">9</verse></sup> But on the subject of love for the brotherhood it is unnecessary for me to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:10">10</verse></sup> and indeed you do love all the brethren throughout Macedonia. And we exhort you to do so more and more,
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:11">11</verse></sup> and to vie with one another in eagerness for peace, every one minding his own business and working with his hands, as we ordered you to do:
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:12">12</verse></sup> so as to live worthy lives in relation to outsiders, and  not be a burden to any one.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:13">13</verse></sup> Now, concerning  those who from time to time pass away, we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, lest you should mourn as others do who have no hope.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:14">14</verse></sup> For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, we also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who shall have passed away.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:15">15</verse></sup> For this we declare to you on the Lord's own authority--that  we who are alive and continue on earth until the Coming of the Lord, shall certainly not forestall those who  shall have previously  passed away.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:16">16</verse></sup> For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud word of command, and with an archangel's voice and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:17">17</verse></sup> Afterwards we who are alive and are still on earth will be  caught up in their company amid clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 4:18">18</verse></sup> And so we shall be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:1">5</verse></font> But as to times and dates it is unnecessary that anything be written to you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:2">2</verse></sup> For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:3">3</verse></sup> While they are saying "Peace and safety!" then in a moment destruction falls upon them, like birth-pains on a woman who is with child; and escape there is none.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:4">4</verse></sup> But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that daylight should surprise you like a thief;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:5">5</verse></sup> for all of you are sons of Light and sons of the day. We belong neither to the night nor to darkness.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:6">6</verse></sup> So then let us not sleep, like the rest of the world, but let us keep awake and be sober.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:7">7</verse></sup> For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who drink freely, drink at night.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:8">8</verse></sup> But let us, belonging--as we do--to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:9">9</verse></sup> For God has not pre-destined us to meet His anger, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:10">10</verse></sup> who died on our behalf, so that whether we are  awake or are sleeping we may share His Life.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:11">11</verse></sup> Therefore encourage one another, and let each one help to strengthen his friend, as in fact you do.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:12">12</verse></sup> Now we beg you, brethren, to  show respect for those who labour among you and are your leaders in Christian work, and are your advisers;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:13">13</verse></sup> and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:14">14</verse></sup> And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the timid, sustain the weak, and be patient towards all.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:15">15</verse></sup> See to it that no one ever repays another with evil for evil; but always seek opportunities of doing good both to one another and to all the world.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:16">16</verse></sup> Be always joyful.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:17">17</verse></sup> Be unceasing in prayer.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:18">18</verse></sup> In every circumstance of life be thankful; for this is God's will in Christ Jesus respecting you.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:19">19</verse></sup> Do not quench the Spirit.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:20">20</verse></sup> Do not think meanly of utterances of prophecy;
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:21">21</verse></sup> but test all such, and retain hold of the good.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:22">22</verse></sup> Hold yourselves aloof from every form of evil.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:23">23</verse></sup> And may God Himself who gives peace, make you entirely holy; and may your spirits, souls and  bodies be preserved complete and be found blameless at the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:24">24</verse></sup> Faithful is He who calls you, and He will also perfect His work.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:25">25</verse></sup> Brethren, pray for us.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:26">26</verse></sup> Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:27">27</verse></sup> I solemnly charge you in the Lord's name to have this Letter read to all the brethren.
#BCV:1 Thessalonians 5:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 Thessalonians 5:28">28</verse></sup> May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

#OUTLINE:1,2 Thessalonians
<heading><h1>PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS</h1>
This Letter was written from Corinth not long after the preceding one, and probably in the year 54 a.d. Its occasion was
the reception of tidings from Thessalonica which showed that there had been a measure of misapprehension of the apostle's
teaching in regard to the return of the Lord Jesus, and also that there was a definitely disorderly section in the church there, capable of doing great harm. Hence Paul writes to correct the error into which his converts had fallen, and at the same
time he uses strong language as to the treatment to be dealt out to those members of the church who were given to idleness and insubordination.

#BCV:2 Thessalonians 0:0
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS</h1>
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul,  Silas, and Timothy: To the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:2">2</verse></sup> May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:3">3</verse></sup> Unceasing thanks are due from us to God on your behalf, brethren. They are appropriate because your faith is growing greatly, and the love of every one of you for all the others goes on increasing.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:4">4</verse></sup> It so increases that we ourselves make honourable mention of you among the Churches of God because of your patience and faith amid all your persecutions and amid the afflictions which you are enduring.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:5">5</verse></sup> For these are a plain token of God's righteous judgement, which has in view your being deemed worthy of admission to God's Kingdom, for the sake of which, indeed, you are sufferers.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:6">6</verse></sup> A plain token of God's righteous judgement, I say, since it is a righteous thing for Him to requite with affliction those who are now afflicting you;
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:7">7</verse></sup> and to requite with rest you who are suffering affliction now--rest with us at the  re-appearing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, attended by His mighty angels.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:8">8</verse></sup> He will come in flames of fire to take vengeance on those who have no knowledge of God, and do not obey the Good News as to Jesus, our Lord.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:9">9</verse></sup> They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, being banished from the presence of the Lord and from  His glorious majesty,
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:10">10</verse></sup> when He  comes on that day to be glorified in His people and to be wondered at among all who  have believed, including you--because you believed the testimony which we brought for your acceptance.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:11">11</verse></sup> It is with this view also that we continually pray to our God for you, asking that He will count you worthy of His call, and by His mighty power fully gratify your every desire for what is truly good and make your work of faith complete;
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 1:12">12</verse></sup> in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and that you may be glorified in Him--so wonderful is the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ!
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:1">2</verse></font> But with respect to the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and  our being  gathered to meet Him, we entreat you, brethren,
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:2">2</verse></sup> not readily to become unsettled in mind or troubled--either by any pretended spiritual revelation or by any message or letter claiming to have been sent by us--through fancying that the day of the Lord is now here.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:3">3</verse></sup> Let no one in any way deceive you, for that day cannot come without the coming of the apostasy first, and  the appearing of  the man of sin, the son of perdition, who sets himself against,
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:4">4</verse></sup> and exalts himself above, every so-called 'god' or object of worship, and goes the length of taking his seat in the very temple of God, giving it out that he himself is God.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:5">5</verse></sup> Do you not remember that while I was still with you I used to tell you all this?
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:6">6</verse></sup> And now you know  what restrains him, in order that his true character may be revealed at his appointed time.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:7">7</verse></sup> For lawlessness is already at work in secret; but only until the man who is now exercising a restraining influence is removed,
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:8">8</verse></sup> and then the Lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will sweep away with the  tempest of His anger, and utterly overwhelm by the awful splendour of His Coming.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:9">9</verse></sup> The appearing of the Lawless one will be attended by various miracles and tokens and delusive marvels--for so Satan works--
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:10">10</verse></sup> and by every kind of wicked deception for those who are on the way to perdition because they did not welcome into their hearts the love of the truth, so that they might be saved.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:11">11</verse></sup> And for this reason God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe  the lie;
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:12">12</verse></sup> in order that all may come under judgement who have refused to believe the truth and have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:13">13</verse></sup> And from us thanks are always due to God on your behalf--brethren whom the Lord loves--because God  from the beginning has chosen you for salvation  through the Spirit's sanctifying influence and your belief in the truth.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:14">14</verse></sup> To this blessing God has called you by our Good News, so that you may have a share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:15">15</verse></sup> So then, brethren, stand your ground, and hold fast to the teachings which you have received from us, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:16">16</verse></sup> And may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself--and God our Father who has loved us and has given us in His grace eternal consolation and a bright hope--
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 2:17">17</verse></sup> comfort your hearts and make you stedfast in every good work and word.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:1">3</verse></font> Finally, brethren, pray for us, asking that the Lord's Message  may be spread rapidly and its glory be displayed, as it was displayed among you;
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:2">2</verse></sup> and that we may be delivered from wrong-headed and wicked men; for it is not everybody who has faith.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:3">3</verse></sup> But the Lord is faithful, and He will make you stedfast and will guard you from the Evil one.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:4">4</verse></sup> And we have confidence in the Lord in regard to you that you are doing, and will do, what we command.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:5">5</verse></sup> And may the Lord guide your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:6">6</verse></sup> But,  by the authority of  the Lord, we command you, brethren, to stand aloof from every brother whose life is disorderly and not in accordance with the teaching which all received from us.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:7">7</verse></sup> For you yourselves know that it is your duty to follow our example. There was no disorder in our lives among you,
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:8">8</verse></sup> nor did we eat any one's bread  without paying for it, but we laboured and toiled, working hard night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:9">9</verse></sup> This was not because we had not  a claim upon you, but it arose from a desire to set you an example--for you to imitate us.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:10">10</verse></sup> For even when we were with you, we laid down this rule for you: "If a man does not choose to work, neither shall he eat."
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:11">11</verse></sup> For we hear that there are some of you who live disorderly lives and are mere idle busybodies.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:12">12</verse></sup> To persons of that sort our injunction--and our command by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ--is that they are to work quietly and eat their own honestly-earned bread.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:13">13</verse></sup> But you, brethren, must not grow weary  in the path of duty;
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:14">14</verse></sup> and if any one refuses to obey these our written instructions, mark that man and hold no communication with him--so that he may be made to feel ashamed.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:15">15</verse></sup> And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but caution him as a brother.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:16">16</verse></sup> And may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every sense. The Lord be with you all.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:17">17</verse></sup> I Paul add the greeting with my own hand, which is the credential in every letter of mine.
#BCV:2 Thessalonians 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Thessalonians 3:18">18</verse></sup> This is my handwriting. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

#OUTLINE:1,1 Timothy
#TOPIC:TIMOTHY, FIRST EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY</h1>
THERE has never been any real doubt among Christian people
as to the authorship of the three "pastoral" Letters, but definite objections to their genuineness have been made in recent times upon the ground of such internal evidence as their style, the
indications they present of advanced organization, their historic standpoint and their references to developed heresy. Yet a thorough examination of the matter does not support these
objections. It is certain that the three Letters stand or fall together, and there is no sufficient reason for dismissing the ancient conclusion that they are all the genuine work of Paul,
and belong to the last years of his life, 66-67 A.D. This first Letter was probably written from Macedonia.

#BCV:1 Timothy 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY</h1>
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our hope:
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:2">2</verse></sup> To Timothy, my own true son in the faith. May grace, mercy and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:3">3</verse></sup> When I was on my journey to Macedonia I begged you to remain on in Ephesus that you might remonstrate with certain persons because of their  erroneous teaching
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:4">4</verse></sup> and the attention they bestow on mere fables and endless  pedigrees, such as lead to controversy rather than to a true stewardship for God, which only exists where there is faith. And I make the same request now.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:5">5</verse></sup> But the end sought to be secured by exhortation is the love which springs from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:6">6</verse></sup> From these some have  drifted away, and have wandered into empty words.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:7">7</verse></sup> They are ambitious to be teachers of the Law, although they do not understand either their own words or what the things are about which they make such confident assertions.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:8">8</verse></sup> Now we know that the Law is good, if a man uses it in the way it should be used,
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:9">9</verse></sup> and remembers that a law is not enacted to control a righteous man, but for the lawless and rebellious, the irreligious and sinful, the godless and profane--for those who strike their fathers or their mothers, for murderers,
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:10">10</verse></sup> fornicators, sodomites, slave-dealers, liars and false witnesses; and for whatever else is opposed to wholesome teaching
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:11">11</verse></sup> and is not in accordance with the Good News of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:12">12</verse></sup> I am thankful to Him who made me strong--even Christ Jesus our Lord--because He has judged me to be faithful and has put me into His service,
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:13">13</verse></sup> though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and had been insolent in outrage. Yet mercy was shown me, because  I had acted ignorantly, not having as yet believed;
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:14">14</verse></sup> and the grace of our Lord came to me in overflowing fulness, conferring faith on me and the love which is in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:15">15</verse></sup> Faithful is the saying, and deserving of universal acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; among whom I stand  foremost.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:16">16</verse></sup> But mercy was shown me in order that in me as the foremost of sinners Christ Jesus might display the fulness of His long-suffering patience as an example to encourage those who would  afterwards be resting their faith on Him with a view to the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:17">17</verse></sup> Now to the immortal and invisible King of the Ages, who alone is God, be honour and glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:18">18</verse></sup> This is the charge which I entrust to you, my son Timothy, in accordance with the inspired instructions concerning you which were given me long ago, that being equipped with them as your armour you may be continually fighting the good fight,
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:19">19</verse></sup> holding fast to faith and a clear conscience, which some have cast aside and have made shipwreck of their faith.
#BCV:1 Timothy 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 1:20">20</verse></sup> Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan so that they may be  taught not to blaspheme.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:1">2</verse></font> I exhort then, first of all, that  supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men;
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:2">2</verse></sup> including kings and all who are in high station, in order that we may live peaceful and tranquil lives with all godliness and  gravity.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:3">3</verse></sup> This is right, and is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour,
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:4">4</verse></sup> who is willing for  all mankind to be saved and come to a full knowledge of the truth.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:5">5</verse></sup> For there is but one God and but one Mediator between God and men--Christ Jesus,  Himself man;
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:6">6</verse></sup> who gave Himself as the redemption price for all--a fact testified to at its own appointed time,
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:7">7</verse></sup> and of which I have been appointed a herald and an Apostle (I am speaking the truth: it is not a fiction)
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:8">8</verse></sup> So then I would have  the men  everywhere pray, lifting to God holy hands which are  unstained with anger or strife;
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:9">9</verse></sup> and I would have the women dress becomingly, with modesty and self-control, not with plaited hair or gold or pearls or costly clothes,
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:10">10</verse></sup> but--as befits women making a claim to godliness--with the ornament of good works.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:11">11</verse></sup> A woman should quietly learn from others with entire submissiveness.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:12">12</verse></sup> I do not permit  a woman to teach, nor have authority over  a man, but she must remain silent.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:13">13</verse></sup> For Adam was formed first, and then Eve;
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:14">14</verse></sup> and Adam was not deceived, but his wife was thoroughly deceived, and so  became involved in transgression.
#BCV:1 Timothy 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 2:15">15</verse></sup> Yet a woman will be  brought safely through childbirth if  she and her husband continue to live in faith and love and growing holiness, with habitual self-restraint.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:1">3</verse></font> Faithful is the saying, "If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work."
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:2">2</verse></sup> A  minister then must be a man of irreproachable character,  true to his one wife, temperate, sober-minded, well-behaved,  hospitable to strangers, and with a gift for teaching;
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:3">3</verse></sup> not a hard drinker nor given to blows; not selfish or quarrelsome or covetous;
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:4">4</verse></sup> but ruling his own household wisely and well, with children kept under control with true dignity.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:5">5</verse></sup> 
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:6">6</verse></sup> He ought not to be a new convert, for fear he should be blinded with pride and come under the same condemnation as the Devil.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:7">7</verse></sup> It is needful also that he bear a good character with people outside the Church, lest he fall into reproach or a snare of the Devil.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:8">8</verse></sup> Deacons, in the same way, must be men of serious demeanour, not double-tongued, nor addicted to much wine, nor greedy of base gain,
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:9">9</verse></sup> but holding the secret truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:10">10</verse></sup> And they must also be well-tried men, and when found to be of unblemished character then let them serve as deacons.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:11">11</verse></sup> Deaconesses, in the same way, must be sober-minded women, not slanderers, but in every way temperate and trustworthy.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:12">12</verse></sup> A deacon must be  true to his one wife, and rule his children and his own household wisely and well.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:13">13</verse></sup> For those who have filled the deacon's office wisely and well, are already gaining for themselves  an honourable standing, and are acquiring great freedom of speech in proclaiming the faith which rests on Christ Jesus.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:14">14</verse></sup> All this I write to you, though I am hoping before long to come to see you.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:15">15</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:1 Timothy 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 3:16">16</verse></sup> And, beyond controversy, great is the mystery of our religion--  that Christ appeared in human form, and His claims justified by the Spirit, was seen by angels and proclaimed among Gentile nations, was believed on in the world, and received up again into glory.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:1">4</verse></font> Now  the Spirit expressly declares that in  later times some will fall away from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons;
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:2">2</verse></sup> through the hypocrisy of men who teach falsely and have their own consciences seared as with a hot iron;
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:3">3</verse></sup> forbidding people to marry, and insisting on abstinence from foods which God has created to be partaken of, with thankfulness, by those who believe and have a clear knowledge of the truth.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:4">4</verse></sup> For everything that God has created is good, and nothing is to be cast aside, if only it is received with thanksgiving.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:5">5</verse></sup> For it is made holy by the word of God and by prayer.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:6">6</verse></sup> If you warn the brethren of these dangers you will be a good and faithful servant of Christ Jesus, inwardly feeding on the lessons of the faith and of the sound teaching of which you have been, and are, so close a follower.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:7">7</verse></sup> But worldly stories, fit only for credulous old women, have nothing to do with.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:8">8</verse></sup> Train yourself in godliness. Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect, possessing, as it does, the promise of Life now and of the Life which is soon coming.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:9">9</verse></sup> Faithful is this saying and deserving of universal acceptance:
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:10">10</verse></sup> and here is the motive of our toiling and  wrestling, because  we have our hopes fixed on the  ever-living God, who is the Saviour  of all mankind, and especially of believers.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:11">11</verse></sup> Command this and teach this.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:12">12</verse></sup> Let no one think slightingly of you because you are a young man; but in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, be an example for your fellow Christians to imitate.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:13">13</verse></sup> Till I come, bestow your attention on  reading, exhortation and teaching.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:14">14</verse></sup> Do not be careless about the gifts with which you are endowed, which were conferred on you through a divine revelation when the hands of the elders were placed upon you.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:15">15</verse></sup> Habitually practise these duties, and be absorbed in them; so that your growing proficiency in them may be evident to all.
#BCV:1 Timothy 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 4:16">16</verse></sup> Be on your guard as to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in these things; for by doing this you will make certain your own salvation and that of your hearers.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:1">5</verse></font> Never administer a sharp reprimand to a man older than yourself; but entreat him as if he were your father, and the younger men as brothers;
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:2">2</verse></sup> the elder women too as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, with perfect modesty.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:3">3</verse></sup> Honour widows who are  really in need.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:4">4</verse></sup> But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn  first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:5">5</verse></sup> A widow who is  really in need, friendless and desolate,  has her hopes fixed on God, and continues at her supplications and prayers, night and day;
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:6">6</verse></sup> but a pleasure-loving widow is dead even while still alive.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:7">7</verse></sup> Press these facts upon them, so that they may live lives free from reproach.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:8">8</verse></sup> But if a man makes no provision for  those dependent on him, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is behaving worse than an unbeliever.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:9">9</verse></sup> No widow is to be put on the roll who is under sixty years of age.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:10">10</verse></sup> She must have been  true to her one husband, and well reported of for good deeds, as having brought up children, received strangers hospitably, washed the feet of God's people, given relief to the distressed, and devoted herself to good works of every kind.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:11">11</verse></sup> But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of  Christ, they want to marry,
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:12">12</verse></sup> and they incur disapproval for having broken their original vow.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:13">13</verse></sup> And at the same time they also learn to be idle as they go round from house to house; and they are not only idle, but are gossips also and busybodies, speaking of things that ought not to be spoken of.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:14">14</verse></sup> I would therefore have the younger women marry, bear children, rule in domestic matters, and furnish the Adversary with no excuse for slander.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:15">15</verse></sup> For already some of them have gone astray, following Satan.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:16">16</verse></sup> If a believing woman has widows dependent on her, she should relieve their wants, and save the Church from being burdened--so  that the Church may relieve the widows who are really in need.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:17">17</verse></sup> Let the Elders who perform their duties wisely and well be held worthy of double  honour, especially those who labour in  preaching and teaching.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:18">18</verse></sup> For the Scripture says, "You are not to muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain;" and the workman deserves his pay.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:19">19</verse></sup> Never entertain an accusation against an Elder except on the evidence of two of three witnesses.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:20">20</verse></sup> Those  who persist in sin reprove in the presence of all, so that it may also be a warning to the rest.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:21">21</verse></sup> I solemnly call upon you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, to carry out these instructions of mine without prejudice, and to do nothing from  partiality.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:22">22</verse></sup> Do not ordain any one hastily; and do not be a partaker in the sins of others; keep *yourself*  pure.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:23">23</verse></sup> 
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:24">24</verse></sup> The sins of some men are evident to the world, leading the way to  your estimate of their characters, but the sins of others lag behind.
#BCV:1 Timothy 5:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 5:25">25</verse></sup> So also the right actions of some are evident to the world, and those that are not cannot remain for ever out of sight.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:1">6</verse></font> Let all who are under the yoke of slavery hold their own masters to be deserving of honour, so that the name of God and the Christian teaching may not be spoken against.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:2">2</verse></sup> And those who have believing masters should not be wanting in respect towards them because they are their brethren, but should serve them all the more willingly because those who profit by the faithful service rendered are believers and are friends.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:3">3</verse></sup> So teach and exhort. If any one is a teacher of any other kind of doctrine, and  refuses assent to wholesome instructions--those of our Lord Jesus Christ--and the teaching that harmonizes with true godliness,
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:4">4</verse></sup> he is puffed up with pride and has no true knowledge, but is crazy over discussions and controversies about words which give rise to envy, quarrelling, revilings, ill-natured suspicions,
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:5">5</verse></sup> and persistent wranglings on the part of people whose intellects are disordered and they themselves blinded to all knowledge of the truth; who imagine that godliness means gain.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:6">6</verse></sup> And godliness *is* gain, when associated with contentment;
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:7">7</verse></sup> for we brought nothing into the world, nor can we carry anything out of it;
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:8">8</verse></sup> and if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:9">9</verse></sup> But people who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many unwise and pernicious ways which sink mankind in destruction and ruin.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:10">10</verse></sup> For from love of money all sorts of evils arise; and some have so hankered after money as to be led astray from the faith and be pierced through with countless sorrows.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:11">11</verse></sup> But you, O man of God, must flee from  these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness,  good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:12">12</verse></sup> Exert all your strength in the honourable  struggle for the faith; lay hold of the Life of the Ages, to which you were called, when you made your noble profession of faith  before many witnesses.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:13">13</verse></sup> I charge you--as in the presence of God who gives life to all creatures, and of Christ Jesus who at the bar of Pontius Pilate made a noble profession of faith--
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:14">14</verse></sup> that you keep God's commandments stainlessly and without reproach till the Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:15">15</verse></sup> For, as its appointed time, this will be brought about by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:16">16</verse></sup> who alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, and whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be eternal honour and power! Amen.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:17">17</verse></sup> Impress on those who are rich in the present age that they must not be haughty nor set their hopes on riches--that unstable foundation--but on God who provides us richly with all things for our enjoyment.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:18">18</verse></sup> They must be beneficent, rich in noble deeds, open-handed and liberal;
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:19">19</verse></sup> storing up for themselves that which shall be a solid foundation for  the future, that they may lay hold of the Life which is life indeed.
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:20">20</verse></sup> O Timothy, guard the truths entrusted to you, shunning irreligious and frivolous talk, and controversy with what is falsely called 'knowledge';
#BCV:1 Timothy 6:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Timothy 6:21">21</verse></sup> of which some have spoken boastfully  in connexion with the true faith, and have erred. Grace be with  you all.

#OUTLINE:1,2 Timothy
#TOPIC:TIMOTHY, SECOND EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY</h1>
The marks of genuineness in this Letter are very pronounced: e.g. the thanksgiving, the long list of proper names - twentythree in number - the personal details and the manifest tone of
sincerity and earnestness. Hence it is accepted as Paul's even by some who reject the former Letter and that addressed to Titus. But it is inseparable from the others, and was probably
written from Rome during the apostle's second imprisonment.
It is his last Letter known to us, and its apparent date is 67 A.D.

#BCV:2 Timothy 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY</h1>
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, for proclaiming the promise of the Life which is in Christ Jesus:
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:2">2</verse></sup> To Timothy my dearly-loved child. May grace, mercy and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:3">3</verse></sup> I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience--as my forefathers did--that night and day I unceasingly remember you in my prayers,
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:4">4</verse></sup> being always mindful of your tears, and longing to see you that I may be filled with joy.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:5">5</verse></sup> For I recall the sincere faith which is in your heart--a faith which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and then in your mother Eunice, and, I am fully convinced, now dwells in you also.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:6">6</verse></sup> For this reason let me remind you to rekindle God's gift which is yours through the laying on of my hands.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:7">7</verse></sup> For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of  sound judgement.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:8">8</verse></sup> Do not be ashamed then to bear witness for our Lord and for me His prisoner; but rather share suffering with me in the service of the Good News,  strengthened by the power of God.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:9">9</verse></sup> For He saved us and called us with a holy call, not in accordance with our desserts, but in accordance with His own purpose and the free grace which He bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before the commencement of the Ages,
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:10">10</verse></sup> but which has now been plainly revealed through  the Appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus. He has put an end to death and has brought Life and Immortality to light through the Good News,
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:11">11</verse></sup> of which I have been appointed a preacher, Apostle and  teacher, to the Gentiles.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:12">12</verse></sup> That indeed is the reason why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know in whom my trust reposes, and I am confident that He has it in His power to keep what I have entrusted to Him safe until that day.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:13">13</verse></sup> Provide yourself with an  outline of the sound teaching which you have heard from my lips,  and be true to the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:14">14</verse></sup> That precious treasure which is in your charge, guard through the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:15">15</verse></sup> Of this you are aware, that all the Christians in Roman Asia have deserted me: and among them Phygelus and Hermogenes.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:16">16</verse></sup> May the Lord show mercy to the  household of Onesiphorus; for many a time he cheered me and he was not ashamed of my chain.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:17">17</verse></sup> Nay, when he was here in Rome, he took great pains to inquire where I was living, and at last he found me.
#BCV:2 Timothy 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 1:18">18</verse></sup> And you yourself well know all the services which he rendered me in Ephesus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:1">2</verse></font> You then, my child, must  be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:2">2</verse></sup> All that you have been taught by me in the hearing of many witnesses, you must hand on to trusty men who shall themselves, in turn, be competent to instruct others also.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:3">3</verse></sup> As a good soldier of Christ Jesus accept your share of suffering.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:4">4</verse></sup> Every one who serves as a soldier keeps himself from becoming entangled in the world's business--so that he may satisfy the officer who enlisted him.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:5">5</verse></sup> And if any one takes part in an athletic contest, he gets no prize unless he obeys the rules.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:6">6</verse></sup> The harvestman who labours in the field must be the first to get a share of the crop.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:7">7</verse></sup> Mark well what I am saying: the Lord will give you discernment in everything.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:8">8</verse></sup> Never forget that Jesus Christ has risen from among the dead and is a descendant of David, as is declared in the Good News which I preach.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:9">9</verse></sup> For preaching the Good News I suffer, and am even put in chains, as if I were a criminal: yet the word of God is not imprisoned.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:10">10</verse></sup> For this reason I endure all things for the sake of God's own people; so that they also may obtain salvation--even the salvation which is in Christ Jesus--and with it eternal glory.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:11">11</verse></sup> Faithful is  the saying: "If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:12">12</verse></sup> "If we patiently endure pain, we shall also share His Kingship; "If we disown Him, He will also disown us;
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:13">13</verse></sup> "And even if *our* faith fails, He remains true--He cannot prove false to Himself."
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:14">14</verse></sup> Bring all this to men's remembrances, solemnly charging them in the presence of  God not to waste time in wrangling about mere words, a course which is altogether unprofitable and tends only to the ruin of the hearers.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:15">15</verse></sup> Earnestly seek to commend yourself to God as a servant who, because of his straightforward  dealing with the word of truth, has no reason to feel any shame.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:16">16</verse></sup> But from irreligious and frivolous talk hold aloof, for those who indulge in it will proceed from bad to worse in impiety,
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:17">17</verse></sup> and their teaching will spread like a running sore. Hymenaeus and Philetus are men of that stamp.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:18">18</verse></sup> In the matter of the truth they have  gone astray, saying that the Resurrection  is already past, and so they are overthrowing the faith of some.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:19">19</verse></sup> Yet God's solid foundation stands unmoved, bearing this inscription, "The Lord knows those who really belong to Him." And this also, "Let every one who names the Name of the Lord renounce all wickedness."
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:20">20</verse></sup> Now in a great house there are not only articles of gold and silver, but also others of wood and of earthenware; and some are for specially honourable, and others for common use.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:21">21</verse></sup> If therefore a man keeps himself clear of these latter, he himself will be for specially honourable use, consecrated, fit for the Master's service, and fully equipped for every good work.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:22">22</verse></sup> Keep a strong curb, however, on your youthful cravings; and strive for integrity, good faith, love, peace, in company with all who pray to the Lord with pure hearts.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:23">23</verse></sup> But  avoid foolish discussions with ignorant men, knowing--as you do--that these lead to quarrels;
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:24">24</verse></sup> and a bondservant of the Lord must not quarrel, but must be inoffensive towards all men, a skilful teacher, and patient under wrongs.
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:25">25</verse></sup> He must speak in a gentle tone when correcting the errors of opponents, in the hope that God will at last give them repentance, for them to come to a full knowledge of the truth
#BCV:2 Timothy 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 2:26">26</verse></sup> and recover sober-mindedness and freedom from the Devil's snare,  though they are now entrapped by him to do his will.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:1">3</verse></font> But of this be assured: in  the last days grievous times will set in.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:2">2</verse></sup> For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, profane. They will be disobedient to parents, thankless, irreligious,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:3">3</verse></sup> destitute of natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers. They will have no self-control, but will be brutal, opposed  to goodness,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:4">4</verse></sup> treacherous, headstrong, self-important. They will love pleasure instead of loving God,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:5">5</verse></sup> and will keep up a make-believe of piety and yet live in defiance of its power. Turn away from people of this sort.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:6">6</verse></sup> Among them are included the men who make their way into private houses and carry off weak women as their prisoners--women who, weighed down by the burden of their sins, are led by ever-changing caprice,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:7">7</verse></sup> and are always learning something new, and yet are never able to arrive at real knowledge of the truth.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:8">8</verse></sup> And just as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so also these false teachers withstand the truth--being, as they are, men of debased intellects, and of no real worth so far as faith is concerned.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:9">9</verse></sup> But they will have no further success; for their folly will be as clearly manifest to all men, as that of the opponents of Moses came to be.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:10">10</verse></sup> But you have  intimately known my teaching, life, aims, faith, patience, love, resignation,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:11">11</verse></sup> and the persecutions and sufferings which I have endured; the things which happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. You know the persecutions I endured, and how the Lord delivered me out of them all.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:12">12</verse></sup> And indeed every one who is determined to live a godly life  as a follower of Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:13">13</verse></sup> But bad men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:14">14</verse></sup> But you must cling to the things which you have learnt and have been taught to believe, knowing who your teachers were,
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:15">15</verse></sup> and that from infancy you have known the sacred writings which are able to  make you wise to obtain salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:16">16</verse></sup> Every  Scripture  is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for convincing, for correction of error, and for instruction in right doing;
#BCV:2 Timothy 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 3:17">17</verse></sup> so that the man of God may himself be complete and may be perfectly equipped for every good work.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:1">4</verse></font> I solemnly implore you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is about to judge the living and the dead, and by His Appearing and His Kingship:
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:2">2</verse></sup> proclaim God's message, be zealous in season and out of season; convince, rebuke, encourage, with the utmost patience as a teacher.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:3">3</verse></sup> For a time is coming when they will not tolerate wholesome instruction, but, wanting to have their ears tickled, they will find a multitude of teachers to satisfy their own fancies;
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:4">4</verse></sup> and will turn away from listening to the truth and will turn aside to fables.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:5">5</verse></sup> But as for you, you must exercise habitual self-control, and not live a self-indulgent life, but do the duty of an evangelist and fully discharge the obligations of your office.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:6">6</verse></sup> I for my part am like a  drink-offering which is already being poured out; and the time for my departure is now close at hand.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:7">7</verse></sup> I have  gone through the glorious contest; I have run the race; I have guarded the faith.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:8">8</verse></sup> From this time onward there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love the thought of His Appearing.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:9">9</verse></sup> Make an effort to come to me speedily.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:10">10</verse></sup> For Demas has deserted me--loving, as he does,  the present age--and has gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:11">11</verse></sup> Luke is the only friend I now have with me. Call for Mark on your way and bring him with you, for he is a great help to me in my ministry.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:12">12</verse></sup> Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:13">13</verse></sup> When you come, bring with you the cloak which I left behind at Troas at the house of Carpus, and the books, but especially the parchments.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:14">14</verse></sup> Alexander the  metal-worker showed bitter hostility towards me: the Lord will requite him according to his doings.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:15">15</verse></sup> You also should beware of him; for he has violently opposed our preaching.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:16">16</verse></sup> At my first defence I had no one at my side, but all deserted me. May it not be laid to their charge.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:17">17</verse></sup> The Lord, however, stood by me and filled me with inward strength, that through me the Message might be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear it; and I was rescued  from the lion's jaws.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:18">18</verse></sup> The Lord will deliver me from every cruel attack and will keep me safe in preparation for His heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory until the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:19">19</verse></sup> Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:20">20</verse></sup> Erastus stayed in Corinth; Trophimus I left behind me at Miletus, ill.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:21">21</verse></sup> Make an effort to come before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren.
#BCV:2 Timothy 4:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Timothy 4:22">22</verse></sup> The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

#OUTLINE:1,Titus
#TOPIC:TITUS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO TITUS</h1>
THIS Letter was probably written from Ephesus in 67 A.D. Titus, who was a Greek by birth, is mentioned in eleven other
places in the Pauline Letters and always with marked approval(<bcv=2Cor 2:13>2 Cor. ii. 13;</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 7:6>vii. 6,</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 7:13-14>13, 14;</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 8:6>viii. 6,</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 8:16>16,</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 8:23>23;</bcv> <bcv=2Cor 12:18>xii. 18;</bcv> <bcv=Gal 2:1>Gal. ii. 1,</bcv> <bcv=Gal 2:3>3;</bcv> <bcv=2Tim 4:10>2 Tim. iv. 10).</bcv> He was often a trusted messenger to the churches, his last errand being to Dalmatia. Tradition confirms the inference commonly drawn from this Letter that he waslong the bishop of the church in Crete, and regards Candia as having been his birthplace.

#BCV:Titus 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO TITUS</h1>
#BCV:Titus 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Titus 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, a bondservant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ for building up the faith of God's own people and spreading a full knowledge of the truths of religion,
#BCV:Titus 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:2">2</verse></sup> in hope of the Life of the Ages which God, who is never false to His word, promised before the commencement of the Ages.
#BCV:Titus 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:3">3</verse></sup> And at the appointed time He clearly made known His Message in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Saviour:
#BCV:Titus 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:4">4</verse></sup> To Titus my own true child in  our common faith. May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
#BCV:Titus 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:5">5</verse></sup> I have left you behind in Crete in order that you may set right the things which still require attention, and appoint Elders in every town, as I directed you to do;
#BCV:Titus 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:6">6</verse></sup> wherever there is a man of blameless life,  true to his one wife, having children who are themselves believers and are free from every reproach of profligacy or of stubborn self-will.
#BCV:Titus 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:7">7</verse></sup> For, as God's steward,  a minister must be of blameless life, not over-fond of having his own way, not a man of a passionate temper nor a hard drinker, not given to blows nor greedy of gain,
#BCV:Titus 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:8">8</verse></sup> but hospitable to strangers, a lover  of goodness, sober-minded, upright, saintly, self-controlled;
#BCV:Titus 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:9">9</verse></sup> holding fast to the faithful Message  which he has received, so that he may be well qualified both to encourage others with sound teaching and to reply successfully to opponents.
#BCV:Titus 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:10">10</verse></sup> For there are many that spurn authority--idle, talkative and deceitful persons, who, for the most part, are adherents of the Circumcision.
#BCV:Titus 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:11">11</verse></sup> You must stop the mouths of such men, for they overthrow the faith of whole families, teaching what they ought not, just for the sake of making money.
#BCV:Titus 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:12">12</verse></sup> One of their own number--a Prophet who is a countryman of theirs--has said, "Cretans are always liars, dangerous animals, idle gluttons."
#BCV:Titus 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:13">13</verse></sup> This testimony is true. Therefore sternly denounce them, that they may be robust in their faith,
#BCV:Titus 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:14">14</verse></sup> and not give attention to Jewish legends and the  maxims of men who turn their backs on the truth.
#BCV:Titus 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:15">15</verse></sup> To the pure everything is pure; but to the polluted and unbelieving nothing is pure, but on the contrary their very minds and consciences are polluted.
#BCV:Titus 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 1:16">16</verse></sup> They profess to know God; but in their actions they disown Him, and are detestable and disobedient men, and for any good work are utterly useless.
#BCV:Titus 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Titus 2:1">2</verse></font> But as for you, you must speak in a manner that befits wholesome teaching.
#BCV:Titus 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:2">2</verse></sup> Exhort aged men to be temperate, grave, sober-minded, robust in their faith, their love and their patience.
#BCV:Titus 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:3">3</verse></sup> In the same way exhort aged women to let their conduct be such as becomes consecrated persons. They must not be slanderers nor enslaved to wine-drinking. They must be teachers of what is right.
#BCV:Titus 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:4">4</verse></sup> They should school the young women to be  affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives,
#BCV:Titus 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:5">5</verse></sup> industrious in their homes, kind, submissive to their husbands, so that the Christian teaching may not be exposed to reproach.
#BCV:Titus 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:6">6</verse></sup> In the same way exhort the younger men to be discreet,
#BCV:Titus 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:7">7</verse></sup> and above all make your own life a pattern of right conduct, having in your teaching no taint of insincerity, but a serious tone,
#BCV:Titus 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:8">8</verse></sup> and healthy language which no one can censure, so that our opponents may feel ashamed at having nothing evil to say against us.
#BCV:Titus 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:9">9</verse></sup> Exhort slaves to be always obedient to their owners, and to give them satisfaction in everything, not contradicting and not pilfering,
#BCV:Titus 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:10">10</verse></sup> but manifesting perfect fidelity and kind feeling, in order to bring honour to the teaching of our Saviour, God, in all things.
#BCV:Titus 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:11">11</verse></sup> For the grace of God has displayed itself with healing power to all mankind,
#BCV:Titus 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:12">12</verse></sup> training us to renounce ungodliness and all the pleasures of this world, and to live sober, upright, and pious lives at the present time,
#BCV:Titus 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:13">13</verse></sup> in expectation of the fulfilment of our blessed hope--the  Appearing in glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;
#BCV:Titus 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:14">14</verse></sup> who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be  specially His own, zealous for doing good works.
#BCV:Titus 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 2:15">15</verse></sup> Thus speak, exhort, reprove, with all impressiveness. Let no one make light of your authority.
#BCV:Titus 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Titus 3:1">3</verse></font> Remind people that they must submit to the rulers who are in authority over them; that they must obey the magistrates, be prepared for every right action,
#BCV:Titus 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:2">2</verse></sup> not speak evil of any one, nor be contentious, but yield unselfishly to others and constantly manifest a forgiving spirit towards all men.
#BCV:Titus 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:3">3</verse></sup> For there was a time when we also were deficient in understanding, obstinate, deluded, the slaves of various cravings and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.
#BCV:Titus 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:4">4</verse></sup> But when the goodness of God our Saviour, and His love to man,  dawned upon us, not in consequence of things which we,
#BCV:Titus 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:5">5</verse></sup> as righteous men, had done, but as the result of His own mercy He saved us by means of the bath of regeneration and the renewal of our natures by the Holy Spirit,
#BCV:Titus 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:6">6</verse></sup> which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
#BCV:Titus 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:7">7</verse></sup> in order that having been declared righteous through His grace we might become heirs to the Life of the Ages in fulfilment of our hopes.
#BCV:Titus 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:8">8</verse></sup> This is a faithful saying, and on these various points I would have you insist strenuously, in order that those who have their faith fixed on God may be careful to set an example of good actions. For these are not only good in themselves, but are also useful to mankind.
#BCV:Titus 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:9">9</verse></sup> But hold yourself aloof from foolish controversies and  pedigrees and discussions and wrangling about the Law, for they are useless and vain.
#BCV:Titus 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:10">10</verse></sup> After a first and second admonition, have nothing further to do with any one  who will not be taught;
#BCV:Titus 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:11">11</verse></sup> for, as you know, a man of that description has turned aside from the right path and is a sinner self-condemned.
#BCV:Titus 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:12">12</verse></sup> After I have sent Artemas or Tychicus to you, lose no time in joining me at Nicopolis; for I have decided to pass the winter there.
#BCV:Titus 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:13">13</verse></sup> Help Zenas the lawyer forward on his journey with special care, and Apollos, so that they may have all they require.
#BCV:Titus 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:14">14</verse></sup> And let our people too learn to set a good example in following honest occupations for the supply of their necessities, so that they may not live useless lives.
#BCV:Titus 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Titus 3:15">15</verse></sup> Every one here sends you greeting. Greet the believers who hold us dear. May grace be with you all.

#OUTLINE:1,Philemon
#TOPIC:PHILEMON, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>PAUL'S LETTER TO PHILEMON</h1>
This letter (63 A.D.) was written as the result of Paul's deep
interest in Onesimus, a slave who had fled from Colossae to Rome to get free from Philemon his master (<bcv=Col 4:9>Col. iv. 9).</bcv> "A Phrygian slave was one of the lowest known types to be found
in the Roman world, displaying all the worst features of character which the servile condition developed. Onesimus had
proved no exception. He ran away from his master, and, as Paul thought probable (verses 18, 19), not without helping himself to a share of his master's possessions. By the help of what he had stolen, and by the cleverness which afterwards made him so helpful to Paul, he made his way to Rome,
naturally drawn to the great centre, and prompted both by a
desire to hide himself and by a youthful yearning to see the utmost the world could show of glory and of vice. But whether
feeling his loneliness, or wearied with a life of vice, or impoverished and reduced to want, or seized with a fear of
detection, he made his way to Paul, or unbosomed himself to some Asiatic he saw on the street. And as he stepped out of
the coarse debauchery and profanity of the crowded resorts of
the metropolis into the room hallowed by the presence of Paul, he saw the foulness of the one life and the beauty of the other, and was persuaded to accept the gospel he had so often heard
in his master's house. How long he remained with Paul does
not appear, but it was long enough to impress on the apostle's
mind that this slave was no common man. Paul had devoted and active friends by him, but this slave, trained to watch his master's wants and to execute promptly all that was entrusted
to him, became almost indispensable to the apostle. But to retain him, he feels, would be to steal him, or at any rate to deprive Philemon of the pleasure of voluntarily sending him to minister to him (verse 14). He therefore sends him back with
this Letter, so exquisitely worded that it cannot but have
secured the forgiveness and cordial reception of Onesimus"
(Marcus Dods, D.D., <i>New Testament Introduction</i>).

#BCV:Philemon 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PAUL'S LETTER TO PHILEMON</h1>
#BCV:Philemon 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Philemon 1:1">1</verse></font> Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dearly-loved fellow labourer--
#BCV:Philemon 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:2">2</verse></sup> and to our sister Apphia and our comrade Archippus--as well as to the  Church in your house.
#BCV:Philemon 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:3">3</verse></sup> May grace be granted to you all, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:Philemon 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:4">4</verse></sup> I give continual thanks to my God while making mention of you, my brother, in my prayers,
#BCV:Philemon 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:5">5</verse></sup> because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and which you manifest towards all God's people;
#BCV:Philemon 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:6">6</verse></sup> praying as I do, that their participation in your faith may result in others fully recognizing all the right affection that is in us toward Christ.
#BCV:Philemon 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:7">7</verse></sup> For I have  found great  joy and comfort in your love, because the  hearts of God's people have been, and are, refreshed through you, my brother.
#BCV:Philemon 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:8">8</verse></sup> Therefore,  though I might with Christ's authority speak very freely and order you to do what is fitting,
#BCV:Philemon 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:9">9</verse></sup> it is for love's sake that--instead of that--although I am none other than Paul the aged, and am now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
#BCV:Philemon 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:10">10</verse></sup> I entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I have become while in my chains--I mean Onesimus.
#BCV:Philemon 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:11">11</verse></sup> Formerly he was useless to you, but now--true to his name--he is of great use to you and to me.
#BCV:Philemon 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:12">12</verse></sup> I  am sending him back to you, though in so doing I send part of myself.
#BCV:Philemon 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:13">13</verse></sup> It was my wish to keep him at my side for him to attend to my wants, as your representative, during my imprisonment for the Good News.
#BCV:Philemon 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:14">14</verse></sup> Only I wished to do nothing without your consent, so that his kind action of yours might not be done under pressure, but might be a voluntary one.
#BCV:Philemon 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:15">15</verse></sup> For perhaps it was  for this reason he was parted from you for a time, that you might receive him back wholly and for ever yours;
#BCV:Philemon 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:16">16</verse></sup> no longer as a slave, but as something better than a slave--a brother peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to you, both as a servant and as a fellow Christian.
#BCV:Philemon 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:17">17</verse></sup> If therefore you regard me as a comrade, receive him as if he were I myself.
#BCV:Philemon 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:18">18</verse></sup> And if he was ever dishonest or is in your debt,  debit me with the amount.
#BCV:Philemon 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:19">19</verse></sup> I Paul write this with my own hand--I will pay you in full. (I say nothing of the fact that you owe me even your own self.)
#BCV:Philemon 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:20">20</verse></sup> Yes, brother, do me this favour for the Lord's sake. Refresh my heart in Christ.
#BCV:Philemon 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:21">21</verse></sup> I write to you in the full confidence that you will meet my wishes, for I know you will do even more than I say.
#BCV:Philemon 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:22">22</verse></sup> And at the same time provide accommodation for me; for I hope that through your prayers I shall be permitted to come to you.
#BCV:Philemon 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:23">23</verse></sup> Greetings to you, my brother, from Epaphras my fellow prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus;
#BCV:Philemon 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:24">24</verse></sup> and from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
#BCV:Philemon 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Philemon 1:25">25</verse></sup> May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of  every one of you.

#OUTLINE:1,Hebrews
#TOPIC:HEBREWS, EPISTLE TO
<heading><h1>THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS</h1>
As regards the date of this Letter, the only sure conclusion appears to be that it was before 70 A.D. The book itself claims
to have been written at the end of the Jewish age (i. 2; ix. 26), whilst the earthly temple was still in existence (ix. 8), and it is inconceivable that such an overwhelming comment upon the
writer's whole position as that afforded by the destruction of Jerusalem would have been overlooked, had it been available. Hence 67-68 a.d. may with probability be alleged as the time
of composition.

<heading>The only fact clear as to the author is that he was not the
apostle Paul. The early Fathers never attributed it to Paul,
and not until the seventh century did the tendency to do this, derived from Jerome and Augustine, swell into an ecclesiastical
practice. From the book itself we see that the author must
have been a Jew and a Hellenist, familiar with Philo as well as with the Old Testament, a friend of Timothy and well-known
to those addressed, and not an apostle but decidedly acquainted
with apostolic thoughts; and that he not only wrote before the
destruction of Jerusalem but apparently himself was never in Palestine. The name of Barnabas, and also that of Priscilla, has been suggested, but in reality all these distinctive marks
appear to be found only in Apollos, so that with Luther, and
not a few modern scholars, we must either attribute it to him
or give up the quest.

<heading>There has never been any question as to the canonicity of
this Letter, nor can there be any doubt as to its perennial value
to the church of Christ. Where it was written cannot be decided. "They of Italy" (xiii. 24) is quite indeterminate. Noris it possible to decide to whom it was sent. "The Hebrews,"
to whom it was addressed, may have been resident in Jerusalem,
Alexandria, Ephesus, or Rome. The most remarkable feature of the Letter is manifestly its references to the old Covenant. Here there is a mingling of reverence and iconoclasm. Theunquestionably divine origin of the Jewish dispensation is made use of for laying emphasis upon the infinitely superior glory of
the Christian order. Thus an <i><latin>a fortiori<english></i> argument pervades the
whole - if the shadow was divine how much more must the substance be! "The language of the epistle, both in vocabulary and style, is purer and more vigorous than that of any
other book of the New Testament" (Westcott).

#BCV:Hebrews 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS</h1>
#BCV:Hebrews 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:1">1</verse></font> God, who in ancient days spoke to our forefathers in many distinct messages and by various methods  through the Prophets,
#BCV:Hebrews 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:2">2</verse></sup> has  at the end of these days spoken to us  through a Son, who is the pre-destined Lord of the universe, and through whom He made the Ages.
#BCV:Hebrews 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:3">3</verse></sup> He brightly reflects God's glory and is the exact representation of His  being, and upholds the universe by His all-powerful word. After securing  man's purification from sin He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
#BCV:Hebrews 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:4">4</verse></sup> having become as far superior to the angels as the Name He possesses by inheritance is more excellent than theirs.
#BCV:Hebrews 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:5">5</verse></sup> For to which of the angels did God ever say, "My Son <word=are>art</word> Thou: I have this day become Thy Father;" and again, "I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be My Son"?
#BCV:Hebrews 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:6">6</verse></sup> But speaking of the time when He  once more brings His Firstborn into the world, He says, "And let all God's angels worship Him."
#BCV:Hebrews 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:7">7</verse></sup> Moreover of the angels He says,  "He changes His angels into winds, and His ministering servants into a flame of fire."
#BCV:Hebrews 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:8">8</verse></sup> But of His Son, He says, "Thy throne, O God,  is for ever and for ever, and the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is  a sceptre of absolute justice.
#BCV:Hebrews 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:9">9</verse></sup> Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;  therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness beyond  Thy companions."
#BCV:Hebrews 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:10">10</verse></sup> It is also of His Son that God says, "Thou, O Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.
#BCV:Hebrews 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:11">11</verse></sup> The heavens will perish, but Thou remainest; and they will all grow old like a garment,
#BCV:Hebrews 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:12">12</verse></sup> and,  as though they were a mantle Thou <word=will>wilt</word> roll them up; yes, like a garment, and they will undergo change. But Thou <word=are>art</word> the same, and Thy years will never come to an end."
#BCV:Hebrews 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:13">13</verse></sup> To which of the angels has He ever said, "Sit at My right hand till I make Thy foes a footstool for Thy feet"?
#BCV:Hebrews 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 1:14">14</verse></sup> Are not all angels spirits that serve Him--whom He sends out to render service for the benefit of those who, before long, will inherit salvation?
#BCV:Hebrews 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:1">2</verse></font> For this reason we ought to pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, for fear we should  drift away from them.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:2">2</verse></sup> For if the message delivered through angels proved to be true, and every transgression and act of disobedience met with just retribution,
#BCV:Hebrews 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:3">3</verse></sup> how shall *we* escape  if we are indifferent to a salvation as great as that now offered to us? This, after having first of all been announced by the Lord Himself, had its truth made sure to us by those who heard Him,
#BCV:Hebrews 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:4">4</verse></sup> while God corroborated their testimony by signs and marvels and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed in accordance with His own will.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:5">5</verse></sup> It is not to angels that God has assigned the sovereignty of that coming  world, of which we speak.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:6">6</verse></sup> But,  as we know, a writer has solemnly said, "How poor a creature is man, and yet Thou dost remember him, and a son of man, and yet Thou dost come to him!
#BCV:Hebrews 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:7">7</verse></sup> Thou hast made him only  a little inferior to the angels; with glory and honour Thou hast crowned him,  and hast set him to govern the works of Thy hands.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:8">8</verse></sup> Thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet." For this subjecting of the universe to man implies the leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not as yet see the universe subject to him.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:9">9</verse></sup> But Jesus--who was made a little inferior to the angels in order that  through God's grace He might taste death for every human being--we already see wearing a crown of glory and honour because of His having suffered death.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:10">10</verse></sup> For it was fitting that He for whom, and through whom, all things exist, after He had brought  many sons to glory, should perfect by suffering the Prince Leader who had saved them.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:11">11</verse></sup> For both He who sanctifies and those whom He is sanctifying have all one Father; and for this reason He is not ashamed to speak of them as His brothers;
#BCV:Hebrews 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:12">12</verse></sup> as when He says: "I will proclaim Thy name to My brothers:  in the midst of the congregation I will hymn Thy praises;"
#BCV:Hebrews 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:13">13</verse></sup> and again, "As for Me, I will be one whose trust reposes in God;" and again, "Here am I, and here are the children God has given Me."
#BCV:Hebrews 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:14">14</verse></sup> Since then the children referred to are all alike sharers in  perishable human nature, He Himself also, in the same way, took on Him a share of it, in order that through death He might render powerless him who had authority over death, that is, the Devil,
#BCV:Hebrews 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:15">15</verse></sup> and might set at liberty all those who through fear of death had been subject to lifelong slavery.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:16">16</verse></sup> For assuredly it is not to angels that He is continually reaching a helping hand, but it is to the descendants of Abraham.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:17">17</verse></sup> And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.
#BCV:Hebrews 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 2:18">18</verse></sup> For inasmuch as He has Himself felt the pain of  temptation and trial, He is also able instantly to help those who are tempted and tried.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:1">3</verse></font> Therefore, holy brethren, sharers with others in a heavenly invitation, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whose followers we profess to be.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:2">2</verse></sup> How faithful He was to Him who appointed Him,  just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house!
#BCV:Hebrews 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:3">3</verse></sup> For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, in so far as  he who has built a house has higher honour than the house itself.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:4">4</verse></sup> For every house has had a builder, and the builder of all things is God.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:5">5</verse></sup> Moreover, Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant in delivering the message given him to speak;
#BCV:Hebrews 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:6">6</verse></sup> but Christ was faithful as a Son having authority over God's house, and we are that house, if we hold firm to  the End the boldness and the  hope which we boast of as ours.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:7">7</verse></sup> For this reason--as the Holy Spirit warns us,  "To-day, if you hear His voice,
#BCV:Hebrews 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:8">8</verse></sup> do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the  provocation on the day of the  temptation in the Desert,
#BCV:Hebrews 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:9">9</verse></sup> where your forefathers so sorely tried My patience and saw all that I did during forty years.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:10">10</verse></sup> Therefore I was greatly grieved with that generation, and I said, 'They are ever going astray in heart, and have not learnt to know My paths.'
#BCV:Hebrews 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:11">11</verse></sup> As I swore in My anger, they shall not be admitted to My rest" --
#BCV:Hebrews 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:12">12</verse></sup> see to it, brethren, that there is never in any one of you--as perhaps there may be--a sinful and unbelieving heart, manifesting itself in revolt from the ever-living God.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:13">13</verse></sup> On the contrary  encourage  one another, day after day,  so long as To-day lasts, so that not one of you may be hardened through the deceitful character of  sin.
#BCV:Hebrews 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:14">14</verse></sup> For we have, all alike, become sharers with Christ, if we really hold our first confidence firm to the End;
#BCV:Hebrews 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:15">15</verse></sup> seeing that the warning still comes to us, "To-day, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the provocation."
#BCV:Hebrews 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:16">16</verse></sup> For who were they  that heard, and yet provoked God? Was it not  the whole of the people who had come out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses?
#BCV:Hebrews 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:17">17</verse></sup> And with whom was God so greatly grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, and whose  dead bodies fell in the Desert?
#BCV:Hebrews 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:18">18</verse></sup> And to whom did He swear that they should not be admitted to His rest, if it was not to those who were disobedient?
#BCV:Hebrews 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 3:19">19</verse></sup> And so we see that it was owing to lack of faith that they could not be admitted.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:1">4</verse></font> Therefore let us be on our guard lest perhaps, while He still leaves us a promise of being admitted to His rest, some one of you should be found to have fallen short of it.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:2">2</verse></sup> For  Good News has been brought to us as truly as to them; but the message they heard failed to benefit them, because they were not one in faith with  those who gave heed to it.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:3">3</verse></sup> We who have believed are soon to be admitted to  the true rest; as He has said, "As I swore in My anger, they shall not be admitted to My rest," although God's works had been going on ever since the creation of the world.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:4">4</verse></sup> For, as we know, when speaking of the seventh day He has used the words, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works;"
#BCV:Hebrews 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:5">5</verse></sup> and He has also declared, "They shall not be admitted to My rest."
#BCV:Hebrews 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:6">6</verse></sup> Since, then, it is still true that some will be admitted to that rest, and that because of disobedience those  who formerly had Good News proclaimed to them were not admitted,
#BCV:Hebrews 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:7">7</verse></sup> He again definitely mentions a certain day, "To-day," saying long afterwards, by David's lips, in the words already quoted, "To-day, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."
#BCV:Hebrews 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:8">8</verse></sup> For if Joshua had given them the true rest,  we should not afterwards hear God speaking of another still future day.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:9">9</verse></sup> It follows that there still remains a sabbath rest for the people of God.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:10">10</verse></sup> For  He who has been admitted to His rest, has rested from His works as God did from His.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:11">11</verse></sup> Let it then be our earnest endeavour to be admitted to that rest, so that no one may perish through following the same example of unbelief.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:12">12</verse></sup> For  God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than  the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:13">13</verse></sup> And no created thing is able to escape its scrutiny; but everything lies bare and  completely exposed before the eyes of Him  with whom we have to do.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:14">14</verse></sup> Inasmuch, then, as we have in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has passed  into Heaven itself, let us hold firmly to our profession of faith.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:15">15</verse></sup> For we have not a High Priest who is unable to feel for us in our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every respect just as we are tempted, and yet did not sin.
#BCV:Hebrews 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 4:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:1">5</verse></font> For every  High Priest is chosen from among men, and is appointed to act on behalf of men in matters relating to God, in order to offer both  gifts and sin-offerings,
#BCV:Hebrews 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:2">2</verse></sup> and must be one who is able to bear patiently with the ignorant and erring, because he himself also is beset with infirmity.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:3">3</verse></sup> And for this reason he is required to offer sin-offerings not only for the people but also for himself.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:4">4</verse></sup> And no one takes this  honourable office upon himself, but only accepts it when called to it by God, as Aaron was.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:5">5</verse></sup> So Christ also did not claim for Himself the honour of being made High Priest, but was appointed to it by Him who said to Him, "My Son <word=are>art</word> Thou: I have to-day become Thy Father;"
#BCV:Hebrews 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:6">6</verse></sup> as also in another passage He says, "Thou <word=are>art</word> a priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek."
#BCV:Hebrews 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:7">7</verse></sup> For Jesus during his earthly life offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud and weeping as He pleaded with Him who was able to bring Him in safety out of death, and He was delivered  from the terror from which He shrank.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:8">8</verse></sup> Although He was God's Son, yet He learned obedience from the sufferings which He endured;
#BCV:Hebrews 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:9">9</verse></sup> and so, having been  made perfect, He became to all who obey Him the  source and giver of eternal salvation.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:10">10</verse></sup> For God Himself  addresses Him as a High Priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:11">11</verse></sup> Concerning Him we have much to say, and much that it would be difficult to make clear to you, since you have become  so dull of apprehension.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:12">12</verse></sup> For although, considering the long time you have been believers, you ought now to be teachers of others, you really need some one to teach you over again the very rudiments of the truths of God, and you have come to require milk instead of solid food.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:13">13</verse></sup> By people who live on milk I mean those who are imperfectly acquainted with the  teaching concerning righteousness.
#BCV:Hebrews 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 5:14">14</verse></sup> Such persons are mere babes. But solid food  is for adults--that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained to distinguish good from evil.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:1">6</verse></font> Therefore leaving elementary instruction about the Christ, let us advance to mature manhood and not be continually re-laying a foundation of repentance from  lifeless works and of  faith in God,
#BCV:Hebrews 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:2">2</verse></sup> or of teaching about  ceremonial washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection  of the dead, and  the last judgement.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:3">3</verse></sup> And advance we will, if God permits us to do so.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:4">4</verse></sup> For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
#BCV:Hebrews 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:5">5</verse></sup> and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away--
#BCV:Hebrews 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:6">6</verse></sup> it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for,  to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:7">7</verse></sup> For land which has drunk in the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sakes, indeed, it is tilled, has a share in God's blessing.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:8">8</verse></sup> But if it only yields a mass of thorns and briers, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be destroyed by fire.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:9">9</verse></sup> But we, even while we speak in this tone, have a happier conviction concerning you, my dearly-loved friends--a conviction of things which point towards salvation.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:10">10</verse></sup> For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:11">11</verse></sup> But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End;
#BCV:Hebrews 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:12">12</verse></sup> so that you may not  become half-hearted, but be imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are now heirs to the promises.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:13">13</verse></sup> For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
#BCV:Hebrews 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:14">14</verse></sup> saying, "Assuredly I will bless you and bless you, I will increase you and increase you."
#BCV:Hebrews 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:15">15</verse></sup> And so, as the result of patient waiting, our forefather obtained what God had promised.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:16">16</verse></sup> For men swear by what is greater than themselves; and with them an oath in confirmation of a statement always puts an end to a dispute.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:17">17</verse></sup> In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,
#BCV:Hebrews 6:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:18">18</verse></sup> He added an oath, in order that, through  two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for Him to prove false, we may possess mighty encouragement--we who, for safety, have hastened to lay hold of the hope set before us.
#BCV:Hebrews 6:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:19">19</verse></sup> That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,
#BCV:Hebrews 6:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 6:20">20</verse></sup> where Jesus has entered as  a forerunner  on our behalf, having become, like Melchizedek, a High Priest for ever.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:1">7</verse></font> For this man, Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God--he who when Abraham was returning after defeating the kings met him and pronounced a blessing on him--
#BCV:Hebrews 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:2">2</verse></sup> to whom also Abraham presented a tenth part of all--being first, as his name signifies, King of righteousness, and secondly King of Salem, that is, King of peace:
#BCV:Hebrews 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:3">3</verse></sup> with no father or mother, and no record of ancestry: having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made a type of the Son of God--this man Melchizedek remains a priest for ever.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:4">4</verse></sup> Now think how great this priest-king must have been to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth part of the best of the spoil.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:5">5</verse></sup> And those of the descendants of Levi who receive the priesthood are authorized by the Law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brethren, though these have sprung from Abraham.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:6">6</verse></sup> But, in this instance, one who does not trace his origin from them takes tithes from Abraham, and pronounces a blessing on him to whom the promises belong.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:7">7</verse></sup> And beyond all dispute it is always the inferior who is blessed by the superior.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:8">8</verse></sup> Moreover  here frail mortal men receive tithes: there one receives them about whom there is evidence that he is alive.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:9">9</verse></sup> And Levi too--if I may so speak--pays tithes through Abraham:
#BCV:Hebrews 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:10">10</verse></sup> for Levi was yet in the loins of his forefather when Melchizedek met Abraham.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:11">11</verse></sup> Now if  the crowning blessing was attainable by means of the Levitical priesthood--for  as resting on this foundation the people received the Law,  to which they are still subject--  what further need was there for a Priest of a different kind to be raised up belonging to the order of Melchizedek instead of being said to belong to the order of Aaron?
#BCV:Hebrews 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:12">12</verse></sup> For when the priesthood changes, a change of Law also of necessity takes place.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:13">13</verse></sup> He, however, to whom that prophecy refers  is associated with a different tribe, not one member of which has anything to do with the altar.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:14">14</verse></sup> For it is undeniable that our Lord sprang from Judah, a tribe of which Moses said nothing in connection with priests.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:15">15</verse></sup> And this is still more abundantly clear when we read that it is as belonging to the order of Melchizedek that a priest of a different kind is to arise,
#BCV:Hebrews 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:16">16</verse></sup> and hold His office not in obedience to any temporary Law, but by virtue of an indestructible Life.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:17">17</verse></sup> For the words are in evidence, "Thou <word=are>art</word> a priest for ever, belonging to the order of Melchizedek."
#BCV:Hebrews 7:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:18">18</verse></sup> On the one hand we have here the abrogation of an earlier code because it was weak and ineffective--
#BCV:Hebrews 7:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:19">19</verse></sup> for the Law brought no perfect blessing--but on the other hand we have the bringing in of a new and better hope by means of which we draw near to God.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:20">20</verse></sup> And since  it was not without an oath being taken--
#BCV:Hebrews 7:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:21">21</verse></sup> for these men hold office without any oath having been taken, but He holds it attested by an oath from Him who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn and will not  recall His words, Thou <word=are>art</word> a Priest for ever" --
#BCV:Hebrews 7:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:22">22</verse></sup> so much the more also is the Covenant of which Jesus has become the  guarantor, a better covenant.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:23">23</verse></sup> And they have been appointed priests many in number, because death prevents their continuance in office:
#BCV:Hebrews 7:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:24">24</verse></sup> but He, because He continues for ever, has a priesthood which does not pass to any successor.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:25">25</verse></sup> Hence too He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, seeing that He ever lives to plead for them.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:26
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:26">26</verse></sup> Moreover we needed just such a High Priest as this--holy, guileless, undefiled, far removed from sinful men and exalted above the heavens;
#BCV:Hebrews 7:27
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:27">27</verse></sup> who, unlike other High Priests, is not under the necessity of offering up sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and afterwards for those of the people; for this latter thing He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
#BCV:Hebrews 7:28
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 7:28">28</verse></sup> For the Law constitutes men High Priests--men with all their infirmity--but the utterance of the oath, which came later than the Law, constitutes High Priest a Son who has been made for ever perfect.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:1">8</verse></font> Now in connexion with what we have been saying the chief point is that we have a High Priest who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God's Majesty in the heavens,
#BCV:Hebrews 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:2">2</verse></sup> and ministers in the Holy place and in the true tabernacle which not man, but the Lord pitched.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:3">3</verse></sup> Every High Priest,  however, is appointed to offer both bloodless gifts and sacrifices. Therefore this High Priest also must have some offering to present.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:4">4</verse></sup> If then He were still on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since  here there are already those who present the offerings in obedience to the Law,
#BCV:Hebrews 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:5">5</verse></sup> and serve a copy and type of the heavenly things, just as Moses was divinely instructed when about to build the tabernacle. For God said, "See that you make everything in imitation of the pattern shown you on the mountain."
#BCV:Hebrews 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:6">6</verse></sup> But, as a matter of fact, the ministry which Christ has obtained is all the nobler a ministry, in that He is at the same time the negotiator of a sublimer covenant, based upon sublimer promises.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:7">7</verse></sup> For if that first Covenant had been free from imperfection, there would have been no attempt to introduce another.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:8">8</verse></sup> For, being dissatisfied with His people, God says, "'There are days coming,' says the Lord, 'When I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new Covenant--
#BCV:Hebrews 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:9">9</verse></sup> a Covenant unlike the one which I made with their forefathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out from the land of Egypt; for they would not remain faithful to  that.' 'So I turned from them,' says the Lord.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:10">10</verse></sup> But this is the Covenant that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and will write them upon their hearts. And I will indeed be their God and they shall be My People.
#BCV:Hebrews 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:11">11</verse></sup> And there shall be no need for them to teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all will know Me from the least of them to the greatest;
#BCV:Hebrews 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:12">12</verse></sup> Because I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and their sins I will remember no longer.'"
#BCV:Hebrews 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 8:13">13</verse></sup> By using the words, "a new Covenant," He has made the first one obsolete; but whatever is decaying and showing signs of old age is not far from disappearing altogether.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:1">9</verse></font> Now even  the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship, and had also its sanctuary--a sanctuary belonging to this world.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:2">2</verse></sup> For a sacred tent was constructed--the  outer one, in which were the lamp and the table and  the presented loaves; and this is called  the Holy place.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:3">3</verse></sup> And behind the second veil was a sacred tent called the  Holy of holies.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:4">4</verse></sup> This had a  censer of gold, and the ark of the Covenant lined with gold and completely covered with gold, and in it were a gold vase which held the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded and the tables of the Covenant.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:5">5</verse></sup> And above the ark were the Cherubim  denoting God's glorious presence and overshadowing the Mercy-seat. But I cannot now speak about all these in detail.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:6">6</verse></sup> These arrangements having long been completed, the priests, when conducting the divine services, continually enter the outer tent.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:7">7</verse></sup> But into the second, the High Priest goes only on one day of the year, and goes alone, taking with him blood, which he offers on his own behalf and on account of the sins which the people have ignorantly committed.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:8">8</verse></sup> And the lesson which the Holy Spirit teaches is this--that the way into the  true  Holy place is not yet open  so long as the outer tent still remains in existence.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:9">9</verse></sup> And this is a figure--for the time now present--answering to which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, unable though they are to give complete freedom from sin to him who ministers.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:10">10</verse></sup> For their efficacy depends only on meats and drinks and various washings, ceremonies pertaining to the body and imposed until a time of reformation.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:11">11</verse></sup> But Christ  appeared as a High Priest of the blessings  that are soon to come by means of the greater and more perfect Tent of worship, a tent which has not been built with hands--that is to say does not belong to this material creation--
#BCV:Hebrews 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:12">12</verse></sup> and once for all entered  the Holy place, taking with Him not the blood of goats and calves, but His own blood, and thus procuring eternal redemption for us.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:13">13</verse></sup> For if  the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about  ceremonial purity,
#BCV:Hebrews 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:14">14</verse></sup> how much more certainly shall the blood of Christ, who  strengthened by  the eternal Spirit  offered Himself to God, free from blemish, purify  your consciences from  lifeless works for you to  serve the  ever-living God?
#BCV:Hebrews 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:15">15</verse></sup> And because of this He is the negotiator of a new Covenant, in order that, since a life has been given in atonement for the offences committed under the first Covenant, those who have been called may receive the eternal inheritance which has been promised to them.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:16">16</verse></sup> For where there is a  legal 'will,' there must also be a death brought forward in evidence--the death of him who made it.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:17">17</verse></sup> And a will is only of force in the case of a deceased person, being never of any avail so long as he who made it lives.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:18">18</verse></sup> Accordingly  we find that the first Covenant was not inaugurated without blood.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:19">19</verse></sup> For when Moses had proclaimed  to all the people  every commandment contained in the Law, he took the blood of the calves and of the goats and with them water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and  sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
#BCV:Hebrews 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:20">20</verse></sup> saying, "This is the blood which confirms the Covenant that God has made binding upon you."
#BCV:Hebrews 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:21">21</verse></sup> And in the same way  he also sprinkled blood upon the Tent of worship and upon all the vessels used in the ministry.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:22">22</verse></sup> Indeed we may almost say that in obedience to the Law everything is sprinkled with blood, and that apart from  the outpouring of blood there is no remission of sins.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:23">23</verse></sup> It was needful therefore that the copies of the things in Heaven should be cleansed in this way, but that the heavenly things themselves should be cleansed with more costly sacrifices.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:24">24</verse></sup> For not into a  Holy place built by men's hands--a mere copy of the reality--did Christ enter, but He entered Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:25">25</verse></sup> Nor did He enter for the purpose of many times offering Himself in sacrifice, just as the High Priest enters the  Holy place, year after year, taking with him blood not his own.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:26
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:26">26</verse></sup> In that case Christ would have needed to suffer many times, from the creation of the world onwards; but as a matter of fact He has appeared once for all, at  the Close of the Ages, in order to do away with sin by  the sacrifice of Himself.
#BCV:Hebrews 9:27
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:27">27</verse></sup> And since it is reserved for all mankind once to die, and afterwards to be judged;
#BCV:Hebrews 9:28
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 9:28">28</verse></sup> so the Christ also, having been once offered in sacrifice in order that He might bear the sins of  many, will appear a second time,  separated from sin,  to those who are eagerly expecting Him, to make their salvation complete.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:1">10</verse></font> For, since the Law exhibits only an outline of the blessings to come and not a perfect representation of the things themselves,  the priests can never, by repeating the same sacrifices which they continually offer year after year, give complete freedom from sin to those who draw near.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:2">2</verse></sup> For then would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, because the consciences of the worshippers--who in that case would now have been cleansed once for all--would no longer be burdened with sins?
#BCV:Hebrews 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:3">3</verse></sup> But in those sacrifices sins are recalled to memory year after year.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:4">4</verse></sup> For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:5">5</verse></sup> That is why, when He comes into the world, He says, "Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:6">6</verse></sup> In whole burnt-offerings and in sin-offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:7">7</verse></sup> Then I said, 'I have come--in the roll of the book it is written concerning Me--to do Thy will, O God.'"
#BCV:Hebrews 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:8">8</verse></sup> After saying the words I have just quoted, "Sacrifices and offerings or whole burnt-offerings and sin-offerings Thou hast not desired or taken pleasure in" --all such being offered in obedience to the Law--
#BCV:Hebrews 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:9">9</verse></sup> He then  adds, "I have come to do Thy will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:10">10</verse></sup> It is through that divine will that we  have been set free from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice once for all.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:11">11</verse></sup> And while every  priest stands ministering, day after day, and constantly offering the same sacrifices--though such can never rid us of our sins--
#BCV:Hebrews 10:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:12">12</verse></sup> this Priest, on the contrary, after offering for sins a single sacrifice of perpetual efficacy, took His seat at God's right hand,
#BCV:Hebrews 10:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:13">13</verse></sup> waiting from that time onward until His enemies be put as a footstool under His feet.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:14">14</verse></sup> For by a single offering He has for ever completed the blessing for those whom He is setting free from sin.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:15">15</verse></sup> And the Holy Spirit also gives us His testimony; for when He had said,
#BCV:Hebrews 10:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:16">16</verse></sup> "'This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says the Lord: 'I will put My laws upon their hearts and will write them on their minds;'"
#BCV:Hebrews 10:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:17">17</verse></sup> He adds, "And their sins and offences I will remember no longer."
#BCV:Hebrews 10:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:18">18</verse></sup> But where these have been forgiven no further offering for sin is required.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:19">19</verse></sup> Since then, brethren, we have  free access to the Holy place through the blood of Jesus,
#BCV:Hebrews 10:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:20">20</verse></sup> by the new and  ever-living way which He opened up for us through the rending of the veil--that is to say, of His earthly nature--
#BCV:Hebrews 10:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:21">21</verse></sup> and since we have a great Priest who has authority over the house of God,
#BCV:Hebrews 10:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:22">22</verse></sup> let us draw near with sincerity and unfaltering faith, having had our hearts sprinkled, once for all, from consciences oppressed with sin, and our bodies bathed in pure water.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:23">23</verse></sup> Let us hold firmly to an unflinching avowal of our hope, for He is faithful who gave us the promises.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:24">24</verse></sup> And let us bestow thought on one another with a view to arousing one another to brotherly love and right conduct;
#BCV:Hebrews 10:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:25">25</verse></sup> not neglecting--as some habitually do--to meet together, but encouraging one another, and doing this all the more since you can see  the day of Christ approaching.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:26
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:26">26</verse></sup> For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains in reserve any other sacrifice for sins.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:27
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:27">27</verse></sup> There remains nothing but a certain awful expectation of judgement, and the fury of a fire which before long will  devour  the enemies of the truth.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:28
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:28">28</verse></sup> Any one who bids defiance to the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:29
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:29">29</verse></sup> How much  severer punishment, think you, will he be held to deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, has not regarded as holy that Covenant-blood with which he was set free from sin, and has insulted the Spirit from whom comes grace?
#BCV:Hebrews 10:30
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:30">30</verse></sup> For we know who it is that has said, "Vengeance belongs to Me: I will pay back;" and again, "The Lord will be His people's judge."
#BCV:Hebrews 10:31
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:31">31</verse></sup> It is an awful thing to fall into the hands of the  ever-living God.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:32
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:32">32</verse></sup> But continually recall to mind the days now past, when on being first enlightened you went through a great conflict and many sufferings.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:33
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:33">33</verse></sup> This was partly through allowing yourselves to be made a public spectacle amid reproaches and persecutions, and partly through coming forward to share the sufferings of those who were thus treated.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:34
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:34">34</verse></sup> For you not only showed sympathy with those who were imprisoned, but you even submitted with joy when your property was taken from you, being well aware  that you have in your own selves a more valuable possession and one which will remain.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:35
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:35">35</verse></sup> Therefore do not cast from you your confident hope, for it will receive a vast reward.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:36
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:36">36</verse></sup> For you stand in need of patient endurance, so that, as the result of having done the will of God, you may receive the promised blessing.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:37
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:37">37</verse></sup> For there is still but a short time and then "The coming One will come and will not delay.
#BCV:Hebrews 10:38
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:38">38</verse></sup> But it is by faith that My righteous servant shall live; and if he shrinks back, My soul takes no pleasure in him."
#BCV:Hebrews 10:39
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 10:39">39</verse></sup> But we are not people who shrink back and perish, but are among those who believe and gain possession of their souls.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:1">11</verse></font> Now  faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:2">2</verse></sup> For by it the saints of old won God's approval.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:3">3</verse></sup> Through faith we understand that  the worlds  came into being, and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:4">4</verse></sup> Through faith Abel offered to God a  more acceptable sacrifice than Cain did, and  through this faith he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God giving the testimony by accepting his gifts; and  through it,  though he is dead, he still speaks.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:5">5</verse></sup> Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he could not be found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence that he truly pleased God.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:6">6</verse></sup> But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him; for the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:7">7</verse></sup> Through faith Noah, being divinely taught about things as yet unseen, reverently gave heed and built an ark for the safety of his family, and by this act he condemned the world, and became  an heir of the righteousness which depends on faith.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:8">8</verse></sup> Through faith Abraham,  upon being called to leave home and go into a land which he was soon to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going to.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:9">9</verse></sup> Through faith he came and made his home for a time in a land which had been promised to him, as if in a foreign country, living in tents together with Isaac and Jacob, sharers with him in the same promise;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:10">10</verse></sup> for he continually looked forward to  the city which has  the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:11">11</verse></sup> Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become a mother--although she was past  the time of life for this--because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:12">12</verse></sup> And thus there sprang from one man, and him practically dead, a nation like the stars of the sky in number, and like the sands on the sea shore which cannot be counted.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:13">13</verse></sup> All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be foreigners and strangers here on earth;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:14">14</verse></sup> for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are seeking  elsewhere a country of their own.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:15">15</verse></sup> And if they had cherished the remembrance of the country they had left, they would have found an opportunity to return;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:16">16</verse></sup> but, as it is,  we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has  now  prepared a city for them.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:17">17</verse></sup> Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test,  offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises was on the point of sacrificing his only son
#BCV:Hebrews 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:18">18</verse></sup> with regard to whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that your posterity shall be traced."
#BCV:Hebrews 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:19">19</verse></sup> For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among the dead that he received Isaac again.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:20">20</verse></sup> Through faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even in connexion with things soon to come.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:21">21</verse></sup> Through faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and, leaning on the top of his staff,  worshipped God.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:22">22</verse></sup> Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end,  made mention of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders about  his own body.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:23">23</verse></sup> Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw  his rare beauty; and the king's edict had no terror for them.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:24">24</verse></sup> Through faith Moses, when he grew to manhood, refused to be known as Pharaoh's daughter's son,
#BCV:Hebrews 11:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:25">25</verse></sup> having determined to endure ill-treatment along with the people of God rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures  of sin;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:26
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:26">26</verse></sup> because he deemed  the reproaches which he might meet with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt; for he  fixed his gaze on the coming reward.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:27
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:27">27</verse></sup> Through faith  he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger; for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:28
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:28">28</verse></sup> Through faith he  instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:29
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:29">29</verse></sup> Through faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing over dry land, but the Egyptians, when they tried to do the same, were swallowed up.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:30
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:30">30</verse></sup> Through faith the walls of Jericho fell to the ground after being surrounded for seven days.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:31
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:31">31</verse></sup> Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies and had sheltered them.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:32
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:32">32</verse></sup> And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell the story of  Gideon,  Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah, and of  David and  Samuel and the Prophets;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:33
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:33">33</verse></sup> men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms, brought about true justice, obtained  promises from God, stopped lions' mouths,
#BCV:Hebrews 11:34
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:34">34</verse></sup> deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put to flight foreign armies.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:35
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:35">35</verse></sup> Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead; and others were  put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance offered to them--that they might secure  a better resurrection.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:36
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:36">36</verse></sup> Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging; yes, and by chains and imprisonment.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:37
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:37">37</verse></sup> They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:38
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:38">38</verse></sup> They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.
#BCV:Hebrews 11:39
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:39">39</verse></sup> And although by their faith all these people won God's approval,  none of them received the fulfilment of  His great promise;
#BCV:Hebrews 11:40
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 11:40">40</verse></sup> for God had provided for them and us something better, so that apart from us they were not to  attain to full blessedness.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:1">12</verse></font> Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of  witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and  the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,
#BCV:Hebrews 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:2">2</verse></sup> simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus,  our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself--  where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:3">3</verse></sup> Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed  against Him by sinners.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:4">4</verse></sup> In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as to endanger your lives;
#BCV:Hebrews 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:5">5</verse></sup> and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, "My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint when He corrects you;
#BCV:Hebrews 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:6">6</verse></sup> for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges every son whom He acknowledges."
#BCV:Hebrews 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:7">7</verse></sup> The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
#BCV:Hebrews 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:8">8</verse></sup> And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards, and not true sons.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:9">9</verse></sup> Besides this,  our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?
#BCV:Hebrews 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:10">10</verse></sup> It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:11">11</verse></sup> Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result full of peace--namely, righteousness.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:12">12</verse></sup> Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralysed knees,
#BCV:Hebrews 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:13">13</verse></sup> and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put entirely out of joint
#BCV:Hebrews 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:14">14</verse></sup> but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace with all men, and for that  growth in holiness apart from which  no one will  see the Lord.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:15">15</verse></sup> Be carefully on your guard lest there be any one who falls back from the grace of God; lest any root bearing bitter fruit spring up and cause trouble among you, and through it  the whole brotherhood be defiled;
#BCV:Hebrews 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:16">16</verse></sup> lest there be a fornicator, or an ungodly person like Esau, who, in return for a single meal, parted with the birthright which belonged to him.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:17">17</verse></sup> For you know that even afterwards, when he wished to secure  the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no opportunity for undoing what he had done, though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:18">18</verse></sup> For you have not come to a  material  object all ablaze with fire, and to gloom and darkness and storm and trumpet-blast and the sound of words--
#BCV:Hebrews 12:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:19">19</verse></sup> a sound of such a kind that those who heard it entreated that no more should be added.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:20">20</verse></sup> For they could not endure the order which had been given, "Even a wild beast, if it touches the mountain, shall be stoned to death;"
#BCV:Hebrews 12:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:21">21</verse></sup> and so terrible was the scene that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."
#BCV:Hebrews 12:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:22">22</verse></sup> On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the  ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,
#BCV:Hebrews 12:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:23">23</verse></sup> to the great festal gathering and Church of the first-born, whose names are recorded in Heaven, and to a Judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of righteous men  made perfect,
#BCV:Hebrews 12:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:24">24</verse></sup> and to Jesus the negotiator of a new Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks in  more gracious tones than that of Abel.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:25">25</verse></sup> Be careful not to refuse to listen to Him who is speaking to you. For if they of old did not escape unpunished when they refused to listen to him who spoke on earth,  much less shall we escape who turn a deaf ear to Him who now speaks from Heaven.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:26
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:26">26</verse></sup> His voice then shook the earth, but now we have His promise, "Yet again I will, once for all, cause not only the earth to tremble, but Heaven also."
#BCV:Hebrews 12:27
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:27">27</verse></sup> Here the words "Yet again, once for all" denote the removal of the things which can be shaken--created things--in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:28
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:28">28</verse></sup> Therefore, receiving,  as we now do, a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us cherish thankfulness so that we may  ever offer to God an acceptable service, with godly reverence and awe.
#BCV:Hebrews 12:29
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 12:29">29</verse></sup> For our God is  also a consuming fire.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:1">13</verse></font> Let brotherly love  always continue.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:2">2</verse></sup> Do not neglect to show kindness to strangers; for, in this way, some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:3">3</verse></sup> Remember prisoners, as if you were in prison with them; and remember those suffering ill-treatment, for you yourselves also are still in the body.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:4">4</verse></sup> Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be unpolluted; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:5">5</verse></sup> Your lives should be untainted by love for money. Be content with what you have; for God Himself has said, "I will never, never  let go your hand: I will never never forsake you."
#BCV:Hebrews 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:6">6</verse></sup> So that we fearlessly say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid: what can man do to me?"
#BCV:Hebrews 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:7">7</verse></sup> Remember your former leaders--it was they who brought you God's Message. Bear in mind how they ended their lives, and imitate their faith.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:8">8</verse></sup> Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day--yes, and to the ages to come.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:9">9</verse></sup> Do not be drawn aside by all sorts of strange teaching; for it is well to have the heart  made stedfast through God's grace, and not by special kinds of food, from which those who scrupulously attend to them have derived no benefit.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:10">10</verse></sup> We Christians have  an altar from which the ministers of  the Jewish Tent have no right to eat.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:11">11</verse></sup> For the bodies of those animals of which the blood is carried by the High Priest into  the Holy place as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:12">12</verse></sup> And for this reason Jesus also, in order, by His own blood, to set the people free from sin, suffered outside the gate.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore let us go to Him outside  the camp, sharing the insults directed against Him.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:14">14</verse></sup> For we have no permanent  city here, but we are longing for the city which is soon to be ours.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:15">15</verse></sup> Through Him, then, let us continually lay on the altar a sacrifice of praise to God, namely, the utterance of lips that give thanks to His Name.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:16">16</verse></sup> And do not forget to be kind and liberal; for with sacrifices of that sort God is greatly pleased.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:17">17</verse></sup> Obey your leaders and be submissive to them. For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give account; that they may do this with joy and not with lamentation. For that would be of no advantage to you.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:18">18</verse></sup> Keep on praying for us; for  we are sure that we have clear consciences, and we desire to live nobly in every respect.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:19
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:19">19</verse></sup> I specially urge this upon you in order that I may be the more speedily restored to you.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:20
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:20">20</verse></sup> Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead--even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep--
#BCV:Hebrews 13:21
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:21">21</verse></sup> fully equip you with every grace that you may need for the doing of His will, producing in us that which will truly please Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:22
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:22">22</verse></sup> Bear with me, brethren, when I thus exhort you; for, in fact, it is but a short letter that I have written to you.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:23
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:23">23</verse></sup> You will rejoice to hear that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty. If he comes soon, I will see you with him.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:24
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:24">24</verse></sup> Greet all your leaders and all God's people. The brethren from Italy send you greetings.
#BCV:Hebrews 13:25
<sup><verse bcv="Hebrews 13:25">25</verse></sup> Grace be with you all! Amen.

#OUTLINE:1,James
#TOPIC:JAMES, EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>JAMES'S LETTER</h1>
Four persons bearing the name of 'James' are mentioned in the New Testament, (i) The apostle, the son of Zabdai; (2) The apostle, the son of Alphaeus; (3) The son of Mary the
wife of Clopas; (4) The Lord's brother, mentioned as such
along with Joses, Simon and Judah, and prominent in the Acts
(<bcv=Acts 12:17>xii. 17;</bcv> <bcv=Acts 15:13>XV. 13;</bcv> <bcv=Acts 21:18>xxi. 18).</bcv> The last-named was also known as 'James the Just' and is represented by tradition as leading an
ascetic life, which ended in martyrdom. He was undoubtedly
bishop, or president, of the church at Jerusalem and in all probability this Letter was written by him from that city. There
has been some difference ot opinion as to the date. The
majority of scholars insist that both the internal and external evidence point to its having been written between 44 and 50
A.D., before the earliest of Paul's Letters, but, on the other hand, the solemn emphasis which the author lays upon the immediateness of the Lord's Return (v. 7, 8, 9) may be regarded
as a moral proof of a date very much nearer the winding up of
the Mosaic dispensation in 70 A.D.

<heading>The Letter is manifestly a Jewish one, addressed to the Christian converts from Judaism who were scattered abroad,
within or beyond the hmits of the Roman empire. Luther deemed it "an epistle of straw," by reason of its insistance upon the vital importance of 'works,' but its practical ideal assumes the same basis of Christian faith as is found in the
Letters of Paul. The opening references to severe trial seem to show that the persecution begun by Herod Agrippa had already been repeated elsewhere. If the later date of the book be admitted, the persecution must then, of course, have been that under Nero.

#BCV:James 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">JAMES'S LETTER</h1>
#BCV:James 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="James 1:1">1</verse></font> James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: to the  twelve tribes who are scattered over the world. All good wishes.
#BCV:James 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:2">2</verse></sup> Reckon it nothing but joy, my brethren, whenever you find yourselves hedged in by various  trials.
#BCV:James 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:3">3</verse></sup> Be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance.
#BCV:James 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:4">4</verse></sup> Only let endurance have perfect results so that you may become perfect and complete, deficient in nothing.
#BCV:James 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:5">5</verse></sup> And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him.
#BCV:James 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:6">6</verse></sup> But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray.
#BCV:James 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:7">7</verse></sup> A person of that sort must not expect  to receive anything from the Lord--
#BCV:James 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:8">8</verse></sup> such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes.
#BCV:James 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:9">9</verse></sup> Let a brother in humble life rejoice when raised to a higher position;
#BCV:James 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:10">10</verse></sup> but a rich man should rejoice in being brought low, for like flowers among the herbage rich men will pass away.
#BCV:James 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:11">11</verse></sup> The sun rises with his scorching heat and dries up the herbage, so that its flowers drop off and the beauty of its appearance perishes, and in the same way rich men with all their prosperity will fade away.
#BCV:James 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:12">12</verse></sup> Blessed is he who patiently endures  trials; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the victor's crown--even the  crown of Life--which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
#BCV:James 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:13">13</verse></sup> Let no one say when passing through  trial, "My temptation is from God;" for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
#BCV:James 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:14">14</verse></sup> But when a man is tempted, it is his own passions that carry him away and  serve as a bait.
#BCV:James 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:15">15</verse></sup> Then  the passion conceives, and becomes the parent of sin; and sin,  when fully matured, gives birth to death.
#BCV:James 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:16">16</verse></sup> Do not be deceived, my dearly-loved brethren.
#BCV:James 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:17">17</verse></sup> Every gift which is good, and every perfect boon, is from above, and comes down from the Father, who is the source of all Light. In Him there is no variation nor the slightest suggestion of change.
#BCV:James 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:18">18</verse></sup> In accordance with His will He made us His children through the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense, be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.
#BCV:James 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:19">19</verse></sup> You know this, my dearly-loved brethren. But let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to be angry.
#BCV:James 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:20">20</verse></sup> For a man's anger does not lead to action which God regards as righteous.
#BCV:James 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:21">21</verse></sup> Ridding yourselves, therefore, of all that is vile and of the evil influences which prevail around you, welcome in a humble spirit the Message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.
#BCV:James 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:22">22</verse></sup> But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.
#BCV:James 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:23">23</verse></sup> For if any one listens but does not obey, he is like a man who carefully looks at  his own face in a mirror.
#BCV:James 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:24">24</verse></sup> Although he  has looked carefully at himself, he goes away, and has immediately forgotten the sort of man  he is.
#BCV:James 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:25">25</verse></sup> But he who  looks closely into the perfect Law--the Law of freedom--and continues looking, he, being not a hearer who forgets, but an obedient doer, will as the result of his obedience be blessed.
#BCV:James 1:26
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:26">26</verse></sup> If a man  thinks that he is scrupulously religious, although he is not curbing his tongue but is deceiving  himself, his religious service is worthless.
#BCV:James 1:27
<sup><verse bcv="James 1:27">27</verse></sup> The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed women in their time of trouble, and to keep one's own self unspotted from the world.
#BCV:James 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="James 2:1">2</verse></font> My brethren, you must not  make distinctions between one man and another while you are striving to maintain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,  who is our glory.
#BCV:James 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:2">2</verse></sup> For suppose a man comes into one of your meetings wearing gold rings and fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man wearing shabby clothes,
#BCV:James 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:3">3</verse></sup> and you pay court to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say, "Sit here; this is a good place;" while to the poor man you say, "Stand there, or sit on the floor at my feet;"
#BCV:James 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:4">4</verse></sup> is it not plain that in your hearts you  have little faith, seeing that you have become judges full of wrong thoughts?
#BCV:James 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:5">5</verse></sup> Listen, my dearly-loved brethren. Has not God chosen those whom the world regards as poor to be rich in faith and heirs of  the Kingdom which He has promised to those that love Him?
#BCV:James 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:6">6</verse></sup> But *you* have put dishonour upon the poor man. Yet is it not the rich who grind you down? Are not they the very people who drag you into the Law courts? --
#BCV:James 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:7">7</verse></sup> and the very people who speak evil of the noble Name by which you are called?
#BCV:James 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:8">8</verse></sup> If, however, you are keeping the Law  as supreme, in obedience to the Commandment which says "You are to love your fellow man just as you love yourself," you are acting rightly.
#BCV:James 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:9">9</verse></sup> But if you are making distinctions between one man and another, you are guilty of sin, and are convicted by the Law as offenders.
#BCV:James 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:10">10</verse></sup> A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has  failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all.
#BCV:James 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:11">11</verse></sup> For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder," and if you are a murderer, although not an adulterer, you have become an offender against the Law.
#BCV:James 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:12">12</verse></sup> Speak and act as those should who are expecting to be judged by the Law of freedom.
#BCV:James 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:13">13</verse></sup> For he who shows no mercy will have judgement given against him without mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgement.
#BCV:James 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:14">14</verse></sup> What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him?
#BCV:James 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:15">15</verse></sup> Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or lacks daily food,
#BCV:James 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:16">16</verse></sup> and one of you says  to them,  "I wish you well;  keep yourselves warm and well fed," and yet you do not give them what they need; what is the use of that?
#BCV:James 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:17">17</verse></sup> So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it--so long as it stands alone.
#BCV:James 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:18">18</verse></sup> Nay, some one will say, "You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions.
#BCV:James 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:19">19</verse></sup> You believe that  God is one, and you are quite right: evil spirits also believe this, and shudder."
#BCV:James 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:20">20</verse></sup> But, idle boaster, are you willing to be taught how it is that faith apart from obedience is worthless? Take the case of Abraham our forefather.
#BCV:James 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:21">21</verse></sup> Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar?
#BCV:James 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:22">22</verse></sup> You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected;
#BCV:James 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:23">23</verse></sup> and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And Abraham believed God, and his faith was placed to his credit as righteousness," and he received the name of 'God's friend.'
#BCV:James 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:24">24</verse></sup> You all see that it is because of actions that a man is pronounced righteous, and not simply because of faith.
#BCV:James 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:25">25</verse></sup> In the same way also was not the notorious sinner Rahab declared to be righteous because of her actions when she welcomed the  spies and hurriedly helped them to escape another way?
#BCV:James 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="James 2:26">26</verse></sup> For  just as a human body without a spirit is lifeless, so also faith is lifeless if it is unaccompanied by obedience.
#BCV:James 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="James 3:1">3</verse></font> Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers; for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.
#BCV:James 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:2">2</verse></sup> For we often  stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.
#BCV:James 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:3">3</verse></sup> Remember that we put the horses' bit into their mouths to make them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.
#BCV:James 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:4">4</verse></sup> So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.
#BCV:James 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:5">5</verse></sup> In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast  forest in flames.
#BCV:James 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:6">6</verse></sup> And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us  spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna.
#BCV:James 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:7">7</verse></sup> For brute nature under all its forms--beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes--can be subjected and  kept in subjection by human nature.
#BCV:James 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:8">8</verse></sup> But the tongue no man or woman is able to tame. It is an ever-busy mischief, and is full of deadly poison.
#BCV:James 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:9">9</verse></sup> With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who  are made in God's likeness.
#BCV:James 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:10">10</verse></sup> Out of the same mouth there proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be.
#BCV:James 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:11">11</verse></sup> In a fountain, are fresh water and bitter sent forth from the same opening?
#BCV:James 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:12">12</verse></sup> Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.
#BCV:James 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:13">13</verse></sup> Which of you is a wise and well-instructed man? Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a wisely teachable spirit.
#BCV:James 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:14">14</verse></sup> But if in your hearts you have bitter feelings of envy and rivalry, do not speak boastfully and falsely, in defiance of the truth.
#BCV:James 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:15">15</verse></sup> That is not the wisdom which comes down from above: it belongs to earth, to the  unspiritual nature, and to evil spirits.
#BCV:James 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:16">16</verse></sup> For where envy and rivalry are, there also are unrest and every vile deed.
#BCV:James 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:17">17</verse></sup> The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions,  free from favouritism and from all insincerity.
#BCV:James 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="James 3:18">18</verse></sup> And peace, for those who strive for peace, is the seed of which the harvest is righteousness.
#BCV:James 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="James 4:1">4</verse></font> What causes wars and contentions  among you? Is it not the cravings which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?
#BCV:James 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:2">2</verse></sup> You covet things and yet cannot get them; you commit murder; you have passionate desires and yet cannot gain your end; you begin to fight and make war. You have not, because you do not pray;
#BCV:James 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:3">3</verse></sup> or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly, your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another.
#BCV:James 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:4">4</verse></sup> You unfaithful women, do you not know that friendship with the world means enmity to God? Therefore whoever is bent on being friendly with the world makes himself an enemy to God.
#BCV:James 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:5">5</verse></sup> Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "The Spirit which  He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns jealously  over us"?
#BCV:James 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:6">6</verse></sup> But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying, "God sets Himself against the haughty, but to the lowly He gives grace."
#BCV:James 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:7">7</verse></sup> Submit therefore to God: resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
#BCV:James 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:8">8</verse></sup> Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you who are half-hearted towards God.
#BCV:James 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:9">9</verse></sup> Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep aloud; let your laughter be turned into grief, and your gladness into shame.
#BCV:James 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:10">10</verse></sup> Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
#BCV:James 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:11">11</verse></sup> Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. The man who speaks evil of a brother-man or judges his brother-man speaks evil of the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it.
#BCV:James 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:12">12</verse></sup> The only real Lawgiver and Judge is He who is able to save or to destroy. Who are you to sit in judgement on your fellow man?
#BCV:James 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:13">13</verse></sup> Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"
#BCV:James 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:14">14</verse></sup> when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. For what is the nature of your life? Why, it is but a mist, which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.
#BCV:James 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:15">15</verse></sup> Instead of that you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we shall live and do this or that."
#BCV:James 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:16">16</verse></sup> But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.
#BCV:James 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="James 4:17">17</verse></sup> If,  however, a man knows what it is right to do and yet does not do it, he commits a sin.
#BCV:James 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="James 5:1">5</verse></font> Come, you rich men, weep aloud and howl for your sorrows which will soon be upon you.
#BCV:James 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:2">2</verse></sup> Your treasures  have rotted, and your piles of clothing  are moth-eaten;
#BCV:James 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:3">3</verse></sup> your gold and your silver have become covered with rust, and the rust on them will give evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded up wealth in  these last days.
#BCV:James 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:4">4</verse></sup> I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops--pay which you are keeping back--is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.
#BCV:James 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:5">5</verse></sup> Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. You have  stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day of slaughter has come.
#BCV:James 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:6">6</verse></sup> You have condemned--you have murdered--  the righteous man: he offers no resistance.
#BCV:James 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:7">7</verse></sup> Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! He is patient over it till it has received the early and the later rain.
#BCV:James 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:8">8</verse></sup> So you also must be patient: keeping up your courage; for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand.
#BCV:James 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:9">9</verse></sup> Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you come under judgement. I tell you that the Judge is standing at the door.
#BCV:James 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:10">10</verse></sup> In illustration, brethren, of persecution patiently endured take the Prophets who have spoken as messengers from the Lord.
#BCV:James 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:11">11</verse></sup> Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. You have also heard of Job's patient endurance, and have seen the issue of the Lord's dealings with him--how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.
#BCV:James 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:12">12</verse></sup> But above all things, my brethren,  do not swear, either by Heaven or by the earth, or with any other oath. Let your 'yes' be simply 'yes,' and your 'no' be simply 'no;' that you may not come under condemnation.
#BCV:James 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:13">13</verse></sup> Is one of you suffering? Let him pray. Is any one in good spirits? Let him sing a psalm.
#BCV:James 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:14">14</verse></sup> Is any one ill? Let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him,  after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
#BCV:James 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:15">15</verse></sup> And the prayer of faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up to health; and if he  has committed sins, they shall be forgiven.
#BCV:James 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:16">16</verse></sup> Therefore  confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be cured. The  heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence.
#BCV:James 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:17">17</verse></sup> Elijah was a man with a nature similar to ours, and he earnestly prayed that there might be no rain: and no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.
#BCV:James 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:18">18</verse></sup> Again he prayed, and the sky gave rain and the land yielded its crops.
#BCV:James 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:19">19</verse></sup> My brethren, if one of you strays from the truth and some one brings him back,
#BCV:James 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="James 5:20">20</verse></sup> let him know that he who brings a sinner back from his evil ways will save the man's soul from death and throw a veil over a multitude of sins.

#OUTLINE:1,1 Peter
#TOPIC:PETER, FIRST EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>PETER'S FIRST LETTER</h1>
The state of things described in this Letter answers to what we find in the first Letter to Timothy, and points to the same
period. The "fiery trial" referred to is probably the persecution which, begun by Nero, in 64 A.D., in order to divert attention from himself, was continued throughout the empire.
The Letter seems to be primarily addressed to those who regarded Peter as the apostle to the Jews, although it is manifest
that he did not think of these alone. The fact that it is "full of Pauline thought and Pauline language," is accounted for by
the well-grounded supposition that Peter arrived in Rome
shortly before Paul was released. So that this Letter, probably
written about 65-66 a.d., was definitely intended to set before
the churches of Roman Asia "the inspiring vision of the two
apostles working and planning together in the capital." This would be at once the clearest lesson the churches could have
concerning their unity, and the strongest support to those then undergoing tribulation and persecution "on behalf of the Name."

#BCV:1 Peter 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PETER'S FIRST LETTER</h1>
#BCV:1 Peter 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:1">1</verse></font> Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ: To God's own people scattered over the earth, who are living as foreigners in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,  Roman Asia, and Bithynia,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:2">2</verse></sup> chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, with a view to their obedience and to their being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May more and more grace and peace be granted to you.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:3">3</verse></sup> Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His great mercy has begotten us anew to an  ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:4">4</verse></sup> to an inheritance imperishable, undefiled and unfading, which has been reserved in Heaven for you,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:5">5</verse></sup> whom God in His power is guarding through faith for a salvation that even now stands ready for unveiling  at the End of the Age.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:6">6</verse></sup> Rejoice triumphantly  in the prospect of this, even if now,  for a short time, you are compelled to sorrow amid various trials.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:7">7</verse></sup> The sorrow comes in order that the testing of your faith--being more  precious than that of gold, which perishes and yet  is proved by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:8">8</verse></sup> Him you love, though  your eyes have never looked on Him. In Him, though at present you cannot see Him, you nevertheless trust, and triumph with a joy which is unspeakable and is crowned with glory,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:9">9</verse></sup> while you are securing as the outcome of your faith the  salvation of your souls.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:10">10</verse></sup> There were Prophets who earnestly inquired about that salvation, and closely searched into it--even those who spoke beforehand of the grace which was to come to you.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:11">11</verse></sup> They were eager to know the time which the Spirit of Christ within them kept indicating, or the characteristics of that time, when they solemnly made known beforehand the sufferings that were to come upon Christ and the glories which would follow.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:12">12</verse></sup> To them it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you, when they foretold the very things which have now been openly declared to you  by those who, having been taught by the Holy Spirit which had been sent from Heaven, brought you the Good News. Angels long to  stoop and look into these things.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:13">13</verse></sup> Therefore gird up your minds and fix your hopes calmly and unfalteringly upon the boon that is soon to be yours, at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:14">14</verse></sup> And, since you delight in obedience, do not shape your lives by the cravings which used to dominate you in the time of your ignorance,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:15">15</verse></sup> but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you--you also must be holy in all your habits of life.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:16">16</verse></sup> Because it stands written, "You are to be holy, because I am holy."
#BCV:1 Peter 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:17">17</verse></sup> And if you address as your Father Him who judges  impartially in accordance with each man's actions, then spend in fear the time of your stay here on earth,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:18">18</verse></sup> knowing, as you do, that it was not with a ransom of perishable wealth, such as silver or gold, that you were set free from your frivolous habits of life which had been handed down to you from your forefathers,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:19">19</verse></sup> but with the precious blood of Christ--as of an  unblemished and spotless lamb.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:20">20</verse></sup> He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested  in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him,
#BCV:1 Peter 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:21">21</verse></sup> are faithful to God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that  your faith and hope are resting upon God.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:22">22</verse></sup> Now that, through your obedience to the truth, you  have purified your souls for cherishing sincere brotherly love, you must love another heartily and fervently.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:23">23</verse></sup> For you have been begotten again by God's  ever-living and enduring word from a germ not of perishable, but of imperishable life.
#BCV:1 Peter 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:24">24</verse></sup> "All mankind  resemble the herbage, and all their beauty is like its flowers. The herbage dries up, and its flowers drop off;
#BCV:1 Peter 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 1:25">25</verse></sup> But the word of the Lord remains for ever." And that means the Message which has been proclaimed among you in the Good News.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:1">2</verse></font> Rid yourselves therefore of all  ill-will and all deceitfulness, of insincerity and envy, and of all evil speaking.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:2">2</verse></sup> Thirst,  like newly-born infants, for pure milk for the soul, that by it you may  grow up to salvation;
#BCV:1 Peter 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:3">3</verse></sup> if you have had any experience of the goodness of the Lord.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:4">4</verse></sup> Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and  held in honour.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:5">5</verse></sup> And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:6">6</verse></sup> For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."
#BCV:1 Peter 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:7">7</verse></sup> To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for unbelievers-- "A Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone,"
#BCV:1 Peter 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:8">8</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:9">9</verse></sup> But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may  make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:10">10</verse></sup> Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not found mercy, but now you have.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:11">11</verse></sup> Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the  soul.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:12">12</verse></sup> Live honourable lives among the Gentiles, in order that, although they now speak against you as evil-doers, they may yet witness your good conduct, and may glorify God on the  day of reward and retribution.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:13">13</verse></sup> Submit, for the Lord's sake, to every authority set up by man, whether it be to the  Emperor as supreme ruler,
#BCV:1 Peter 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:14">14</verse></sup> or to  provincial Governors as sent by  him for the punishment of evil-doers and the encouragement of those who do what is right.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:15">15</verse></sup> For it is God's will that by doing what is right you should thus  silence the  ignorant talk of foolish persons.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:16">16</verse></sup> Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom  an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:17">17</verse></sup> Honour every one. Love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the Emperor.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:18">18</verse></sup> Household servants,  be submissive to your masters, and show them the utmost respect--not only if they are kind and thoughtful, but also if they are unreasonable.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:19">19</verse></sup> For it is an acceptable thing with God, if, from a sense of duty to Him, a man patiently submits to wrong, when treated unjustly.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:20">20</verse></sup> If you do wrong and receive  a blow for it,  what credit is there in your bearing it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you bear it patiently, this is an acceptable thing with God.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:21">21</verse></sup> And it is to this you were called; because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:22">22</verse></sup> He never sinned, and no deceitful language was ever heard from His mouth.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:23">23</verse></sup> When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left  His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:24">24</verse></sup> The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His  wounds yours have been healed.
#BCV:1 Peter 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 2:25">25</verse></sup> For you were straying like lost sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and  Protector of your souls.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:1">3</verse></font> Married women, in the same way,  be submissive to your husbands, so that even if some of them  disbelieve the Message, they may,  apart from the Message, be won over by the daily life of their wives, after watching your daily life--
#BCV:1 Peter 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:2">2</verse></sup> so full of reverence, and so blameless!
#BCV:1 Peter 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:3">3</verse></sup> Your adornment ought not to be a merely outward thing--one of plaiting the hair,  putting on jewelry, or wearing beautiful dresses.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:4">4</verse></sup> Instead of that, it should be  a new nature within--the imperishable ornament of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is indeed precious in the sight of God.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:5">5</verse></sup> For in ancient times also this was the way the holy women who set their hopes upon God used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their husbands.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:6">6</verse></sup> Thus, for instance, Sarah obeyed Abraham,  acknowledging his authority over her. And you have become Sarah's children if you do what is right and permit nothing whatever to terrify you.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:7">7</verse></sup> Married men, in the same way, live with your wives  with a clear recognition of the fact that they are weaker than you. Yet, since you are heirs with them of God's free gift of Life, treat them with honour; so that your prayers may not be hindered.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:8">8</verse></sup> In conclusion, all of you should be of one mind, quick  to sympathize, kind to the brethren, tenderhearted, lowly-minded,
#BCV:1 Peter 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:9">9</verse></sup> not requiting evil with evil nor abuse with abuse, but, on the contrary, giving a blessing in return, because a blessing is what you have been called by God to inherit.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:10">10</verse></sup> For "He who wishes to be well-satisfied with life and see happy days--  let him restrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from deceitful words;
#BCV:1 Peter 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:11">11</verse></sup> Let him turn from evil, and do good; Let him inquire for peace and go in pursuit of it.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:12">12</verse></sup> For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their supplication; but the face of the Lord is set against evil-doers."
#BCV:1 Peter 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:13">13</verse></sup> And who will be able to harm you, if you show yourselves zealous for that which is good?
#BCV:1 Peter 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:14">14</verse></sup> But even if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are to be envied. So do not be alarmed by  their threats, nor troubled;
#BCV:1 Peter 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:15">15</verse></sup> but in your hearts consecrate Christ as Lord, being always ready to make your defence to any one who asks from you a reason for the hope which you cherish.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:16">16</verse></sup> Yet argue modestly and cautiously, keeping your consciences free from guilt, so that, when you are spoken against, those who slander your good Christian lives may be put to shame.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:17">17</verse></sup> For it is better that you should suffer for doing right, if such be God's will, than for doing evil;
#BCV:1 Peter 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:18">18</verse></sup> because Christ also once for all  died for sins, the innocent One for the guilty many, in order to bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
#BCV:1 Peter 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:19">19</verse></sup> in which  He also went and proclaimed His Message to the spirits that were in prison,
#BCV:1 Peter 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:20">20</verse></sup> who in ancient times had been disobedient,  while God's longsuffering was patiently waiting in the days of Noah during the building of the Ark,  in which a few persons--eight in number--were brought safely through the water.
#BCV:1 Peter 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:21">21</verse></sup> And, corresponding to that figure, the water of baptism now saves you--not the washing off of material defilement, but the craving of a good conscience after God--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
#BCV:1 Peter 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 3:22">22</verse></sup> who is at God's right hand, having gone into Heaven, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:1">4</verse></font> Since, then, Christ has suffered in the flesh, you also must arm yourselves with a determination to do the same--because he who has suffered in the flesh  has done with sin--
#BCV:1 Peter 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:2">2</verse></sup> that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:3">3</verse></sup> For you have given time enough in the past to the doing of the things which the Gentiles delight in--  pursuing, as you did, a course of  habitual licence, debauchery, hard drinking, noisy revelry, drunkenness and unholy image-worship.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:4">4</verse></sup> At this they are astonished--that you do not run into the same excess of profligacy as they do; and they speak abusively of you.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:5">5</verse></sup> But they will have to give account to Him who stands ready to pronounce judgement on  the living and the dead.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:6">6</verse></sup> For it is with this end in view that  the Good News was proclaimed even to some who were dead, that they may be judged, as all mankind will be judged, in the body, but may be living a godly life in the spirit.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:7">7</verse></sup> But the end of all things is now close at hand: therefore be sober-minded and temperate, so that you may give yourselves to prayer.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:8">8</verse></sup> Above all continue to love one another fervently, for love throws a veil over a multitude of faults.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:9">9</verse></sup> Extend ungrudging hospitality towards one another.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:10">10</verse></sup> Whatever be the gifts which each has received, you must use them for one another's benefit, as good stewards of God's many-sided kindness.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:11">11</verse></sup> If any one preaches, let it be as uttering God's truth; if any one renders a service to others, let it be in the strength which God supplies; so that in everything glory may be given to God in the name of Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the might to the Ages of the Ages. Amen.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:12">12</verse></sup> Dear friends, do not be surprised at finding that that scorching flame of persecution is raging among you to put you to the test--as though some surprising thing were accidentally happening to you.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:13">13</verse></sup> On the contrary, in the degree that you share in the sufferings of the Christ, rejoice, so that at the unveiling of His glory you may also rejoice with triumphant gladness.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:14">14</verse></sup> You are to be envied, if you are being reproached for bearing the name of Christ; for in that case the Spirit of glory--  even the Spirit of God--is resting upon you.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:15">15</verse></sup> But let not one of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil-doer, or as a spy upon other people's business.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:16">16</verse></sup> If, however, any one suffers because he is a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God  for being permitted to bear that name.
#BCV:1 Peter 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:17">17</verse></sup> For the time has come for judgement to begin, and to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who reject God's Good News?
#BCV:1 Peter 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:18">18</verse></sup> And if it is difficult even for a righteous man to be saved, what will become of irreligious men and sinners?
#BCV:1 Peter 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 4:19">19</verse></sup> Therefore also, let those who are suffering in accordance with the will of God  entrust their  souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:1">5</verse></font> So I exhort the Elders among you--I who am their fellow Elder and have been an eye-witness of the sufferings of the Christ, and am also a sharer in the glory which is soon to be revealed.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:2">2</verse></sup> Be shepherds of God's flock which is among you.  Exercise the oversight not reluctantly but eagerly, in accordance with the will of God; not for base gain but with cheerful minds;
#BCV:1 Peter 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:3">3</verse></sup> not lording it over  your Churches but proving yourselves patterns for the flock to imitate.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:4">4</verse></sup> And then, when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the never-withering wreath of glory.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:5">5</verse></sup> In the same way you younger men must submit to your elders; and all of you must  gird yourselves with humility towards one another, for God sets Himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:6">6</verse></sup> Humble yourselves therefore beneath the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time He may set you on high.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:7">7</verse></sup> Throw the whole of your anxiety upon Him, because He Himself cares for you.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:8">8</verse></sup> Curb every passion, and  be on the alert. Your  great accuser, the Devil, is going about like a roaring lion to see whom he can devour.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:9">9</verse></sup> Withstand him, firm in your faith; knowing that your brethren in other parts of the world are passing through just the same experiences.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:10">10</verse></sup> And God, the giver of all grace, who has called you to share His eternal glory, through Christ, after you have suffered for a short time, will Himself make you perfect, firm, and strong.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:11">11</verse></sup> To Him be all power unto the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:12">12</verse></sup> I send this short letter by  Silas, our faithful brother--for such I regard him--in order to encourage you, and to bear witness that  what I have told you is the true grace of God. In it stand fast.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:13">13</verse></sup> The Church in  Babylon, chosen like yourselves by God, sends greetings, and so does Mark my son.
#BCV:1 Peter 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 Peter 5:14">14</verse></sup> Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be with all of you who are in Christ.

#OUTLINE:1,2 Peter
#TOPIC:PETER, SECOND EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>PETER'S SECOND LETTER</h1>
It is impossible to speak with any certainty as to either the date or the authorship of this Letter. From the beginning
there have been doubts as to its genuineness and canonicity,
and these are represented today in the differing judgements of modern critics equally able and sincere. It has, however, unquestionably had a place in the canon of the New Testament
since the council of Laodicaea in 372 A.D., and there is certainly no such decisive evidence against it as to warrant our omitting
it from the New Testament. It would appear that the writer, whoever he was, had seen the Letter from Jude, and bore it in mind in this his plea for such character and conduct on the
part of believers as were worthy of their faith and would prepare them for the Coming of the Lord. The whole Letter constitutes an earnest appeal for practical holiness.

#BCV:2 Peter 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">PETER'S SECOND LETTER</h1>
#BCV:2 Peter 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:1">1</verse></font> Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness  of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:2">2</verse></sup> May more and more grace and peace be granted to you  in a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
#BCV:2 Peter 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:3">3</verse></sup> seeing that His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has appealed to us  by His own glorious perfections.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:4">4</verse></sup> It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and  wondrous promises, in order that through them you may,  one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:5">5</verse></sup> But for this very reason--adding, on your part, all earnestness--  along with your faith,  manifest  also  a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge;
#BCV:2 Peter 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:6">6</verse></sup> along with knowledge,  self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance;
#BCV:2 Peter 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:7">7</verse></sup> along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:8">8</verse></sup> If these things exist in you, and continually increase, they prevent your being either idle or unfruitful in advancing towards a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:9">9</verse></sup> For the man in whom they are lacking is blind and cannot see distant objects,  in that he has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his old sins.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:10">10</verse></sup> For this reason, brethren, be all the more in earnest to  make sure that God has called you and chosen you; for it is certain that so long as you practise these things, you will never stumble.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:11">11</verse></sup> And so  a triumphant admission into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be freely granted to you.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:12">12</verse></sup> For this reason I shall always persist in reminding you of these things, although you know them and are stedfast believers in truth which you already possess.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:13">13</verse></sup> But I think it right, so long as I remain in  the body, my present dwelling-place, to arouse you by such reminders.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:14">14</verse></sup> For I know that the time for me to lay aside  my body is now rapidly drawing near, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to me.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:15">15</verse></sup> So  on every possible occasion I will  also do my best to enable you to recall these things after my departure.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:16">16</verse></sup> For when we made known to you the power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not eagerly following cleverly devised legends, but we had been eye-witnesses of His majesty.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:17">17</verse></sup> He received honour and glory from God the Father, and out of the wondrous glory words such as these were  spoken to Him, "This is My dearly-loved Son, in whom  I take delight."
#BCV:2 Peter 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:18">18</verse></sup> And we ourselves heard these words  come from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:19">19</verse></sup> And in the written word of prophecy we have  something more permanent; to which  you do well to pay attention--as to a lamp shining in a dimly-lighted place--until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
#BCV:2 Peter 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:20">20</verse></sup> But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting;
#BCV:2 Peter 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 1:21">21</verse></sup> for never did any prophecy come by human will, but  men sent by God spoke as they were  impelled by the Holy Spirit.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:1">2</verse></font> But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal  divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them,  and bringing on themselves swift destruction.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:2">2</verse></sup> And in their immoral ways they will have many eager disciples, through whom religion will be brought into disrepute.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:3">3</verse></sup> Thirsting for riches, they will trade on you with their canting talk. From of old their judgement  has been working itself out, and their destruction  has not been slumbering.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:4">4</verse></sup> For God did not spare angels when they had sinned, but hurling them down to Tartarus consigned them to  caves of darkness, keeping them in readiness for judgement.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:5">5</verse></sup> And He did not spare the ancient world, although He preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a deluge on the world of the ungodly.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:6">6</verse></sup> He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might  in future be living godless lives.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:7">7</verse></sup> But when righteous Lot was sore distressed by the gross misconduct of immoral men He rescued him.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:8">8</verse></sup> 
#BCV:2 Peter 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:9">9</verse></sup> Since all this is so, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from temptation, and on the other hand how to keep the unrighteous under punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgement,
#BCV:2 Peter 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:10">10</verse></sup> and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control.  Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;
#BCV:2 Peter 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:11">11</verse></sup> while angels, though greater than they in might and power, do not bring any insulting accusation against such  in the presence of the Lord.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:12">12</verse></sup> But these men, like brute beasts, created (with their natural instincts)
#BCV:2 Peter 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:13">13</verse></sup> being  doomed to receive a requital for their guilt. They reckon it pleasure to feast daintily in broad  daylight. They are spots and blemishes, while feeding luxuriously at their  love-feasts, and banqueting with you.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:14">14</verse></sup> Their very eyes are full of adultery--being eyes which never cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed.  They are fore-doomed to God's curse!
#BCV:2 Peter 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:15">15</verse></sup> Forsaking the straight road, they have gone astray,  having eagerly followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was bent on securing the wages of unrighteousness.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:16">16</verse></sup> But he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb  ass spoke with a human voice and checked the madness of the Prophet.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:17">17</verse></sup> These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm, men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:18">18</verse></sup> For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings--every kind of immorality--as a  bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:19">19</verse></sup> And  they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of  any one by whom he has been worsted in fight.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:20">20</verse></sup> For if, after escaping from the pollutions of the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, people are once more entangled in these pollutions and are overcome, their last state has become worse than their first.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:21">21</verse></sup> For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments in which they were instructed.
#BCV:2 Peter 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 2:22">22</verse></sup> Their case is that described in the true proverb, "A dog returns to what he has vomited," and also in the other proverb, "The sow has washed itself and now goes back to roll  in its filth."
#BCV:2 Peter 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:1">3</verse></font> This letter which I am now writing to you, dear friends, is my second letter. In both my letters I seek to revive in your honest minds the memory of certain things,
#BCV:2 Peter 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:2">2</verse></sup> so that you may recall the words spoken long ago by the holy Prophets, and the commandments of our Lord and Saviour given you through your Apostles.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:3">3</verse></sup> But, above all, remember that, in  the last days, men will come who make a mock at everything--men governed only by their own passions,
#BCV:2 Peter 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:4">4</verse></sup> and, asking, "What has become of His promised  Return? For from the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue as they have been ever since the creation of the world."
#BCV:2 Peter 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:5">5</verse></sup> For they are wilfully blind to the fact that there were heavens which existed of old, and an earth, the latter  arising out of water and extending continuously through water, by the command of God;
#BCV:2 Peter 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:6">6</verse></sup> and that,  by means of these, the then existing race of men was overwhelmed with water and perished.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:7">7</verse></sup> But the present heavens and the present earth are,  by the command of the same God, kept stored up, reserved for fire in preparation for  a day of judgement and of destruction for the ungodly.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:8">8</verse></sup> But there is one thing, dear friends, which you must not forget. With the Lord  one day resembles a thousand years and a thousand years resemble one day.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:9">9</verse></sup> The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promise, in the sense in which some men speak of slowness. But He bears patiently with you, His desire being that no one should perish but that all should come to repentance.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:10">10</verse></sup> The day of the Lord will come like a thief--it will be a day on which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, the elements be  destroyed in the fierce heat, and the earth and all the works of man be  utterly burnt up.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:11">11</verse></sup> Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution,  what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy living and godly conduct,
#BCV:2 Peter 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:12">12</verse></sup> eagerly looking forward to the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, all ablaze,  will be destroyed, and the elements will melt in the fierce heat?
#BCV:2 Peter 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:13">13</verse></sup> But in accordance with His promise we are expecting  new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will  dwell.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:14">14</verse></sup> Therefore, dear friends, since you have these expectations, earnestly seek to be found in His presence, free from blemish or reproach, in peace.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:15">15</verse></sup> And  always regard the patient forbearance of our Lord as salvation, as our dear brother Paul also has written to you in virtue of the wisdom granted to him.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:16">16</verse></sup> That is what he says in all his letters, when speaking in them of these things. In those letters there are some statements hard to understand, which ill-taught and unprincipled people pervert, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own ruin.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:17">17</verse></sup> You, therefore, dear friends, having been warned beforehand, must  continually be on your guard so as not to be led astray by the false teaching of immoral men nor fall from your own stedfastness.
#BCV:2 Peter 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="2 Peter 3:18">18</verse></sup> But be  always growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory, both now and to the day  of Eternity!

#OUTLINE:1,1 John
#TOPIC:JOHN, FIRST EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>JOHN'S FIRST LETTER</h1>
That this Letter was the actual work of the apostle John, the son of Zabdai, has been abundantly testified from the very earliest times. Certain modern critics have questioned this, on the ground of internal evidence, but a calm survey of the whole case does not bear out their objections. Dr. Salmond well says that no explanation of the origin of the epistle fits the facts so well as the one which has always prevailed. It seems to have been addressed to the church at large, with perhaps special reference to the churches in Roman Asia. The connexion between this Letter and the fourth Gospel is "intimate and organic. The Gospel is objective and the Epistle subjective. The Gospel suggests principles of conduct which the Epistle lays down explicitly. The Epistle implies facts which the Gospel states as historically true." This Letter appears to have been written from Ephesus, and critics have usually assigned 95 A.D., and some other year equally late in the apostolic age, as the probable date of its composition. On the other hand the internal evidence points to a date immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. See ii. 8 (last clause); ii. 18 ; iv. 3 ; and note the expectation of a speedy Coming of Christ (ii. 28 ; iii. 2).

#BCV:1 John 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">JOHN'S FIRST LETTER</h1>
#BCV:1 John 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 John 1:1">1</verse></font> That which was from the beginning, which  we have listened to, which  we have seen with our own eyes, and our own hands have handled concerning the Word of Life--
#BCV:1 John 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:2">2</verse></sup> the Life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and we declare unto you the Life of the Ages which was with the Father and was manifested to us--
#BCV:1 John 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:3">3</verse></sup> that which we have seen and listened to we now announce to you also, in order that you also may have fellowship in it with us, and this fellowship with us is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
#BCV:1 John 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:4">4</verse></sup> And we write these things in order that our joy may be made complete.
#BCV:1 John 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:5">5</verse></sup> This is the  Message which we have heard from the Lord Jesus and  now deliver to you--God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.
#BCV:1 John 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:6">6</verse></sup> If, while we are living in darkness, we profess to have fellowship with Him, we speak falsely and are not adhering to the truth.
#BCV:1 John 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:7">7</verse></sup> But if we live in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
#BCV:1 John 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:8">8</verse></sup> If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.
#BCV:1 John 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:9">9</verse></sup> If we confess our sins, He is so  faithful and just that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
#BCV:1 John 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 1:10">10</verse></sup> If we deny that we have sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message has no place in our hearts.
#BCV:1 John 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 John 2:1">2</verse></font> Dear children, I write thus to you in order that you may not sin. If any one sins, we have an Advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the righteous;
#BCV:1 John 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:2">2</verse></sup> and He is an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for  the sins of the whole world.
#BCV:1 John 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:3">3</verse></sup> And by this we may know that we know Him--if we obey His commands.
#BCV:1 John 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:4">4</verse></sup> He who professes to know Him, and yet does not obey His commands, is a liar, and the truth has no place in his heart.
#BCV:1 John 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:5">5</verse></sup> But whoever obeys His Message, in him love for God has in very deed reached perfection. By this we can know that we are in Him.
#BCV:1 John 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:6">6</verse></sup> The man who professes to be continuing in Him is himself also bound to live as He lived.
#BCV:1 John 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:7">7</verse></sup> My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received.
#BCV:1 John 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:8">8</verse></sup> And yet I *am* giving you a new command, for such it really is, so far as both He and you are concerned: because  the darkness is now passing away and the light, the true light, is already beginning to shine.
#BCV:1 John 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:9">9</verse></sup> Any one who professes to be in the light and yet hates his  brother man is still in darkness.
#BCV:1 John 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:10">10</verse></sup> He who loves his brother man continues in the light, and  his life puts no stumbling-block in the way of others.
#BCV:1 John 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:11">11</verse></sup> But he who hates his brother man is in darkness and is walking in darkness; and he does not know where he is going--because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
#BCV:1 John 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:12">12</verse></sup> I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins are forgiven you.
#BCV:1 John 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:13">13</verse></sup> I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
#BCV:1 John 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:14">14</verse></sup> I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and God's Message still has a place in your hearts, and you have overcome the Evil one.
#BCV:1 John 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:15">15</verse></sup> Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, there is no love in his heart for the Father.
#BCV:1 John 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:16">16</verse></sup> For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world.
#BCV:1 John 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:17">17</verse></sup> And the world, with its cravings, is passing away, but he who does God's will continues  for ever.
#BCV:1 John 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:18">18</verse></sup> Dear children,  the last hour has come; and as you once heard that there was to be  an anti-Christ, so even now many anti-Christs have appeared. By this we may know that the last hour has come.
#BCV:1 John 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:19">19</verse></sup> They have gone forth from our midst, but they did not really belong to us; for had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they left us that it might be manifest that  professed believers do not all belong to us.
#BCV:1 John 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:20">20</verse></sup> As for you, you have an anointing from the holy One  and have perfect knowledge.
#BCV:1 John 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:21">21</verse></sup> I have written to you, not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you know it, and you know that nothing false comes from the truth.
#BCV:1 John 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:22">22</verse></sup> Who is  a liar compared with  him who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He who disowns the Father and the Son  is the anti-Christ.
#BCV:1 John 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:23">23</verse></sup> No one who disowns the Son has the Father. He who acknowledges the Son has also the Father.
#BCV:1 John 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:24">24</verse></sup> As for you, let the teaching which you have received from the very beginning continue in your hearts. If that teaching does continue in your hearts, you also will continue to be in union with the Son and with the Father.
#BCV:1 John 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:25">25</verse></sup> And this is the promise which He Himself has given us--the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:1 John 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:26">26</verse></sup> I have thus written to you concerning those who are leading you astray.
#BCV:1 John 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:27">27</verse></sup> And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains within you, and there is no need for any one to teach you. But since His anointing gives you instruction in all things--and is true and is no falsehood--you are continuing in union with Him even as it has taught you to do.
#BCV:1 John 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:28">28</verse></sup> And now, dear children, continue in union with Him; so that,  if He re-appears, we may have perfect confidence, and may not shrink away in shame from His presence at His Coming.
#BCV:1 John 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 2:29">29</verse></sup> Since you know that He is righteous, be assured also that the man who habitually acts righteously is  a child of His.
#BCV:1 John 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 John 3:1">3</verse></font> See  what marvellous love the Father has bestowed upon us--that we should be called God's children: and that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us--because it has not known Him.
#BCV:1 John 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:2">2</verse></sup> Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that  if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
#BCV:1 John 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:3">3</verse></sup> And every man who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself so as to be as pure as He is.
#BCV:1 John 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:4">4</verse></sup> Every one who is guilty of sin is also guilty of violating Law; for sin is the violation of Law.
#BCV:1 John 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:5">5</verse></sup> And you know that He  appeared in order  to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
#BCV:1 John 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:6">6</verse></sup> No one who continues in union with Him  lives in sin: no one who lives in sin has seen Him or knows Him.
#BCV:1 John 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:7">7</verse></sup> Dear children, let no one lead you astray. The man who acts righteously is righteous, just as He is righteous.
#BCV:1 John 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:8">8</verse></sup> He who is  habitually guilty of sin  is a child of the Devil, because the Devil has been a sinner from the very beginning. The Son of God  appeared for the purpose of undoing the work of the Devil.
#BCV:1 John 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:9">9</verse></sup> No one who is a child of God is  habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he  cannot  habitually sin--because he is a child of God.
#BCV:1 John 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:10">10</verse></sup> By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.
#BCV:1 John 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:11">11</verse></sup> For this is the Message you have heard from the beginning--that we are to love one another.
#BCV:1 John 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:12">12</verse></sup> We are not to resemble Cain, who was a child of the Evil one and killed his own brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's actions righteous.
#BCV:1 John 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:13">13</verse></sup> Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
#BCV:1 John 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:14">14</verse></sup> As for us, we know that we have already passed out of death into Life--because we love our brother men. He who is destitute of love  continues dead.
#BCV:1 John 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:15">15</verse></sup> Every one who hates his brother man is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has the Life of the Ages continuing in him.
#BCV:1 John 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:16">16</verse></sup> We know what love is--through Christ's having laid down His life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men.
#BCV:1 John 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:17">17</verse></sup> But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?
#BCV:1 John 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:18">18</verse></sup> Dear children, let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.
#BCV:1 John 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:19">19</verse></sup> And in this way we shall come to know that we are loyal to the truth, and shall  satisfy our  consciences in His presence
#BCV:1 John 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:20">20</verse></sup> in whatever matters our hearts condemn us--because God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
#BCV:1 John 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:21">21</verse></sup> Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have perfect confidence towards God;
#BCV:1 John 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:22">22</verse></sup> and whatever we ask for we obtain from Him, because we obey His commands and do the things which are pleasing in His sight.
#BCV:1 John 3:23
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:23">23</verse></sup> And this is His command--that we are to  believe in His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us to do.
#BCV:1 John 3:24
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 3:24">24</verse></sup> The man who obeys His commands continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him; and through His Spirit whom He has given us we can know that He continues in union with us.
#BCV:1 John 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 John 4:1">4</verse></font> Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to see whether they are from God; for many false teachers have gone out into the world.
#BCV:1 John 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:2">2</verse></sup> The test by which you may recognize the Spirit of God is that every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come as man is from God,
#BCV:1 John 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:3">3</verse></sup> and that no spirit is from God which does not acknowledge this about Jesus. Such is the spirit of the anti-Christ; of whose coming you  have heard, and it is already in the world.
#BCV:1 John 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:4">4</verse></sup> As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted  them; for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
#BCV:1 John 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:5">5</verse></sup> They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.
#BCV:1 John 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:6">6</verse></sup> The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.
#BCV:1 John 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:7">7</verse></sup> Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.
#BCV:1 John 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:8">8</verse></sup> He who is destitute of love has never had any knowledge of God; because God is love.
#BCV:1 John 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:9">9</verse></sup> God's love for us  has been manifested in that He  has sent His  only Son into the world so that we may have Life through Him.
#BCV:1 John 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:10">10</verse></sup> This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
#BCV:1 John 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:11">11</verse></sup> Dear friends, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
#BCV:1 John 4:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:12">12</verse></sup> No one has ever yet seen God. If we love one another, God continues in union with us, and His love in all its perfection is in our hearts.
#BCV:1 John 4:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:13">13</verse></sup> We can know that we are continuing in union with Him and that He is continuing in union with us, by the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit.
#BCV:1 John 4:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:14">14</verse></sup> And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
#BCV:1 John 4:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:15">15</verse></sup> Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God--God continues in union with him, and he continues in union with God.
#BCV:1 John 4:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:16">16</verse></sup> And, as for us, we know the love which God has for us, and we confide in it. God is love, and he who continues to love continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him.
#BCV:1 John 4:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:17">17</verse></sup> Our love will be manifested in all its perfection by our having complete confidence on the day of the Judgement; because just  what He is, we also are in the world.
#BCV:1 John 4:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:18">18</verse></sup> Love has in it no element of fear; but  perfect love drives away fear, because fear involves pain, and if a man gives way to fear, there is something imperfect in his love.
#BCV:1 John 4:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:19">19</verse></sup> We love because God first loved us.
#BCV:1 John 4:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:20">20</verse></sup> If any one says that he loves God, while he hates his brother man, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother man whom he has seen,  cannot love God whom he has not seen.
#BCV:1 John 4:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 4:21">21</verse></sup> And the command which we have from Him is that he who loves God must love his brother man also.
#BCV:1 John 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="1 John 5:1">5</verse></font> Every one who believes that  Jesus is the Christ  is a child of God; and every one who loves the Father loves also Him who is the Father's Child.
#BCV:1 John 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:2">2</verse></sup> The fact that we love God Himself, and obey His commands, is a proof that we love God's children.
#BCV:1 John 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:3">3</verse></sup> Love for God means obedience to His commands; and His commands are not irksome.
#BCV:1 John 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:4">4</verse></sup> For  every child of God overcomes the world; and the victorious principle which has overcome the world is our faith.
#BCV:1 John 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:5">5</verse></sup> Who but the man that believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world?
#BCV:1 John 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:6">6</verse></sup> Jesus Christ is He who came  with water and blood; not with the water only, but  with the water and with the blood. And it is the Spirit who gives testimony--  because the Spirit is the Truth.
#BCV:1 John 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:7">7</verse></sup> For there are  three that give testimony--  the Spirit, the water, and the blood;
#BCV:1 John 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:8">8</verse></sup> and there is complete agreement between  these three.
#BCV:1 John 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:9">9</verse></sup> If we accept the testimony of men, God's testimony is greater: for God's testimony consists of the things which He has testified about His Son.
#BCV:1 John 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:10">10</verse></sup> He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in his own heart: he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, in that he has refused to accept the testimony which God has given about His Son.
#BCV:1 John 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:11">11</verse></sup> And that testimony is to the effect that God has given us the Life of the Ages, and that this Life is in His Son.
#BCV:1 John 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:12">12</verse></sup> He who has the Son has the Life: he who has not the Son of God has not the Life.
#BCV:1 John 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:13">13</verse></sup> I write all this to you in order that you who believe in the Son of God may know for certain that you already have the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:1 John 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:14">14</verse></sup> And we have an assured confidence that whenever we ask anything in accordance with His will, He listens to us.
#BCV:1 John 5:15
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:15">15</verse></sup> And since we know that He listens to us, then whatever we ask, we know that we have the things which we have asked from Him.
#BCV:1 John 5:16
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:16">16</verse></sup> If any one sees a brother man committing a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and God shall give him life--for those who do not sin unto death. There is such a thing as sin unto death; for that I do not bid him make request.
#BCV:1 John 5:17
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:17">17</verse></sup> Any kind of wrongdoing is sin; but there is sin which is not unto death.
#BCV:1 John 5:18
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:18">18</verse></sup> We know that no one who is a child of God lives in sin,  but He who is God's Child keeps him, and the Evil one cannot touch him.
#BCV:1 John 5:19
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:19">19</verse></sup> We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world lies  in the power of the Evil one.
#BCV:1 John 5:20
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:20">20</verse></sup> And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we know the true One, and are in union with the true One--that is, we are in union with His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:1 John 5:21
<sup><verse bcv="1 John 5:21">21</verse></sup> Dear children, guard yourselves from idols.

#OUTLINE:1,2 John
#TOPIC:JOHN, SECOND EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>JOHN'S SECOND LETTER</h1>
Although we are unable to fix the exact date of this Letter or the place at which it was written, there is sufficient evidence, both external and internal, to warrant our acceptance of it as a
genuine work of the apostle John, in the closing years of his
life. Some have thought that the "lady" addressed stands for an unknown church, but upon careful consideration it appears more reasonable and natural to regard the Letter as having been a private one. It is impossible to discover the name of
the individual to whom it was sent, but both this and the following Letter may be taken as "precious specimens of the
private correspondence of the beloved apostle shortly before
the end of his long life."

#BCV:2 John 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">JOHN'S SECOND LETTER</h1>
#BCV:2 John 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="2 John 1:1">1</verse></font> The Elder  to the elect lady and her children. Truly I love you all, and not I alone, but also all who know the truth,
#BCV:2 John 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:2">2</verse></sup> for the sake of the truth which is continually in our hearts and will be with us  for ever.
#BCV:2 John 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:3">3</verse></sup> Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
#BCV:2 John 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:4">4</verse></sup> It is an intense joy to me to have found  some of your children living true Christian lives, in obedience to the command which we have received from the Father.
#BCV:2 John 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:5">5</verse></sup> And now, dear lady, I pray you--writing to you, as I do, not a new command, but the one which  we have had from the very beginning--let us love one another.
#BCV:2 John 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:6">6</verse></sup> The love of which I am speaking consists in our living in obedience to God's commands. God's command is that you should live in obedience to what you all heard from the very beginning.
#BCV:2 John 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:7">7</verse></sup> For many deceivers have gone out into the world--men who do not acknowledge Jesus as Christ who has come in human nature.  Such a one is 'the deceiver' and 'the anti-Christ.'
#BCV:2 John 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:8">8</verse></sup> Keep guard over yourselves, so that you may not lose the results of your good deeds, but may receive back a full reward.
#BCV:2 John 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:9">9</verse></sup> No one has God, who instead of remaining true to the  teaching of Christ, presses on in advance: but he who remains true to that teaching has both the Father and the Son.
#BCV:2 John 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:10">10</verse></sup> If any one who comes to you does not bring this teaching, do not receive him under your roof nor  bid him Farewell.
#BCV:2 John 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:11">11</verse></sup> He who bids him Farewell is a sharer in his evil deeds.
#BCV:2 John 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:12">12</verse></sup> I have a great deal to say to you all, but will not write it with paper and ink. Yet I hope to come to see you and speak face to face, so that your happiness may be complete.
#BCV:2 John 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="2 John 1:13">13</verse></sup> The children of your elect sister send greetings to you.

#OUTLINE:1,3 John
#TOPIC:JOHN, THIRD EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>JOHN'S THIRD LETTER</h1>
There can be no doubt that this Letter was addressed to an
individual person. We cannot affix to it a definite date, or
place, but the most natural supposition - which there is nothing
to contradict - is that it came from the apostle at Ephesus,
about the same time as the preceding Letter. The special
mention of Diotrephes and his behaviour, points indeed to a somewhat advanced development in the church to which Gaius
belonged, but such characters are all too possible at any
juncture to afford in this instance any guarantee of a later date. In this, as in the preceding Letters, the writer's great concern
is that transcendental truth should be embodied in practical
holiness.

#BCV:3 John 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">JOHN'S THIRD LETTER</h1>
#BCV:3 John 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="3 John 1:1">1</verse></font> The Elder to his dear friend Gaius. Truly I love you.
#BCV:3 John 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:2">2</verse></sup> My dear friend, I pray that you may in all respects prosper and enjoy good health, just as your soul already prospers.
#BCV:3 John 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:3">3</verse></sup> For  it is an intense joy to me when brethren come and bear witness to your fidelity to the truth--that you live in obedience to the truth.
#BCV:3 John 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:4">4</verse></sup> I have no greater  joy than to hear that my children are  living in obedience to the truth.
#BCV:3 John 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:5">5</verse></sup> My dear friend, you are acting faithfully in all your behaviour towards the brethren, even when they are strangers to you.
#BCV:3 John 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:6">6</verse></sup> They have testified, in the presence of the Church, to your love; and you will do well to help them on their journey  in a manner worthy of your fellowship with God.
#BCV:3 John 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:7">7</verse></sup> For it is for Christ that they have gone forth, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
#BCV:3 John 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:8">8</verse></sup> It is therefore our duty to show hospitality to such men, so that we may be fellow workers in promoting the truth.
#BCV:3 John 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:9">9</verse></sup> I wrote to the Church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the first place among them, refuses to listen to us.
#BCV:3 John 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:10">10</verse></sup> For this reason, if I come, I shall not forget his conduct, nor his idle and mischievous talk against us. And he does not stop there: he not only will not receive the brethren, but those who desire to do this he hinders, and excludes them from the Church.
#BCV:3 John 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:11">11</verse></sup> My dear friend, do not follow wrong examples, but right ones. He who habitually does what is right is a child of God: he who habitually does what is wrong has not seen God.
#BCV:3 John 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:12">12</verse></sup> The character of Demetrius has the approval of all men, and of the truth itself. We also express our approval of it, and you know that we only give our approval to that which is true.
#BCV:3 John 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:13">13</verse></sup> I have a great deal to say to you, but I do not wish to go on writing it with ink and pen.
#BCV:3 John 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="3 John 1:14">14</verse></sup> But I hope to see you very soon, and then we will speak face to face. Peace be with you. Our friends send greetings to you. Greet our friends individually.

#OUTLINE:1,Jude
#TOPIC:JUDE, EPISTLE OF
<heading><h1>JUDE'S LETTER</h1>
Of the time and place of the composition of this Letter weknow nothing beyond what may be inferred from its contents. These seem to show that it was written in Palestine, and the absence of any reference to so striking an event as the destruction of Jerusalem points to a date earlier than 70 A.D. It has, however, been thought that such a rebuke of error and
licentiousness as that which this Letter contains can only apply
to the forms of Gnosticism known to have existed in the first quarter of the second century. But there is no reason to doubt that the author was the man he asserts he was, the brother of James, the head of the church at Jerusalem. He was, therefore, not an apostle but one of the Lord's brethren. The abiding value of the Letter consists in its severe condemnation of merely professional Christianity, and its remarkably beautiful doxology.

#BCV:Jude 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">JUDE'S LETTER</h1>
#BCV:Jude 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Jude 1:1">1</verse></font> Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and  a brother of James: To those who are  in God the Father,  enfolded in His love, and kept for Jesus Christ, and called.
#BCV:Jude 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:2">2</verse></sup> May mercy, peace and love be abundantly granted to you.
#BCV:Jude 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:3">3</verse></sup> Dear friends, since I am eager  to begin a letter to you on the subject of  our common salvation, I find myself constrained  to write and cheer you on to the vigorous defense of the faith delivered once for all to God's people.
#BCV:Jude 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:4">4</verse></sup> For  certain persons have crept in unnoticed--men spoken of in ancient writings as pre-destined to this condemnation--ungodly men, who pervert the grace of our God into an excuse for immorality, and disown Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord.
#BCV:Jude 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:5">5</verse></sup> I desire to remind you--although the whole matter is already familiar to you--that the Lord saved a people out of the land of Egypt, but  afterwards destroyed those who  had no faith.
#BCV:Jude 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:6">6</verse></sup> And angels--those who  did not keep the position originally assigned to them, but deserted their own proper abode--He reserves in everlasting bonds, in darkness, in preparation for the judgement of the great day.
#BCV:Jude 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:7">7</verse></sup> So also Sodom and Gomorrah--and the neighboring towns in the same manner--having been guilty of gross fornication and having gone astray in pursuit of unnatural vice, are now before us as a specimen of the fire of the Ages in the punishment which they are undergoing.
#BCV:Jude 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:8">8</verse></sup> Yet in just the same way  these dreamers also  pollute the body, while they set authority at naught and speak evil of dignities.
#BCV:Jude 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:9">9</verse></sup> But Michael the Archangel, when contending with the Devil and arguing with him about the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce judgement on him in abusive terms, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you."
#BCV:Jude 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:10">10</verse></sup> Yet these men are abusive in matters of which they know nothing, and in things which, like the brutes, they understand instinctively--in all these  they corrupt themselves.
#BCV:Jude 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:11">11</verse></sup> Alas for them; for they have followed in the steps of Cain; for the sake of gain they have rushed on headlong in the evil ways of Balaam; and have perished in  rebellion like that of  Korah!
#BCV:Jude 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:12">12</verse></sup> These men--sunken rocks! --are those who share the pleasure of your love-feasts, unrestrained by fear while caring only for themselves; clouds without water, driven away by the winds; trees that cast their fruit, barren, doubly dead, uprooted;
#BCV:Jude 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:13">13</verse></sup> wild waves of the sea,  foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom is reserved dense darkness of age-long duration.
#BCV:Jude 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:14">14</verse></sup> It was also about these that Enoch, who belonged to the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "The Lord  has come, attended by myriads of His people, to execute judgement upon all,
#BCV:Jude 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:15">15</verse></sup> and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly deeds which in their ungodliness they have committed, and of all the hard words which they, ungodly sinners as they are, have spoken against Him."
#BCV:Jude 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:16">16</verse></sup> These men are murmurers, ever bemoaning their lot. Their lives are guided by their evil passions, and their mouths are full of  big, boastful words,  while they treat  individual men with admiring reverence for the sake of the advantage they can gain.
#BCV:Jude 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:17">17</verse></sup> But as for you, my dearly-loved friends, remember the words that before now were spoken by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ--
#BCV:Jude 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:18">18</verse></sup> how they declared to you, "In the last times there shall be scoffers,  obeying only their own ungodly passions."
#BCV:Jude 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:19">19</verse></sup> These are those who cause divisions. They are  men of the world,  wholly unspiritual.
#BCV:Jude 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:20">20</verse></sup> But you, my dearly-loved friends, building yourselves up on the basis of your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
#BCV:Jude 1:21
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:21">21</verse></sup> must keep yourselves safe in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which will result in the Life of the Ages.
#BCV:Jude 1:22
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:22">22</verse></sup> Some, when they argue with you, you must  endeavor to convince;
#BCV:Jude 1:23
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:23">23</verse></sup> others you must  try to save, as brands plucked  from the flames; and on others look with pity mingled with fear,  while you hate every trace of their sin.
#BCV:Jude 1:24
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:24">24</verse></sup> But to Him who is able to keep you safe from stumbling, and cause you to stand in the presence of His glory free from blemish and full of exultant joy--
#BCV:Jude 1:25
<sup><verse bcv="Jude 1:25">25</verse></sup> to the only God our Saviour--through Jesus Christ our Lord, be ascribed glory, majesty, might, and authority, as it was before all time, is now, and shall be to all the Ages! Amen.

#OUTLINE:1,Revelation
#TOPIC:REVELATION, BOOK OF
<heading><h1>THE REVELATION OF JOHN</h1>
The Apocalypse was probably written either in 67 A.D. or in 96 A.D. An oft-quoted statement of Irenaeus that it, or its author - there is no word inserted to indicate which of the twohe meant - "was seen" about the end of the reign of Domitian, is regarded by many as a conclusive proof of the later date. On the other hand, the "internal evidence" - the evidence, that is, furnished by the contents of the book itself - appears to others to point even more unmistakably to the earlier date. E.g., in xi. 1,2,8, the holy city and the earthly temple are spoken of as being still in existence, and as about to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles. The language of the book has also an important bearing upon the problem of its date. Although other explanations have been suggested, the many Hebrew idioms that it contains as compared with the much purer Greek of the fourth Gospel - which was probably by the same author - seem to indicate that it was written long before that Gospel, at a time when the apostle had as yet only an imperfect acquaintance with the Greek language. Dr. Stuart Russell, in his great work <i>The Parousia</i>, has contended, with well-nigh irresistible cogency, for the belief that the fall of Jerusalem and Judaism in 70 A.D. marked a stupendous epoch in the Unseen world, a personal - although unrecorded - return of the Saviour to the earth then taking place (cp. <bcv=Acts 7:55>Acts vii. 55;</bcv> <bcv=Acts 9:7>ix. 7;</bcv> <bcv=1Cor 9:1>I Cor. ix. i),</bcv> accompanied by a spiritual judgementof bygone generations, a resurrection from Hades to Heaven of the faithful of past ages, and an ingathering of saints then on earth into the Father's house of many mansions (<bcv=Matt 24:31>Matt. xxiv. 31</bcv>
<bcv=John 14:3>John xiv. 3;</bcv> <bcv=1Thess 4:7>i Thess. iv. 7;</bcv> <bcv=2Thess 2:1>2 Thess. ii. i).</bcv> If this belief ever obtains general acceptance the earlier date of the Apocalypse will also be regarded as fully established. For it will then beseen that the book describes beforehand events which took place in 70 A.D. and the years immediately preceding, partly on earth and partly in the spiritual world, and is mainly concerned with the downfall of the earthly Jerusalem and the setting upof Christ's heavenly Kingdom - the new Jerusalem. And the mysterious symbols in which the book abounds will be seen to have been a cipher of which the first Christians held the key, but which effectually hid its meaning from their enemies and persecutors.

<heading>Editor.

#BCV:Revelation 0:0
#NOTOPIC
<h1 align="center">THE REVELATION OF JOHN</h1>
#BCV:Revelation 1:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 1:1">1</verse></font> The revelation  given by Jesus Christ, which God granted Him, that He might make known to His  servants certain events which must  shortly come to pass: and He sent His angel and communicated it to His  servant John.
#BCV:Revelation 1:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:2">2</verse></sup> This is the John who taught the truth concerning the Word of God and  the truth told us by Jesus Christ--  a faithful account of what he had seen.
#BCV:Revelation 1:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:3">3</verse></sup> Blessed is he who  reads and blessed are those who listen to the words of this prophecy and lay to heart what is written in it; for  the time for its fulfillment is now close at hand.
#BCV:Revelation 1:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:4">4</verse></sup> John sends greetings to the seven Churches in  the province of Asia. May grace be granted to you, and peace, from Him who is and was and  evermore will be; and from  the seven Spirits which are before His throne;
#BCV:Revelation 1:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:5">5</verse></sup> and from Jesus Christ, the truthful witness, the first of the dead to be born to Life, and the Ruler of the kings of the  earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins with His own blood,
#BCV:Revelation 1:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:6">6</verse></sup> and has  formed us into a Kingdom, to be priests to  God, His Father--to Him be ascribed the glory and the power until the Ages  of the Ages. Amen.
#BCV:Revelation 1:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:7">7</verse></sup> He is coming in the clouds, and  every eye will see Him, and  so will those who pierced Him; and all the  nations of the earth will gaze on Him and mourn. Even so. Amen.
#BCV:Revelation 1:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:8">8</verse></sup> "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "He who is and was and  evermore will be--the Ruler of all."
#BCV:Revelation 1:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:9">9</verse></sup> I John, your brother, and a sharer with you in the sorrows and Kingship and patient endurance of Jesus, found myself in the island of Patmos, on account of the Word of God and the truth told us by Jesus.
#BCV:Revelation 1:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:10">10</verse></sup> In the Spirit I found myself present on  the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice which resembled the blast of a trumpet.
#BCV:Revelation 1:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:11">11</verse></sup> It said, "Write forthwith in  a roll an account of what you see, and send it to the seven Churches--to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyateira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."
#BCV:Revelation 1:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:12">12</verse></sup> I turned to see  who it was that was speaking to me; and  then I saw  seven golden lampstands,
#BCV:Revelation 1:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:13">13</verse></sup> and in the center of the lampstands some One resembling the Son of Man, clothed in a robe which reached to His feet, and with a girdle of gold across His breast.
#BCV:Revelation 1:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:14">14</verse></sup> His head and His hair were white, like white wool--as white as snow; and His eyes resembled a flame of fire.
#BCV:Revelation 1:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:15">15</verse></sup> His feet were like silver-bronze, when it is  white-hot in a furnace; and His voice resembled the sound of many waters.
#BCV:Revelation 1:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:16">16</verse></sup> In His right hand He held seven stars, and a sharp, two-edged sword  was seen coming from His mouth; and His glance resembled the sun when it is shining with its full strength.
#BCV:Revelation 1:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:17">17</verse></sup> When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand upon me and said, "Do not be afraid: I am the First and the Last, and the ever-living One.
#BCV:Revelation 1:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:18">18</verse></sup> I died; but I am now alive until the Ages of the Ages, and I have  the keys of the gates of Death and of Hades!
#BCV:Revelation 1:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:19">19</verse></sup> Write down therefore the things you have just seen, and those which are now taking place, and those which are soon to follow:
#BCV:Revelation 1:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 1:20">20</verse></sup> the secret meaning of the seven stars which you have seen in My right hand, and of the seven lampstands of gold. The seven stars are the  ministers of  the seven Churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches.
#BCV:Revelation 2:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 2:1">2</verse></font> "To the  minister of the Church in Ephesus write as follows: "'This is what He who holds the seven stars in the grasp of His right hand says--He who walks to and fro among the seven lampstands of gold.
#BCV:Revelation 2:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:2">2</verse></sup> I know your doings and your toil and patient suffering. And I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, but have put to the test those who say that they themselves are Apostles but are not, and you have found them to be liars.
#BCV:Revelation 2:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:3">3</verse></sup> And you endure patiently and have borne burdens for My sake and have never grown weary.
#BCV:Revelation 2:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:4">4</verse></sup> Yet I have this against you--that  you no longer love Me as you did at first.
#BCV:Revelation 2:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:5">5</verse></sup> Be mindful, therefore, of the height from which you have fallen. Repent at once, and act as you did at first, or else I will surely come and remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.
#BCV:Revelation 2:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:6">6</verse></sup> Yet this you have in your favor: you hate the doings of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
#BCV:Revelation 2:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:7">7</verse></sup> "'Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. To him who overcomes I will give the privilege of eating the fruit of the  Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God.'
#BCV:Revelation 2:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:8">8</verse></sup> "To the minister of the Church at Smyrna write as follows: "'This is what the First and the Last says--He who  died and has returned to life.
#BCV:Revelation 2:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:9">9</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 2:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:10">10</verse></sup> Dismiss your fears concerning all that you are about to suffer. I tell you that the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be put to the test, and for ten days you will have to  endure persecution.  Be faithful to the End,  even if you have to die, and then I will give you the victor's Wreath of Life.
#BCV:Revelation 2:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:11">11</verse></sup> "'Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. He who overcomes shall be in no way hurt by  the Second Death.'
#BCV:Revelation 2:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:12">12</verse></sup> "To the minister of the Church at Pergamum write as follows: "'This is what He who has the sharp, two-edged sword says. I know where you dwell.
#BCV:Revelation 2:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:13">13</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 2:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:14">14</verse></sup> Yet I have a few things against you, because you have  with you some that cling to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block in the way of the descendants of Israel--to eat what had been sacrificed to idols, and commit fornication.
#BCV:Revelation 2:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:15">15</verse></sup> So even you have some that cling in the same way to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
#BCV:Revelation 2:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:16">16</verse></sup> Repent, at once; or else I will come to you quickly, and will make war upon them with the sword which is in My mouth.
#BCV:Revelation 2:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:17">17</verse></sup> "'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.'
#BCV:Revelation 2:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:18">18</verse></sup> "To the minister of the Church at Thyateira write as follows: "'This is what the Son of God says--He who has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet resembling silver-bronze.
#BCV:Revelation 2:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:19">19</verse></sup> I know your doings, your love, your faith, your service, and  your patient endurance; and that  of late you have toiled harder than you did at first.
#BCV:Revelation 2:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:20">20</verse></sup> Yet I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray My servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols.
#BCV:Revelation 2:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:21">21</verse></sup> I have given her time to repent, but she is determined not to repent of her fornication.
#BCV:Revelation 2:22
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:22">22</verse></sup> I tell you that I am about to cast her upon a bed of sickness, and I will severely afflict those who commit adultery with her, unless they repent of conduct such as hers.
#BCV:Revelation 2:23
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:23">23</verse></sup> Her children too shall surely die; and all the Churches shall come to know that I am He who searches into men's inmost thoughts; and to each of you I will give a requital which shall be in accordance with what your conduct has been.
#BCV:Revelation 2:24
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:24">24</verse></sup> 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!)
#BCV:Revelation 2:25
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:25">25</verse></sup> Only that which you already possess, cling to  until I come.
#BCV:Revelation 2:26
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:26">26</verse></sup> "'And to him who overcomes and obeys My commands to the very end, I will give  authority over the nations of the earth.
#BCV:Revelation 2:27
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:27">27</verse></sup> And he shall be their shepherd, ruling them with a  rod of iron, just as earthenware jars are broken to pieces; and his power over them shall be like that which I Myself have received from My Father;
#BCV:Revelation 2:28
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:28">28</verse></sup> and I will give him  the Morning Star.
#BCV:Revelation 2:29
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 2:29">29</verse></sup> Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.'
#BCV:Revelation 3:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 3:1">3</verse></font> "To the minister of the Church at Sardis write as follows: "'This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says. I know your doings--you are supposed to be alive, but in reality you are dead.
#BCV:Revelation 3:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:2">2</verse></sup> Rouse yourself and keep awake, and strengthen those things which remain but have well-nigh perished; for I have found no doings of yours free from imperfection in the sight of My God.
#BCV:Revelation 3:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:3">3</verse></sup> Be mindful, therefore, of the lessons you have received and heard. Continually lay them to heart, and repent. If, however, you fail to rouse yourself and keep awake, I shall come upon you suddenly like a thief, and you will certainly not know the hour at which I shall come to judge you.
#BCV:Revelation 3:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:4">4</verse></sup> Yet you have in Sardis a few who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.
#BCV:Revelation 3:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:5">5</verse></sup> "'In this way he who overcomes shall be clothed in  white garments; and I will certainly not blot out his name from the  Book of Life, but will  acknowledge him in the presence of My Father and His angels.
#BCV:Revelation 3:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:6">6</verse></sup> Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.'
#BCV:Revelation 3:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:7">7</verse></sup> "To the minister of the Church at Philadelphia write as follows: "'This is what the holy One and the true says--He who has the key of David--He who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open.
#BCV:Revelation 3:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:8">8</verse></sup> I know your doings. I have  put an opened door in front of you, which no one can  shut; because you have but a little power, and yet you have guarded My word and have not disowned Me.
#BCV:Revelation 3:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:9">9</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 3:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:10">10</verse></sup> Because  in spite of suffering you have guarded My word, I in turn will guard you from that hour of trial which is soon coming upon the whole world, to put to the test  the inhabitants of the  earth.
#BCV:Revelation 3:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:11">11</verse></sup> I am coming quickly: cling to that which you already possess, so that your wreath of victory be not taken away from you.
#BCV:Revelation 3:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:12">12</verse></sup> "'He who overcomes--I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he shall never go out from it again. And I will write on him the  name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the  new Jerusalem, which is to come down out of Heaven from My God, and My own new name.
#BCV:Revelation 3:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:13">13</verse></sup> Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.'
#BCV:Revelation 3:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:14">14</verse></sup> "And to the minister of the Church at Laodicea write as follows: "'This is what the Amen says--the  true and faithful witness, the Beginning and Lord of God's Creation.
#BCV:Revelation 3:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:15">15</verse></sup> I know your doings--you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot!
#BCV:Revelation 3:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:16">16</verse></sup> Accordingly, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, before long I will vomit you out of My mouth.
#BCV:Revelation 3:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:17">17</verse></sup> You say, I am rich, and have wealth stored up, and I stand in need of nothing; and you do not know that if there is a wretched creature it is *you* --  pitiable, poor, blind, naked.
#BCV:Revelation 3:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:18">18</verse></sup> Therefore I counsel you to buy of Me gold refined in the fire that you may become rich, and white robes to put on, so as to hide your shameful nakedness, and eye-salve to anoint your eyes with, so that you may be able to see.
#BCV:Revelation 3:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:19">19</verse></sup> All whom I hold dear, I reprove and chastise; therefore be in earnest and repent.
#BCV:Revelation 3:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:20">20</verse></sup> I am now standing at the door and am knocking. If any one listens to My voice and opens the door, I will go in to be with him and will feast with him, and he shall feast with Me.
#BCV:Revelation 3:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:21">21</verse></sup> "'To him who overcomes I will give the privilege of sitting down with Me  on My throne, as I also have overcome and have sat down with My Father on His throne.
#BCV:Revelation 3:22
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 3:22">22</verse></sup> Let all who have ears give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.'"
#BCV:Revelation 4:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 4:1">4</verse></font> After all this I looked and saw a door in Heaven standing open, and the voice that I had previously heard, which resembled the blast of a trumpet, again spoke to me and said, "Come up here, and I will show you things which are to happen in the future."
#BCV:Revelation 4:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:2">2</verse></sup> Immediately I found myself in the Spirit, and  saw a throne in Heaven, and some One sitting on the throne.
#BCV:Revelation 4:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:3">3</verse></sup> The appearance of Him who sat there was like  jasper or sard; and encircling the throne was a  rainbow, in appearance like an emerald.
#BCV:Revelation 4:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:4">4</verse></sup> Surrounding the throne there were also twenty-four other thrones, on which sat  twenty-four Elders clothed in white robes, with victors' wreaths of gold upon their heads.
#BCV:Revelation 4:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:5">5</verse></sup> Out from the throne  there came flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals of thunder, while in front of the throne seven blazing lamps were burning, which are the seven Spirits of God.
#BCV:Revelation 4:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:6">6</verse></sup> And in front of the throne there seemed to be a  sea of glass, resembling crystal. And  midway between the throne and the Elders, and surrounding the throne, were  four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.
#BCV:Revelation 4:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:7">7</verse></sup> The first living creature resembled a lion, the second an ox, the third had a face like that of a man, and the fourth resembled an eagle flying.
#BCV:Revelation 4:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:8">8</verse></sup> And each of the four living creatures had six wings, and in every direction, and within, are full of eyes; and day after day, and night after night, they never cease saying,  "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Ruler of all, who wast and <word=are>art</word> and  evermore shalt be."
#BCV:Revelation 4:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:9">9</verse></sup> And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, and lives until the Ages of the Ages,
#BCV:Revelation 4:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:10">10</verse></sup> the twenty-four Elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives until the Ages of the Ages, and they cast their wreaths down in front of the throne,
#BCV:Revelation 4:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 4:11">11</verse></sup> saying, "It is fitting, O our Lord and God, That we should ascribe unto Thee the glory and the honor and the power; For Thou didst create all things, And because it was Thy will they came into existence, and were created."
#BCV:Revelation 5:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 5:1">5</verse></font> And I saw  lying in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne  a book  written on both sides and closely sealed with seven seals.
#BCV:Revelation 5:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:2">2</verse></sup> And I saw a mighty angel who was exclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and break its seals?"
#BCV:Revelation 5:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:3">3</verse></sup> But no one in Heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book or look into it.
#BCV:Revelation 5:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:4">4</verse></sup> And while I was  weeping bitterly, because no one was found worthy to open the book or look into it,
#BCV:Revelation 5:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:5">5</verse></sup> one of the Elders said to me,  "Do not weep. The Lion which belongs to the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and will open the book and break its seven seals."
#BCV:Revelation 5:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:6">6</verse></sup> Then,  midway between the throne and the four living creatures, I saw  a Lamb standing among the Elders. He looked as if He had been offered in sacrifice, and He had seven horns and seven eyes. The last-named are the seven Spirits of God, and  have been sent far and wide into all the  earth.
#BCV:Revelation 5:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:7">7</verse></sup> So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne.
#BCV:Revelation 5:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:8">8</verse></sup> And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four Elders fell down before the Lamb, having each of them a harp and bringing golden bowls full of incense, which represent the prayers of God's people.
#BCV:Revelation 5:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:9">9</verse></sup> And now they sing a new song. "It is fitting," they say, "that Thou shouldst be the One to take the book And break its seals; Because Thou hast been offered in sacrifice, And hast purchased for God with Thine own blood Some out of every tribe and language and people and nation,
#BCV:Revelation 5:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:10">10</verse></sup> And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they  reign over the earth."
#BCV:Revelation 5:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:11">11</verse></sup> And I looked, and heard  what seemed to be the voices of countless angels on every side of the throne, and of the living creatures and the Elders. Their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
#BCV:Revelation 5:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:12">12</verse></sup> and in loud voices they were singing, "It is fitting that the Lamb which has been offered in sacrifice should receive all power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."
#BCV:Revelation 5:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:13">13</verse></sup> And as for every created thing in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and everything that was in any of these, I heard them say, "To Him who is seated on the throne, And to the Lamb, Be ascribed all blessing and honor And glory and might, Until the Ages of the Ages!"
#BCV:Revelation 5:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 5:14">14</verse></sup> Then the four living creatures said "Amen," and the Elders fell down and  worshipped.
#BCV:Revelation 6:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 6:1">6</verse></font> And when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals I saw it, and I heard  one of the four living creatures say, as if in a voice of thunder,  "Come."
#BCV:Revelation 6:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:2">2</verse></sup> And I looked and a white horse appeared, and its  rider carried a bow; and a victor's wreath was given to him; and he went out conquering and in order to conquer.
#BCV:Revelation 6:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:3">3</verse></sup> And when the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard  the second living creature say, "Come."
#BCV:Revelation 6:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:4">4</verse></sup> And another horse came out--a  fiery-red one; and power was given to its rider to take peace from the  earth, and to cause men to  kill one another; and a great  sword was given to him.
#BCV:Revelation 6:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:5">5</verse></sup> When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard  the third living creature say, "Come." I looked, and a black horse appeared, its rider carrying a balance in his hand.
#BCV:Revelation 6:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:6">6</verse></sup> And I heard what seemed to be a voice speaking in the midst of the four living creatures, and saying,  "A quart of wheat for a shilling, and three quarts of barley for a shilling; but do not injure either  the oil or the wine."
#BCV:Revelation 6:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:7">7</verse></sup> When the Lamb broke the fourth seal I heard  the voice of the  fourth living creature say, "Come."
#BCV:Revelation 6:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:8">8</verse></sup> I looked and a pale-colored horse appeared. Its rider's name was  Death, and Hades came close behind him; and authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword or with famine or pestilence or by means of the wild beasts of the earth.
#BCV:Revelation 6:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:9">9</verse></sup> When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar  the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed because of the word of God and of the testimony which they had given.
#BCV:Revelation 6:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:10">10</verse></sup> And  now in loud voices they cried out, saying, "How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the  inhabitants of the earth for our blood?"
#BCV:Revelation 6:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:11">11</verse></sup> And there was given to each of them a long white robe, and they were bidden to wait patiently for a short time longer, until the full number of their fellow bondservants should also complete--namely of their brethren who were soon to be killed just as they had been.
#BCV:Revelation 6:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:12">12</verse></sup> When the Lamb broke the sixth seal I looked, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as dark as sackcloth, and the whole disc of the moon became like blood.
#BCV:Revelation 6:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:13">13</verse></sup> The stars in the sky also fell to the earth, as when a fig-tree, upon being shaken by a gale of wind, casts its  unripe figs to the ground.
#BCV:Revelation 6:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:14">14</verse></sup> The sky too passed away, as if a scroll were being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
#BCV:Revelation 6:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:15">15</verse></sup> The kings of the earth and the great men, the military chiefs, the wealthy and the powerful--all, whether slaves or free men--hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
#BCV:Revelation 6:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:16">16</verse></sup> while they called to the mountains and the rocks, saying, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the anger of the Lamb;
#BCV:Revelation 6:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 6:17">17</verse></sup> for the day of His anger--that great day--has come, and who is able to stand?"
#BCV:Revelation 7:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 7:1">7</verse></font> After this I saw four angels standing  at the four corners of the  earth, and holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind should blow over the earth or the sea or upon any tree.
#BCV:Revelation 7:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:2">2</verse></sup> And I saw another angel  coming from the east and carrying a seal belonging to the  ever-living God. He called in a loud voice to the four angels whose work it was to injure the earth and the sea.
#BCV:Revelation 7:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:3">3</verse></sup> "Injure neither land nor sea nor trees," he said, "until we have sealed the bondservants of our God upon their foreheads."
#BCV:Revelation 7:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:4">4</verse></sup> When the sealing was finished, I heard how many were sealed out of the tribes of the descendants of Israel. They were 144,000.
#BCV:Revelation 7:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:5">5</verse></sup> Of the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed; Of the tribe of Reuben, 12,000; Of the tribe of Gad, 12,000;
#BCV:Revelation 7:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:6">6</verse></sup> Of the tribe of Asher, 12,000; Of the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000; Of the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000;
#BCV:Revelation 7:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:7">7</verse></sup> Of the tribe of Symeon, 12,000; Of the tribe of Levi, 12,000; Of the tribe of Issachar, 12,000;
#BCV:Revelation 7:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:8">8</verse></sup> Of the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000; Of the tribe of Joseph, 12,000; Of the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000.
#BCV:Revelation 7:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:9">9</verse></sup> After this I looked, and a vast host appeared which it was impossible for anyone to  count, gathered out of every nation and from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in long white robes, and carrying palm-branches in their hands.
#BCV:Revelation 7:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:10">10</verse></sup> In loud voices they were exclaiming, "It is to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, that we owe our salvation!"
#BCV:Revelation 7:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:11">11</verse></sup> All the angels were standing in a circle round the throne and round the Elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces in front of the throne and worshipped God.
#BCV:Revelation 7:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:12">12</verse></sup> "Even so!" they cried: "The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanks and the honor and the power and the might are to be ascribed to our God, until the Ages of the Ages! Even so!"
#BCV:Revelation 7:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:13">13</verse></sup> Then, addressing me, one of the Elders said, "Who are these people clothed in the long white robes? And where have they come from?"
#BCV:Revelation 7:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:14">14</verse></sup> "My lord, you know," I replied. "They are those," he said, "who  have just passed through  the great distress, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 7:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:15">15</verse></sup> For this reason they stand before the very throne of God, and render Him service, day after day and night after night, in His sanctuary, and He who is sitting upon the throne will shelter them in His tent.
#BCV:Revelation 7:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:16">16</verse></sup> They will never again be hungry or thirsty, and never again will the sun or any scorching heat trouble them.
#BCV:Revelation 7:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 7:17">17</verse></sup> For the Lamb who is  in front of the throne will be their Shepherd, and will guide them to watersprings of Life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
#BCV:Revelation 8:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 8:1">8</verse></font> When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was  silence in Heaven for about half an hour.
#BCV:Revelation 8:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:2">2</verse></sup> Then I saw the seven angels who are in the presence of God, and  seven trumpets were given to them.
#BCV:Revelation 8:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:3">3</verse></sup> And another angel came and stood close to the altar, carrying a censer of gold; and abundance of incense was given to him that he might place it with the prayers of all God's people upon the golden altar which was in front of the throne.
#BCV:Revelation 8:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:4">4</verse></sup> And the smoke of the incense rose into the presence of God from the angel's hand, and mingled with the prayers of His people.
#BCV:Revelation 8:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:5">5</verse></sup> So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and flung it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder, and voices, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
#BCV:Revelation 8:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:6">6</verse></sup> Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made preparations for blowing them.
#BCV:Revelation 8:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:7">7</verse></sup> The first blew his trumpet; and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, falling upon the earth; and a third part of the earth was burnt up, and a third part of the trees and all the green grass.
#BCV:Revelation 8:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:8">8</verse></sup> The second angel blew his trumpet; and what seemed to be a great mountain, all ablaze with fire, was hurled into the sea; and a third part of the sea was turned into blood.
#BCV:Revelation 8:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:9">9</verse></sup> And a third part of the creatures that were in the sea--those that had life--died; and a third part of the ships were destroyed.
#BCV:Revelation 8:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:10">10</verse></sup> The third angel blew his trumpet; and there fell from Heaven a great star, which was on fire like a torch. It fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the springs of water.
#BCV:Revelation 8:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:11">11</verse></sup> The name of the star is 'Wormwood;' and a third part of the waters were turned into wormwood, and vast numbers of the people died from drinking the water, because it had become bitter.
#BCV:Revelation 8:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:12">12</verse></sup> Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet; and a curse fell upon a third part of the sun, a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them were darkened and for a third of the day, and also of the night, there was no light.
#BCV:Revelation 8:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 8:13">13</verse></sup> Then I looked, and I heard a solitary eagle crying in a loud voice, as it flew across the sky, "Alas, alas, alas, for the  inhabitants of the  earth, because of the significance of the remaining trumpets which the three angels are about to blow!"
#BCV:Revelation 9:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 9:1">9</verse></font> The fifth angel blew his trumpet; and I saw  a Star which  had fallen from Heaven to the earth; and to him was given the key of the depths of the bottomless pit,
#BCV:Revelation 9:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:2">2</verse></sup> and he opened the depths of the bottomless pit. And smoke came up out of the pit resembling the smoke of a vast furnace, so that the sun was darkened, and the air also, by reason of the smoke of the pit.
#BCV:Revelation 9:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:3">3</verse></sup> And from the midst of the smoke there came  locusts on to the  earth, and power was given to them resembling the power which earthly scorpions possess.
#BCV:Revelation 9:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:4">4</verse></sup> And they were forbidden to injure the herbage of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree. They were only to injure human beings--those who have not the seal of God on their foreheads.
#BCV:Revelation 9:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:5">5</verse></sup> Their mission was not to kill, but to cause awful agony for  five months; and this agony was like that which a scorpion inflicts when it stings a man.
#BCV:Revelation 9:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:6">6</verse></sup> And at that time people will seek death, but will by no possibility find it, and will long to die, but death evades them.
#BCV:Revelation 9:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:7">7</verse></sup> The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses equipped for war. On their heads they had wreaths which looked like gold.
#BCV:Revelation 9:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:8">8</verse></sup> Their faces seemed human and  they had hair like women's hair, but their teeth resembled those of lions.
#BCV:Revelation 9:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:9">9</verse></sup> They had breast-plates which seemed to be made of steel; and the noise caused by their wings was like that of a vast number of horses and chariots hurrying into battle.
#BCV:Revelation 9:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:10">10</verse></sup> They had tails like those of scorpions, and also stings; and in their tails lay their power of injuring mankind for five months.
#BCV:Revelation 9:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:11">11</verse></sup> The locusts had  a king over them--the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is  'Abaddon,' while in the Greek he is called  'Apollyon.'
#BCV:Revelation 9:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:12">12</verse></sup> The first woe is past; two other woes have still to come.
#BCV:Revelation 9:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:13">13</verse></sup> The sixth angel blew his trumpet; and I heard a single voice speaking from among the horns of the golden incense altar which is in the presence of God.
#BCV:Revelation 9:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:14">14</verse></sup> It said to the sixth angel--the angel who had the trumpet, "Set at liberty the four angels who are prisoners near the great river Euphrates."
#BCV:Revelation 9:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:15">15</verse></sup> And the four angels who had been kept in readiness for that hour, day, month, and year, were set at liberty, so that they might kill a third part of mankind.
#BCV:Revelation 9:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:16">16</verse></sup> The number of the cavalry was two hundred millions; I heard their number.
#BCV:Revelation 9:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:17">17</verse></sup> And this was the appearance of the horses which I saw in my vision--and of their riders. The body-armour of the riders was red, blue and yellow; and the horses' heads were shaped like the heads of lions, while from their mouths there  came fire and smoke and sulphur.
#BCV:Revelation 9:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:18">18</verse></sup> By these three plagues a third part of mankind were destroyed--by the fire and the smoke, and by the sulphur which came from their mouths.
#BCV:Revelation 9:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:19">19</verse></sup> For the power of the horses is in their mouths and  in their tails; their tails being like serpents, and having heads, and it is with them that they inflict injury.
#BCV:Revelation 9:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:20">20</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 9:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 9:21">21</verse></sup> Nor did they repent of their murders, their practice of magic, their fornication, or their thefts.
#BCV:Revelation 10:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 10:1">10</verse></font> Then I saw another strong angel coming down from Heaven. He was robed in a cloud, and over his head was the rainbow. His face was like the sun, and his feet resembled pillars of fire.
#BCV:Revelation 10:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:2">2</verse></sup> In his  hand he held a small scroll unrolled; and, planting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,
#BCV:Revelation 10:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:3">3</verse></sup> he cried out in a loud voice which resembled the roar of a lion. And when he had cried out, each of the seven peals of thunder uttered its own message.
#BCV:Revelation 10:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:4">4</verse></sup> And when the seven  peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write down what they had said; but I heard a voice from Heaven which told me to keep secret all that the seven peals of thunder had said, and not write it down.
#BCV:Revelation 10:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:5">5</verse></sup> Then the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the land, lifted his right hand toward Heaven.
#BCV:Revelation 10:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:6">6</verse></sup> And in the name of Him who lives until the Ages of the Ages, the Creator of Heaven and all that is in it, of the earth and all that is in it, and of the sea and all that is in it, he solemnly declared,
#BCV:Revelation 10:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:7">7</verse></sup> "There shall be no further  delay; but in the days when the seventh angel blows his trumpet--when he begins to do so--then the secret purposes of God are realized, in accordance with the good news which He gave to His  servants the Prophets."
#BCV:Revelation 10:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:8">8</verse></sup> Then the voice which I had heard speaking from Heaven once more addressed me. It said, "Go and take the little book which lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
#BCV:Revelation 10:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:9">9</verse></sup> So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. "Take it," he said, "and  eat the whole of it. You will find it bitter when you have eaten it, although in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey."
#BCV:Revelation 10:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:10">10</verse></sup> So I took the roll out of the angel's hand and ate the whole of it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it I found it very bitter.
#BCV:Revelation 10:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 10:11">11</verse></sup> And  a voice said to me, "You must prophesy yet further concerning peoples, nations, languages, and many kings."
#BCV:Revelation 11:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 11:1">11</verse></font> Then a reed was given me to serve as a measuring rod; and a voice said, "Rise, and measure God's sanctuary--and  the altar--and count the worshipers who are in it.
#BCV:Revelation 11:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:2">2</verse></sup> But as for the court which is outside the sanctuary, pass it over. Do not measure it; for it has been given to the Gentiles, and for  forty-two months they will trample the holy city under foot.
#BCV:Revelation 11:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:3">3</verse></sup> And I will authorize My  two witnesses to prophesy for  1,260 days,  clothed in sackcloth.
#BCV:Revelation 11:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:4">4</verse></sup> "These witnesses are  the two olive-trees, and they are the two lamps which stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth.
#BCV:Revelation 11:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:5">5</verse></sup> And if any one seeks to injure them--fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies; and if any one seeks to injure them, he will in this way certainly be killed.
#BCV:Revelation 11:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:6">6</verse></sup> They have power given to them to seal up the sky, so that no rain may fall so long as they continue to prophesy; and power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the  earth with various plagues whenever they choose to do so.
#BCV:Revelation 11:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:7">7</verse></sup> "And when they have fully delivered their testimony,  the Wild Beast which is to rise out of the bottomless pit will make war upon them and overcome them and kill them.
#BCV:Revelation 11:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:8">8</verse></sup> And their dead bodies are to lie in the broad street of  the great city which spiritually is designated  'Sodom' and 'Egypt,' where indeed their Lord was crucified.
#BCV:Revelation 11:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:9">9</verse></sup> And men belonging to all peoples, tribes, languages and nations gaze at their dead bodies for three days and a half, but they refuse to let them be laid in a tomb.
#BCV:Revelation 11:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:10">10</verse></sup> The  inhabitants of the earth rejoice over them and are glad and will send gifts to one another; for these two Prophets had greatly troubled the inhabitants of the earth."
#BCV:Revelation 11:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:11">11</verse></sup> But at the end of the three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them, and they rose to their feet; and all who saw them were terrified.
#BCV:Revelation 11:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:12">12</verse></sup> Then they heard a loud voice calling to them out of Heaven, and bidding them come up; and they  went up to Heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them go.
#BCV:Revelation 11:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:13">13</verse></sup> And just as that time there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city was overthrown. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven.
#BCV:Revelation 11:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:14">14</verse></sup> The second Woe is past; the third Woe will soon be here.
#BCV:Revelation 11:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:15">15</verse></sup> The seventh angel blew his trumpet; and there followed loud voices in Heaven which said, "The sovereignty of the world  now belongs to our Lord and His Christ; and He will be King until the Ages of the Ages."
#BCV:Revelation 11:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:16">16</verse></sup> Then the twenty-four Elders, who sit on thrones in the presence of God, fell on their faces and worshipped God,
#BCV:Revelation 11:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:17">17</verse></sup> saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Ruler of all, Who <word=are>art</word> and wast, because Thou hast exerted Thy power, Thy great power, and hast become King.
#BCV:Revelation 11:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:18">18</verse></sup> The nations grew angry, and Thine anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and the time for Thee to give their reward to Thy servants the Prophets and to Thy people, and to those who fear Thee, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
#BCV:Revelation 11:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 11:19">19</verse></sup> Then the doors of God's sanctuary in Heaven were opened, and the Ark, in which His Covenant was, was seen in His sanctuary; and there came flashes of lightning, and voices, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and heavy hail.
#BCV:Revelation 12:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 12:1">12</verse></font> And a great marvel was seen in Heaven--  a woman who was robed with the sun and had the moon under her feet, and had also a wreath of stars round her head, was with child,
#BCV:Revelation 12:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:2">2</verse></sup> and she was crying out in the pains and agony of childbirth.
#BCV:Revelation 12:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:3">3</verse></sup> And another marvel was seen in Heaven--a  great  fiery-red Dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; and on his heads were seven kingly crowns.
#BCV:Revelation 12:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:4">4</verse></sup> His tail was drawing after it a third part of the stars of Heaven, and it dashed them to the ground. And in front of the woman who was about to become a mother, the Dragon was standing in order to devour the child as soon as it was born.
#BCV:Revelation 12:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:5">5</verse></sup> She gave birth to a son--a male child, destined before long to rule all nations with an iron scepter. But her child was  caught up to God and His throne,
#BCV:Revelation 12:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:6">6</verse></sup> and  the woman  fled into the Desert, there to be cared for, for  1,260 days, in a place which God had prepared for her.
#BCV:Revelation 12:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:7">7</verse></sup> And war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angels engaging in battle with the Dragon.
#BCV:Revelation 12:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:8">8</verse></sup> The Dragon fought and so did his angels; but they were defeated, and there was no longer any room found for them in Heaven.
#BCV:Revelation 12:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:9">9</verse></sup> The great Dragon, the ancient serpent, he who is called 'the Devil' and  'the Adversary' and leads the whole earth astray, was hurled down: he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.
#BCV:Revelation 12:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:10">10</verse></sup> Then I heard a loud voice speaking in Heaven. It said, "The salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God  have now come, and the sovereignty of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been hurled down--he who, day after day and night after night, was wont to accuse them in the presence of God.
#BCV:Revelation 12:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:11">11</verse></sup> But they have gained the victory over him because of the blood of the Lamb and of the testimony which they have borne, and because they held their lives cheap and did not shrink even from death.
#BCV:Revelation 12:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:12">12</verse></sup> For this reason be glad, O Heaven, and you who live in Heaven! Alas for the earth and the sea! For the Devil has come down to you; full of fierce anger, because he knows that his appointed time is short."
#BCV:Revelation 12:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:13">13</verse></sup> And when the Dragon saw that he was hurled down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male child.
#BCV:Revelation 12:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:14">14</verse></sup> Then,  the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman to enable her to fly away into the Desert to the place assigned her, there to be cared for, for  a period of time, two periods of time, and half a period of time, beyond the reach of the serpent.
#BCV:Revelation 12:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:15">15</verse></sup> And the serpent poured water from his mouth--a very river it seemed--after the woman, in the hope that she would be carried away by its flood.
#BCV:Revelation 12:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:16">16</verse></sup> But the earth came to the woman's help: it opened its mouth and drank up the river which the Dragon had poured from his mouth.
#BCV:Revelation 12:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 12:17">17</verse></sup> This made the Dragon furiously angry with the woman, and he went elsewhere to make war upon her other children--those who keep God's commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.
#BCV:Revelation 13:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 13:1">13</verse></font> And  he took up a position  upon the sands of the sea-shore. Then I saw a  Wild Beast coming up out of the sea, and he had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten kingly crowns, and inscribed on his heads were names full of blasphemy.
#BCV:Revelation 13:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:2">2</verse></sup> The Wild Beast which I saw  resembled a leopard, and had feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion; and it was to the Dragon that he owed his power and his throne and his wide dominion.
#BCV:Revelation 13:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:3">3</verse></sup> I saw that one of his heads seemed to have been mortally wounded; but  his mortal wound was healed, and the whole world was amazed and followed him.
#BCV:Revelation 13:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:4">4</verse></sup> And they offered worship to the Dragon, because it was to him that the Wild Beast owed his dominion; and they also offered worship to the Wild Beast, and said,  "Who is there like him? And who is able to engage in battle with him?"
#BCV:Revelation 13:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:5">5</verse></sup> And there was given him a mouth full of boastful and blasphemous words; and liberty of action was granted him for forty-two months.
#BCV:Revelation 13:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:6">6</verse></sup> And he opened his mouth to utter blasphemies against God, to speak evil of His name and of His dwelling-place--that is to say, of those who dwell in Heaven.
#BCV:Revelation 13:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:7">7</verse></sup> And permission was given him to make war upon God's people and conquer them; and power was given him over every tribe, people, language and nation.
#BCV:Revelation 13:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:8">8</verse></sup> And all the  inhabitants of the  earth will be found to be worshipping him: every one whose name is not recorded in the Book of Life--the Book of the Lamb who has been offered in sacrifice ever since the creation of the world.
#BCV:Revelation 13:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:9">9</verse></sup> Let all who have ears give heed.
#BCV:Revelation 13:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:10">10</verse></sup> If any one is eager to lead others into captivity, he must himself go into captivity. If any one is bent on killing with the sword, he must himself be killed by the sword. Here is an opportunity for endurance, and for the exercise of faith, on the part of God's people.
#BCV:Revelation 13:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:11">11</verse></sup> Then I saw another Wild Beast, coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he  spoke like a dragon.
#BCV:Revelation 13:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:12">12</verse></sup> And the authority of the first Wild Beast--the whole of that authority--he exercises in his presence, and he causes the  earth and its inhabitants to worship the first Wild Beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.
#BCV:Revelation 13:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:13">13</verse></sup> He also works great miracles, so as even to make fire come down from Heaven to earth in the presence of human beings.
#BCV:Revelation 13:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:14">14</verse></sup> And his power of leading astray the  inhabitants of the  earth is due to the marvels which he has been permitted to work in the presence of the Wild Beast. And he told the inhabitants of the earth to erect a statue to the Wild Beast who had received the sword-stroke and yet had recovered.
#BCV:Revelation 13:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:15">15</verse></sup> And power was granted him to give breath to the statue of the Wild Beast, so that the statue of the Wild Beast could even speak and cause all who refuse to worship it to be put to death.
#BCV:Revelation 13:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:16">16</verse></sup> And he causes all, small and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves, to have stamped upon them a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,
#BCV:Revelation 13:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:17">17</verse></sup> in order that no one should be  allowed to buy or sell unless he had the mark--either the name of the Wild Beast or the number which his name represents.
#BCV:Revelation 13:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 13:18">18</verse></sup> Here is scope for ingenuity. Let people of shrewd intelligence calculate the number of the Wild Beast; for it indicates a certain man, and his number is 666.
#BCV:Revelation 14:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 14:1">14</verse></font> Then I looked, and I saw the Lamb standing  upon Mount Zion, and with Him  144,000 people, having His  name and His Father's name written on their foreheads.
#BCV:Revelation 14:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:2">2</verse></sup> And I heard  music from Heaven which resembled the  sound of many waters and the  roar of loud thunder; and the  music which I heard was like that of harpists playing upon their harps.
#BCV:Revelation 14:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:3">3</verse></sup> And they were singing what seemed to be a new song, in front of the throne and in the presence of the four living creatures and the Elders; and no one was able to learn that song except the 144,000 people who had been redeemed out of the world.
#BCV:Revelation 14:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:4">4</verse></sup> These are those who had not defiled themselves with women: they are as pure as virgins. They follow the Lamb  wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men, as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 14:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:5">5</verse></sup> And no lie has ever been found upon their lips: they are faultless.
#BCV:Revelation 14:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:6">6</verse></sup> And I saw another angel flying across the sky, carrying the Good News of the Ages to tell to every nation, tribe, language and people, among  those who live on the  earth.
#BCV:Revelation 14:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:7">7</verse></sup> He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory, because the time of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made sky and earth, the sea and the water-springs."
#BCV:Revelation 14:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:8">8</verse></sup> And another, a second angel, followed, exclaiming,  "Great Babylon  has fallen, has fallen--she who made all the nations drink the wine of the anger provoked by her fornication."
#BCV:Revelation 14:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:9">9</verse></sup> And another, a third angel, followed them, exclaiming in a loud voice, "If any one worships the Wild Beast and his statue, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
#BCV:Revelation 14:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:10">10</verse></sup> he shall drink the wine of God's anger which stands  ready, undiluted, in the cup of His fury, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 14:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:11">11</verse></sup> And the smoke of their  torment goes up until the Ages of the Ages; and the worshipers of the Wild Beast and his statue have no rest day or night, nor has any one who receives the mark of his name.
#BCV:Revelation 14:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:12">12</verse></sup> Here is  an opportunity for endurance on the part of God's people, who carefully keep His commandments and the faith of Jesus!"
#BCV:Revelation 14:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:13">13</verse></sup> And I heard a voice speaking from Heaven. It said, "Write as follows: "'Blessed are the dead  who die in the Lord from this time onward. Yes, says the Spirit,  let them rest from their sorrowful labours; for what they have done goes with them.'"
#BCV:Revelation 14:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:14">14</verse></sup> Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and sitting on the cloud was some One resembling the Son of Man, having a wreath of gold upon His head and in His hand a sharp sickle.
#BCV:Revelation 14:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:15">15</verse></sup> And another, an angel, came out of the sanctuary, calling in a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, and saying,  "Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the hour for reaping it has come: the harvest of the earth is over-ripe."
#BCV:Revelation 14:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:16">16</verse></sup> Then He who sat on the cloud  flung His sickle on the earth, and the earth had its harvest reaped.
#BCV:Revelation 14:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:17">17</verse></sup> And another angel came out from the sanctuary in Heaven, and he too carried a sharp sickle.
#BCV:Revelation 14:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:18">18</verse></sup> And another angel came out from the altar--he who had power over fire--and he spoke in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Use your sharp sickle, and gather the bunches from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are now quite ripe."
#BCV:Revelation 14:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:19">19</verse></sup> And the angel  flung his sickle down to the earth, and reaped the vine of the earth and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God's anger.
#BCV:Revelation 14:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 14:20">20</verse></sup> And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and out of it came blood reaching the horses' bridles for a distance of  200 miles.
#BCV:Revelation 15:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 15:1">15</verse></font> Then I saw another marvel in Heaven, great and wonderful--there were seven angels bringing seven plagues. These are the last plagues, because in them God's anger has found full expression.
#BCV:Revelation 15:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:2">2</verse></sup> And I saw what seemed to be  a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had gained the victory over the Wild Beast and over his statue and the number of his name, standing  by the sea of glass and having harps which belonged to God.
#BCV:Revelation 15:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:3">3</verse></sup> And  they were singing the song of Moses, God's  servant, and the song of the Lamb. Their words were, "Great and wonderful are Thy works, O Lord God, the Ruler of all. Righteous and true are Thy ways, O King of  the nations.
#BCV:Revelation 15:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:4">4</verse></sup> Who shall not be afraid, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou  alone <word=are>art</word> holy. All nations shall come and shall worship Thee, because the righteousness of all that Thou hast done has been made manifest."
#BCV:Revelation 15:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:5">5</verse></sup> After this, when the doors of the sanctuary of the tent of witness in Heaven were opened, I looked;
#BCV:Revelation 15:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:6">6</verse></sup> and there came out of the sanctuary the seven angels who were bringing the seven plagues. The angels were clad in pure, bright  linen, and had girdles of gold across their breasts.
#BCV:Revelation 15:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:7">7</verse></sup> And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven bowls of gold, full of the anger of God who lives until the Ages of the Ages.
#BCV:Revelation 15:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 15:8">8</verse></sup> And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the sanctuary till the seven plagues brought by the seven angels were at an end.
#BCV:Revelation 16:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 16:1">16</verse></font> Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary say to the seven angels, "Go and pour on to the earth the seven bowls of the anger of God."
#BCV:Revelation 16:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:2">2</verse></sup> So the first angel went away and poured his bowl on to the earth; and  it brought  a bad and painful sore upon the men who had on them the mark of the Wild Beast and worshipped his statue.
#BCV:Revelation 16:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:3">3</verse></sup> The second angel poured his bowl into  the sea, and it became blood, like a dead man's blood, and every living creature in the sea died.
#BCV:Revelation 16:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:4">4</verse></sup> The third angel poured his bowl into  the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
#BCV:Revelation 16:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:5">5</verse></sup> And I heard the angel of the waters say, "Righteous <word=are>art</word> Thou, who <word=are>art</word> and wast,  the holy One, because Thou hast thus taken vengeance.
#BCV:Revelation 16:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:6">6</verse></sup> For they poured out the blood of Thy people and of the Prophets, and in return Thou hast given them blood to drink. And this they deserved."
#BCV:Revelation 16:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:7">7</verse></sup> And I heard a voice from the altar say, "Even so, O Lord God, the Ruler of all, true and righteous are Thy judgments."
#BCV:Revelation 16:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:8">8</verse></sup> Then the fourth angel poured his bowl on to  the sun, and power was given to it to scorch men with  fire.
#BCV:Revelation 16:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:9">9</verse></sup> And the men were severely burned; and yet they spoke evil of God who had power over the plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
#BCV:Revelation 16:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:10">10</verse></sup> The fifth angel poured his bowl on to  the throne of the Wild Beast; and his kingdom became darkened. People gnawed their tongues because of the pain,
#BCV:Revelation 16:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:11">11</verse></sup> and they spoke evil of the God in Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of  their misconduct.
#BCV:Revelation 16:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:12">12</verse></sup> The sixth angel poured his bowl into that great river, the Euphrates; and its stream was dried up in order  to clear the way for the kings who are to come from the east.
#BCV:Revelation 16:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:13">13</verse></sup> Then I saw three foul spirits, resembling frogs, issue from the mouth of the Dragon, from the mouth of the Wild Beast, and from the mouth of  the false Prophet.
#BCV:Revelation 16:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:14">14</verse></sup> For they are the spirits of demons working marvels--spirits that go out to control the kings of the whole earth, to assemble them for the battle which is to take place on  the great day of God, the Ruler of all.
#BCV:Revelation 16:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:15">15</verse></sup> 
#BCV:Revelation 16:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:16">16</verse></sup> And assemble them they did at the place called in Hebrew  'Har-Magedon.'
#BCV:Revelation 16:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:17">17</verse></sup> Then the seventh angel poured his bowl into  the air; and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying,  "Everything is now ready."
#BCV:Revelation 16:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:18">18</verse></sup> Flashes of lightning followed, and voices, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake more dreadful than there had ever been since there was a man upon the earth--so terrible was it, and so great!
#BCV:Revelation 16:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:19">19</verse></sup> The great city was split into  three parts; the cities of the nations fell; and  great Babylon came into remembrance before God, for Him to make her drink from the wine-cup of His fierce anger.
#BCV:Revelation 16:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:20">20</verse></sup> Every island fled away, and there was not a mountain anywhere to be seen.
#BCV:Revelation 16:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 16:21">21</verse></sup> And heavy hail,  that seemed to be a talent in weight, fell from the sky upon the people; and they spoke evil of God on account of the plague of the hail--because the plague of it was exceedingly severe.
#BCV:Revelation 17:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 17:1">17</verse></font> Then one of the seven angels who were carrying the seven bowls came and spoke to me. "Come with me," he said, "and I will show you the doom of the great  Harlot who  sits upon  many waters.
#BCV:Revelation 17:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:2">2</verse></sup> The kings of the  earth have committed fornication  with her, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."
#BCV:Revelation 17:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:3">3</verse></sup> So he carried me away in the Spirit into a desert, and there I saw a woman  sitting on a  scarlet-colored Wild Beast which was covered with names of blasphemy and had seven heads and ten horns.
#BCV:Revelation 17:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:4">4</verse></sup> The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and was  brilliantly attired with gold and jewels and pearls. She held in her hand a cup of gold, full of abominations, and she gave filthy indications of her fornication.
#BCV:Revelation 17:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:5">5</verse></sup> And on her forehead was a name written: "I am a symbol of great Babylon, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth."
#BCV:Revelation 17:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:6">6</verse></sup> And I saw the woman drinking herself drunk with  the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her I was filled with utter astonishment.
#BCV:Revelation 17:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:7">7</verse></sup> Then the angel said to me, "Why are you so astonished? I will explain to you the secret meaning of the woman and of the seven-headed, ten-horned Wild Beast which carries her.
#BCV:Revelation 17:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:8">8</verse></sup> "The Wild Beast which you have seen was, and is not, and yet is destined to  re-ascend, before long, out of the bottomless pit and go his way into perdition. And  the inhabitants of the earth will be filled with amazement--all whose names are not in the Book of Life, having been recorded there ever since the creation of the world--when they see the Wild Beast: because he was, and is not, and yet  is to come.
#BCV:Revelation 17:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:9">9</verse></sup> Here is scope for the exercise of a mind that has wisdom! The seven heads are the seven hills on which the woman sits.
#BCV:Revelation 17:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:10">10</verse></sup> And they are  seven kings: five of them have fallen, and the  one is still reigning. The seventh has not yet come, but when he comes he must continue for a short time.
#BCV:Revelation 17:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:11">11</verse></sup> And the Wild Beast which once existed but does not now exist--he is an eighth king and yet is one of the seven and he goes his way into perdition.
#BCV:Revelation 17:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:12">12</verse></sup> "And the  ten horns which you have seen are ten kings who have not yet come to the throne, but for a single hour they are to receive authority as kings along with the Wild Beast.
#BCV:Revelation 17:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:13">13</verse></sup> They have one common policy, and they are to give their power and authority to the Wild Beast.
#BCV:Revelation 17:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:14">14</verse></sup> They will make war upon the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. And those who accompany Him--called, as they are, and chosen, and faithful--shall share in the victory."
#BCV:Revelation 17:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:15">15</verse></sup> He also said to me, "The waters which you have seen, on which the Harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes, nations and languages.
#BCV:Revelation 17:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:16">16</verse></sup> And the ten horns that you have seen--and the Wild Beast--these will  hate the Harlot, and they will cause her to be laid waste and will strip her bare. They will eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire.
#BCV:Revelation 17:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:17">17</verse></sup> For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose, and to carry out a common purpose and to give their kingdom to the Wild Beast until God's words have come to pass.
#BCV:Revelation 17:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 17:18">18</verse></sup> And the woman whom you have seen is the  great city which has kingly power over the  kings of the  earth."
#BCV:Revelation 18:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 18:1">18</verse></font> After these things I saw another angel coming down from Heaven, armed with great power. The earth shone with his splendor,
#BCV:Revelation 18:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:2">2</verse></sup> and with a mighty voice he cried out, saying, "Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and has become a home for demons and a stronghold for every kind of foul spirit and for every kind of foul and hateful bird.
#BCV:Revelation 18:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:3">3</verse></sup> For all the nations have drunk the wine of the anger provoked by her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through her excessive luxury."
#BCV:Revelation 18:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:4">4</verse></sup> Then I heard another voice from Heaven, which said,  "Come out of her, My people, that you may not become partakers in her sins, nor receive a share of her plagues.
#BCV:Revelation 18:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:5">5</verse></sup> For her sins are piled up to the sky, and God has called to mind her unrighteous deeds.
#BCV:Revelation 18:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:6">6</verse></sup> Give back to her as  she has given; repay her in accordance with her doings,  twice as much; in the bowl that she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.
#BCV:Revelation 18:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:7">7</verse></sup> She has freely glorified herself and revelled in luxury; equally freely administer torment to her, and woe. For in her heart she boasts, saying, 'I sit enthroned as Queen: no widow am I: I shall never know sorrow.'
#BCV:Revelation 18:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:8">8</verse></sup> "For this reason calamities shall come thick upon her on a single day--death and sorrow and famine--and she shall be  burned to the ground. For strong is  the Lord God who has judged her.
#BCV:Revelation 18:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:9">9</verse></sup> The  kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, and have revelled in luxury, shall weep aloud and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,
#BCV:Revelation 18:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:10">10</verse></sup> while they stand afar off because of their terror at her heavy punishment, and say, 'Alas, alas, thou  great city, O Babylon, the mighty city! For in one short hour thy doom has come!'
#BCV:Revelation 18:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:11">11</verse></sup> And the merchants of the earth weep aloud and lament over her, because now there is no sale for their cargoes--
#BCV:Revelation 18:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:12">12</verse></sup> cargoes of gold and silver, of jewels and pearls, of fine linen, purple and silk, and of scarlet stuff; all kinds of rare woods, and all kinds of goods in ivory and in very costly wood, in bronze, steel and marble.
#BCV:Revelation 18:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:13">13</verse></sup> Also cinnamon and amomum; odors to burn as incense or for  perfume; frankincense, wine, oil; fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep; horses and carriages and slaves; and the lives of men.
#BCV:Revelation 18:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:14">14</verse></sup> The dainties that thy soul longed for are gone from thee, and all thine elegance and splendor have perished, and never again shall they be found.
#BCV:Revelation 18:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:15">15</verse></sup> Those who traded in these things, who grew wealthy through her, will stand afar off, struck with terror at her punishment,
#BCV:Revelation 18:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:16">16</verse></sup> weeping aloud and sorrowing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, for this great city, which was brilliantly arrayed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet stuff, and beautified with gold, jewels and pearls;
#BCV:Revelation 18:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:17">17</verse></sup> because in one short hour all this great wealth has been laid waste!' And every shipmaster and every passenger by sea and the crews and all who ply their trade on the sea,
#BCV:Revelation 18:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:18">18</verse></sup> stood afar off, and cried aloud when they saw the smoke of her burning. And they said, 'What city is like this great city?'
#BCV:Revelation 18:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:19">19</verse></sup> And they threw dust upon their heads, and cried out, weeping aloud and sorrowing. 'Alas, alas,' they said, 'for this great city, in which, through her vast wealth, the owners of all the ships on the sea have grown rich; because in one short hour she has been laid waste!'
#BCV:Revelation 18:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:20">20</verse></sup> Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you saints and Apostles and Prophets; for God has taken vengeance upon her because of you."
#BCV:Revelation 18:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:21">21</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 18:22
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:22">22</verse></sup> No harp or song, no flute or trumpet, shall ever again be heard in thee; no craftsman of any kind shall ever again be found in thee; nor shall the grinding of the mill ever again be heard in thee.
#BCV:Revelation 18:23
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:23">23</verse></sup> Never again shall the light of a lamp shine in thee, and never again shall the voice of a bridegroom or of a bride be heard in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth, and with the magic which thou didst practise all nations were led astray.
#BCV:Revelation 18:24
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 18:24">24</verse></sup> And in her was found  the blood of Prophets and of God's people and of all who had been put to death on the earth."
#BCV:Revelation 19:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 19:1">19</verse></font> After this I seemed to hear the far-echoing voices of a great multitude in Heaven, who said,  "Hallelujah! The salvation and the glory and the power belong to our God.
#BCV:Revelation 19:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:2">2</verse></sup> True and just are His judgments, because He has judged the great Harlot who was corrupting the whole  earth with her fornication, and He has taken vengeance for the blood of His bondservants which her hands have shed."
#BCV:Revelation 19:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:3">3</verse></sup> And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! For her smoke ascends until the Ages of the Ages."
#BCV:Revelation 19:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:4">4</verse></sup> And the twenty-four Elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits upon the throne. "Even so," they said; "Hallelujah!"
#BCV:Revelation 19:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:5">5</verse></sup> And from the throne there came a voice which said, "Praise our God, all you His bondservants--you who fear Him, both the small and the great."
#BCV:Revelation 19:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:6">6</verse></sup> And I seemed to hear the voices of a great multitude and the sound of many waters and of loud peals of thunder, which said, "Hallelujah! Because the Lord our God, the Ruler of all,  has become King.
#BCV:Revelation 19:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:7">7</verse></sup> Let us rejoice and triumph and give Him the glory; for the time for  the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready."
#BCV:Revelation 19:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:8">8</verse></sup> And she was permitted to array herself in fine linen, shining and spotless; the fine linen being the  righteous actions of God's people.
#BCV:Revelation 19:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:9">9</verse></sup> And he said to me, "Write as follows: 'Blessed are those who receive an invitation to the  Marriage Supper of the Lamb.'" And he added, still addressing me, "These are truly the words of God."
#BCV:Revelation 19:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:10">10</verse></sup> Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he exclaimed, "Oh, do not do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours and a fellow bondservant of your brethren who have borne testimony to Jesus. Worship God." Testimony to Jesus is the spirit which underlies Prophecy.
#BCV:Revelation 19:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:11">11</verse></sup> Then I saw a door open in Heaven, and  a white horse appeared. Its rider was named "Faithful and True" --being One who in righteousness acts as Judge, and makes war.
#BCV:Revelation 19:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:12">12</verse></sup> His eyes were  like a flame of fire, and on His head were many kingly crowns; and He has a name written upon Him which  no one but He Himself knows.
#BCV:Revelation 19:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:13">13</verse></sup> The outer garment in which He is clad has been dipped in blood and His name is  THE WORD OF GOD.
#BCV:Revelation 19:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:14">14</verse></sup> The armies in Heaven followed Him--mounted on white horses and clothed in fine linen, white and spotless.
#BCV:Revelation 19:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:15">15</verse></sup> From His mouth there comes a sharp sword with which He will smite the nations; and He will Himself be their Shepherd, ruling them with a scepter of iron; and it is His work to tread the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Ruler of all.
#BCV:Revelation 19:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:16">16</verse></sup> And on His outer garment and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
#BCV:Revelation 19:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:17">17</verse></sup> And I saw a single angel standing  in the full light of the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds that flew across the sky, "Come and be present at God's great supper,
#BCV:Revelation 19:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:18">18</verse></sup> that you may feast on the flesh of kings and the flesh of generals and the flesh of mighty men, on the flesh of horses and their riders, and on the flesh of all mankind, whether they are free men or slaves, great men or small."
#BCV:Revelation 19:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:19">19</verse></sup> And I saw the Wild Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, all assembled to make war,  once for all, against the Rider upon the horse and against His army. And the Wild Beast was captured, and with him the false Prophet
#BCV:Revelation 19:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:20">20</verse></sup> who had done the miracles in his presence with which he had led astray those who had received the mark of the Wild Beast, and those who worshipped his statue. Both of them were thrown alive into the Lake of fire that was all ablaze with sulphur.
#BCV:Revelation 19:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 19:21">21</verse></sup> But the rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the Rider on the horse. And the birds all fed ravenously upon their flesh.
#BCV:Revelation 20:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 20:1">20</verse></font> Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and upon his arm he carried a great chain.
#BCV:Revelation 20:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:2">2</verse></sup> He laid hold of the Dragon--the ancient serpent--who is the Devil and  the Adversary, and  bound him for  a thousand years, and hurled him into the bottomless pit.
#BCV:Revelation 20:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:3">3</verse></sup> He closed the entrance and put a seal upon him in order that he might be unable to lead the nations astray any more until the thousand years were at an end. Afterwards he is to be set at liberty for a short time.
#BCV:Revelation 20:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:4">4</verse></sup> And I saw  thrones, and some who  were seated on them, to whom judgment was entrusted. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony that they had borne to Jesus and on account of God's Message, and also the souls of those who had not worshipped the Wild Beast or his statue, nor received his mark on their foreheads or  on their hands; and they  came to Life and were kings with Christ for a thousand years.
#BCV:Revelation 20:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:5">5</verse></sup> No one else who was dead rose to Life until the thousand years were at an end. This is  the First Resurrection.
#BCV:Revelation 20:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:6">6</verse></sup> Blessed and holy are those who share in the First Resurrection.  The Second Death has no power over them, but they shall be priests to God and to Christ, and shall be kings with Christ for the thousand years.
#BCV:Revelation 20:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:7">7</verse></sup> But  when the thousand years are at an end, the Adversary will be released from his imprisonment,
#BCV:Revelation 20:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:8">8</verse></sup> and will go out to lead astray the nations in all the four corners of the earth,  Gog and Magog, and assemble them for war, and they are like the sands on the seashore in number.
#BCV:Revelation 20:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:9">9</verse></sup> And they went up over the whole breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of God's people and the beloved city. But fire came down from Heaven and consumed them;
#BCV:Revelation 20:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:10">10</verse></sup> and the Devil,  who had been leading them astray, was thrown into  the Lake of fire and sulphur where the Wild Beast and the false Prophet were, and day and night they will suffer torture until the Ages of the Ages.
#BCV:Revelation 20:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:11">11</verse></sup> Then I saw  a great white throne and One who was seated on it, from whose presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
#BCV:Revelation 20:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:12">12</verse></sup> And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing in front of the throne. And books were opened; and so was another book--namely, the Book of Life; and the dead were judged by the things recorded in the  books in accordance with what their conduct had been.
#BCV:Revelation 20:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:13">13</verse></sup> Then the sea yielded up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades yielded up the dead who were in them, and each man was judged in accordance with what his conduct had been.
#BCV:Revelation 20:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:14">14</verse></sup> Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of fire; this is the Second Death--the Lake of fire.
#BCV:Revelation 20:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 20:15">15</verse></sup> And if any one's name was not found recorded in the Book of Life he was thrown into the Lake of fire.
#BCV:Revelation 21:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 21:1">21</verse></font> And I saw  a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and the first earth were gone, and  the sea no longer exists.
#BCV:Revelation 21:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:2">2</verse></sup> And I saw the holy city,  the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God and made ready like a bride attired to meet her husband.
#BCV:Revelation 21:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:3">3</verse></sup> And I heard a loud voice, which came from the throne, say, "God's dwelling place is among men and He will dwell among them and they shall be His peoples. Yes, God Himself will  be among them.
#BCV:Revelation 21:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:4">4</verse></sup> He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more; nor sorrow, nor wail of woe, nor pain; for the first things have passed away."
#BCV:Revelation 21:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:5">5</verse></sup> Then He who was seated on the throne said, "I am re-creating all things." And He added, "Write down these words, for they are trustworthy and true."
#BCV:Revelation 21:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:6">6</verse></sup> He also said, "They have now been fulfilled. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To those who are thirsty I will give the privilege of drinking from the well of the Water of Life without payment.
#BCV:Revelation 21:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:7">7</verse></sup> All this shall be the heritage of him who overcomes, and I will be his God and he shall be one of My sons.
#BCV:Revelation 21:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:8">8</verse></sup> But as for cowards and the unfaithful, and the polluted, and murderers, fornicators, and those who practise magic or worship idols, and all liars--the portion allotted to them shall be in the Lake which burns with fire and sulphur. This is  the Second Death."
#BCV:Revelation 21:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:9">9</verse></sup> Then there came one of the seven angels who were carrying the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues. "Come with me," he said, "and I will show you  the Bride, the Lamb's wife."
#BCV:Revelation 21:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:10">10</verse></sup> So in the Spirit he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God,
#BCV:Revelation 21:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:11">11</verse></sup> 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.
#BCV:Revelation 21:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:12">12</verse></sup> It has a wall, massive and high, with twelve large gates, and  in charge of the gates were twelve angels. And overhead, above the gates, names were inscribed which are those of the twelve tribes of the descendants of Israel.
#BCV:Revelation 21:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:13">13</verse></sup> There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
#BCV:Revelation 21:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:14">14</verse></sup> The wall of the city had  twelve foundation stones, and engraved upon them were twelve names--the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 21:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:15">15</verse></sup> Now he who was speaking to me had a measuring-rod of gold, with which to measure the city and its gates and its wall.
#BCV:Revelation 21:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:16">16</verse></sup> The plan of the city is  a square, the length being the same as the breadth; and he measured the city  furlong by furlong, with his measuring rod--it is twelve hundred  miles long, and the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
#BCV:Revelation 21:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:17">17</verse></sup> And he  measured the wall of it--a wall of a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to human measure, which was also that of the angel.
#BCV:Revelation 21:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:18">18</verse></sup> The  solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold,  resembling transparent glass.
#BCV:Revelation 21:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:19">19</verse></sup> As for the foundation-stones of the city wall, which were beautified with various kinds of precious stones, the first was jasper, the second  sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius,
#BCV:Revelation 21:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:20">20</verse></sup> the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
#BCV:Revelation 21:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:21">21</verse></sup> And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each of them consisting of a single pearl. And the main street of the city was made of  pure gold, resembling transparent glass.
#BCV:Revelation 21:22
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:22">22</verse></sup> I saw no sanctuary in the city, for the Lord God, the Ruler of all, is its Sanctuary, and so is the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 21:23
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:23">23</verse></sup> Nor has the city any need of the sun or of the moon, to give it light; for the glory of God has shone upon it and  its lamp is the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 21:24
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:24">24</verse></sup> The nations will live their lives by its light; and the kings of the earth are to bring their glory into it.
#BCV:Revelation 21:25
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:25">25</verse></sup> And in the daytime (for there will be no night there)
#BCV:Revelation 21:26
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:26">26</verse></sup> and the glory and honor of the nations shall be brought into it.
#BCV:Revelation 21:27
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 21:27">27</verse></sup> And no unclean thing shall ever enter it, nor any one who is guilty of base conduct or tells lies, but only they whose names stand recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.
#BCV:Revelation 22:1
<font size=+2><verse bcv="Revelation 22:1">22</verse></font> Then he showed me the river of the Water of Life, bright as crystal, issuing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
#BCV:Revelation 22:2
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:2">2</verse></sup> On either side of the river,  midway between it and the main street of the city, was  the Tree of Life. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, yielding a fresh crop month by month, and the leaves of the tree served as medicine for the nations.
#BCV:Revelation 22:3
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:3">3</verse></sup> "In future there will be no  curse," he said, "but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be  in that city. And His  servants will render Him holy service and will see His face,
#BCV:Revelation 22:4
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:4">4</verse></sup> and His  name will be on their foreheads.
#BCV:Revelation 22:5
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:5">5</verse></sup> And there will be no night there; and they have no need of lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will shine upon them, and they will be kings until the Ages of the Ages."
#BCV:Revelation 22:6
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:6">6</verse></sup> And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the Prophets, sent His angel to make known to His  servants the things which must soon happen.
#BCV:Revelation 22:7
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:7">7</verse></sup> 'I am coming quickly.' Blessed is he who is mindful of the predictions contained in this book."
#BCV:Revelation 22:8
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:8">8</verse></sup> I John heard and saw these things; and when I had heard and seen them, I fell at the feet of the angel who was showing me them--to worship him.
#BCV:Revelation 22:9
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:9">9</verse></sup> But he said to me, "Oh, do not do that. I am a fellow bondservant of yours, and a fellow bondservant of your brethren the Prophets and of those who are mindful of the teachings of this book. Worship God."
#BCV:Revelation 22:10
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:10">10</verse></sup> "Make no secret," he added, "of the meaning of the predictions contained in this book; for the time for their fulfillment is now close at hand.
#BCV:Revelation 22:11
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:11">11</verse></sup> Let the dishonest man act dishonestly  still; let the filthy make himself filthy  still; let the righteous practise righteousness  still; and let the holy be made holy  still."
#BCV:Revelation 22:12
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:12">12</verse></sup> "I am coming quickly; and My reward is with Me, that I may requite every man in accordance with what his conduct has been.
#BCV:Revelation 22:13
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:13">13</verse></sup> I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
#BCV:Revelation 22:14
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:14">14</verse></sup> Blessed are those who  wash their robes clean, that they may have a right to the Tree of Life, and may go through the gates into the city.
#BCV:Revelation 22:15
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:15">15</verse></sup> The  unclean are shut out, and so are  all who practise magic, all fornicators, all murderers, and those who worship idols, and every one who loves falsehood and tells lies.
#BCV:Revelation 22:16
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:16">16</verse></sup> "I Jesus have sent My angel for him solemnly to declare these things to you among the Churches. I am the Root and the offspring of David, the bright  Morning Star.
#BCV:Revelation 22:17
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:17">17</verse></sup> The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come;' and whoever hears, let him say, 'Come;' and let those who are thirsty come. Whoever will, let him take the Water of Life, without payment.
#BCV:Revelation 22:18
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:18">18</verse></sup> "I solemnly declare to every one who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book, that if any one adds to those words, God will add to him the plagues spoken of in this book;
#BCV:Revelation 22:19
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:19">19</verse></sup> and that if any one  takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the holy city--the things described in this book.
#BCV:Revelation 22:20
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:20">20</verse></sup> "He who solemnly declares all this says, "'Yes, I am coming quickly.'"  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
#BCV:Revelation 22:21
<sup><verse bcv="Revelation 22:21">21</verse></sup> The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.
