Thursday, July 24, 2031

^43:9All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them: who will declare these things? or who will declare to you things from the beginning? let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth. ¹⁰Be ye my witnesses, and I too am a witness, saith the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know, and believe, and understand that I am he: before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none.

¹¹I am God; and beside me there is no Saviour. ¹²I have declared, and have saved; I have reproached, and there was no strange god among you: ye are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God, ¹³even from the beginning; and there is none that can deliver out of my hands: I will work, and who shall turn it back? ¹⁴Thus saith the Lord God that redeems you, the Holy One of Israel; For your sakes I will send to Babylon, and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships.

^4:7But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. ⁸For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. ⁹But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. ¹⁰He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. ¹¹Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. ¹²For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.

¹³He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: ¹⁴for his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked. ¹⁵This the people saw, and understood not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.

^21:12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. ¹³It will turn out as a testimony for you. ¹⁴Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer, ¹⁵for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict. ¹⁶You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death. ¹⁷You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake. ¹⁸And not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹“By your endurance you will win your lives.

^10:28But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, with all its fullness.” ²⁹Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other’s conscience. For why is my liberty judged by another conscience? ³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced for something I give thanks for? ³¹Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

³²Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, to Greeks, or to the assembly of God; ³³even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. ^11:1Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. ²Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. ³But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. ⁵But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. ⁶For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. ⁷For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

^8:28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. ³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

³³Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

^16:24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will give to everyone according to his deeds. ²⁸Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

^15:17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another. ¹⁸If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

²¹But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³He who hates me, hates my Father also. ²⁴If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. ^16:1“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. ²They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

^10:28But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, with all its fullness.” ²⁹Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other’s conscience. For why is my liberty judged by another conscience? ³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced for something I give thanks for? ³¹Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

³²Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, to Greeks, or to the assembly of God; ³³even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. ^11:1Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. ²Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. ³But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. ⁵But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. ⁶For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. ⁷For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

^16:24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will give to everyone according to his deeds. ²⁸Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”