Spiritual Training: The Discipline of Fasting and Solitude

Letters That Change Lives: Philemon

The Thread for Survivors: A 5-Day Devotional Journal of Healing, Finding Your Voice and Sacred Becoming

Psalms 11-15: Your Summer in the Psalms

The DEEP Method: How to Discover, Explore, Engage, Practice God's Word

The Kingdom Manifesto

Financial Discipleship – the Bible on Bribes

The Last Half Hour: When Waiting Becomes Glory

Overcoming Emotional Overwhelm

Help Your Man Overcome Pornography

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMAT">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="MAT.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy</div><div class="p"> 1When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy#8:2 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin. came and knelt before him and said, &#8220;Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. &#8220;I am willing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Be clean!&#8221; Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, &#8220;See that you don&#8217;t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Faith of the Centurion</div><div class="p"> 5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6&#8220;Lord,&#8221; he said, &#8220;my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jesus said to him, &#8220;Shall I come and heal him?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8The centurion replied, &#8220;Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, &#8216;Go,&#8217; and he goes; and that one, &#8216;Come,&#8217; and he comes. I say to my servant, &#8216;Do this,&#8217; and he does it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, &#8220;Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Then Jesus said to the centurion, &#8220;Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.&#8221; And his servant was healed at that moment.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Heals Many</div><div class="p"> 14When Jesus came into Peter&#8217;s house, he saw Peter&#8217;s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.</div><div class="p"> 16When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;He took up our infirmities</div><div class="q2">and bore our diseases.&#8221;#8:17 Isaiah 53:4 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="s1">The Cost of Following Jesus</div><div class="p"> 18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, &#8220;Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Jesus replied, &#8220;Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Another disciple said to him, &#8220;Lord, first let me go and bury my father.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22But Jesus told him, &#8220;Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Calms the Storm</div><div class="p"> 23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, &#8220;Lord, save us! We&#8217;re going to drown!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26He replied, &#8220;You of little faith, why are you so afraid?&#8221; Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.</div><div class="p"> 27The men were amazed and asked, &#8220;What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Restores Two Demon-Possessed Men</div><div class="p"> 28When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,#8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; other manuscripts Gerasenes two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29&#8220;What do you want with us, Son of God?&#8221; they shouted. &#8220;Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31The demons begged Jesus, &#8220;If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32He said to them, &#8220;Go!&#8221; So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="GEN.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="p"> 1But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.</div><div class="p"> 6After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.</div><div class="p"> 13By the first day of the first month of Noah&#8217;s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.</div><div class="p"> 15Then God said to Noah, 16&#8220;Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you&#8212;the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground&#8212;so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons&#8217; wives. 19All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds&#8212;everything that moves on land&#8212;came out of the ark, one kind after another.</div><div class="p"> 20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: &#8220;Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though#8:21 Or humans, for every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.</div><div class="q1"> 22&#8220;As long as the earth endures,</div><div class="q1">seedtime and harvest,</div><div class="q1">cold and heat,</div><div class="q1">summer and winter,</div><div class="q1">day and night</div><div class="q1">will never cease.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="ROM.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Life Through the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you#8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,#8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13. God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.#8:3 Or flesh, for sin And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 5Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God&#8217;s law, nor can it do so. 8Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.</div><div class="p"> 9You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life#8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of#8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through his Spirit who lives in you.</div><div class="p"> 12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation&#8212;but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.</div><div class="p"> 14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.#8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23. And by him we cry, &#8220;Abba,#8:15 Aramaic for father Father.&#8221; 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God&#8217;s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs&#8212;heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.</div><div class="s1">Present Suffering and Future Glory</div><div class="p"> 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that#8:20,21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.</div><div class="p"> 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.</div><div class="p"> 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God&#8217;s people in accordance with the will of God.</div><div class="p"> 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who#8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good&#8212;with those who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.</div><div class="s1">More Than Conquerors</div><div class="p"> 31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all&#8212;how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died&#8212;more than that, who was raised to life&#8212;is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;For your sake we face death all day long;</div><div class="q2">we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.&#8221;#8:36 Psalm 44:22</div><div class="m"> 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,#8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2TH">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="2TH.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Request for Prayer</div><div class="p"> 1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God&#8217;s love and Christ&#8217;s perseverance.</div><div class="s1">Warning Against Idleness</div><div class="p"> 6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching#3:6 Or tradition you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone&#8217;s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: &#8220;The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.</div><div class="p"> 14Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.</div><div class="s1">Final Greetings</div><div class="p"> 16Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.</div><div class="p"> 17I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.</div><div class="p"> 18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOB">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="JOB.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Bildad</div><div class="p"> 1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:</div><div class="q1"> 2&#8220;How long will you say such things?</div><div class="q2">Your words are a blustering wind.</div><div class="q1"> 3Does God pervert justice?</div><div class="q2">Does the Almighty pervert what is right?</div><div class="q1"> 4When your children sinned against him,</div><div class="q2">he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.</div><div class="q1"> 5But if you will seek God earnestly</div><div class="q2">and plead with the Almighty,</div><div class="q1"> 6if you are pure and upright,</div><div class="q2">even now he will rouse himself on your behalf</div><div class="q2">and restore you to your prosperous state.</div><div class="q1"> 7Your beginnings will seem humble,</div><div class="q2">so prosperous will your future be.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 8&#8220;Ask the former generation</div><div class="q2">and find out what their ancestors learned,</div><div class="q1"> 9for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,</div><div class="q2">and our days on earth are but a shadow.</div><div class="q1"> 10Will they not instruct you and tell you?</div><div class="q2">Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?</div><div class="q1"> 11Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?</div><div class="q2">Can reeds thrive without water?</div><div class="q1"> 12While still growing and uncut,</div><div class="q2">they wither more quickly than grass.</div><div class="q1"> 13Such is the destiny of all who forget God;</div><div class="q2">so perishes the hope of the godless.</div><div class="q1"> 14What they trust in is fragile#8:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.;</div><div class="q2">what they rely on is a spider&#8217;s web.</div><div class="q1"> 15They lean on the web, but it gives way;</div><div class="q2">they cling to it, but it does not hold.</div><div class="q1"> 16They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,</div><div class="q2">spreading its shoots over the garden;</div><div class="q1"> 17it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks</div><div class="q2">and looks for a place among the stones.</div><div class="q1"> 18But when it is torn from its spot,</div><div class="q2">that place disowns it and says, &#8216;I never saw you.&#8217;</div><div class="q1"> 19Surely its life withers away,</div><div class="q2">and#8:19 Or Surely all the joy it has / is that from the soil other plants grow.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 20&#8220;Surely God does not reject one who is blameless</div><div class="q2">or strengthen the hands of evildoers.</div><div class="q1"> 21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter</div><div class="q2">and your lips with shouts of joy.</div><div class="q1"> 22Your enemies will be clothed in shame,</div><div class="q2">and the tents of the wicked will be no more.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="PSA.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="cl">Psalm 8#In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.</div><div class="d">For the director of music. According to gittith.#Title: Probably a musical term A psalm of David.</div><div class="q1"> 1 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">You have set your glory</div><div class="q2">in the heavens.</div><div class="q1"> 2Through the praise of children and infants</div><div class="q2">you have established a stronghold against your enemies,</div><div class="q2">to silence the foe and the avenger.</div><div class="q1"> 3When I consider your heavens,</div><div class="q2">the work of your fingers,</div><div class="q1">the moon and the stars,</div><div class="q2">which you have set in place,</div><div class="q1"> 4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,</div><div class="q2">human beings that you care for them?#8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 5You have made them#8:5 Or him a little lower than the angels#8:5 Or than God</div><div class="q2">and crowned them#8:5 Or him with glory and honor.</div><div class="q1"> 6You made them rulers over the works of your hands;</div><div class="q2">you put everything under their#8:6 Or made him ruler&#8230;; / &#8230;his feet:</div><div class="q1"> 7all flocks and herds,</div><div class="q2">and the animals of the wild,</div><div class="q1"> 8the birds in the sky,</div><div class="q2">and the fish in the sea,</div><div class="q2">all that swim the paths of the seas.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 9 Lord, our Lord,</div><div class="q2">how majestic is your name in all the earth!</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPRO">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="PRO.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Wisdom&#8217;s Call</div><div class="q1"> 1Does not wisdom call out?</div><div class="q2">Does not understanding raise her voice?</div><div class="q1"> 2At the highest point along the way,</div><div class="q2">where the paths meet, she takes her stand;</div><div class="q1"> 3beside the gate leading into the city,</div><div class="q2">at the entrance, she cries aloud:</div><div class="q1"> 4&#8220;To you, O people, I call out;</div><div class="q2">I raise my voice to all mankind.</div><div class="q1"> 5You who are simple, gain prudence;</div><div class="q2">you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.#8:5 Septuagint; Hebrew foolish, instruct your minds</div><div class="q1"> 6Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say;</div><div class="q2">I open my lips to speak what is right.</div><div class="q1"> 7My mouth speaks what is true,</div><div class="q2">for my lips detest wickedness.</div><div class="q1"> 8All the words of my mouth are just;</div><div class="q2">none of them is crooked or perverse.</div><div class="q1"> 9To the discerning all of them are right;</div><div class="q2">they are upright to those who have found knowledge.</div><div class="q1"> 10Choose my instruction instead of silver,</div><div class="q2">knowledge rather than choice gold,</div><div class="q1"> 11for wisdom is more precious than rubies,</div><div class="q2">and nothing you desire can compare with her.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 12&#8220;I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;</div><div class="q2">I possess knowledge and discretion.</div><div class="q1"> 13To fear the Lord is to hate evil;</div><div class="q2">I hate pride and arrogance,</div><div class="q2">evil behavior and perverse speech.</div><div class="q1"> 14Counsel and sound judgment are mine;</div><div class="q2">I have insight, I have power.</div><div class="q1"> 15By me kings reign</div><div class="q2">and rulers issue decrees that are just;</div><div class="q1"> 16by me princes govern,</div><div class="q2">and nobles&#8212;all who rule on earth.#8:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; other Hebrew manuscripts all righteous rulers</div><div class="q1"> 17I love those who love me,</div><div class="q2">and those who seek me find me.</div><div class="q1"> 18With me are riches and honor,</div><div class="q2">enduring wealth and prosperity.</div><div class="q1"> 19My fruit is better than fine gold;</div><div class="q2">what I yield surpasses choice silver.</div><div class="q1"> 20I walk in the way of righteousness,</div><div class="q2">along the paths of justice,</div><div class="q1"> 21bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me</div><div class="q2">and making their treasuries full.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 22&#8220;The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,#8:22 Or way; or dominion#8:22 Or The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work; or The Lord brought me forth at the beginning of his work</div><div class="q2">before his deeds of old;</div><div class="q1"> 23I was formed long ages ago,</div><div class="q2">at the very beginning, when the world came to be.</div><div class="q1"> 24When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,</div><div class="q2">when there were no springs overflowing with water;</div><div class="q1"> 25before the mountains were settled in place,</div><div class="q2">before the hills, I was given birth,</div><div class="q1"> 26before he made the world or its fields</div><div class="q2">or any of the dust of the earth.</div><div class="q1"> 27I was there when he set the heavens in place,</div><div class="q2">when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,</div><div class="q1"> 28when he established the clouds above</div><div class="q2">and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,</div><div class="q1"> 29when he gave the sea its boundary</div><div class="q2">so the waters would not overstep his command,</div><div class="q1">and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.</div><div class="q2"> 30Then I was constantly#8:30 Or was the artisan; or was a little child at his side.</div><div class="q1">I was filled with delight day after day,</div><div class="q2">rejoicing always in his presence,</div><div class="q1"> 31rejoicing in his whole world</div><div class="q2">and delighting in mankind.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 32&#8220;Now then, my children, listen to me;</div><div class="q2">blessed are those who keep my ways.</div><div class="q1"> 33Listen to my instruction and be wise;</div><div class="q2">do not disregard it.</div><div class="q1"> 34Blessed are those who listen to me,</div><div class="q2">watching daily at my doors,</div><div class="q2">waiting at my doorway.</div><div class="q1"> 35For those who find me find life</div><div class="q2">and receive favor from the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 36But those who fail to find me harm themselves;</div><div class="q2">all who hate me love death.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOS">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="JOS.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Ai Destroyed</div><div class="p"> 1Then the Lord said to Joshua, &#8220;Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4with these orders: &#8220;Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don&#8217;t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, &#8216;They are running away from us as they did before.&#8217; So when we flee from them, 7you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai&#8212;but Joshua spent that night with the people.</div><div class="p"> 10Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13So the soldiers took up their positions&#8212;with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.</div><div class="p"> 14When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. 16All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 18Then the Lord said to Joshua, &#8220;Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.&#8221; So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. 19As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.</div><div class="p"> 20The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.</div><div class="p"> 24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25Twelve thousand men and women fell that day&#8212;all the people of Ai. 26For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed#8:26 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. all who lived in Ai. 27But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.</div><div class="p"> 28So Joshua burned Ai#8:28 Ai means the ruin. and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.</div><div class="s1">The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal</div><div class="p"> 30Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses&#8212;an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 34Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law&#8212;the blessings and the curses&#8212;just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkISA">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="ISA.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Isaiah and His Children as Signs</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord said to me, &#8220;Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.&#8221;#8:1 Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz means quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil; also in verse 3. 2So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. 3Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, &#8220;Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4For before the boy knows how to say &#8216;My father&#8217; or &#8216;My mother,&#8217; the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5The Lord spoke to me again:</div><div class="q1"> 6&#8220;Because this people has rejected</div><div class="q2">the gently flowing waters of Shiloah</div><div class="q1">and rejoices over Rezin</div><div class="q2">and the son of Remaliah,</div><div class="q1"> 7therefore the Lord is about to bring against them</div><div class="q2">the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates&#8212;</div><div class="q2">the king of Assyria with all his pomp.</div><div class="q1">It will overflow all its channels,</div><div class="q2">run over all its banks</div><div class="q1"> 8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,</div><div class="q2">passing through it and reaching up to the neck.</div><div class="q1">Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,</div><div class="q2">Immanuel#8:8 Immanuel means God with us.!&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 9Raise the war cry,#8:9 Or Do your worst you nations, and be shattered!</div><div class="q2">Listen, all you distant lands.</div><div class="q1">Prepare for battle, and be shattered!</div><div class="q2">Prepare for battle, and be shattered!</div><div class="q1"> 10Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;</div><div class="q2">propose your plan, but it will not stand,</div><div class="q2">for God is with us.#8:10 Hebrew Immanuel</div><div class="p"> 11This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:</div><div class="q1"> 12&#8220;Do not call conspiracy</div><div class="q2">everything this people calls a conspiracy;</div><div class="q1">do not fear what they fear,</div><div class="q2">and do not dread it.</div><div class="q1"> 13The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,</div><div class="q2">he is the one you are to fear,</div><div class="q2">he is the one you are to dread.</div><div class="q1"> 14He will be a holy place;</div><div class="q2">for both Israel and Judah he will be</div><div class="q1">a stone that causes people to stumble</div><div class="q2">and a rock that makes them fall.</div><div class="q1">And for the people of Jerusalem he will be</div><div class="q2">a trap and a snare.</div><div class="q1"> 15Many of them will stumble;</div><div class="q2">they will fall and be broken,</div><div class="q2">they will be snared and captured.&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 16Bind up this testimony of warning</div><div class="q2">and seal up God&#8217;s instruction among my disciples.</div><div class="q1"> 17I will wait for the Lord,</div><div class="q2">who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.</div><div class="q1">I will put my trust in him.</div><div class="p"> 18Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.</div><div class="s1">The Darkness Turns to Light</div><div class="p"> 19When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20Consult God&#8217;s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="ACT.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="p"> 1And Saul approved of their killing him.</div><div class="s1">The Church Persecuted and Scattered</div><div class="p">On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.</div><div class="s1">Philip in Samaria</div><div class="p"> 4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.</div><div class="s1">Simon the Sorcerer</div><div class="p"> 9Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, &#8220;This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.&#8221; 11They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. 12But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.</div><div class="p"> 14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 18When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles&#8217; hands, he offered them money 19and said, &#8220;Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20Peter answered: &#8220;May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Then Simon answered, &#8220;Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.</div><div class="s1">Philip and the Ethiopian</div><div class="p"> 26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, &#8220;Go south to the road&#8212;the desert road&#8212;that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.&#8221; 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian#8:27 That is, from the southern Nile region eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means &#8220;queen of the Ethiopians&#8221;). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29The Spirit told Philip, &#8220;Go to that chariot and stay near it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. &#8220;Do you understand what you are reading?&#8221; Philip asked.</div><div class="p"> 31&#8220;How can I,&#8221; he said, &#8220;unless someone explains it to me?&#8221; So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.</div><div class="p"> 32This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,</div><div class="q2">and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,</div><div class="q2">so he did not open his mouth.</div><div class="q1"> 33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.</div><div class="q2">Who can speak of his descendants?</div><div class="q2">For his life was taken from the earth.&#8221;#8:33 Isaiah 53:7,8 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p"> 34The eunuch asked Philip, &#8220;Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?&#8221; 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, &#8220;Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?&#8221; [37]#8:37 Some manuscripts include here Philip said, &#8220;If you believe with all your heart, you may.&#8221; The eunuch answered, &#8220;I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.&#8221; 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.</div>
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