Healing Family Relationships Through Forgiveness

Healing Family Relationships Through Prayer

Led by the Spirit: Journey Through the Book of Acts Part 2

Faith in the Fire

Healing Family Relationships Through Repentance

Have Faith

Journey Through Philippians and Philemon

You Are Called: Discover Your God-Given Gifts to Fulfill Your Purpose

Commissioned: Powered Up: Living With the Holy Spirit

Healing Family Relationships Through Listening

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

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

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 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Anguish Over Israel</div><div class="p"> 1I speak the truth in Christ&#8212;I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit&#8212; 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!#9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised! Amen.</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Sovereign Choice</div><div class="p"> 6It is not as though God&#8217;s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham&#8217;s children. On the contrary, &#8220;It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.&#8221;#9:7 Gen. 21:12 8In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God&#8217;s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham&#8217;s offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: &#8220;At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.&#8221;#9:9 Gen. 18:10,14</div><div class="p"> 10Not only that, but Rebekah&#8217;s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad&#8212;in order that God&#8217;s purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls&#8212;she was told, &#8220;The older will serve the younger.&#8221;#9:12 Gen. 25:23 13Just as it is written: &#8220;Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.&#8221;#9:13 Mal. 1:2,3</div><div class="p"> 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,</div><div class="q2">and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.&#8221;#9:15 Exodus 33:19</div><div class="m"> 16It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God&#8217;s mercy. 17For Scripture says to Pharaoh: &#8220;I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.&#8221;#9:17 Exodus 9:16 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.</div><div class="p"> 19One of you will say to me: &#8220;Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?&#8221; 20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? &#8220;Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, &#8216;Why did you make me like this?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?</div><div class="p"> 22What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath&#8212;prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory&#8212; 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will call them &#8216;my people&#8217; who are not my people;</div><div class="q2">and I will call her &#8216;my loved one&#8217; who is not my loved one,&#8221;#9:25 Hosea 2:23</div><div class="m"> 26and,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;In the very place where it was said to them,</div><div class="q2">&#8216;You are not my people,&#8217;</div><div class="q2">there they will be called &#8216;children of the living God.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#9:26 Hosea 1:10</div><div class="m"> 27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,</div><div class="q2">only the remnant will be saved.</div><div class="q1"> 28For the Lord will carry out</div><div class="q2">his sentence on earth with speed and finality.&#8221;#9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="m"> 29It is just as Isaiah said previously:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Unless the Lord Almighty</div><div class="q2">had left us descendants,</div><div class="q1">we would have become like Sodom,</div><div class="q2">we would have been like Gomorrah.&#8221;#9:29 Isaiah 1:9</div><div class="s1">Israel&#8217;s Unbelief</div><div class="p"> 30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble</div><div class="q2">and a rock that makes them fall,</div><div class="q2">and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.&#8221;#9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16</div>
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 <div class="label">10</div><div class="p"> 1Brothers and sisters, my heart&#8217;s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God&#8217;s righteousness. 4Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.</div><div class="p"> 5Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: &#8220;The person who does these things will live by them.&#8221;#10:5 Lev. 18:5 6But the righteousness that is by faith says: &#8220;Do not say in your heart, &#8216;Who will ascend into heaven?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#10:6 Deut. 30:12 (that is, to bring Christ down) 7&#8220;or &#8216;Who will descend into the deep?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#10:7 Deut. 30:13 (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? &#8220;The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,&#8221;#10:8 Deut. 30:14 that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9If you declare with your mouth, &#8220;Jesus is Lord,&#8221; and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, &#8220;Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.&#8221;#10:11 Isaiah 28:16 (see Septuagint) 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile&#8212;the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, &#8220;Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.&#8221;#10:13 Joel 2:32</div><div class="p"> 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: &#8220;How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!&#8221;#10:15 Isaiah 52:7</div><div class="p"> 16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, &#8220;Lord, who has believed our message?&#8221;#10:16 Isaiah 53:1 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 18But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Their voice has gone out into all the earth,</div><div class="q2">their words to the ends of the world.&#8221;#10:18 Psalm 19:4</div><div class="m"> 19Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;</div><div class="q2">I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.&#8221;#10:19 Deut. 32:21</div><div class="m"> 20And Isaiah boldly says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I was found by those who did not seek me;</div><div class="q2">I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.&#8221;#10:20 Isaiah 65:1</div><div class="m"> 21But concerning Israel he says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;All day long I have held out my hands</div><div class="q2">to a disobedient and obstinate people.&#8221;#10:21 Isaiah 65:2</div>
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 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">The Remnant of Israel</div><div class="p"> 1I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don&#8217;t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah&#8212;how he appealed to God against Israel: 3&#8220;Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me&#8221;#11:3 1 Kings 19:10,14? 4And what was God&#8217;s answer to him? &#8220;I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.&#8221;#11:4 1 Kings 19:18 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.</div><div class="p"> 7What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;God gave them a spirit of stupor,</div><div class="q2">eyes that could not see</div><div class="q2">and ears that could not hear,</div><div class="q1">to this very day.&#8221;#11:8 Deut. 29:4; Isaiah 29:10</div><div class="m"> 9And David says:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;May their table become a snare and a trap,</div><div class="q2">a stumbling block and a retribution for them.</div><div class="q1"> 10May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,</div><div class="q2">and their backs be bent forever.&#8221;#11:10 Psalm 69:22,23</div><div class="s1">Ingrafted Branches</div><div class="p"> 11Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!</div><div class="p"> 13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.</div><div class="p"> 17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, &#8220;Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.&#8221; 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.</div><div class="p"> 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!</div><div class="s1">All Israel Will Be Saved</div><div class="p"> 25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26and in this way#11:26 Or and so all Israel will be saved. As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;The deliverer will come from Zion;</div><div class="q2">he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.</div><div class="q1"> 27And this is#11:27 Or will be my covenant with them</div><div class="q2">when I take away their sins.&#8221;#11:27 Isaiah 59:20,21; 27:9 (see Septuagint); Jer. 31:33,34</div><div class="p"> 28As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29for God&#8217;s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now#11:31 Some manuscripts do not have now. receive mercy as a result of God&#8217;s mercy to you. 32For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.</div><div class="s1">Doxology</div><div class="q1"> 33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and#11:33 Or riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!</div><div class="q2">How unsearchable his judgments,</div><div class="q2">and his paths beyond tracing out!</div><div class="q1"> 34&#8220;Who has known the mind of the Lord?</div><div class="q2">Or who has been his counselor?&#8221;#11:34 Isaiah 40:13</div><div class="q1"> 35&#8220;Who has ever given to God,</div><div class="q2">that God should repay them?&#8221;#11:35 Job 41:11</div><div class="q1"> 36For from him and through him and for him are all things.</div><div class="q2">To him be the glory forever! Amen.</div>
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 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">A Living Sacrifice</div><div class="p"> 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God&#8217;s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God&#8212;this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God&#8217;s will is&#8212;his good, pleasing and perfect will.</div><div class="s1">Humble Service in the Body of Christ</div><div class="p"> 3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your#12:6 Or the faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,#12:8 Or to provide for others do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.</div><div class="s1">Love in Action</div><div class="p"> 9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with the Lord&#8217;s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.</div><div class="p"> 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.#12:16 Or willing to do menial work Do not be conceited.</div><div class="p"> 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God&#8217;s wrath, for it is written: &#8220;It is mine to avenge; I will repay,&#8221;#12:19 Deut. 32:35 says the Lord. 20On the contrary:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;If your enemy is hungry, feed him;</div><div class="q2">if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.</div><div class="q1">In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.&#8221;#12:20 Prov. 25:21,22</div><div class="m"> 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.</div>
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 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Submission to Governing Authorities</div><div class="p"> 1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God&#8217;s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God&#8217;s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.</div><div class="p"> 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God&#8217;s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.</div><div class="s1">Love Fulfills the Law</div><div class="p"> 8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, &#8220;You shall not commit adultery,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not murder,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not steal,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not covet,&#8221;#13:9 Exodus 20:13-15,17; Deut. 5:17-19,21 and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: &#8220;Love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;#13:9 Lev. 19:18 10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.</div><div class="s1">The Day Is Near</div><div class="p"> 11And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.#13:14 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.</div>
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 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">The Weak and the Strong</div><div class="p"> 1Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2One person&#8217;s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4Who are you to judge someone else&#8217;s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.</div><div class="p"> 5One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.</div><div class="p"> 10You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister#14:10 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verses 13, 15 and 21.? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God&#8217;s judgment seat. 11It is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;As surely as I live,&#8217; says the Lord,</div><div class="q1">&#8216;every knee will bow before me;</div><div class="q2">every tongue will acknowledge God.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#14:11 Isaiah 45:23</div><div class="m"> 12So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.</div><div class="p"> 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.</div><div class="p"> 19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.</div><div class="p"> 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.#14:23 Some manuscripts place 16:25-27 here; others after 15:33.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="ROM.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="p"> 1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: &#8220;The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.&#8221;#15:3 Psalm 69:9 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.</div><div class="p"> 5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews#15:8 Greek circumcision on behalf of God&#8217;s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;</div><div class="q2">I will sing the praises of your name.&#8221;#15:9 2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49</div><div class="m"> 10Again, it says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.&#8221;#15:10 Deut. 32:43</div><div class="m"> 11And again,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;</div><div class="q2">let all the peoples extol him.&#8221;#15:11 Psalm 117:1</div><div class="m"> 12And again, Isaiah says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;The Root of Jesse will spring up,</div><div class="q2">one who will arise to rule over the nations;</div><div class="q2">in him the Gentiles will hope.&#8221;#15:12 Isaiah 11:10 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p"> 13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="s1">Paul the Minister to the Gentiles</div><div class="p"> 14I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 17Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done&#8212; 19by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else&#8217;s foundation. 21Rather, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Those who were not told about him will see,</div><div class="q2">and those who have not heard will understand.&#8221;#15:21 Isaiah 52:15 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="m"> 22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Plan to Visit Rome</div><div class="p"> 23But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord&#8217;s people there. 26For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord&#8217;s people in Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews&#8217; spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 30I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord&#8217;s people there, 32so that I may come to you with joy, by God&#8217;s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33The God of peace be with you all. Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="ROM.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Personal Greetings</div><div class="p"> 1I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon#16:1 Or servant#16:1 The word deacon refers here to a Christian designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways; similarly in Phil. 1:1 and 1 Tim. 3:8,12. of the church in Cenchreae. 2I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="li1"> 3Greet Priscilla#16:3 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.</div><div class="li1"> 5Greet also the church that meets at their house.</div><div class="li1">Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.</div><div class="li1"> 6Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.</div><div class="li1"> 7Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among#16:7 Or are esteemed by the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.</div><div class="li1"> 8Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.</div><div class="li1"> 9Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.</div><div class="li1"> 10Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.</div><div class="li1">Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.</div><div class="li1"> 11Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.</div><div class="li1">Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.</div><div class="li1"> 12Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.</div><div class="li1">Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.</div><div class="li1"> 13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.</div><div class="li1"> 14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.</div><div class="li1"> 15Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord&#8217;s people who are with them.</div><div class="li1"> 16Greet one another with a holy kiss.</div><div class="li1">All the churches of Christ send greetings.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 17I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. 19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.</div><div class="p"> 20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.</div><div class="p">The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.</div><div class="p"> 21Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.</div><div class="p"> 22I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 23Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.</div><div class="p">Erastus, who is the city&#8217;s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. [24]#16:24 Some manuscripts include here May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.</div><div class="p"> 25Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from#16:26 Or that is faith&#8212; 27to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="1CO.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ&#8212;their Lord and ours:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving</div><div class="p"> 4I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way&#8212;with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge&#8212; 6God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.</div><div class="s1">A Church Divided Over Leaders</div><div class="p"> 10I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,#1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20. in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe&#8217;s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, &#8220;I follow Paul&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Apollos&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Cephas#1:12 That is, Peter&#8221;; still another, &#8220;I follow Christ.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don&#8217;t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel&#8212;not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.</div><div class="s1">Christ Crucified Is God&#8217;s Power and Wisdom</div><div class="p"> 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;</div><div class="q2">the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.&#8221;#1:19 Isaiah 29:14</div><div class="p"> 20Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.</div><div class="p"> 26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things&#8212;and the things that are not&#8212;to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God&#8212;that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: &#8220;Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.&#8221;#1:31 Jer. 9:24</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1CO.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="p"> 1And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.#2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God&#8217;s mystery 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit&#8217;s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God&#8217;s power.</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we declare God&#8217;s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;What no eye has seen,</div><div class="q2">what no ear has heard,</div><div class="q1">and what no human mind has conceived&#8221;#2:9 Isaiah 64:4&#8212;</div><div class="q2">the things God has prepared for those who love him&#8212;</div><div class="m"> 10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.</div><div class="p">The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person&#8217;s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.#2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual 14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16for,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Who has known the mind of the Lord</div><div class="q2">so as to instruct him?&#8221;#2:16 Isaiah 40:13</div><div class="m">But we have the mind of Christ.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1CO.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">The Church and Its Leaders</div><div class="p"> 1Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly&#8212;mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4For when one says, &#8220;I follow Paul,&#8221; and another, &#8220;I follow Apollos,&#8221; are you not mere human beings?</div><div class="p"> 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe&#8212;as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9For we are co-workers in God&#8217;s service; you are God&#8217;s field, God&#8217;s building.</div><div class="p"> 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person&#8217;s work. 14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved&#8212;even though only as one escaping through the flames.</div><div class="p"> 16Don&#8217;t you know that you yourselves are God&#8217;s temple and that God&#8217;s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17If anyone destroys God&#8217;s temple, God will destroy that person; for God&#8217;s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.</div><div class="p"> 18Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become &#8220;fools&#8221; so that you may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God&#8217;s sight. As it is written: &#8220;He catches the wise in their craftiness&#8221;#3:19 Job 5:13; 20and again, &#8220;The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.&#8221;#3:20 Psalm 94:11 21So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas#3:22 That is, Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future&#8212;all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="1CO.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">The Nature of True Apostleship</div><div class="p"> 1This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.</div><div class="p"> 6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, &#8220;Do not go beyond what is written.&#8221; Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?</div><div class="p"> 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign&#8212;and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world&#8212;right up to this moment.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Appeal and Warning</div><div class="p"> 14I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.</div><div class="p"> 18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="1CO.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">Dealing With a Case of Incest</div><div class="p"> 1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father&#8217;s wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn&#8217;t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,#5:5 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.#5:5 Or of his body so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 6Your boasting is not good. Don&#8217;t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch&#8212;as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.</div><div class="p"> 9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people&#8212; 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister#5:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in 8:11, 13. but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.</div><div class="p"> 12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. &#8220;Expel the wicked person from among you.&#8221;#5:13 Deut. 13:5; 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24; 24:7</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="1CO.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Lawsuits Among Believers</div><div class="p"> 1If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord&#8217;s people? 2Or do you not know that the Lord&#8217;s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6But instead, one brother takes another to court&#8212;and this in front of unbelievers!</div><div class="p"> 7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men#6:9 The words men who have sex with men translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts. 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.</div><div class="s1">Sexual Immorality</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;I have the right to do anything,&#8221; you say&#8212;but not everything is beneficial. &#8220;I have the right to do anything&#8221;&#8212;but I will not be mastered by anything. 13You say, &#8220;Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.&#8221; The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, &#8220;The two will become one flesh.&#8221;#6:16 Gen. 2:24 17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.#6:17 Or in the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="1CO.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Concerning Married Life</div><div class="p"> 1Now for the matters you wrote about: &#8220;It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.&#8221; 2But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.</div><div class="p"> 8Now to the unmarried#7:8 Or widowers and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.</div><div class="p"> 10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.</div><div class="p"> 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.</div><div class="p"> 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?</div><div class="s1">Concerning Change of Status</div><div class="p"> 17Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God&#8217;s commands is what counts. 20Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="p"> 21Were you a slave when you were called? Don&#8217;t let it trouble you&#8212;although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord&#8217;s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ&#8217;s slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="s1">Concerning the Unmarried</div><div class="p"> 25Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord&#8217;s mercy is trustworthy. 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.</div><div class="p"> 29What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.</div><div class="p"> 32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs&#8212;how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how he can please his wife&#8212; 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 36If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong#7:36 Or if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.#7:36-38 Or 36 If anyone thinks he is not treating his daughter properly, and if she is getting along in years (or if her passions are too strong), and he feels she ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. He should let her get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind to keep the virgin unmarried&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who gives his virgin in marriage does right, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.</div><div class="p"> 39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is&#8212;and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="1CO.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols</div><div class="p"> 1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that &#8220;We all possess knowledge.&#8221; But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3But whoever loves God is known by God.#8:2,3 An early manuscript and another ancient witness think they have knowledge do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves truly knows.</div><div class="p"> 4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that &#8220;An idol is nothing at all in the world&#8221; and that &#8220;There is no God but one.&#8221; 5For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many &#8220;gods&#8221; and many &#8220;lords&#8221;), 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.</div><div class="p"> 7But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.</div><div class="p"> 9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol&#8217;s temple, won&#8217;t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="1CO.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Rights as an Apostle</div><div class="p"> 1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? 2Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 3This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4Don&#8217;t we have the right to food and drink? 5Don&#8217;t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord&#8217;s brothers and Cephas#9:5 That is, Peter? 6Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?</div><div class="p"> 7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn&#8217;t the Law say the same thing? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses: &#8220;Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.&#8221;#9:9 Deut. 25:4 Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10Surely he says this for us, doesn&#8217;t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12If others have this right of support from you, shouldn&#8217;t we have it all the more?</div><div class="p">But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 13Don&#8217;t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.</div><div class="p"> 15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Use of His Freedom</div><div class="p"> 19Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God&#8217;s law but am under Christ&#8217;s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.</div><div class="s1">The Need for Self-Discipline</div><div class="p"> 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="1CO.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">Warnings From Israel&#8217;s History</div><div class="p"> 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.</div><div class="p"> 6Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: &#8220;The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.&#8221;#10:7 Exodus 32:6 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did&#8212;and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9We should not test Christ,#10:9 Some manuscripts test the Lord as some of them did&#8212;and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did&#8212;and were killed by the destroying angel.</div><div class="p"> 11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don&#8217;t fall! 13No temptation#10:13 The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested. has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted#10:13 The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested. beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,#10:13 The Greek for temptation and tempted can also mean testing and tested. he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.</div><div class="s1">Idol Feasts and the Lord&#8217;s Supper</div><div class="p"> 14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.</div><div class="p"> 18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord&#8217;s table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to arouse the Lord&#8217;s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?</div><div class="s1">The Believer&#8217;s Freedom</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;I have the right to do anything,&#8221; you say&#8212;but not everything is beneficial. &#8220;I have the right to do anything&#8221;&#8212;but not everything is constructive. 24No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.</div><div class="p"> 25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, &#8220;The earth is the Lord&#8217;s, and everything in it.&#8221;#10:26 Psalm 24:1</div><div class="p"> 27If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if someone says to you, &#8220;This has been offered in sacrifice,&#8221; then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 29I am referring to the other person&#8217;s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another&#8217;s conscience? 30If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?</div><div class="p"> 31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God&#8212; 33even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="1CO.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="nb"> 1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.</div><div class="s1">On Covering the Head in Worship</div><div class="p"> 2I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. 3But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man,#11:3 Or of the wife is her husband and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head&#8212;it is the same as having her head shaved. 6For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.</div><div class="p"> 7A man ought not to cover his head,#11:4-7 Or 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with long hair dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with no covering of hair dishonors her head&#8212;she is just like one of the &#8220;shorn women.&#8221; 6 If a woman has no covering, let her be for now with short hair; but since it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair shorn or shaved, she should grow it again. 7 A man ought not to have long hair since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own#11:10 Or have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.</div><div class="p"> 13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice&#8212;nor do the churches of God.</div><div class="s1">Correcting an Abuse of the Lord&#8217;s Supper</div><div class="p"> 17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God&#8217;s approval. 20So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord&#8217;s Supper you eat, 21for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22Don&#8217;t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!</div><div class="p"> 23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, &#8220;This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.&#8221; 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, &#8220;This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.&#8221; 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord&#8217;s death until he comes.</div><div class="p"> 27So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.</div><div class="p"> 33So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.</div><div class="p">And when I come I will give further directions.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="1CO.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Concerning Spiritual Gifts</div><div class="p"> 1Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, &#8220;Jesus be cursed,&#8221; and no one can say, &#8220;Jesus is Lord,&#8221; except by the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.</div><div class="p"> 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 and to still another the interpretation of tongues.#12:10 Or languages; also in verse 28 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.</div><div class="s1">Unity and Diversity in the Body</div><div class="p"> 12Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by#12:13 Or with; or in one Spirit so as to form one body&#8212;whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free&#8212;and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.</div><div class="p"> 15Now if the foot should say, &#8220;Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,&#8221; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, &#8220;Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,&#8221; it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.</div><div class="p"> 21The eye cannot say to the hand, &#8220;I don&#8217;t need you!&#8221; And the head cannot say to the feet, &#8220;I don&#8217;t need you!&#8221; 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.</div><div class="p"> 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues#12:30 Or other languages? Do all interpret? 31Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.</div><div class="s1">Love Is Indispensable</div><div class="p">And yet I will show you the most excellent way.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="1CO.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="p"> 1If I speak in the tongues#13:1 Or languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,#13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames but do not have love, I gain nothing.</div><div class="p"> 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.</div><div class="p"> 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.</div><div class="p"> 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="1CO.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Intelligibility in Worship</div><div class="p"> 1Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2For anyone who speaks in a tongue#14:2 Or in another language; also in verses 4, 13, 14, 19, 26 and 27 does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,#14:5 Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39 but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues,#14:5 Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39 unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.</div><div class="p"> 6Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me. 12So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.</div><div class="p"> 13For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,#14:16 The Greek word for inquirer is a technical term for someone not fully initiated into a religion; also in verses 23 and 24. say &#8220;Amen&#8221; to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.</div><div class="p"> 18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.</div><div class="p"> 20Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;With other tongues</div><div class="q2">and through the lips of foreigners</div><div class="q1">I will speak to this people,</div><div class="q2">but even then they will not listen to me,</div><div class="q4">says the Lord.&#8221;#14:21 Isaiah 28:11,12</div><div class="p"> 22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, &#8220;God is really among you!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Good Order in Worship</div><div class="p"> 26What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two&#8212;or at the most three&#8212;should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.</div><div class="p"> 29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace&#8212;as in all the congregations of the Lord&#8217;s people.</div><div class="p"> 34Women#14:33,34 Or peace. As in all the congregations of the Lord&#8217;s people, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.#14:34,35 In a few manuscripts these verses come after verse 40.</div><div class="p"> 36Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord&#8217;s command. 38But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.#14:38 Some manuscripts But anyone who is ignorant of this will be ignorant</div><div class="p"> 39Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="1CO.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Resurrection of Christ</div><div class="p"> 1Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.</div><div class="p"> 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance#15:3 Or you at the first: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas,#15:5 That is, Peter and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.</div><div class="p"> 9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them&#8212;yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.</div><div class="s1">The Resurrection of the Dead</div><div class="p"> 12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.</div><div class="p"> 20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he &#8220;has put everything under his feet.&#8221;#15:27 Psalm 8:6 Now when it says that &#8220;everything&#8221; has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.</div><div class="p"> 29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I face death every day&#8212;yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Let us eat and drink,</div><div class="q2">for tomorrow we die.&#8221;#15:32 Isaiah 22:13</div><div class="m"> 33Do not be misled: &#8220;Bad company corrupts good character.&#8221;#15:33 From the Greek poet Menander 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God&#8212;I say this to your shame.</div><div class="s1">The Resurrection Body</div><div class="p"> 35But someone will ask, &#8220;How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?&#8221; 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.</div><div class="p"> 42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.</div><div class="p">If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: &#8220;The first man Adam became a living being&#8221;#15:45 Gen. 2:7; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we#15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us bear the image of the heavenly man.</div><div class="p"> 50I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed&#8212; 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: &#8220;Death has been swallowed up in victory.&#8221;#15:54 Isaiah 25:8</div><div class="q1"> 55&#8220;Where, O death, is your victory?</div><div class="q2">Where, O death, is your sting?&#8221;#15:55 Hosea 13:14</div><div class="m"> 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="1CO.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">The Collection for the Lord&#8217;s People</div><div class="p"> 1Now about the collection for the Lord&#8217;s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.</div><div class="s1">Personal Requests</div><div class="p"> 5After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you&#8212;for I will be going through Macedonia. 6Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.</div><div class="p"> 10When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. 11No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.</div><div class="p"> 12Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.</div><div class="p"> 13Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14Do everything in love.</div><div class="p"> 15You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord&#8217;s people. I urge you, brothers and sisters, 16to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it. 17I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.</div><div class="s1">Final Greetings</div><div class="p"> 19The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla#16:19 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.</div><div class="p"> 21I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.</div><div class="p"> 22If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord#16:22 The Greek for Come, Lord reproduces an Aramaic expression (Marana tha) used by early Christians.!</div><div class="p"> 23The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.</div><div class="p"> 24My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.#16:24 Some manuscripts do not have Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="2CO.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Praise to the God of All Comfort</div><div class="p"> 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.</div><div class="p"> 8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,#1:8 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in 8:1; 13:11. about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Change of Plans</div><div class="p"> 12Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity#1:12 Many manuscripts holiness and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God&#8217;s grace. 13For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 15Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both &#8220;Yes, yes&#8221; and &#8220;No, no&#8221;?</div><div class="p"> 18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not &#8220;Yes&#8221; and &#8220;No.&#8221; 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us&#8212;by me and Silas#1:19 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas and Timothy&#8212;was not &#8220;Yes&#8221; and &#8220;No,&#8221; but in him it has always been &#8220;Yes.&#8221; 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are &#8220;Yes&#8221; in Christ. And so through him the &#8220;Amen&#8221; is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.</div><div class="p"> 23I call God as my witness&#8212;and I stake my life on it&#8212;that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="nb"> 1So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.</div><div class="s1">Forgiveness for the Offender</div><div class="p"> 5If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent&#8212;not to put it too severely. 6The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 7Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven&#8212;if there was anything to forgive&#8212;I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.</div><div class="s1">Ministers of the New Covenant</div><div class="p"> 12Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.</div><div class="p"> 14But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ&#8217;s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="2CO.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.</div><div class="p"> 4Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant&#8212;not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.</div><div class="s1">The Greater Glory of the New Covenant</div><div class="p"> 7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!</div><div class="p"> 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate#3:18 Or reflect the Lord&#8217;s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="2CO.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Present Weakness and Resurrection Life</div><div class="p"> 1Therefore, since through God&#8217;s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone&#8217;s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus&#8217; sake. 6For God, who said, &#8220;Let light shine out of darkness,&#8221;#4:6 Gen. 1:3 made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God&#8217;s glory displayed in the face of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus&#8217; sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.</div><div class="p"> 13It is written: &#8220;I believed; therefore I have spoken.&#8221;#4:13 Psalm 116:10 (see Septuagint) Since we have that same spirit of#4:13 Or Spirit-given faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.</div><div class="p"> 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="2CO.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">Awaiting the New Body</div><div class="p"> 1For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.</div><div class="p"> 6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7For we live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.</div><div class="s1">The Ministry of Reconciliation</div><div class="p"> 11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are &#8220;out of our mind,&#8221; as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ&#8217;s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.</div><div class="p"> 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:#5:17 Or Christ, that person is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people&#8217;s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ&#8217;s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ&#8217;s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin#5:21 Or be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="2CO.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="p"> 1As God&#8217;s co-workers we urge you not to receive God&#8217;s grace in vain. 2For he says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;In the time of my favor I heard you,</div><div class="q2">and in the day of salvation I helped you.&#8221;#6:2 Isaiah 49:8</div><div class="m">I tell you, now is the time of God&#8217;s favor, now is the day of salvation.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Hardships</div><div class="p"> 3We put no stumbling block in anyone&#8217;s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.</div><div class="p"> 11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13As a fair exchange&#8212;I speak as to my children&#8212;open wide your hearts also.</div><div class="s1">Warning Against Idolatry</div><div class="p"> 14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial#6:15 Greek Beliar, a variant of Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will live with them</div><div class="q2">and walk among them,</div><div class="q1">and I will be their God,</div><div class="q2">and they will be my people.&#8221;#6:16 Lev. 26:12; Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 37:27</div><div class="m"> 17Therefore,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Come out from them</div><div class="q2">and be separate,</div><div class="q4">says the Lord.</div><div class="q1">Touch no unclean thing,</div><div class="q2">and I will receive you.&#8221;#6:17 Isaiah 52:11; Ezek. 20:34,41</div><div class="m"> 18And,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will be a Father to you,</div><div class="q2">and you will be my sons and daughters,</div><div class="q4">says the Lord Almighty.&#8221;#6:18 2 Samuel 7:14; 7:8</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="2CO.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="p"> 1Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Joy Over the Church&#8217;s Repentance</div><div class="p"> 2Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 4I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.</div><div class="p"> 5For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn&#8212;conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.</div><div class="p"> 8Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it&#8212;I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while&#8212; 9yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12So even though I wrote to you, it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13By all this we are encouraged.</div><div class="p">In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 16I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="2CO.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">The Collection for the Lord&#8217;s People</div><div class="p"> 1And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord&#8217;s people. 5And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7But since you excel in everything&#8212;in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you#8:7 Some manuscripts and in your love for us&#8212;see that you also excel in this grace of giving.</div><div class="p"> 8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.</div><div class="p"> 10And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.</div><div class="p"> 13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15as it is written: &#8220;The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.&#8221;#8:15 Exodus 16:18</div><div class="s1">Titus Sent to Receive the Collection</div><div class="p"> 16Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.</div><div class="p"> 22In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="2CO.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="p"> 1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord&#8217;s people. 2For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we&#8212;not to say anything about you&#8212;would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.</div><div class="s1">Generosity Encouraged</div><div class="p"> 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;</div><div class="q2">their righteousness endures forever.&#8221;#9:9 Psalm 112:9</div><div class="m"> 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.</div><div class="p"> 12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord&#8217;s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="2CO.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Defense of His Ministry</div><div class="p"> 1By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you&#8212;I, Paul, who am &#8220;timid&#8221; when face to face with you, but &#8220;bold&#8221; toward you when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.</div><div class="p"> 7You are judging by appearances.#10:7 Or Look at the obvious facts If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. 8So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, &#8220;His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.&#8221; 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.</div><div class="p"> 12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else&#8217;s territory. 17But, &#8220;Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.&#8221;#10:17 Jer. 9:24 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="2CO.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">Paul and the False Apostles</div><div class="p"> 1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent&#8217;s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.</div><div class="p"> 5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those &#8220;super-apostles.&#8221;#11:5 Or to the most eminent apostles 6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!</div><div class="p"> 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.</div><div class="s1">Paul Boasts About His Sufferings</div><div class="p"> 16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!</div><div class="p">Whatever anyone else dares to boast about&#8212;I am speaking as a fool&#8212;I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham&#8217;s descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?</div><div class="p"> 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.</div>
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 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="2CO.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Vision and His Thorn</div><div class="p"> 1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know&#8212;God knows. 3And I know that this man&#8212;whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows&#8212; 4was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, &#8220;My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.&#8221; Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ&#8217;s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ&#8217;s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Concern for the Corinthians</div><div class="p"> 11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the &#8220;super-apostles,&#8221;#12:11 Or the most eminent apostles even though I am nothing. 12I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. 13How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!</div><div class="p"> 14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 17Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? 18I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit?</div><div class="p"> 19Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk2CO">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="2CO.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Final Warnings</div><div class="p"> 1This will be my third visit to you. &#8220;Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.&#8221;#13:1 Deut. 19:15 2I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 3since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God&#8217;s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God&#8217;s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.</div><div class="p"> 5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you&#8212;unless, of course, you fail the test? 6And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong&#8212;not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority&#8212;the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.</div><div class="s1">Final Greetings</div><div class="p"> 11Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.</div><div class="p"> 12Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13All God&#8217;s people here send their greetings.</div><div class="p"> 14May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="GAL.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, an apostle&#8212;sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead&#8212; 2and all the brothers and sisters#1:2 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15; 4:12, 28, 31; 5:11, 13; 6:1, 18. with me,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To the churches in Galatia:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.</div><div class="s1">No Other Gospel</div><div class="p"> 6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel&#8212; 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God&#8217;s curse! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God&#8217;s curse!</div><div class="p"> 10Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.</div><div class="s1">Paul Called by God</div><div class="p"> 11I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 13For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15But when God, who set me apart from my mother&#8217;s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.</div><div class="p"> 18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas#1:18 That is, Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19I saw none of the other apostles&#8212;only James, the Lord&#8217;s brother. 20I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.</div><div class="p"> 21Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They only heard the report: &#8220;The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.&#8221; 24And they praised God because of me.</div>
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 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="GAL.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Paul Accepted by the Apostles</div><div class="p"> 1Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.</div><div class="p"> 6As for those who were held in high esteem&#8212;whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism&#8212;they added nothing to my message. 7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,#2:7 That is, Gentiles just as Peter had been to the circumcised.#2:7 That is, Jews; also in verses 8 and 9 8For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9James, Cephas#2:9 That is, Peter; also in verses 11 and 14 and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.</div><div class="s1">Paul Opposes Cephas</div><div class="p"> 11When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.</div><div class="p"> 14When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, &#8220;You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in#2:16 Or but through the faithfulness of&#8230; justified on the basis of the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn&#8217;t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!&#8221;#2:21 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 14.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="GAL.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Faith or Works of the Law</div><div class="p"> 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?#3:3 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. 4Have you experienced#3:4 Or suffered so much in vain&#8212;if it really was in vain? 5So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6So also Abraham &#8220;believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.&#8221;#3:6 Gen. 15:6</div><div class="p"> 7Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: &#8220;All nations will be blessed through you.&#8221;#3:8 Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18 9So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.</div><div class="p"> 10For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: &#8220;Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.&#8221;#3:10 Deut. 27:26 11Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because &#8220;the righteous will live by faith.&#8221;#3:11 Hab. 2:4 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, &#8220;The person who does these things will live by them.&#8221;#3:12 Lev. 18:5 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: &#8220;Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.&#8221;#3:13 Deut. 21:23 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.</div><div class="s1">The Law and the Promise</div><div class="p"> 15Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say &#8220;and to seeds,&#8221; meaning many people, but &#8220;and to your seed,&#8221;#3:16 Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7 meaning one person, who is Christ. 17What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.</div><div class="p"> 19Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.</div><div class="p"> 21Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.</div><div class="s1">Children of God</div><div class="p"> 23Before the coming of this faith,#3:22,23 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus&#8230; 23 Before faith came we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.</div><div class="p"> 26So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham&#8217;s seed, and heirs according to the promise.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="GAL.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="p"> 1What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces#4:3 Or under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.#4:5 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture. 6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, &#8220;Abba,#4:6 Aramaic for Father Father.&#8221; 7So you are no longer a slave, but God&#8217;s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Concern for the Galatians</div><div class="p"> 8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God&#8212;or rather are known by God&#8212;how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces#4:9 Or principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.</div><div class="p"> 12I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?</div><div class="p"> 17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!</div><div class="s1">Hagar and Sarah</div><div class="p"> 21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.</div><div class="p"> 24These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Be glad, barren woman,</div><div class="q2">you who never bore a child;</div><div class="q1">shout for joy and cry aloud,</div><div class="q2">you who were never in labor;</div><div class="q1">because more are the children of the desolate woman</div><div class="q2">than of her who has a husband.&#8221;#4:27 Isaiah 54:1</div><div class="p"> 28Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does Scripture say? &#8220;Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman&#8217;s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman&#8217;s son.&#8221;#4:30 Gen. 21:10 31Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="GAL.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">Freedom in Christ</div><div class="p"> 1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.</div><div class="p"> 2Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.</div><div class="p"> 7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9&#8220;A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.&#8221; 10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!</div><div class="s1">Life by the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh#5:13 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 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: &#8220;Love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;#5:14 Lev. 19:18 15If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.</div><div class="p"> 16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever#5:17 Or you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.</div><div class="p"> 19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.</div><div class="p"> 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGAL">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="GAL.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Doing Good to All</div><div class="p"> 1Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other&#8217;s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5for each one should carry their own load. 6Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.</div><div class="p"> 7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.</div><div class="s1">Not Circumcision but the New Creation</div><div class="p"> 11See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!</div><div class="p"> 12Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which#6:14 Or whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule&#8212;to#6:16 Or rule and to the Israel of God.</div><div class="p"> 17From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="EPH.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To God&#8217;s holy people in Ephesus,#1:1 Some early manuscripts do not have in Ephesus. the faithful in Christ Jesus:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ</div><div class="p"> 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he#1:4,5 Or sight in love. 5 He predestined us for adoption to sonship#1:5 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture. through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will&#8212; 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God&#8217;s grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9he#1:8,9 Or us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment&#8212;to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.</div><div class="p"> 11In him we were also chosen,#1:11 Or were made heirs having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God&#8217;s possession&#8212;to the praise of his glory.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving and Prayer</div><div class="p"> 15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God&#8217;s people, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit#1:17 Or a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="EPH.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Made Alive in Christ</div><div class="p"> 1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh#2:3 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. and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions&#8212;it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith&#8212;and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God&#8212; 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God&#8217;s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.</div><div class="s1">Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ</div><div class="p"> 11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called &#8220;uncircumcised&#8221; by those who call themselves &#8220;the circumcision&#8221; (which is done in the body by human hands)&#8212; 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God&#8217;s people and also members of his household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="EPH.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Marvelous Plan for the Gentiles</div><div class="p"> 1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles&#8212;</div><div class="p"> 2Surely you have heard about the administration of God&#8217;s grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God&#8217;s holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God&#8217;s grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all the Lord&#8217;s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.</div><div class="s1">A Prayer for the Ephesians</div><div class="p"> 14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom every family#3:15 The Greek for family (patria) is derived from the Greek for father (pater). in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the Lord&#8217;s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge&#8212;that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.</div><div class="p"> 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="EPH.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ</div><div class="p"> 1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.</div><div class="p"> 7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it#4:8 Or God says:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;When he ascended on high,</div><div class="q2">he took many captives</div><div class="q2">and gave gifts to his people.&#8221;#4:8 Psalm 68:18</div><div class="m"> 9(What does &#8220;he ascended&#8221; mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions#4:9 Or the depths of the earth? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.</div><div class="s1">Instructions for Christian Living</div><div class="p"> 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.</div><div class="p"> 20That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.</div><div class="p"> 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26&#8220;In your anger do not sin&#8221;#4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint): Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.</div><div class="p"> 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="EPH.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="nb"> 1Follow God&#8217;s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.</div><div class="p"> 3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God&#8217;s holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person&#8212;such a person is an idolater&#8212;has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.#5:5 Or kingdom of the Messiah and God 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God&#8217;s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.</div><div class="p"> 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible&#8212;and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14This is why it is said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Wake up, sleeper,</div><div class="q2">rise from the dead,</div><div class="q2">and Christ will shine on you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15Be very careful, then, how you live&#8212;not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord&#8217;s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Instructions for Christian Households</div><div class="p"> 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.</div><div class="p"> 22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.</div><div class="p"> 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing#5:26 Or having cleansed her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church&#8212; 30for we are members of his body. 31&#8220;For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.&#8221;#5:31 Gen. 2:24 32This is a profound mystery&#8212;but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="EPH.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="p"> 1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2&#8220;Honor your father and mother&#8221;&#8212;which is the first commandment with a promise&#8212; 3&#8220;so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.&#8221;#6:3 Deut. 5:16</div><div class="p"> 4Fathers,#6:4 Or Parents do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.</div><div class="p"> 9And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.</div><div class="s1">The Armor of God</div><div class="p"> 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil&#8217;s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.</div><div class="p"> 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord&#8217;s people. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.</div><div class="s1">Final Greetings</div><div class="p"> 21Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.</div><div class="p"> 23Peace to the brothers and sisters,#6:23 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family. and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.#6:24 Or Grace and immortality to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.</div>
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