What Is the Fear of the Lord?

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="JHN.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Jesus Teaches Nicodemus</div><div class="p"> 1Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, &#8220;Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3Jesus replied, &#8220;Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.#3:3 The Greek for again also means from above; also in verse 7.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;How can someone be born when they are old?&#8221; Nicodemus asked. &#8220;Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother&#8217;s womb to be born!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Jesus answered, &#8220;Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit#3:6 Or but spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, &#8216;You#3:7 The Greek is plural. must be born again.&#8217; 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.&#8221;#3:8 The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;How can this be?&#8221; Nicodemus asked.</div><div class="p"> 10 &#8220;You are Israel&#8217;s teacher,&#8221; said Jesus, &#8220;and do you not understand these things? 11Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven&#8212;the Son of Man.#3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,#3:14 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted. 15that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.&#8221;#3:15 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 21.</div><div class="p"> 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God&#8217;s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.</div><div class="s1">John Testifies Again About Jesus</div><div class="p"> 22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25An argument developed between some of John&#8217;s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26They came to John and said to him, &#8220;Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan&#8212;the one you testified about&#8212;look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27To this John replied, &#8220;A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, &#8216;I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.&#8217; 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom&#8217;s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.&#8221;#3:30 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 36.</div><div class="p"> 31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God#3:34 Greek he gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God&#8217;s wrath remains on them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEXO">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="EXO.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread</div><div class="p"> 1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2&#8220;This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb#12:3 The Hebrew word can mean lamb or kid; also in verse 4. for his family, one for each household. 4If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire&#8212;with the head, legs and internal organs. 10Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord&#8217;s Passover.</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord&#8212;a lasting ordinance. 15For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, &#8220;Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.</div><div class="p"> 24&#8220;Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26And when your children ask you, &#8216;What does this ceremony mean to you?&#8217; 27then tell them, &#8216;It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.</div><div class="p"> 29At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.</div><div class="s1">The Exodus</div><div class="p"> 31During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, &#8220;Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. &#8220;For otherwise,&#8221; they said, &#8220;we will all die!&#8221; 34So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.</div><div class="p"> 37The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.</div><div class="p"> 40Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt#12:40 Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint Egypt and Canaan was 430 years. 41At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord&#8217;s divisions left Egypt. 42Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.</div><div class="s1">Passover Restrictions</div><div class="p"> 43The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, &#8220;These are the regulations for the Passover meal:</div><div class="p">&#8220;No foreigner may eat it. 44Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.</div><div class="p"> 46&#8220;It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.</div><div class="p"> 48&#8220;A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord&#8217;s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. 49The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 50All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <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">
 <div class="book bkREV">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="REV.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">The Two Witnesses</div><div class="p"> 1I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, &#8220;Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.&#8221; 4They are &#8220;the two olive trees&#8221; and the two lampstands, and &#8220;they stand before the Lord of the earth.&#8221;#11:4 See Zech. 4:3,11,14. 5If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.</div><div class="p"> 7Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city&#8212;which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt&#8212;where also their Lord was crucified. 9For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.</div><div class="p"> 11But after the three and a half days the breath#11:11 Or Spirit (see Ezek. 37:5,14) of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, &#8220;Come up here.&#8221; And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.</div><div class="p"> 13At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.</div><div class="p"> 14The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.</div><div class="s1">The Seventh Trumpet</div><div class="p"> 15The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;The kingdom of the world has become</div><div class="q2">the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,</div><div class="q2">and he will reign for ever and ever.&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 16And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17saying:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,</div><div class="q2">the One who is and who was,</div><div class="q1">because you have taken your great power</div><div class="q2">and have begun to reign.</div><div class="q1"> 18The nations were angry,</div><div class="q2">and your wrath has come.</div><div class="q1">The time has come for judging the dead,</div><div class="q2">and for rewarding your servants the prophets</div><div class="q1">and your people who revere your name,</div><div class="q2">both great and small&#8212;</div><div class="q1">and for destroying those who destroy the earth.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Then God&#8217;s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOB">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="JOB.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">Prologue</div><div class="p"> 1In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2He had seven sons and three daughters, 3and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.</div><div class="p"> 4His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, &#8220;Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.&#8221; This was Job&#8217;s regular custom.</div><div class="p"> 6One day the angels#1:6 Hebrew the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan#1:6 Hebrew satan means adversary. also came with them. 7The Lord said to Satan, &#8220;Where have you come from?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Satan answered the Lord, &#8220;From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Then the Lord said to Satan, &#8220;Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Does Job fear God for nothing?&#8221; Satan replied. 10&#8220;Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12The Lord said to Satan, &#8220;Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 13One day when Job&#8217;s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother&#8217;s house, 14a messenger came to Job and said, &#8220;The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, &#8220;The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, &#8220;The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 18While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, &#8220;Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother&#8217;s house, 19when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21and said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Naked I came from my mother&#8217;s womb,</div><div class="q2">and naked I will depart.#1:21 Or will return there</div><div class="q1">The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;</div><div class="q2">may the name of the Lord be praised.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPSA">
 <div class="chapter ch99" data-usfm="PSA.99">
 <div class="label">99</div><div class="cl">Psalm 99</div><div class="q1"> 1The Lord reigns,</div><div class="q2">let the nations tremble;</div><div class="q1">he sits enthroned between the cherubim,</div><div class="q2">let the earth shake.</div><div class="q1"> 2Great is the Lord in Zion;</div><div class="q2">he is exalted over all the nations.</div><div class="q1"> 3Let them praise your great and awesome name&#8212;</div><div class="q2">he is holy.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 4The King is mighty, he loves justice&#8212;</div><div class="q2">you have established equity;</div><div class="q1">in Jacob you have done</div><div class="q2">what is just and right.</div><div class="q1"> 5Exalt the Lord our God</div><div class="q2">and worship at his footstool;</div><div class="q2">he is holy.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 6Moses and Aaron were among his priests,</div><div class="q2">Samuel was among those who called on his name;</div><div class="q1">they called on the Lord</div><div class="q2">and he answered them.</div><div class="q1"> 7He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;</div><div class="q2">they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 8 Lord our God,</div><div class="q2">you answered them;</div><div class="q1">you were to Israel a forgiving God,</div><div class="q2">though you punished their misdeeds.#99:8 Or God, / an avenger of the wrongs done to them</div><div class="q1"> 9Exalt the Lord our God</div><div class="q2">and worship at his holy mountain,</div><div class="q2">for the Lord our God is holy.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkPRO">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="PRO.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="ms1">Purpose and Theme</div><div class="p"> 1The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:</div><div class="q1"> 2for gaining wisdom and instruction;</div><div class="q2">for understanding words of insight;</div><div class="q1"> 3for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,</div><div class="q2">doing what is right and just and fair;</div><div class="q1"> 4for giving prudence to those who are simple,#1:4 The Hebrew word rendered simple in Proverbs denotes a person who is gullible, without moral direction and inclined to evil.</div><div class="q2">knowledge and discretion to the young&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 5let the wise listen and add to their learning,</div><div class="q2">and let the discerning get guidance&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 6for understanding proverbs and parables,</div><div class="q2">the sayings and riddles of the wise.#1:6 Or understanding a proverb, namely, a parable, / and the sayings of the wise, their riddles</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,</div><div class="q2">but fools#1:7 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the Old Testament, denote a person who is morally deficient. despise wisdom and instruction.</div><div class="ms1">Prologue: Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom</div><div class="s1">Warning Against the Invitation of Sinful Men</div><div class="q1"> 8Listen, my son, to your father&#8217;s instruction</div><div class="q2">and do not forsake your mother&#8217;s teaching.</div><div class="q1"> 9They are a garland to grace your head</div><div class="q2">and a chain to adorn your neck.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 10My son, if sinful men entice you,</div><div class="q2">do not give in to them.</div><div class="q1"> 11If they say, &#8220;Come along with us;</div><div class="q2">let&#8217;s lie in wait for innocent blood,</div><div class="q2">let&#8217;s ambush some harmless soul;</div><div class="q1"> 12let&#8217;s swallow them alive, like the grave,</div><div class="q2">and whole, like those who go down to the pit;</div><div class="q1"> 13we will get all sorts of valuable things</div><div class="q2">and fill our houses with plunder;</div><div class="q1"> 14cast lots with us;</div><div class="q2">we will all share the loot&#8221;&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 15my son, do not go along with them,</div><div class="q2">do not set foot on their paths;</div><div class="q1"> 16for their feet rush into evil,</div><div class="q2">they are swift to shed blood.</div><div class="q1"> 17How useless to spread a net</div><div class="q2">where every bird can see it!</div><div class="q1"> 18These men lie in wait for their own blood;</div><div class="q2">they ambush only themselves!</div><div class="q1"> 19Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;</div><div class="q2">it takes away the life of those who get it.</div><div class="s1">Wisdom&#8217;s Rebuke</div><div class="q1"> 20Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,</div><div class="q2">she raises her voice in the public square;</div><div class="q1"> 21on top of the wall#1:21 Septuagint; Hebrew / at noisy street corners she cries out,</div><div class="q2">at the city gate she makes her speech:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 22&#8220;How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?</div><div class="q2">How long will mockers delight in mockery</div><div class="q2">and fools hate knowledge?</div><div class="q1"> 23Repent at my rebuke!</div><div class="q2">Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,</div><div class="q2">I will make known to you my teachings.</div><div class="q1"> 24But since you refuse to listen when I call</div><div class="q2">and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,</div><div class="q1"> 25since you disregard all my advice</div><div class="q2">and do not accept my rebuke,</div><div class="q1"> 26I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;</div><div class="q2">I will mock when calamity overtakes you&#8212;</div><div class="q1"> 27when calamity overtakes you like a storm,</div><div class="q2">when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,</div><div class="q2">when distress and trouble overwhelm you.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1"> 28&#8220;Then they will call to me but I will not answer;</div><div class="q2">they will look for me but will not find me,</div><div class="q1"> 29since they hated knowledge</div><div class="q2">and did not choose to fear the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 30Since they would not accept my advice</div><div class="q2">and spurned my rebuke,</div><div class="q1"> 31they will eat the fruit of their ways</div><div class="q2">and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.</div><div class="q1"> 32For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,</div><div class="q2">and the complacency of fools will destroy them;</div><div class="q1"> 33but whoever listens to me will live in safety</div><div class="q2">and be at ease, without fear of harm.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEST">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="EST.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">The Greatness of Mordecai</div><div class="p"> 1King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMAL">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="MAL.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1&#8220;I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="p"> 2But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner&#8217;s fire or a launderer&#8217;s soap. 3He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="s1">Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="p">&#8220;But you ask, &#8216;How are we to return?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.</div><div class="p">&#8220;But you ask, &#8216;How are we robbing you?&#8217;</div><div class="p">&#8220;In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse&#8212;your whole nation&#8212;because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty, &#8220;and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty. 12&#8220;Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty.</div><div class="s1">Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;You have spoken arrogantly against me,&#8221; says the Lord.</div><div class="p">&#8220;Yet you ask, &#8216;What have we said against you?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;You have said, &#8216;It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Faithful Remnant</div><div class="p"> 16Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;On the day when I act,&#8221; says the Lord Almighty, &#8220;they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch25" data-usfm="ACT.25">
 <div class="label">25</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Trial Before Festus</div><div class="p"> 1Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, 2where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. 3They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 4Festus answered, &#8220;Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 5Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. 7When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.</div><div class="p"> 8Then Paul made his defense: &#8220;I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, &#8220;Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Paul answered: &#8220;I am now standing before Caesar&#8217;s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. 11If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: &#8220;You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Festus Consults King Agrippa</div><div class="p"> 13A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. 14Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul&#8217;s case with the king. He said: &#8220;There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner. 15When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned.</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges. 17When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in. 18When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 19Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. 20I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges. 21But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor&#8217;s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Then Agrippa said to Festus, &#8220;I would like to hear this man myself.&#8221;</div><div class="p">He replied, &#8220;Tomorrow you will hear him.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Paul Before Agrippa</div><div class="p"> 23The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. 24Festus said: &#8220;King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man! The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. 25I found he had done nothing deserving of death, but because he made his appeal to the Emperor I decided to send him to Rome. 26But I have nothing definite to write to His Majesty about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation I may have something to write. 27For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.&#8221;</div>
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