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102 Difficult to Interpret Bible Verses
Sometimes I find it hard to grasp everything God’s trying to tell me through the Bible. Our minds are limited, you know? But His word is so powerful, so essential. It’s the bedrock of everything.
If you’re wrestling with a passage, just take it to God. I promise you, through the Holy Spirit, He’ll give you the clarity you need. He'll light your way with wisdom and understanding, revealing the mysteries hidden within His word.
Spending quality time in the Bible is key. It’s like a mental reset button. It helps you understand what God has in store for you, and for those around you, with so much more clarity.
And no one has gone up into heaven except He who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
And it came to pass that the beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
For the living will know that they shall die; but the dead know nothing, and there is no longer any reward to them, for their memory is lost.
Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering in this flame.'
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
(6:2) And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,(6:3) that the sons of God, having seen the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose.(6:4) And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men forever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.(6:5) Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and after that when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown.
You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation to them that hate Me,
which none of the rulers of this age knew (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory).
But of these you shall not eat, of those that chew the cud, and of those that part the hoofs, and divide claws: the camel, because it chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you.And the rabbit, because it chews the cud, but does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you.And the hare, because it does not chew the cud, and does not divide the hoof, this is unclean to you.And the swine, because this animal divides the hoof, and makes claws of the hoof, and it does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; these are unclean to you.
And Moses prayed to the Lord for the people; and the Lord said to Moses, Make for yourself a serpent, and put it on a staff; and it shall come to pass that whenever a serpent shall bite a man, everyone so bitten that looks upon it shall live.And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a staff. And it came to pass that whenever a serpent bit a man, and he looked on the bronze serpent, he lived.
But it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments, as many as I command you this day, then all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.Cursed shall be your barns and your stores.Cursed shall be the offspring of your body, and the fruits of your land, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep.Cursed shall you be in your coming in, and cursed shall you be in your going out.The Lord shall send upon you various needs, and famine, and consumption of all things on which you shall put your hand, until He has utterly destroyed you, and until He has consumed you quickly because of your evil devices, because you have forsaken Him.The Lord shall cause the pestilence to cleave to you, until He has consumed you off the land into which you go to inherit it.The Lord smite you with distress, and fever, and cold, and inflammation, and blighting, and paleness, and they shall pursue you until they have destroyed you.And you shall have over your head a sky of brass, and the earth under you shall be iron.The Lord your God shall make the rain of your land dust; and dust shall come down from heaven, until it has destroyed you, and until it has quickly consumed you.The Lord shall give you up for slaughter before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way, and flee from their face seven ways; and you shall be a dispersion in all the kingdoms of the earth.And your dead men shall be food to the birds of the sky, and to the beasts of the earth; and there shall be none to scare them away.The Lord shall smite you with the botch of Egypt in the seat, and with a malignant scab, and itch, so that you can not be healed.The Lord shall smite you with insanity, and blindness, and astonishment of mind.And you shall grope at midday, as a blind man gropes in the darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; and then you shall be unjustly treated, and plundered continually, and there shall be no helper.You shall take a wife, and another man shall have her; you shall build a house, and you shall not dwell in it; you shall plant a vineyard, and shall not gather the grapes of it.Your calf shall be slain before you, and you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away from you, and shall not be restored to you: your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no helper.Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another nation, and your eyes, wasting away, shall look for them; your hand shall have no strength.A nation which you know not shall eat the produce of your land, and all your labors; and you shall be perpetually injured and crushed.And you shall be distracted, because of the sights of your eyes which you shall see.The Lord shall smite you with an evil sore, on the knees and the legs, so that you shall not be able to be healed from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.The Lord shall carry away you and your princes, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers know; and there shall you serve other gods, of wood and stone.And there shall you be a wonder and a parable, and a tale, among all the nations, to which the Lord your God shall carry you away.You shall carry forth much seed into the field, and you shall bring in little, because the locust shall devour it.You shall plant a vineyard, and dress it, and shall not drink the wine, neither shall you delight yourself with it, because the worm shall devour it.You shall have olive trees in all your borders, and you shall not anoint you with oil, because your olive shall utterly cast its fruit.You shall beget sons and daughters, and they shall not be yours, for they shall depart into captivity.All your trees and the fruits of your land shall the blight consume.The stranger that is within you shall be lifted up, and you shall be brought down very low.He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.And all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and shall overtake you, until He has consumed you, and until He has destroyed you, because you did not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commands and His statutes which He has commanded you.And these things shall be signs for you, and wonders among your seed forever;because you did not serve the Lord your God with gladness and a good heart, because of the abundance of all things.And you shall serve your enemies, which the Lord will send forth against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the desire of all things; and you shall wear upon your neck a yoke of iron until He has destroyed you.The Lord shall bring upon you a nation from the extremity of the earth, like the swift flying of an eagle, a nation whose voice you shall not understand;a nation bold in countenance, which shall not respect the person of the aged and shall not pity the young.And it shall eat up the young of your livestock, and the fruits of your land, so as not to leave to you grain, wine, oil, the herds of your oxen, and the flocks of your sheep, until it has destroyed you;and has utterly crushed you in your cities, until the high and strong walls be destroyed in which you trusted, in all your land; and it shall afflict you in your cities, which He has given to you.And you shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, all that He has given you, in your desperate straits and your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you.He that is tender and very delicate within you shall look with an evil eye upon his brother, and the wife in his bosom, and the children that are left, which may have been left to him;so as not to give to one of them of the flesh of his children, whom he shall eat, because of his having nothing left him in your desperate straits, and in your affliction, with which your enemies shall afflict you in all your cities.And she that is tender and delicate among you, whose foot has not ventured to go upon the earth for delicacy and tenderness, shall look with an evil eye on her husband in her bosom, and her son and her daughter,and her offspring that comes out between her feet, and the child which she shall bear; for she shall eat them because of the needs of all things, secretly in your desperate straits, and in your affliction, with which your enemy shall afflict you in your cities.If you will not hearken to do all the words of this law, which have been written in this book, to fear this glorious and wonderful name, THE LORD YOUR GOD;then shall the Lord magnify your plagues, and the plagues of your seed, great and wonderful plagues, and evil and abiding diseases.And He shall bring upon you all the evil pain of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cleave to you.And the Lord shall bring upon you every sickness, and every plague that is not written, and everyone that is written in the book of this law, until He has destroyed you.And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky in multitude; because you did not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God.And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you; and you shall be quickly removed from the land, into which you go to inherit it.And the Lord your God shall scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which you knew not, nor your fathers.Moreover among those nations He will not give you quiet, neither by any means shall the sole of your foot have rest; and the Lord shall give you there another and a misgiving heart, and failing eyes, and a wasting soul.And your life shall be in suspense before your eyes, and you shall be afraid by day and by night, and you shall have no assurance of your life.In the morning you shall say, If only it were evening! And in the evening you shall say, If only it were morning! For the fear of your heart with which you shall fear, and for the sights of your eyes which you shall see.And the Lord shall bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said, You shall not see it again; and you shall be sold there to your enemies as male and female slaves, and no one shall buy you.
Jesus answered and said to them, "You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.
Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not mistaken because of this, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
And Jephthah vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If You will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,then it shall come to pass that whosoever shall first come out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, he shall be the Lord's: I will offer him up for a whole burnt offering.
Thus said the Lord of hosts, Now will I take vengeance for what Amalek did to Israel, when he met him in the way as he came up out of Egypt.And now go, and you shall strike Amalek and Hierim and all that belongs to him, and you shall not save anything of his alive, but you shall utterly destroy him. And you shall devote him and all his to destruction, and you shall spare nothing belonging to him; and you shall slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, calf and sheep, camel and donkey.
And they came as far as the threshing floor of Nachon. And Uzzah reached forth his hand to the ark of God to keep it steady, and took hold of it; for the ox shook it out of its place.And the Lord was very angry with Uzzah, and God struck him there; and he died there by the ark of the Lord before God.
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after this."
And it came to pass as they were going, they went on talking; and behold, a chariot of fire appeared, with horses of fire, and it separated the two of them; and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind into heaven.
And it came to pass one day, that behold, the angels of God came to stand before the Lord, and the devil came with them.And the Lord said to the devil, From where have you come? And the devil answered the Lord and said, I have come from compassing the earth, and walking up and down in the world.And the Lord said to him, Have you diligently considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on all the earth, a blameless man, true, godly, abstaining from everything evil?Then the devil answered, and said before the Lord, Does Job worship the Lord for nothing?Have You not made a hedge about him, and about his household, and all his possessions round about? And have You not blessed the works of his hands, and multiplied his substance upon the land?But put forth Your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.Then the Lord said to the devil, Behold, I give all that he has into your hand, but touch not himself. So the devil went out from the presence of the Lord.
For he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving to them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you become like him.Yet answer a fool according to his folly, lest he seem wise in his own conceit.
Also to them is the event of the sons of men, and the event of the brute; one event befalls them. As is the death of the one, so also the death of the other; and there is one breath to all; and what has the man more than the brute? Nothing; for all is vanity.All go to one place; all were formed of the dust, and all will return to dust.
And it came to pass in the year in which King Uzziah died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of His glory.And seraphim stood round about Him; each one had six wings; and with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.And one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.And the doorpost shook at the voice they uttered, and the house was filled with smoke.And I said, Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips; and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.Then one of the seraphim was sent to me, and he had in his hand a coal which he had taken off the altar with the tongs;and he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquities, and will purge off your sins.And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, behold, I am here, send me. And He said, Go, and say to this people,You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive.For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
But He was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed.
And I will devise for you a plan of peace, and not evil, to bestow upon you these good things.
And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord brought me forth by the Spirit, and set me in the midst of the plain, and it was full of human bones.And He led me round about them every way. And behold, there were very many on the face of the plain, and very dry.And He said to me, Son of man, will these bones live? And I said, O Lord God, only You know this!And He said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and you shall say to them, You dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.Thus says the Lord to these bones: Behold, I will bring upon you the breath of life;and I will lay sinews upon you, and I will bring up flesh upon you, and spread skin upon you, and I will put My Spirit into you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And it came to pass while I was prophesying, that behold, there was a rattling, and the bones approached each one to his joint.And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh grew upon them, and skin came upon them above. But there was not breath in them.And He said to me, Prophesy to the wind; prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Lord: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these dead, that they may live.So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, a very great congregation.And the Lord spoke to me, saying, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: and they say, Our bones have become dry, our hope has perished, we are quite spent.Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you up out of your tombs, and I will bring you into the land of Israel.And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, that I may bring up My people from their graves.And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you upon your own land; and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and will do it, says the Lord.
Seventy weeks have been determined upon your people, and upon the holy city, for sin to be ended, to seal up transgressions, to blot out iniquities, to make atonement for iniquities, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.And you shall know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem, until Christ the Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks; and then the time shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted.And after the sixty-two weeks, the Anointed One shall be killed, and there is no judgment in Him. And He shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is to come: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed He shall appoint the city to desolations.And one week shall establish the covenant with many. And in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink offering shall be taken away: and on the temple shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of the time an end shall be put to the desolation.
The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication: for the land will surely go a-whoring in departing from the Lord.So he went and took Gomer, daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.
Shall the trumpet sound in the city, and the people not be alarmed? Shall there be evil in a city which the Lord has not wrought?
Has it not been told you, O man, what is good? Or what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord your God?
Awake, O sword, against My shepherds, and against the man who is My citizen, says the Lord Almighty; strike the shepherds, and draw out the sheep: and I will bring My hand upon the little ones.And it shall come to pass that in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds in it shall be cut off and perish; but one-third shall be left in it.And I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will try them as silver is tried, and I will prove them as gold is proved: they shall call upon My name, and I will hear them, and say, This is My people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members be lost, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members be lost, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
"Do not suppose that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I have come to 'turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law';and 'a man's enemies will be his own household members.'
And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut them off and cast them from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, than having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire.And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be thrown into the fiery hell.
And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
And He said to them, "Unto you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come to be spoken in parables,so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.' "
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Behold, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.For My flesh truly is food, and My blood truly is drink.He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. He that eats this bread shall live forever."
But a certain man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.And he kept back for himself from the price, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and placed it beside the feet of the apostles.But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart for you to lie to the Holy Spirit, and for you to keep back for yourself from the price of the land?While it remained unsold, did it not remain yours? And after it was sold, was it not in your control? Why have you purposed this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and died. And great fear came upon all those hearing these things.And the young men rose up and covered him up, carried him out, and buried him.And it happened about three hours later, that his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much."Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that it was agreed by you to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out."Then immediately she fell down beside his feet and died. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her with her husband.And great fear came to be on all the church and upon all those who were hearing these things.
What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day."And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them.Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and their back always be bowed down."
But God chose the foolish things of the world in order that He might humiliate the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world in order that He might humiliate the mighty.And the base things of the world, and the things having been despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, in order that He might nullify the things which are,so that no flesh may boast before God.
For he that eats and drinks irreverently eats and drinks judgment to himself, not judging correctly the body of the Lord.
And lest I exalt myself above measure by the excellence of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, that it might beat me, lest I exalt myself above measure.Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may rest upon me.Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in calamities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.
For to you it has been granted for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
Let no one rule against you, desiring to do so in false humility and in worship of the angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, in vain being puffed up by his carnal mind,and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, supported and joined together by joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God.
Nevertheless she shall be saved through childbirth, if they remain in faith and love, and sanctification, with self-control.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and became partakers of the Holy Spirit,and have tasted the good word of God and the powerful deeds of the age to come,and having fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and hold Him up to contempt.
by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,who formerly disobeyed, when the longsuffering of God was waiting in the days of Noah, when the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water;
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for those who do not sin unto death. There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should ask about that.
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.Therefore, since you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.
And all those who dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose name is not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquity and unrighteousness and sins; and He will not clear the guilty; bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and to the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.
The Lord is longsuffering and merciful, and true, removing transgressions and iniquities and sins, and He shall by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
And if any man has a disobedient and contentious son, who hearkens not to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not hearken to them;then shall his father and his mother take hold of him, and bring him forth to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place;and they shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, he hearkens not to our voice, he is a reveler and a drunkard.And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; and you shall remove the evil one from yourselves, and the rest shall hear and fear.
But the men would not consent to hear him. So the man laid hold of his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they knew her, and abused her all night till the morning, and let her go when the morning dawned.And the woman came toward morning, and fell down at the door of the house where her husband was, until it was light.And her husband rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went forth to go on his journey; and behold, the woman his concubine had fallen down by the doors of the house, and her hands were on the threshold.And he said to her, Rise, and let us go; and she answered not, for she was dead. And he took her upon his donkey, and went to his place.And he took his sword, and laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve parts, and sent them to every coast of Israel.And it was so, that everyone who saw it said, Such a day as this has not happened nor has been seen from the day of the going up of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt until this day: take counsel concerning it, and speak.
And it came to pass toward evening, that David arose off his couch, and walked on the roof of the king's house, and saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliab, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?And David sent messengers, and took her, and went in to her, and he lay with her. And she was purified from her uncleanness, and returned to her house.And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
Then there appeared two harlots before the king, and they stood before him.And the one woman said, Hear me, my lord; I and this woman dwelt in one house, and we both delivered a child in the house.And it came to pass on the third day after I was delivered, this woman also was delivered. And we were together; and there was no one with us besides our two selves in the house.And this woman's child died in the night; because she laid on him.And she arose in the middle of the night, and took my son from my arms, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.And I arose in the morning to suckle my son, and he was dead. And behold, I looked at him in the morning, and behold, it was not my son whom I bore.And the other woman said, No, but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son. So they spoke before the king.And the king said to them, You say, This is my son, even the living one, and this woman's son is the dead one. And you say, No, but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.And the king said, Divide the live child, the suckling, in two; and give half of it to one, and half of it to the other.And the woman whose the living child was, answered and said to the king, (for her heart yearned over her son), I beseech you, my lord, give her the child, and by no means slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor hers; divide it.Then the king answered and said, Give the child to her that said, 'Give it to her, and by no means slay it: she is its mother.And all Israel heard this judgment which the king judged, and they feared before the king; because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute judgment.
And he went up there to Bethel. And as he was going up by the road, there came up also little children from the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, baldhead, go up.And he turned after them, and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And behold, there came out two bears out of the woods, and they mauled forty-two children among them.
For a mortal born of a woman is short-lived, and full of wrath.Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed, and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.
For my heart has rejoiced, and my heart has been gladdened.But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before You.
For You, O Lord, have possessed my reins; You have helped me from my mother's womb.I will give You thanks; for You are fearfully wondrous; wondrous are Your works; and my soul knows it well.
Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.What advantage is there to a man in all his labor that he takes under the sun?
You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive.For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
( כ ) CHAPH. For He that has brought down will pity, and that according to the abundance of His mercy.He has not answered in anger from His heart, though He has brought low the children of a man.
Seventy weeks have been determined upon your people, and upon the holy city, for sin to be ended, to seal up transgressions, to blot out iniquities, to make atonement for iniquities, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.
Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! What is this day of the Lord to you? Seeing that it is darkness, and not light.As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? And is not this day gloom without brightness?
"Now there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself splendidly every day.But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who had been placed at his gate,and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. And even the dogs came and would lick his sores.And it came to pass that the beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham from afar, and Lazarus in his bosom.Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering in this flame.'But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now here he is comforted and you are suffering.And besides all this, between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, so that those who desire to cross over from here to you are not able, nor may those from there cross over to us.'Then he said, 'Therefore I beseech you, father, that you would send him to my father's house,for I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone from the dead should go to them, they will repent.'But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded should one rise from the dead.' "
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.For God did not send His Son into the world so that He might condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, and He ordained their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
for the children not yet being born, nor having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works but of Him who calls,it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and untraceable are His ways!"For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has been His counselor?""Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?"For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things; to Him be the glory forever! Amen.
But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
Otherwise, what will they do who are being baptized for the dead, if the dead are not raised at all? Why are they also baptized for the dead?
There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love,
More than that I also consider all things to be loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have sustained the loss of all things, and I consider them to be rubbish, in order that I may gain Christand be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, just as labor pains upon the woman that is pregnant, and they shall by no means escape.
And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and was received up in glory.
Be diligent to show yourself approved unto God, a worker unashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
For there are also many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,whom it is necessary to shut their mouths, who overturn whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellent virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and by no means shall I erase his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
Then I saw a great white throne and He who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled. And no place was found for them.And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened the books. And another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by the things having been written in the books, according to their works.And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to their works.Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire.And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying out; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away."
I testify to everyone hearing the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, may God add to him the plagues having been written in this book.And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of Life, and from the holy city, and from the things having been written in this book.