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VERSES DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
I've found that there's a lot of truth in saying that the Bible is generally easy to understand. Most of it is pretty straightforward, you know? But, yeah, every now and then you stumble across a passage that really makes you scratch your head. Figuring out what those tricky parts mean can be a real challenge.
Thankfully, I'd say 99% of Scripture is clear as a bell. And that's the stuff we really need to focus on living out. The Bible itself talks about how God's word is meant to be understandable, accessible to everyone.
But let's be real, sometimes we run into those verses that feel a bit murky. Even with all the great commentaries and resources we have available today, including stuff online, even theologians will tell you some passages are just tough nuts to crack.
But I believe that with God's help, and by digging a little deeper with the tools available to us, we can gain a better understanding of even those difficult verses. He'll give us the wisdom we need if we seek it.
One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and out.And this is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.You are to make a roof for the ark, finish its walls a cubit from the top, place a door in the side of the ark, and build lower, middle, and upper decks. And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.And you are to bring two of every living creature into the ark—male and female—to keep them alive with you.the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.Whoever eats from the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening, and anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.Every creature that moves along the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.Do not eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it crawls on its belly or walks on four or more feet; for such creatures are detestable.Do not defile yourselves by any crawling creature; do not become unclean or defiled by them.For I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.For I am the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground.You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”The rock badger, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.
If, however, you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God:The Lord will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him. The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess.The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.The Lord will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.You will be driven mad by the sights you see.The Lord will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.The Lord will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the Lord will drive you.You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock— the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower.He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you.These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever.Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,you will serve your enemies the Lord will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.The Lord will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young.They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you.Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates. The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughterthe afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates.If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God—He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you.The Lord will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed.You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.Then the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival.In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see.The Lord will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they ambushed them on their way up from Egypt.“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the Lord gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”But Samuel declared: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the Lord’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the Lord.”“I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.”As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.
As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind.
He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not.
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army.Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.Then you, My people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.’”
Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the Lord.”So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the Lord of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.And in all the land, declares the Lord, two-thirds will be cut off and perish, but a third will be left in it.This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to depart into hell.
Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Again I tell 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.”
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables,so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’”
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you.Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,so that no one may boast in His presence.
For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him,
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.
Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age—and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.
in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prisonwhen they see your pure and reverent demeanor.who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.
I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other!So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!
And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and does not listen to them when disciplined,his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities.and say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. So you must purge the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light.In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth ? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If so, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say.The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us.During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him.The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the Lord had not yet been built.So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom.The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword,and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes. You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.For He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.
Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”Will not the Day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?
Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with soresand longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg.‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.’Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” “Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?” For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christand be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.
Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision,who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not.
Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city, which are described in this book.