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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 poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.
‘Father Abraham! ’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame! ’
But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them,And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with wickedness.God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and outside.This is how you are to make it: The ark will be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.You are to make a roof, finishing the sides of the ark to within 18 inches of the roof. You are to put a door in the side of the ark. Make it with lower, middle, and upper decks.“Understand that I am bringing a flood — floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die.But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives.You are also to bring into the ark two of all the living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves.Two of everything — from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from the animals that crawl on the ground according to their kinds — will come to you so that you can keep them alive.Take with you every kind of food that is eaten; gather it as food for you and for them.”And Noah did this. He did everything that God had commanded him.And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterward, when the sons of God came to the daughters of mankind, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.
You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves you are not to eat these: the camel, though it chews the cud, does not have divided hooves — it is unclean for you;Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening. Anyone who carries its carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.“All the creatures that swarm on the earth are detestable; they must not be eaten.Do not eat any of the creatures that swarm on the earth, anything that moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet, for they are detestable.Do not become contaminated by any creature that swarms; do not become unclean or defiled by them.For I am Yahweh your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.For I am Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.“This is the law concerning animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that swarm on the ground,in order to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the animals that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.”the hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have hooves — it is unclean for you;the hare, though it chews the cud, does not have hooves — it is unclean for you;the pig, though it has divided hooves, does not chew the cud — it is unclean for you.Do not eat any of their meat or touch their carcasses — they are unclean for you.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.
“But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed.Your descendants will be cursed, and your land’s produce, the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks.You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God:The Lord will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning Me.The Lord will make pestilence cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess.The Lord will afflict you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, burning heat, drought, blight, and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.The sky above you will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.The Lord will turn the rain of your land into falling dust; 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 from one direction but flee from them in seven directions. 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 sky and the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.“The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, tumors, a festering rash, and scabies, from which you cannot be cured.The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion,so that at noon you will grope as a blind man gropes in the dark. You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but 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 from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you.Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.A people you don’t know will eat your land’s produce and everything you have labored for. You will only be oppressed and crushed continually.You will be driven mad by what you see.The Lord will afflict you with painful and incurable boils on your knees and thighs — from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.“The Lord will bring you and your king that you have appointed to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone.You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.“You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because locusts will devour it.You will plant and cultivate vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.Your descendants will be blessed, and your land’s produce, and the offspring of your livestock, including the young of your herds and the newborn of your flocks.You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not anoint yourself with oil, because your olives will drop off.You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will be taken prisoner.Whirring insects will take possession of all your trees and your land’s produce.The foreign resident among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.He will lend to you, but you won’t lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.“All these curses will come, pursue, and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the Lord your God and keep the commands and statutes He gave you.These curses will be a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, even though you had an abundance of everything,you will serve your enemies the Lord will send against you, in famine, thirst, nakedness, and a lack of everything. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you don’t understand,Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.a ruthless nation, showing no respect for the old and not sparing the young.They will eat the offspring of your livestock and your land’s produce until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, oil, young of your herds, or newborn of your flocks until they cause you to perish.They will besiege you within all your gates until your high and fortified walls, that you trust in, come down throughout your land. They will besiege you within all your gates throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.“You will eat your children, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you.The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children,refusing to share with any of them his children’s flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns.The most sensitive and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and sensitivity, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son, and her daughter,the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your gates.“If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awesome name — Yahweh, your God —He will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, 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 of Egypt, which you dreaded, and they will cling to you.The Lord will also afflict you with every sickness and plague not recorded in the book of this law, until you are destroyed.Though you were as numerous as the stars of the sky, you will be left with only a few people, because you did not obey the Lord your God.Just as the Lord was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so He will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be deported from the land you are entering to possess.Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit.Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread 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 you will have in your heart and because of what you will see.The Lord will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Jesus told them, “Are you not deceived because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?
Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If You will hand over the Ammonites to me,whatever comes out of the doors of my house to greet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.”
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt.“But I did obey the Lord! ” Saul answered. “I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder — the best of what was set apart for destruction — to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned. I have transgressed the Lord’s command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the Lord.”Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not man who changes his mind.”Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”
When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.
Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterward you will know.”
As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind.
He assumed his brothers would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness or you’ll be like him yourself.Answer a fool according to his foolishness or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.
For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile.a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot;All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.
But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.
For I know the plans I have for you” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.So I prophesied as He commanded me; 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 how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel.You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, 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 am Yahweh. I have spoken, and I will do it.” This is the declaration of the Lord.
Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city — to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away 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 issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times.After those 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him: Go and marry a promiscuous wife and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord.So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
If a ram’s horn is blown in a city, aren’t people afraid? If a disaster occurs in a city, hasn’t the Lord done it?
Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Sword, awake against My shepherd, against the man who is My associate — this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will also turn My hand against the little ones.In the whole land — this is the Lord’s declaration — two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it.I will put this third through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say: They are My people, and they will say: Yahweh is our God.”
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.“The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!
Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.And if your eye causes your downfall, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, rather than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire!
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parablesso that they may look and look, yet not perceive; they may listen and listen, yet not understand; otherwise, they might turn back — and be forgiven.”
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, and even his own life — he cannot be My disciple.
“Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
So Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him.Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your fathers ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property.Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,so that no one can boast in His presence.
For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him,
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind.He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.
But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with good judgment.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy Spirit,tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt.
In that state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prisonwhen they observe your pure, reverent lives.who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few — that is, eight people — were saved through water.
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God will give life to him — to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that.
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.
All those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.
maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation.
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him,his father and mother must take 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 nearby cities.They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.
But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go.Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.“Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel.Then her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt to this day. Think it over, discuss it, and speak up! ”
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing — a very beautiful woman.if the king’s anger gets stirred up and he asks you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the top of the wall?At Thebez, who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the top of the wall so that he died? Why did you get so close to the wall? ’ — then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”Then the messenger left. When he arrived, he reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell.The messenger reported to David, “The men gained the advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we counterattacked right up to the entrance of the gate.However, the archers shot down on your soldiers from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this matter upset you because the sword devours all alike. Intensify your fight against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him.”When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah had died, she mourned for him.When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil.So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he reported, “This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.”David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home.The woman conceived and sent word to inform David: “I am pregnant.”
Then two women who were 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 had a baby while she was in the house.On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built.She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms.When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”“No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.” The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ”The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king.Solomon said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed! ” But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two! ”The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and harassed him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy! ”He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the children.
Man born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.But a man dies and fades away; he breathes his last — where is he?As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,so man lies down never to rise again. They will not wake up until the heavens are no more; they will not stir from their sleep.If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger passes. If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me.When a man dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes.You would call, and I would answer You. You would long for the work of Your hands.For then You would count my steps but would not take note of my sin.My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.But as a mountain collapses and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil from the land, so You destroy a man’s hope.He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.
When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded,I was stupid and didn’t understand; I was an unthinking animal toward You.
For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.
“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”What does a man gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?
Even if He causes suffering, He will show compassion according to His abundant, faithful love.For He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.
Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city — to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away 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 have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.Won’t the Day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it?
“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate.He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.‘Father Abraham! ’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame! ’“ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’“ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house —because I have five brothers — to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I’m not strong enough to dig; I’m ashamed to beg.“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.
From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.
For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand —not from works but from the One who calls — she was told: The older will serve the younger.As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways!For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid?For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
But as it is written: What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind — God prepared this 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, then why are people baptized for them?
There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or 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 sight. In love
More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christand be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ — the righteousness from God based on faith.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.
When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains come on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.
For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism.It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
In the same way, the victor will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels.
Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works.Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book.