A watch is kept on my sins; they are joined together by his hand, they have come on to my neck; he has made my strength give way: the Lord has given me up into the hands of those against whom I have no power.
Let all their evil-doing come before you; do to them as you have done to me for all my sins: for loud is the sound of my grief, and the strength of my heart is gone.
In his burning wrath every horn of Israel has been cut off; his right hand has been turned back before the attacker: he has put a fire in Jacob, causing destruction round about.
His bow has been bent for the attack, he has taken his place with his hand ready, in his hate he has put to death all who were pleasing to the eye: on the tent of the daughter of Zion he has let loose his passion like fire.
The Lord has become like one fighting against her, sending destruction on Israel; he has sent destruction on all her great houses, making waste his strong places: increasing the grief and the sorrow of the daughter of Judah.
The visions which your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish; they have not made clear to you your sin so that your fate might be changed: but they have seen for you false words, driving you away.
The young men and the old are stretched on the earth in the streets; my virgins and my young men have been put to the sword: you have sent death on them in the day of your wrath, causing death without pity.
For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
What protest may a living man make, even a man about the punishment of his sin?
The Lord has given full effect to his passion, he has let loose his burning wrath; he has made a fire in Zion, causing the destruction of its bases.
It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her.
The punishment of your evil-doing is complete, O daughter of Zion; never again will he take you away as a prisoner: he will give you the reward of your evil-doing, O daughter of Edom; he will let your sin be uncovered.
Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.
The crown has been taken from our head: sorrow is ours, for we are sinners.
And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day.
But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe.
Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.
For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel.
And when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you.
So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.
And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, using it like a haircutter's blade, and making it go over your head and the hair of your chin: and take scales for separating the hair by weight.
When I send on you the evil arrows of disease, causing destruction, which I will send to put an end to you; and, further, I will take away your necessary food.
And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.
They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.
And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things.
And to these he said in my hearing, Go through the town after him using your axes: do not let your eyes have mercy, and have no pity:
Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.
Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?
For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;
When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:
And the punishment of their sin will be on them: the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of him who goes to him for directions;
Son of man, when a land, sinning against me, does wrong, and my hand is stretched out against it, and the support of its bread is broken, and I make it short of food, cutting off man and beast from it:
Or if I send evil beasts through the land causing destruction and making it waste, so that no man may go through because of the beasts:
You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways.
And you went with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh; increasing your loose ways, moving me to wrath.
Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need.
And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done.
And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.
See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul.
Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same:
The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.
But if the evil-doer, turning away from all the sins which he has done, keeps my rules and does what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his; death will not be his fate.
Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.
But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.
For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.
Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?
And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.
I made them unclean in the offerings they gave, causing them to make every first child go through the fire, so that I might put an end to them.
And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.
Clearing out from among you all those who are uncontrolled and who are sinning against me; I will take them out of the land where they are living, but they will not come into the land of Israel: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your evil-doing come to mind by the uncovering of your wrongdoing, causing your sins to be seen in all your evil-doings; because you have come to mind, you will be taken in them.
And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean!
See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.
In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect.
Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.
And her prophets have been using whitewash, seeing foolish visions and making false use of secret arts, saying, This is what the Lord has said, when the Lord has said nothing.
And I will send on you the punishment of your evil ways, and you will be rewarded for your sins with your images: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
And I will make Rabbah a place for housing camels, and the children of Ammon a resting-place for flocks: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
This is what the Lord has said: Because the philistines have taken payment, with the purpose of causing shame and destruction with unending hate;
And they will send up a song of grief for you, and say to you, What destruction has come on you, how are you cut off from the sea, the noted town, which was strong in the sea, she and her people, causing the fear of them to come on all the dry land!
Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living.
Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.
The men of Rodan were your traders: a great number of sea-lands did business with you: they gave you horns of ivory and ebony as an offering.
Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.
Damascus did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth, with wine of Helbon and white wool.
Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar did business with you; in lambs and sheep and goats, in these they did business with you.
Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.
Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.
Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.
There has been no evil in your ways from the day when you were made, till sin was seen in you.
Your heart was lifted up because you were beautiful, you made your wisdom evil through your sin: I have sent you down, even to the earth; I have made you low before kings, so that they may see you.
By all your sin, even by your evil trading, you have made your holy places unclean; so I will make a fire come out from you, it will make a meal of you, and I will make you as dust on the earth before the eyes of all who see you.
And Egypt will no longer be the hope of the children of Israel, causing sin to come to mind when their eyes are turned to them: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.
In that day men will go out quickly to take the news, causing fear in untroubled Ethiopia; and bitter pain will come on them as in the day of Egypt; for see, it is coming.
He and the people with him, causing fear among the nations, will be sent for the destruction of the land; their swords will be let loose against Egypt and the land will be full of dead.
And I will make the Nile streams dry, and will give the land into the hands of evil men, causing the land and everything in it to be wasted by the hands of men from a strange country: I the Lord have said it.
I will let loose my wrath on Sin, the strong place of Egypt, cutting off the mass of the people of No.
I have given him up into the hands of a strong one of the nations; he will certainly give him the reward of his sin, driving him out.
But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not give a note on the horn, and the people have no word of the danger, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them; he will be taken away in his sin, but I will make the watchman responsible for his blood.
And you, son of man, say to the children of Israel, You say, Our wrongdoing and our sins are on us and we are wasting away in them; how then may we have life?
Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the evil-doer; it is more pleasing to me if he is turned from his way and has life: be turned, be turned from your evil ways; why are you looking for death, O children of Israel?
And when I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; if he is turned from his sin and does what is ordered and right;
Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in mind against him: he has done what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his.
And truly you are to them like a love song by one who has a very pleasing voice and is an expert player on an instrument: for they give ear to your words but do them not.
And I will give the rain at the right time, and I will make the shower come down at the right time; there will be showers of blessing.
For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have been sinning through blood, blood will come after you.
And you have made yourselves great against me with your mouths, increasing your words against me; and it has come to my ears.
This is what the Lord has said: Because they say to you, You, O land, are the destruction of men, causing loss of children to your nation;
And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my orders and do them.
And they will no longer make themselves unclean with their images or with their hated things or with any of their sins: but I will give them salvation from all their turning away in which they have done evil, and will make them clean; and they will be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.
In the measure of their unclean ways and their sins, so I did to them; and I kept my face covered from them.
And in the covered way of the doorway there were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which the burned offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error were put to death:
And he said to me, The north rooms and the south rooms in front of the separate place are the holy rooms, where the priests who come near the Lord take the most holy things for their food: there the most holy things are placed, with the meal offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error; for the place is holy.
You are to give to the priests, the Levites of the seed of Zadok, who come near to me, says the Lord God, to do my work, a young ox for a sin-offering.
You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns and on the four angles of the shelf and on the edge all round: and you are to make it clean and free from sin.
And you are to take the ox of the sin-offering, and have it burned in the special place ordered for it in the house, outside the holy place.
And on the second day you are to have a he-goat without any mark on it offered for a sin-offering; and they are to make the altar clean as they did with the young ox.
Every day for seven days you are to give a goat for a sin-offering: and let them give in addition a young ox and a male sheep from the flock without any mark on them.
For seven days they are to make offerings to take away sin from the altar and to make it clean; so they are to make it holy.
Because they did this work for them before their images, and became a cause of sin to the children of Israel; for this cause my hand has been lifted up against them, says the Lord, and their punishment will be on them.
And on the day when he goes into the inner square, to do the work of the holy place, he is to make his sin-offering, says the Lord.
Their food is to be the meal offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error; and everything given specially to the Lord in Israel will be theirs.
And the best of all the first-fruits of everything, and every offering which is lifted up of all your offerings, will be for the priests: and you are to give the priest the first of your bread-making, so causing a blessing to come on your house.
And one lamb from the flock out of every two hundred, from all the families of Israel, for a meal offering and for a burned offering and for peace-offerings, to take away their sin, says the Lord.
And the ruler will be responsible for the burned offering and the meal offering and the drink offering, at the feasts and the new moons and the Sabbaths, at all the fixed feasts of the children of Israel: he will give the sin-offering and meal offering and burned offering and the peace-offerings, to take away the sin of the children of Israel.
And the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin-offering and put it on the uprights at the sides of the doors of the house, and on the four angles of the shelf of the altar, and on the sides of the doorway of the inner square.
And this you are to do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who is in error and for the feeble-minded: you are to make the house free from sin.
And on that day the ruler is to give for himself and for all the people of the land an ox for a sin-offering.
And on the seven days of the feast he is to give a burned offering to the Lord, seven oxen and seven sheep without any mark on them, every day for seven days; and a he-goat every day for a sin-offering.
In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he is to give the same for seven days; the sin-offering, the burned offering, the meal offering, and the oil as before.
And he said to me, This is the place where the offering for error and the sin-offering are to be cooked in water by the priests, and where the meal offering is to be cooked in the oven; so that they may not be taken out into the outer square to make the people holy.
And in any business needing wisdom and good sense, about which the king put questions to them, he saw that they were ten times better than all the wonder-workers and users of secret arts in all his kingdom.
Then the Chaldaeans said to the king in answer, There is not a man on earth able to make clear the king's business; for no king, however great his power, has ever made such a request to any wonder-worker or user of secret arts or Chaldaean.
He made answer and said to Arioch, O captain of the king, why is the king's order so cruel? Then Arioch gave Daniel an account of the business.
Then the secret was made clear to Daniel in a vision of the night. And Daniel gave blessing to the God of heaven.
I give you praise and worship, O God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and strength, and have now made clear to me what we were requesting from you: for you have given us knowledge of the king's business.
And at Daniel's request, the king gave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego authority over the business of the land of Babylon: but Daniel was kept near the king's person.
There are certain Jews whom you have put over the business of the land of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men have not given attention to you, O King: they are not servants of your gods or worshippers of the gold image which you have put up.
For this cause, O King, let my suggestion be pleasing to you, and let your sins be covered by righteousness and your evil-doing by mercy to the poor, so that the time of your well-being may be longer.
And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifting up my eyes to heaven, got back my reason, and, blessing the Most High, I gave praise and honour to him who is living for ever, whose rule is an eternal rule and whose kingdom goes on from generation to generation.
My God has sent his angel to keep the lions' mouths shut, and they have done me no damage: because I was seen to be without sin before him; and further, before you, O King, I have done no wrong.
After this, in my vision of the night, I saw a fourth beast, a thing causing fear and very troubling, full of power and very strong; and it had great iron teeth: it took its food, crushing some of it to bits and stamping down the rest with its feet: it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns.
And about the ten horns on his head and the other which came up, causing the fall of three; that horn which had eyes, and a mouth saying great things, which seemed to be greater than the other horns.
Then there came to my ears the voice of a holy one talking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was talking, How long will the vision be while the regular burned offering is taken away, and the unclean thing causing fear is put up, and the holy place crushed under foot?
And his power will be great, and he will be purposing strange things. And all will go well for him and he will do his pleasure; and he will send destruction on the strong ones.
And his designs will be turned against the holy people, causing deceit to do well in his hand; in his heart he will make himself great, and send destruction on numbers who are living unconscious of their danger; and he will put himself up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken, though not by men's hands.
And I, Daniel, was ill for some days; then I got up and did the king's business: and I was full of wonder at the vision, but no one was able to give the sense of it.
And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;
We are sinners, acting wrongly and doing evil; we have gone against you, turning away from your orders and from your laws:
O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you.
O Lord, shame is on us, on our kings and our rulers and our fathers, because of our sin against you.
And all Israel have been sinners against your law, turning away so as not to give ear to your voice: and the curse has been let loose on us, and the oath recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have done evil against him.
And now, O Lord our God, who took your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made a great name for yourself even to this day; we are sinners, we have done evil.
O Lord, because of your righteousness, let your wrath and your passion be turned away from your town Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because, through our sins and the evil-doing of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a cause of shame to all who are round about us.
And while I was still saying these words in prayer, and putting my sins and the sins of my people Israel before the Lord, and requesting grace from the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;
Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place.
And a strong order will be sent out against the great number for one week; and so for half of the week the offering and the meal offering will come to an end; and in its place will be an unclean thing causing fear; till the destruction which has been fixed is let loose on him who has made waste.
I had no pleasing food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, and I put no oil on my body till three full weeks were ended.
Then his face will be turned to the strong places of his land: but his way will be stopped, causing his downfall, and he will not be seen again.
And armies sent by him will take up their position and they will make unclean the holy place, even the strong place, and take away the regular burned offering and put in its place an unclean thing causing fear.
And those who do evil against the agreement will be turned to sin by his fair words: but the people who have knowledge of their God will be strong and do well.
And from the time when the regular burned offering is taken away, and an unclean thing causing fear is put up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.
A blessing will be on the man who goes on waiting, and comes to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days.
For fear that I may take away her robe from her, making her uncovered as in the day of her birth; making her like a waste place and a dry land, causing her death through need of water.
For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.
There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.
Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame.
The sin of my people is like food to them; and their desire is for their wrongdoing.
And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be the same as theirs.
When my desire was for the fate of my people to be changed and to make Israel well, then the sin of Ephraim was made clear, and the evil-doing of Samaria; for their ways are false, and the thief comes into the house, while the band of outlaws takes property by force in the streets.
And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face.
In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in their deceit.
When they go, my net will be stretched out over them; I will take them like the birds of heaven, I will give them punishment, I will take them away in the net for their sin.
May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me; and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against me.
Because Ephraim has been increasing altars for sin, altars have become a cause of sin to him.
He gives the offerings of his lovers, and takes the flesh for food; but the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will keep in mind their evil-doing and give them the punishment of their sins; they will go back to Egypt.
The days of punishment, the days of reward are come; Israel will be put to shame; the prophet is foolish, the man who has the spirit is off his head, because of your great sin.
They have gone deep in evil as in the days of Gibeah; he will keep in mind their wrongdoing, he will give them punishment for their sins.
And the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will come to destruction; thorns and waste plants will come up on their altars; they will say to the mountains, Be a cover over us; and to the hills, Come down on us.
I will come and give them punishment; and the peoples will come together against them when I give them the reward of their two sins.
You have been ploughing sin, you have got in a store of evil, the fruit of deceit has been your food: for you put faith in your way, in the number of your men of war.
And the sword will go through his towns, wasting his children and causing destruction because of their evil designs.
My people are given up to sinning against me; though their voice goes up on high, no one will be lifting them up.
Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.
And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me.
And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen.
The wrongdoing of Ephraim is shut up; his sin is put away in secret.
He who is wise will see these things; he who has good sense will have knowledge of them. For the ways of the Lord are straight, and the upright will go in them, but sinners will be falling in them.
May it not be that he will again let his purpose be changed and let a blessing come after him, even a meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
For you have taken my silver and my gold, putting in the houses of your gods my beautiful and pleasing things.
You only of all the families of the earth have I taken care of: for this reason I will send punishment on you for all your sins.
For in the day when I give Israel punishment for his sins, I will send punishment on the altars of Beth-el, and the horns of the altar will be cut off and come down to the earth.
Come to Beth-el and do evil; to Gilgal, increasing the number of your sins; come with your offerings every morning and your tenths every three days:
Let that which is leavened be burned as a praise-offering, let the news of your free offerings be given out publicly; for this is pleasing to you, O children of Israel, says the Lord.
Go to the Lord for help so that you may have life; for fear that he may come like fire bursting out in the family of Joseph, causing destruction, and there will be no one to put it out in Beth-el.
For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.
You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;
Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A weighted line. Then the Lord said, See, I will let down a weighted line among my people Israel; never again will my eyes be shut to their sin:
And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end has come to my people Israel; never again will my eyes be shut to their sin.
Those who make their oaths by the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your God, O Dan; and, By the living way of Beer-sheba; even they will go down, never again to be lifted up.
It is he who makes his rooms in the heaven, basing his arch on the earth; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, and sends them flowing over the face of the earth; the Lord is his name.
All those sinners among my people will be put to the sword who say, Evil will not overtake us or come face to face with us.
So, crying to the Lord, they said, Give ear to our prayer, O Lord, give ear, and do not let destruction overtake us because of this man's life; do not put on us the sin of taking life without cause: for you, O Lord, have done what seemed good to you.
All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
Let the war-carriage be yoked to the quick-running horse, you who are living in Lachish: she was the first cause of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the wrongdoings of Israel were seen in you.
For this cause the Lord has said, See, against this family I am purposing an evil from which you will not be able to take your necks away, and you will be weighted down by it; for it is an evil time.
But I truly am full of the spirit of the Lord, with power of judging and with strength to make clear to Jacob his wrongdoing and to Israel his sin.
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of sheep or with ten thousand rivers of oil? am I to give my first child for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
So I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of your sins.
I will undergo the wrath of the Lord, because of my sin against him; till he takes up my cause and does what is right for me: when he makes me come out into the light, I will see his righteousness;
Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy.
He will again have pity on us; he will put our sins under his feet: and you will send all our sins down into the heart of the sea.
The Lord is slow to get angry and great in power, and will not let the sinner go without punishment: the way of the Lord is in the wind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Before your holy eyes sin may not be seen, and you are unable to put up with wrong; why, then, are your eyes on the false? why do you say nothing when the evil-doer puts an end to one who is more upright than himself?
You have been a cause of shame to your house by cutting off a number of peoples, and sinning against your soul.
A curse on him who is building a place with blood, and basing a town on evil-doing!
See, is it not the pleasure of the Lord of armies that the peoples are working for the fire and using themselves up for nothing?
I will take away man and beast; I will take away the birds of the heaven and the fishes of the sea; causing the downfall of the evil-doers, and cutting man off from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
Is the seed still in the store-house? have the vine and the fig-tree, the pomegranate and the olive-tree, still not given their fruit? from this day I will send my blessing on you.
And let them put a clean head-dress on his head. So they put a clean head-dress on his head, clothing him with clean robes: and to him he said, See, I have taken your sin away from you.
For see, the stone which I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: see, the design cut on it will be my work, says the Lord of armies, and I will take away the sin of that land in one day.
And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones.
And he said, This is Sin; and pushing her down into the ephah, he put the weight of lead on the mouth of it.
And it will come about that, as you were a curse among the nations, O children of Judah and children of Israel, so I will give you salvation and you will be a blessing: have no fear and let your hands be strong.
Whose owners put them to death and have no sense of sin; and those who get a price for them say, May the Lord be praised for I have much wealth: and the keepers of the flock have no pity for them.
In that day there will be a fountain open to the family of David and to the people of Jerusalem, for sin and for that which is unclean.
On that day all the bells of the horses will be holy to the Lord, and the pots in the Lord's house will be like the basins before the altar.
And you say, See, what a weariness it is! and you let out your breath at it, says the Lord of armies; and you have given what has been cut about by beasts, and what is damaged in its feet and ill; this is the offering you give: will this be pleasing to me from your hands? says the Lord.
If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.
And so I have taken away your honour and made you low before all the people, even as you have not kept my ways, and have given no thought to me in using the law.
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in days gone by, and as in past years.
Let your tenths come into the store-house so that there may be food in my house, and put me to the test by doing so, says the Lord of armies, and see if I do not make the windows of heaven open and send down such a blessing on you that there is no room for it.
Then you will again see how the upright man is different from the sinner, and the servant of God from him who is not.
And she will give birth to a son; and you will give him the name Jesus; for he will give his people salvation from their sins.
Saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin; for the kingdom of heaven is near.
From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner.
For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven.
But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.
And they took to him a man stretched on a bed who had no power of moving; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man who was ill, Son, take heart; you have forgiveness for your sins.
For which is the simpler, to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?
But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (then said he to the man who was ill,) Get up, and take up your bed, and go to your house.
And it came about, when he was in the house taking food, that a number of tax-farmers and sinners came and took their places with Jesus and his disciples.
And when the pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners?
But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.
And a blessing will be on him who has no doubts about me.
The Son of man has come feasting, and they say, See, a lover of food and wine, a friend of tax-farmers and sinners! And wisdom is judged to be right by her works.
Then he went on to say hard things to the towns where most of his works of power were done, because they had not been turned from their sins.
Unhappy are you, Chorazin! Unhappy are you, Beth-saida! For if the works of power which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have been turned from their sins in days gone by, clothing themselves in haircloth and putting dust on their heads.
Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing in your eyes.
So I say to you, Every sin and every evil word against God will have forgiveness; but for evil words against the Spirit there will be no forgiveness.
The men of nineveh will come up in the day of judging and give their decision against this generation: because they were turned from their sins at the preaching of Jonah; and now a greater than Jonah is here.
But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.
And he gave orders for the people to be seated on the grass; and he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing, and made division of the food, and gave it to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the people.
And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my father in heaven.
Then some people took little children to him, so that he might put his hands on them in blessing: and the disciples said sharp words to them.
And those who went before him, and those who came after, gave loud cries, saying, Glory to the Son of David: A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord: Glory in the highest.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you had no faith in him, but the tax-farmers and the loose women had faith in him: and you, when you saw it, did not even have regret for your sins, so as to have faith in him.
But they gave no attention, and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his trade:
A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you put up buildings for housing the dead bodies of the prophets, and make fair the last resting-places of good men, and say,
For I say to you, You will not see me from this time till you say, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord.
And a number of false prophets will come, causing error.
A blessing on that servant, who will be doing so when his lord comes.
Then will the King say to those on his right, Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, into the kingdom made ready for you before the world was:
And when they were taking food, Jesus took bread and, after blessing it, he gave the broken bread to the disciples and said, Take it; this is my body.
Take of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the testament, which is given for men for the forgiveness of sins.
Saying, I have done wrong in giving into your hands an upright man. But they said, What is that to us? it is your business.
John came, and gave baptism in the waste land, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.
And there went out to him all the people of Judaea, and all those of Jerusalem, and they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying that they were sinners.
And saying, The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near: let your hearts be turned from sin and have faith in the good news.
And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to him, Son, you have forgiveness for your sins.
Which is the simpler, to say to a man who is ill, You have forgiveness for your sins, or, Get up, take up your bed, and go?
But so that you may see that the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins on earth, (he said to the man,)
And it came about that he was seated at meat in his house, and a number of tax-farmers and sinners were at table with Jesus and his disciples: for there were a great number of them, and they came after him.
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was taking food with the tax-farmers and sinners, said to his disciples, Why does he take food and drink with such men?
And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill: I have come not to get the upright but sinners.
Truly, I say to you, The sons of men will have forgiveness for all their sins and for all the evil words they say:
And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.
And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them; and when the cakes were broken, he gave them to the disciples to put before the people; and he made division of the two fishes among them all.
The taking of goods and of life, broken faith between husband and wife, the desire of wealth, wrongdoing, deceit, sins of the flesh, an evil eye, angry words, pride, foolish acts:
And they had some small fishes; and blessing them he had them put before the people in the same way.
And he took them in his arms, and gave them a blessing, putting his hands on them.
And those who went in front, and those who came after, were crying, Glory: A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord:
A blessing on the coming kingdom of our father David: Glory in the highest.
And whenever you make a prayer, let there be forgiveness in your hearts, if you have anything against anyone; so that you may have forgiveness for your sins from your Father who is in heaven.
And while they were taking food, he took bread, and after blessing it, he gave the broken bread to them, and said, Take it: this is my body.
And again he went away, and said a prayer, using the same words.
And Pilate, desiring to do what was pleasing to the people, let Barabbas go free, and gave up Jesus, when he had been whipped, to be put to death on the cross.
And she said with a loud voice: May blessing be on you among women, and a blessing on the child of your body.
For he has had pity on his servant, though she is poor and lowly placed: and from this hour will all generations give witness to the blessing which has come to me.
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, through the forgiveness of sins,
And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said;
And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men.
And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.
But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner.
And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins.
And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?
Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?
But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house.
And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.
And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners?
I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.
Give blessing to those who give you curses, say prayers for those who are cruel to you.
If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners do the same.
And if you let those have the use of your money, from whom you are hoping to get it back, what credit is it to you? even sinners do so to sinners, hoping to get back as much as they gave.
And a blessing will be on him who has no doubts about me.
The Son of man came feasting, and you say, Here is a lover of food and wine, a friend of tax-farmers and sinners.
And there was a woman in the town who was a sinner; and when she had news that he was a guest in the Pharisee's house, she took a bottle of perfume,
And went in and took her place at the back of him, near his feet, weeping, so that his feet were washed with the drops from her eyes, and with her hair she made them dry, and kissing his feet she put the perfume on them.
Now when the Pharisee in whose house he was saw it, he said to himself, This man, if he was a prophet, would be conscious what sort of woman this is who has put her hands on him, that she is a sinner.
And he said, Two men were in debt to a certain man of business: one had a debt of five hundred pence, and the other of fifty.
You did not give me a kiss: but she, from the time when I came in, has gone on kissing my feet.
And so I say to you, She will have forgiveness for her sins which are great in number, because of her great love: but he who has small need of forgiveness gives little love.
And he said to her, You have forgiveness for your sins.
And those who were seated at table with him said to themselves, Who is this who even gives forgiveness of sins?
And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them, and when they had been broken, he gave them to the disciples to give to the people.
A curse is on you, Chorazin! A curse is on you, Beth-saida! For if such works of power had been done in Tyre and Sidon as have been done in you, they would have been turned from their sins, in days gone by, seated in the dust.
In that same hour he was full of joy in the holy Spirit and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children: for so, O Father, it was pleasing in your eyes.
May we have forgiveness for our sins, as we make free all those who are in debt to us. And let us not be put to the test.
The men of nineveh will come up in the day of judging and give their decision against this generation: for they were turned away from their sins at the preaching of Jonah; but now something greater than Jonah is here.
Now see, your house is waste, and I say to you, You will not see me again till you say, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord.
And you will have a blessing, because they will not be able to give you any payment, and you will get your reward when the upright come back from the dead.
Now all the tax-farmers and sinners came near to give ear to him.
And the pharisees and scribes were angry, saying, This man gives approval to sinners, and takes food with them.
I say to you that even so there will be more joy in heaven when one sinner is turned away from his wrongdoing, than for ninety-nine good men, who have no need of a change of heart.
Even so, I say to you, There is joy among the angels of God, when one sinner is turned away from his wrongdoing.
Give attention to yourselves: if your brother does wrong, say a sharp word to him; and if he has sorrow for his sin, let him have forgiveness.
The tax-farmer, on the other hand, keeping far away, and not lifting up even his eyes to heaven, made signs of grief and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
And when they saw it, they were all angry, saying, He has gone into the house of a sinner.
And he sent for ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds and said to them, Do business with this till I come.
And when he came back again, having got his kingdom, he gave orders for those servants to whom he had given the money to come to him, so that he might have an account of what business they had done.
Saying, A blessing on the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
And Herod, with the men of his army, put shame on him and made sport of him, and dressing him in shining robes, he sent him back to Pilate.
And in answer to their request, he let that man go free who had been in prison for acting against the government and causing death, and Jesus he gave up to their pleasure.
And when he was seated with them at table, he took the bread, and said words of blessing and, making division of it, he gave it to them.
And that teaching about a change of heart and forgiveness of sins is to be given to Jerusalem first and to all nations in his name.
And he took them out till they were near Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he gave them a blessing.
The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus said to her, Woman, this is not your business; my time is still to come.
After a time Jesus came across him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well and strong; do no more sin for fear a worse thing comes to you.
Of myself I am unable to do anything: as the voice comes to me so I give a decision: and my decision is right because I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself, but only what is pleasing to him who sent me.
Now the scribes and pharisees came, with a woman who had been taken in the act of sinning against the married relation;
And putting her forward, they said to him, Master, this woman has been taken in the very act of sinning against the married relation.
But when they went on with their questions, he got up and said to them, Let him among you who is without sin be the first to send a stone at her.
Then he said to them again, I am going away and you will be looking for me, but death will overtake you in your sins. It is not possible for you to come where I am going.
For this reason I said to you that death will overtake you in your sins: for if you have not faith that I am he, death will come to you while you are in your sins.
He who sent me is with me; he has not gone from me, because at all times I do the things which are pleasing to him.
And this was the answer Jesus gave them: Truly I say to you, Everyone who does evil is the servant of sin.
Which of you is able truly to say that I am a sinner? If I say what is true, why have you no belief in me?
And his disciples put a question to him, saying, Master, was it because of this man's sin, or the sin of his father and mother, that he has been blind from birth?
Jesus said in answer, It was not because of his sin, or because of his father's or mother's; it was so that the works of God might be seen openly in him.
Then some of the Pharisees said, That man has not come from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. Others said, How is it possible for a sinner to do such signs? So there was a division among them.
So they sent a second time for the man who had been blind and they said to him, Give glory to God: it is clear to us that this man is a sinner.
He said in answer, I have no knowledge if he is a sinner or not, but one thing I am certain about; I was blind, and now I see.
We have knowledge that God does not give ear to sinners, but if any man is a worshipper of God and does his pleasure, to him God's ears are open.
Their answer was: You came to birth through sin; do you make yourself our teacher? And they put him out of the Synagogue.
Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin: but now that you say, We see; your sin is there still.
Took branches of palm-trees and went out to him, crying, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!
Then he put water into a basin and was washing the feet of the disciples and drying them with the cloth which was round him.
If I had not come and been their teacher they would have had no sin: but now they have no reason to give for their sin.
If I had not done among them the works which no other man ever did, they would have had no sin: but now they have seen, and they have had hate in their hearts for me and my Father.
And he, when he comes, will make the world conscious of sin, and of righteousness, and of being judged:
Of sin, because they have not faith in me;
Jesus gave this answer: You would have no power at all over me if it was not given to you by God; so that he who gave me up to you has the greater sin.
Any to whom you give forgiveness, will be made free from their sins; and any from whom you keep back forgiveness, will still be in their sins.
Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me you have belief: a blessing will be on those who have belief though they have not seen me!
To take that position as a servant and Apostle, from which Judas by his sin was shut out, so that he might go to his place.
And Peter said, Let your hearts be changed, every one of you, and have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will have the Holy Spirit given to you.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
So then, let your hearts be changed and be turned to God, so that your sins may be completely taken away, and times of blessing may come from the Lord;
You are the sons of the prophets, and of the agreement which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, Through your seed a blessing will come on all the families of the earth.
To you, first, God sent his servant, blessing you by turning every one of you from his sins.
Now, at these words, the captain of the Temple and the chief priests were greatly troubled about what might be the end of this business.
Him God has put on high at his right hand, as a ruler and a Saviour, to give to Israel a change of heart and forgiveness of sins.
Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was increasing, protests were made by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were not taken care of in the distribution of food every day.
Take then from among you seven men of good name, full of the spirit and of wisdom, to whom we may give control of this business.
And this saying was pleasing to all of them: and they made selection of Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, who had become a Jew:
And the word of God was increasing in power; and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem became very great, and a great number of priests were in agreement with the faith.
But when the time was near for putting into effect the undertaking which God had given to Abraham, the people were increasing in Egypt,
At the end of forty years, an angel came to him in the waste land of Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn-tree.
This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.
Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.
And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.
You have no part in this business, because your heart is not right before God.
For I see that you are prisoned in bitter envy and the chains of sin.
But Saul went on increasing in power, and the Jews in Damascus were not able to give answers to the arguments by which he made it clear that Jesus was the Christ.
But in every nation, the man who has fear of him and does righteousness is pleasing to him.
To him all the prophets give witness, that through his name everyone who has faith in him will have forgiveness of sins.
And when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he went on to take Peter in addition. This was at the time of the feast of unleavened bread.
But the word of the Lord went on increasing.
And so, let it be clear to you, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is offered to you:
So they kept there for a long time, taking heart in the Lord, who gave witness to the word of his grace by causing signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
But Paul took Silas and went away with the blessing of the brothers.
And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.
Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.
But if any other business is in question, let it be taken up in the regular meeting.
In all things I was an example to you of how, in your lives, you are to give help to the feeble, and keep in memory the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, There is a greater blessing in giving than in getting.
And they were all weeping, falling on Paul's neck and kissing him,
Are you by chance the egyptian who, before this, got the people worked up against the government and took four thousand men of the Assassins out into the waste land?
And now, why are you waiting? get up, and have baptism, for the washing away of your sins, giving worship to his name.
And the night after, the Lord came to his side and said, Be of good heart, for as you have been witnessing for me in Jerusalem, so will you be my witness in Rome.
So now, will you and the Sanhedrin make a request to the military authorities to have him sent down to you, as if you were desiring to go into the business in greater detail; and we, before ever he gets to you, will be waiting to put him to death.
But Felix, who had a more detailed knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, When Lysias, the chief captain, comes down, I will give attention to your business.
But I have no certain account of him to send to Caesar. So I have sent for him to come before you, and specially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the business has been gone into, I may have something to put in writing.
To make their eyes open, turning them from the dark to the light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may have forgiveness of sins and a heritage among those who are made holy by faith in me.
And so, by God's help, I am here today, witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come about;
Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.
But if, because I am untrue, God being seen to be true gets more glory, why am I to be judged as a sinner?
What then? are we worse off than they? In no way: because we have before made it clear that Jews as well as greeks are all under the power of sin;
Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment;
As David says that there is a blessing on the man to whose account God puts righteousness without works, saying,
Happy are those who have forgiveness for their wrongdoing, and whose sins are covered.
Happy is the man against whom no sin is recorded by the Lord.
Is this blessing, then, for the circumcision only, or in the same way for those who have not circumcision? for we say that the faith of Abraham was put to his account as righteousness.
But God has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us.
For this reason, as through one man sin came into the world, and death because of sin, and so death came to all men, because all have done evil:
Because, till the law came, sin was in existence, but sin is not put to the account of anyone when there is no law to be broken.
And the free giving has not the same effect as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's sin was punishment by the decision of God, but the free giving had power to give righteousness to wrongdoers in great number.
Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man.
And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace:
That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What may we say, then? are we to go on in sin so that there may be more grace?
In no way. How may we, who are dead to sin, be living in it any longer?
Being conscious that our old man was put to death on the cross with him, so that the body of sin might be put away, and we might no longer be servants to sin.
Because he who is dead is free from sin.
For his death was a death to sin, but his life now is a life which he is living to God.
Even so see yourselves as dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus.
For this cause do not let sin be ruling in your body which is under the power of death, so that you give way to its desires;
And do not give your bodies to sin as the instruments of wrongdoing, but give yourselves to God, as those who are living from the dead, and your bodies as instruments of righteousness to God.
For sin may not have rule over you: because you are not under law, but under grace.
What then? are we to go on in sin because we are not under law but under grace? Let it not be so.
Are you not conscious that you are the servants of him to whom you give yourselves to do his desire? if to sin, the end being death, or if to do the desire of God, the end being righteousness.
But praise be to God that though you were the servants of sin, you have now given yourselves freely to that form of teaching under which you were placed;
And being made free from sin you have been made the servants of righteousness.
I am using words in the way of men, because your flesh is feeble: as you gave your bodies as servants to what is unclean, and to evil to do evil, so now give them as servants to righteousness to do what is holy.
When you were servants of sin you were free from righteousness.
But now, being free from sin, and having been made servants to God, you have your fruit in that which is holy, and the end is eternal life.
For the reward of sin is death; but what God freely gives is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Is it not clear, my brothers (I am using an argument to those who have knowledge of the law), that the law has power over a man as long as he is living?
Most of the teaching of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Complete Sayings of Jesus presents every word spoken by Jesus in one place and provides an index to assist in finding specific ocassions, places and/or events. It is a must read aid for serious Bible study.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they direct us to imitate his life and character. The Imitation of Christ is guide to following the example of Jesus Christ. Let it be our most earnest study to dwell upon the life and example of Jesus.
The Apocrypha books are 14 books that were included between the old and new testaments in the original King James Version of the bible and many others. Church leaders agreed that these books were valuable for instruction in life and manners, but did not all agree that they should be considered cannon.
The Childrens Bible provides bible lessons from the Old and New testaments. There are 216 stories written in plain english. The stories are easy to read and understand but they are not just for childern. It is a pleasure to read and enjoy these important stories.
Let us love one another, for love comes from God and every one who loves is a child of God and knows God. He who loves not man does not know God, for God is love. God showed his love for us, for he sent his only Son into the world that through him we might have life. Love the stranger.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus said;
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.
And the second Mark 12:31 [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Gospel of The Birth of Mary was attributed to St. Matthew and was received as genuine and authentic by early Christians. It is to be found in the works of Jerome, a Father of the Church in the 4th century and is translated from his collection.
The Book of Enoch is ascribed to the great-grandfather of Noah and is included in the cannon of some churches. It describes the fall of the angels (watchers), visions of heaven and hell and the birth of Noah. Quotes from the book of Enoch are found in the New Testament.
The First Book of Adam and Eve. Books 1 begins immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. We learn about the fall but also of the promise to save Adam and his decendents. The story depicts mans struggle against evil, the devil and sin.
The Second Book of Adam and Eve. Discusses Adam's sorrow and death. The history of the patriarchs who lived before the Flood until the birth of Noah; the children of Seth on Mount Hermon and Cain's death. It ends with the testament and translation of Enoch.
The Infancy of Jesus Christ (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) relates the life of Jesus from the ages of five to twelve. It is believed that the document was transcribed from oral traditions some time prior to the second century. The ancient writing is possibly Gnostic and many early church leaders considered it heretical.
Daily Bible study is essential. The Bible Verse of the Day provides a collection of enlightening and inspiration bible verses. Improve your knowledge and understanding of the Bible and your life by studying the words of the holy scripture. Explore the King James Bible (kjv) and discover new insights.
The World English Bible was produced to provide speakers of modern English with a version of the Bible that is easily understood. The Bible is in the public domain and available world-wide. It is an accurate modern translation of the original King James Bible, including the Apocryphal books.
Looking for something in the Bible? Want to find a specifc verse or list of words? The Bible search feature makes it easy find verses or words. Enter the verses or words in the search bar or visit the search page to access additional search options. Finding information in the Bible will never be easier.
The favorite verses page is a list of popular bible verses. Each verse includes a link to the chapter and verse of the book where it is found in the bible. Click on any link for a bible verse and it will take you to that location in the bible.
The bible contains great stories. Visit the bible stories page for links to some of the best known and most significant stories and passages in the bible.