This content from Berean Standard Bible (public domain)
(Matthew 18:10–14)
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.
Or what woman who has ten silver coins [Greek ten drachmas, each worth about a day’s wages ]and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
(Deuteronomy 21:18–21)
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. [WH includes Make me like one of your hired servants; see verse 19. ]’
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on.
‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’
The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.
But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (BSB)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
The officers shall speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit. What man is there who has pledged to be married to a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.” The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.” It shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.
When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you, then it shall be that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you. If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it. When Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword; but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you; that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God. When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you? Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls. (WEB)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know that the head [or, origin ]of every man is Christ, and the head [or, origin ]of the woman is man, and the head [or, origin ]of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man; for man wasn’ t created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.
Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled? Doesn’ t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God ’ s assemblies.
But in giving you this command I don’ t praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it. For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you. When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken. What, don’ t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God ’ s assembly and put them to shame who don’ t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’ t praise you.
For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord ’ s death until he comes.
Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord ’ s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’ t discern the Lord’s body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come. (WEB)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who testify: [Only a few recent manuscripts add “in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth:” ] the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’ t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this: that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’ t have God ’ s Son doesn’ t have the life.
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I don’ t say that he should make a request concerning this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
We know that whoever is born of God doesn’ t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’ t touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (WEB)
Psalm 40:8; 1 John 5:3: I Delight To Do Thy Will
1 John 5:14-15: This Is The Confidence
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
“I made a covenant with my eyes;
how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
For what is the portion from God above,
and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
Doesn’t he see my ways,
and count all my steps?
“If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit
(let me be weighed in an even balance,
that God may know my integrity);
if my step has turned out of the way,
if my heart walked after my eyes,
if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
then let me sow, and let another eat.
Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
“If my heart has been enticed to a woman,
and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
then let my wife grind for another,
and let others sleep with her.
For that would be a heinous crime.
Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,
and would root out all my increase.
“If I have despised the cause of my male servant
or of my female servant,
when they contended with me,
what then will I do when God rises up?
When he visits, what will I answer him?
Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?
Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
“If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
I have guided her from my mother’s womb);
if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
or that the needy had no covering;
if his heart hasn’t blessed me,
if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate;
then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,
and my arm be broken from the bone.
For calamity from God is a terror to me.
Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.
“If I have made gold my hope,
and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence ;’
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
and because my hand had gotten much;
if I have seen the sun when it shined,
or the moon moving in splendor,
and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;
this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I would have denied the God who is above.
“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
or lifted up myself when evil found him
(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin
by asking his life with a curse);
if the men of my tent have not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
(the foreigner has not camped in the street,
but I have opened my doors to the traveler);
if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
because I feared the great multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door —
oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!
Let the accuser write my indictment!
Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,
and I would bind it to me as a crown.
I would declare to him the number of my steps.
I would go near to him like a prince.
If my land cries out against me,
and its furrows weep together;
if I have eaten its fruits without money,
or have caused its owners to lose their life,
let briers grow instead of wheat,
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended. (WEB)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
My heart overflows with a noble theme.
I recite my verses for the king.
My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.
You are the most excellent of the sons of men.
Grace has anointed your lips,
therefore God has blessed you forever.
Strap your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and your majesty.
In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand display awesome deeds.
Your arrows are sharp.
The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
Your throne, God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.
Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women.
At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear.
Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
So the king will desire your beauty,
honor him, for he is your lord.
The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.
The rich among the people entreat your favor.
The princess inside is all glorious.
Her clothing is interwoven with gold.
She shall be led to the king in embroidered work.
The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.
With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led.
They shall enter into the king’s palace.
Your sons will take the place of your fathers.
You shall make them princes in all the earth.
I will make your name to be remembered in all generations.
Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever. (WEB)
This content pulled from bible.org.
(NET)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?” Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had certainly come. Then David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him.
Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?”
Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”
David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against Yahweh’s anointed, and be guiltless?” David said, “As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. Yahweh forbid that I should stretch out my hand against Yahweh’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let’s go.”
So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh had fallen on them. Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain far away, a great space being between them; and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Don’t you answer, Abner?”
Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. This thing isn’t good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.”
Saul recognized David’s voice, and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?”
David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that Yahweh has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before Yahweh; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to Yahweh’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.”
David answered, “Behold the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and get it. Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because Yahweh delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn’t stretch out my hand against Yahweh’s anointed. Behold, as your life was respected today in my eyes, so let my life be respected in Yahweh’s eyes, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.”
Then Saul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You will both do mightily, and will surely prevail.”
So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. (WEB)
This content from World English Bible (public domain)
“In that day there will be a fountain opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land. It will happen that when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in Yahweh’s name ;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies. It will happen in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they won’t wear a hairy mantle to deceive, but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.’ One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
It shall happen that in all the land,” says Yahweh,
“two parts in it will be cut off and die;
but the third will be left in it.
I will bring the third part into the fire,
and will refine them as silver is refined,
and will test them like gold is tested.
They will call on my name, and I will hear them.
I will say, ‘It is my people ;’
and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’” (WEB)
This content from Berean Standard Bible (public domain)
One afternoon Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [That is, three in the afternoon ] And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts. [Literally the temple; also in verse 8 ] When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
Peter looked directly at him, as did John. “Look at us!” said Peter. So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk! [SBL, NE, and WH In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk! ]”
Taking him by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong. He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
(Deuteronomy 18:15–22)
While the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and ran to them in the walkway called Solomon’s Colonnade. [Literally in the colonnade called Solomon’s ] And when Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you surprised by this? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant [Or His child; also in verse 26 ]Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him. You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact.
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know has been made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given him this complete healing in your presence.
And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you.
Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you. [Deuteronomy 18:15 ] Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people. [See Deuteronomy 18:19. ]’
Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days. And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ [Genesis 22:18 ] When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” (BSB)