1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
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that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
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Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,
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“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
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No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
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I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
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And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
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And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
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And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
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This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
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You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
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He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
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both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
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Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
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And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
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I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
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Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
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And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
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God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
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As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
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But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
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When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
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Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him.
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Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
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And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
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That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
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And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
1
Then allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war.
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And allotments were made to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.
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Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
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They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father.
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Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan,
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because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.
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The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem. Then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
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The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the people of Ephraim.
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Then the boundary went down to the brook Kanah. These cities, to the south of the brook, among the cities of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes on the north side of the brook and ends at the sea,
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the land to the south being Ephraim's and that to the north being Manasseh's, with the sea forming its boundary. On the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar.
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Also in Issachar and in Asher Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, and Ibleam and its villages, and the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; the third is Naphath.
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Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
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Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
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Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am a numerous people, since all along the LORD has blessed me?”
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And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”
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The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”
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Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only,
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but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”
1
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.
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Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
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“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?
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Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.
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He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property — the eyes of his children will fail.
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“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
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My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow.
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The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
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Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
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But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.
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My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
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They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
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If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness,
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if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
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where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
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Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”
1
I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Others Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!
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I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
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I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?
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My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
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I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
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I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
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The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
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I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.
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What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?
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My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
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His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
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His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.
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His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.
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His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires.
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His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
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His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
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Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
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From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right!
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You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
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With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.
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My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.
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I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.
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Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.
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Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
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from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.
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They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
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They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
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He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.
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Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
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from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.
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As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
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Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
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A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
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The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.
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An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
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Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
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Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.
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Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince.
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A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.
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Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
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A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.
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An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
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Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.
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If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.
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The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
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He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
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Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?
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A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
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One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
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Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
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A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
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He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.
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A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
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The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
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The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
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A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
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To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
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Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
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Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
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An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.
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The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
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The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the LORD of hosts.
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And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
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And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
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Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten — two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares the LORD God of Israel.
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In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.
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He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
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In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
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For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
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though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.
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Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
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The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.
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At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
1
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
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And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
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And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
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And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
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He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
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When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
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But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”
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And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
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And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
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And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
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He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.
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But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
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Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
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And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him,
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said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.
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And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”
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And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
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And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
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Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
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He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
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As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,
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and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
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When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”
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He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?”
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And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
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However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
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Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
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To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
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that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge —
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even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you —
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so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
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For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.
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What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”
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Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
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I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
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so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.
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(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
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For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
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For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
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For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
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Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
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For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
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For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
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but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
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but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
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But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
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God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
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so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
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And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
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so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
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with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
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And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
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The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
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And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.”
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And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
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But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
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The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
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This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;
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they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
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As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
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And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.
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These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.
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They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
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And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
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And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,
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for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
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And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”