1    In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment. 

2    He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. 

3    One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said.

4    Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel.

And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! 

5    Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. 

6    He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.”

7    As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. 

8    He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.

9    The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, 

10  and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 

11  He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. 

12  In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. 

13  Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”

14  “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”

15  But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” 

16  The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

1    Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.

2    Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

3    For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.

4    Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

5    For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

6    But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.

7    Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8    Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.

9    Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.

10  Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

11  Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

13  Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.

14  Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

15  Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.

16  You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.

17  The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

39  When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. 

40  There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

41  Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 

42  When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 

43  After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 

44  because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

45  When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. 

46  Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 

47  All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48  His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

49  “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 

50  But they didn’t understand what he meant.

51  Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

52  Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

1    Then Job spoke again:

2    “If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,

3    they would outweigh all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke impulsively.

4    For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me.

5    Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?

6    Don’t people complain about unsalted food? Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?

7    My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

8    “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.

9    I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

10  At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11  But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.

12  Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?

13  No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

1    Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. 

2    So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.”

3    But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

4    But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem

5    and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah. 

6    But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.

7    God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it. 

8    Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.”

9    Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer. This was the message: 

10  “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

11  So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the Lord has given you. 

12  You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the Lord brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”

13  “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

14  So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result. 15  And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

16  David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem. So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground. 

17  And David said to God, “I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”

4    For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 

5    And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. 6    Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 

7    But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 

8    Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.

9    So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. 10  He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority.

These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. 

11  But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings.

12  These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 

13  Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 

14  They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 

15  They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 

16  But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

17  These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 

18  They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 

19  They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 

20  And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 

21  It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.

1    O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips.

2    Declare me innocent, for you see those who do right.

3    You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. You have scrutinized me and found nothing wrong. I am determined not to sin in what I say.

4    I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people.

5    My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you.

6    I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.

7    Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. By your mighty power you rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies.

1    It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. 

2    Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. 

3    Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 

4    Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!

5    The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth.

6    And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.’”

7    When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 

8    Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 

9    Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

10  The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

11  John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

12  Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13  He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

14  “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.

John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”