8.Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9.Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10.For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.11.They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.12.For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”3:12 Psalm 34:12-16
1.We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2.Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3.For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”15:3 Psalm 69:9 4.For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
5.May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6.so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7.Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8.For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews15:8 Greek circumcision on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9.and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing the praises of your name.”15:9 2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49
10.Again, it says,
“Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”15:10 Deut. 32:43
11.And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
let all the peoples extol him.”15:11 Psalm 117:1
12.And again, Isaiah says,
“The Root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations;
in him the Gentiles will hope.”15:12 Isaiah 11:10 (see Septuagint)
13.May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul the Minister to the Gentiles
14.I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15.Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16.to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17.Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18.I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19.by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20.It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. 21.Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”15:21 Isaiah 52:15 (see Septuagint)
22.This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome
23.But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24.I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25.Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26.For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27.They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28.So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29.I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
30.I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31.Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, 32.so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33.The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
1.Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2.For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.4:2 Some manuscripts because those who heard did not combine it with faith 3.Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”4:3 Psalm 95:11; also in verse 5
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4.For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”4:4 Gen. 2:2 5.And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
6.Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7.God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”4:7 Psalm 95:7,8
8.For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9.There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10.for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,4:10 Or labor just as God did from his. 11.Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
12.For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13.Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Jesus the Great High Priest
14.Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,4:14 Greek has gone through the heavens Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15.For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16.Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
1.The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2.Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3.But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4.It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5.Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6.with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7.Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”10:7 Psalm 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
8.First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9.Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10.And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11.Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12.But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13.and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14.For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15.The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16.“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”10:16 Jer. 31:33
17.Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”10:17 Jer. 31:34
18.And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
A Call to Persevere in Faith
19.Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20.by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21.and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22.let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23.Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24.And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25.not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
26.If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27.but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28.Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29.How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30.For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”10:30 Deut. 32:35 and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”10:30 Deut. 32:36; Psalm 135:14 31.It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32.Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33.Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34.You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35.So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36.You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37.For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”10:37 Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3
38.And,
“But my righteous10:38 Some manuscripts But the righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”10:38 Hab. 2:4 (see Septuagint)
39.But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Psalm 3434 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.,34 In Hebrew texts 34:1-22 is numbered 34:2-23.
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1.I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2.I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3.Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
4.I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5.Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
6.This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7.The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8.Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9.Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10.The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11.Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12.Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13.keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14.Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15.The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16.but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17.The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18.The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19.The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20.he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21.Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22.The Lord will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
20.But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21.To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.22.“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”2:22 Isaiah 53:923.When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24.“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25.For “you were like sheep going astray,”2:24,25 Isaiah 53:4,5,6 (see Septuagint) but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
44.But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
