- This is the message
that we have heard from him
and that we declare to you:
God is light,
and there is no darkness at all in him. - The heavens proclaim the glory of God;
the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
One day imparts that message to the next,
and night conveys that knowledge to night. - And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
invoke his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted. - I have made your name known to them,
and I will make it known,
so that the love with which you loved me
may be in them, and I in them. - If you confess with your lips, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- And now, brethren, I want to remind you of the gospel I proclaimed to you, which you received and in which you stand firm. Through it you are also being saved, provided that you are holding fast to what I proclaimed to you. If not, then you have believed in vain.
- My mouth is filled with your praises
as I relate your glory all day long. - He proclaimed his covenant to you which he ordered you to fulfill, the Ten Commandments, that he wrote upon two tablets of stone.
- And every tongue should proclaim
to the glory of God the Father:
Jesus Christ is Lord. - God abides in anyone who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
and that person abides in God. - Can someone hide in a secret place
so that I cannot see him?
Do I not fill heaven and earth? - Whoever believes in me,
as Scripture has said,
‘Streams of living water
shall flow from within him.’ - Return, rebel Israel, says the Lord.
I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am merciful, says the Lord;
my wrath will not continue forever. - No one has ever seen God.
It is the only Son, God,
who is at the Father’s side,
who has made him known. - For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord,
every knee shall bow before me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.” - But according to Scripture all things have been confined under sin, so that through faith in Jesus Christ what was promised might be given to those who believe.
- For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. - I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Repent and live!
- But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people claimed by God as his own possession,” so that you may proclaim the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. - You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,
who rest in the shadow of the Almighty,
say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I place my trust.” - He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean.
- For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope.
- Do I derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? asks the Lord God. Would I not rather rejoice to see them turn away from their wickedness and live?
- Therefore say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: The fulfillment of my words will not be delayed any longer. What I have said will be done now. This is the word of the Lord God.”
Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.May the Lord, our God, be with us, just as he was with our fathers; may he not leave us or abandon us. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile flesh or spirit, and thereby make our holiness perfect in the fear of God.Next verse!With image