- God is not human, that he should lie,
or the son of man, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act,
does he promise and then not fulfill it? - Every good act of giving and every perfect gift are from above, coming down from the Father of all light. With him there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
- Let the wicked abandon their ways
and those who are evil their thoughts.
Let them return to the Lord
so that he may have mercy upon them;
and to our God,
for he is rich in forgiveness. - When God saw by their actions that they had turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not inflict upon them the punishment that he had threatened.
- They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior.
- And as we gaze upon the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, all of us are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago.
- What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his very life? Or what can he give in exchange for his life?
- Because in my eyes you are precious,
because you are honored and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations in return for your life. - When the command is given, at the sound of the archangel’s voice and the call of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will descend from heaven, and those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise. Then those of us who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord. And so, we will be with the Lord forever.
All this took place in order to fulfill what the Lord had announced through the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
a name that means “God is with us.” Yours, O Lord, are greatness,
power, glory, strength, and majesty,
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.Next verse!With image