So do not let them persuade you to do this, ¹  because more than forty of them ²  are lying in ambush ³  for him. They ⁴  have bound themselves with an oath ⁵  not to eat or drink anything ⁶  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ⁷ 

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance ¹  as a servant and witness ²  to the things ³  you have seen ⁴  and to the things in which I will appear to you.

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³ 

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ¹  so that he would become ²  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ³  that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ³ 

Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

I am afraid that ¹  when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I will grieve for ²  many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.

Now we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, ¹  but so that you may do what is right ²  even if we may appear to have failed the test. ³ 

and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ¹  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ²  based on Christ’s ³  faithfulness. ⁴ 

For certain men ¹  have secretly slipped in among you ²  – men who long ago ³  were marked out ⁴  for the condemnation I am about to describe ⁵  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ⁶  and who deny our only Master ⁷  and Lord, ⁸  Jesus Christ.

‘I know your works as well as your ¹  labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate ²  evil. You have even put to the test ³  those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ¹  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ²  before the people ³  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ⁴ 

So ¹  I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” ²  Then ³  he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They ⁴  have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

These two have the power ¹  to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time ²  they are prophesying. They ³  have power ⁴  to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell. ¹ 

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.

Thus whenever you do charitable giving, ¹  do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues ²  and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

“When ¹  you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive ²  so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.