Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.
. . .
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!
Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.
But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
. . .
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,”
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—
as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,
for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?
By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.
Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.
Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts.
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,
Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart.
So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore.
And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying bitterly.
Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness,
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,
traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!
Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
So you also must love the foreigner, since you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
So you shall rejoice—you, the Levite, and the foreigner dwelling among you—in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!
Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,
to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us, for we will obey the voice of the LORD our God!”
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth—for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things,
When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.
As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.
When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!”
But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said.
“Do not judge, or you will be judged.
For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
All her ways are pleasant, and all her paths are peaceful.
. . .
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,
a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.
She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home.
Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.
A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.
They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men.
. . .
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.
For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
For this reason Christ died and returned to life, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
For God does not show favoritism.
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.
No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
This they shall have in return for their pride, for taunting and mocking the people of the LORD of Hosts.
The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.