Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.

The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Now pray to the LORD to take these snakes away." So Moses prayed for the people.

If they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them and catch them. If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the sea monster to bite them.

if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; they will place their hands on sick people, and these will get well."

Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

Paul gathered up a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a snake came out on account of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.

But Paul shook the snake off into the fire without being harmed at all.

Their words are full of deadly deceit; wicked lies roll off their tongues, and dangerous threats, like snake's poison, from their lips;

When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, "You snakes---who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

You snakes---how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One;

You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires. From the very beginning he was a murderer and has never been on the side of truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies.

and said, "You son of the Devil! You are the enemy of everything that is good. You are full of all kinds of evil tricks, and you always keep trying to turn the Lord's truths into lies!

Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.

Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.

You made a solemn promise to David--- a promise you will not take back: "I will make one of your sons king, and he will rule after you.

Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him 'Immanuel.'

How long will you hesitate, faithless people? I have created something new and different, as different as a woman protecting a man."

So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people.

"A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel" (which means, "God is with us").

But he had no sexual relations with her before she gave birth to her son. And Joseph named him Jesus.

You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God.

But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,

And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

As the scripture says, "When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to people."

And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,

and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death.

Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.

Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, who fought back with his angels;

but the dragon was defeated, and he and his angels were not allowed to stay in heaven any longer.

The dragon was furious with the woman and went off to fight against the rest of her descendants, all those who obey God's commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the abyss and a heavy chain.

The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be set loose for a little while.

Dan will be a snake at the side of the road, A poisonous snake beside the path, That strikes at the horse's heel, So that the rider is thrown off backward.

We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him--- we ignored him as if he were nothing.

"But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.

And so I will give him a place of honor, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven."

And at the end of that time God's chosen leader will be killed unjustly. The city and the Temple will be destroyed by the invading army of a powerful ruler. The end will come like a flood, bringing the war and destruction which God has prepared.

Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil.

Then the Devil came to him and said, "If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn into bread."

Then the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple,

Jesus answered, "But the scripture also says, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

"All this I will give you," the Devil said, "if you kneel down and worship me."

Jesus left the city and went, as he usually did, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples went with him.

Then he went off from them about the distance of a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed.

An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.

Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

(In saying this he indicated the kind of death he was going to suffer.)

I cannot talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,

but the world must know that I love the Father; that is why I do everything as he commands me. "Come, let us go from this place.

And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered.

In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him.

Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

They won the victory over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed; and they were willing to give up their lives and die.

When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he began to pursue the woman who had given birth to the boy.

It was allowed to fight against God's people and to defeat them, and it was given authority over every tribe, nation, language, and race.

Then I saw in the sky another mysterious sight, great and amazing. There were seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last ones, because they are the final expression of God's anger.

and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Lord God Almighty, how great and wonderful are your deeds! King of the nations, how right and true are your ways!

After this I saw the temple in heaven open, with the Sacred Tent in it.

After the thousand years are over, Satan will be set loose from his prison,

and he will go out to deceive the nations scattered over the whole world, that is, Gog and Magog. Satan will bring them all together for battle, as many as the grains of sand on the seashore.