But a man escaped and reported all this to Abram, the Hebrew, who was living near the sacred trees belonging to Mamre the Amorite. Mamre and his brothers Eshcol and Aner were Abram's allies.

she called to her house servants and said, "Look at this! This Hebrew that my husband brought to the house is insulting us. He came into my room and tried to rape me, but I screamed as loud as I could.

I was circumcised when I was a week old. I am an Israelite by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin, a pure-blooded Hebrew. As far as keeping the Jewish Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee,

When they first settled there, they did not worship the LORD, and so he sent lions, which killed some of them.

So an Israelite priest who had been deported from Samaria went and lived in Bethel, where he taught the people how to worship the LORD.

These people also worshiped the LORD and chose from among their own number all sorts of people to serve as priests at the pagan places of worship and to offer sacrifices for them there.

They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the LORD nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

Satan replied, "Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?

But the time will come when the people of Israel will once again turn to the LORD their God and to a descendant of David their king. Then they will fear the LORD and will receive his good gifts.

For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship came to me

Who will not stand in awe of you, Lord? Who will refuse to declare your greatness? You alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship you, because your just actions are seen by all."

"This is the command of Cyrus, Emperor of Persia. The LORD, the God of Heaven, has made me ruler over the whole world and has given me the responsibility of building a temple for him in Jerusalem in Judah.

"They answered, 'We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the Temple which was originally built and equipped many years ago by a powerful king of Israel.

"From Emperor Artaxerxes to the priest Ezra, scholar in the Law of the God of Heaven.

"I command that throughout my empire all the Israelite people, priests, and Levites that so desire be permitted to go with you to Jerusalem.

When I heard all this, I sat down and wept. For several days I mourned and did not eat. I prayed to God,

The emperor asked, "What is it that you want?" I prayed to the God of Heaven,

Give thanks to the God of heaven; his love is eternal.

He told them to pray to the God of heaven for mercy and to ask him to explain the mystery to them so that they would not be killed along with the other advisers in Babylon.

Then that same night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he praised the God of heaven:

At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever.

At that very moment there was a violent earthquake; a tenth of the city was destroyed, and seven thousand people were killed. The rest of the people were terrified and praised the greatness of the God of heaven.

and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not turn from their evil ways.

And then the people of Israel prayed this prayer: "You, LORD, you alone are LORD; you made the heavens and the stars of the sky. You made land and sea and everything in them; you gave life to all. The heavenly powers bow down and worship you.

He rules over the sea, which he made; the land also, which he himself formed.

Come, let us bow down and worship him; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

Happy are those who have the God of Jacob to help them and who depend on the LORD their God,

the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them. He always keeps his promises;

"Why are you doing this? We ourselves are only human beings like you! We are here to announce the Good News, to turn you away from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven, earth, sea, and all that is in them.

For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, 'To an Unknown God.' That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you.

Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.