You have put us to the test, God; as silver is purified by fire, so you have tested us.

Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person's heart is tested by the LORD.

Take the impurities out of silver and the artist can produce a thing of beauty.

I will take action against you. I will purify you the way metal is refined, and will remove all your impurity.

I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless.

They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going around and spreading gossip.

They will be called worthless dross, because I, the LORD, have rejected them."

"Mortal man, the Israelites are of no use to me. They are like waste metal---copper, tin, iron, and lead---left over after silver has been refined in a furnace.

in the same way that the ore of silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin is put in a refining furnace. My anger and rage will melt them the way fire melts ore.

They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the LORD."

Many people will be purified. Those who are wicked will not understand but will go on being wicked; only those who are wise will understand.

And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God."

So John said to all of them, "I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water,

in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty---pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.

He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.

My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you.

Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed.

I advise you, then, to buy gold from me, pure gold, in order to be rich. Buy also white clothing to dress yourself and cover up your shameful nakedness. Buy also some ointment to put on your eyes, so that you may see.

The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "Children honor their parents, and servants honor their masters. I am your father---why don't you honor me? I am your master---why don't you respect me? You despise me, and yet you ask, 'How have we despised you?'

When you bring a blind or sick or lame animal to sacrifice to me, do you think there's nothing wrong with that? Try giving an animal like that to the governor! Would he be pleased with you or grant you any favors?"

The LORD Almighty says, "I wish one of you would close the Temple doors so as to prevent you from lighting useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you; I will not accept the offerings you bring me.

The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "This command is for you:

I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice---and you will be taken out to the dung heap.

"In my covenant I promised them life and well-being, and this is what I gave them, so that they might respect me. In those days they did respect and fear me.

It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.

And you will be known as the priests of the LORD, The servants of our God. You will enjoy the wealth of the nations And be proud that it is yours.

and will know that I am the one who punishes them. "But I will spare some of them and send them to the nations and the distant lands that have not heard of my fame or seen my greatness and power: to Spain, Libya, and Lydia, with its skilled archers, and to Tubal and Greece. Among these nations they will proclaim my greatness.

I will make some of them priests and Levites.

and that there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to serve me and to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices."

"I have made a covenant with the day and with the night, so that they always come at their proper times; and that covenant can never be broken.

I will increase the number of descendants of my servant David and the number of priests from the tribe of Levi, so that it will be as impossible to count them as it is to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore."

The Sovereign LORD said, "Those priests belonging to the tribe of Levi who are descended from Zadok, however, continued to serve me faithfully in the Temple when the rest of the people of Israel turned away from me. So now they are the ones who are to serve me and come into my presence to offer me the fat and the blood of the sacrifices.

They alone will enter my Temple, serve at my altar, and conduct the Temple worship.

and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

You have made them a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they shall rule on earth."

People from one end of the world to the other honor me. Everywhere they burn incense to me and offer acceptable sacrifices. All of them honor me!

Offer the right sacrifices to the LORD, and put your trust in him.

Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God, and give the Almighty all that you promised.

Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honors me, and I will surely save all who obey me."

I will praise God with a song; I will proclaim his greatness by giving him thanks.

This will please the LORD more than offering him cattle, more than sacrificing a full-grown bull.

They must thank the LORD for his constant love, for the wonderful things he did for them.

They must thank him with sacrifices, and with songs of joy must tell all that he has done.

I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and offer my prayer to you.

I call to you, LORD; help me now! Listen to me when I call to you.

Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.

Return to the LORD, and let this prayer be your offering to him: "Forgive all our sins and accept our prayer, and we will praise you as we have promised.

But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants.

God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is."

So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

of being a servant of Christ Jesus to work for the Gentiles. I serve like a priest in preaching the Good News from God, in order that the Gentiles may be an offering acceptable to God, dedicated to him by the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps my life's blood is to be poured out like an offering on the sacrifice that your faith offers to God. If that is so, I am glad and share my joy with you all.

Here, then, is my receipt for everything you have given me---and it has been more than enough! I have all I need now that Epaphroditus has brought me all your gifts. They are like a sweet-smelling offering to God, a sacrifice which is acceptable and pleasing to him.

As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed; the time is here for me to leave this life.

Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord.

Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.

Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.