But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.

But now I tell you: do not use any vow when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne;

But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased."

While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased---listen to him!"

I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command.

He will speak in my name, and I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him.

times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you.

For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people. You are to obey everything that he tells you to do.

Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, 'God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.'

When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him,

Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!

but he rejected Cain and his offering. Cain became furious, and he scowled in anger.

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why that scowl on your face?

When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother so much that they would not speak to him in a friendly manner.

"Do you think you are going to be a king and rule over us?" his brothers asked. So they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of what he said about them.

They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.

Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He became angry with David and said, "What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You smart aleck, you! You just came to watch the fighting!"

Saul did not like this, and he became very angry. He said, "For David they claim tens of thousands, but only thousands for me. They will be making him king next!"

And so he was jealous and suspicious of David from that day on.

Saul became furious with Jonathan and said to him, "How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours!

"Why should he die?" Jonathan replied. "What has he done?"

Saul said to Ahimelech, "Listen, Ahimelech!" "At your service, sir," he answered.

Ahimelech answered, "David is the most faithful officer you have! He is your own son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and highly respected by everyone in the royal court.

The king said, "Ahimelech, you and all your relatives must die."

So Saul said to Doeg, "You kill them!"---and Doeg killed them all. On that day he killed eighty-five priests who were qualified to carry the ephod.

But Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped, and went and joined David.

David said to him, "When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew that he would be sure to tell Saul. So I am responsible for the death of all your relatives.

Ahab went home, depressed and angry over what Naboth had said to him. He lay down on his bed, facing the wall, and would not eat.

This made Asa so angry with the prophet that he had him put in chains. It was at this same time that Asa began treating some of the people cruelly.

Haman was furious when he realized that Mordecai was not going to kneel and bow to him,

and when he learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to do more than punish Mordecai alone. He made plans to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire.

Don't give in to worry or anger; it only leads to trouble.

At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the royal advisers in Babylon.

So the order was issued for all of them to be killed, including Daniel and his friends.

At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the three men to be brought before him.

Then Nebuchadnezzar lost his temper, and his face turned red with anger at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual.

If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.

Don't give the Devil a chance.

So if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you,

leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?"

And Jesus concluded, "That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

and said, "As far as we have been able, we have been buying back our Jewish relatives who had to sell themselves to foreigners. Now you are forcing your own relatives to sell themselves to you, their own people!" The leaders were silent and could find nothing to say.

"Because you robbed and killed your relatives, the descendants of Jacob, you will be destroyed and dishonored forever.

You should not have gloated over the misfortune of your relatives in Judah. You should not have been glad on the day of their ruin. You should not have laughed at them in their distress.

Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another.

Instead, one Christian goes to court against another and lets unbelievers judge the case!

In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that.

If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour.

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.

We know that we have left death and come over into life; we know it because we love others. Those who do not love are still under the power of death.

Those who hate others are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life in them.

If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen.

The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.

If you see a believer commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray to God, who will give that person life. This applies to those whose sins do not lead to death. But there is sin which leads to death, and I do not say that you should pray to God about that.

(SEE 7:3)

Defeat does not come to those who trust in you, but to those who are quick to rebel against you.

Don't let my enemies, those liars, gloat over my defeat. Don't let those who hate me for no reason smirk with delight over my sorrow.

Those who hate me for no reason are more numerous than the hairs of my head. My enemies tell lies against me; they are strong and want to kill me. They made me give back things I did not steal.

and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason.

"I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.

This, however, was bound to happen so that what is written in their Law may come true: 'They hated me for no reason at all.'

When John came, he fasted and drank no wine, and everyone said, 'He has a demon in him!'

When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, 'Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results."

When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

Saul became furious with Jonathan and said to him, "How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours!

Shimei cursed him and said, "Get out! Get out! Murderer! Criminal!

"You have a demon in you!" the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"

They asked Jesus, "Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you?"

Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, "What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?" Others answered, "He seems to be talking about foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves---none of these will possess God's Kingdom.

Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort.

Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Tell them not to speak evil of anyone, but to be peaceful and friendly, and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone.

When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge.

Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you.

Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

Afterward, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. "The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!" she said. "He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!"

You fool! Do you want to be shown that faith without actions is useless?

Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues.

The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some false evidence against Jesus to put him to death;

The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some evidence against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they could not find any.

Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, "What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing!

They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them.

Fools say to themselves, "There is no God!" They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.

Anyone can see that even the wise die, as well as the foolish and stupid. They all leave their riches to their descendants.

This is something a fool cannot know; someone who is stupid cannot understand:

Sensible people are careful to stay out of trouble, but stupid people are careless and act too quickly.

When some fool starts an argument, he is asking for a beating.

The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.

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

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

"If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Away from me, you that are under God's curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!

And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out! It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell.

I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!

and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side.

So he called out, 'Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!'

Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death.)