When Jacob and his sons started to leave, great fear fell on the people of the nearby towns, and they did not pursue them.

Almighty God has shot me with arrows, and their poison spreads through my body. God has lined up his terrors against me.

All around them terror is waiting; it follows them at every step.

Because I fear God's punishment, I could never do such a thing.

They are instantly destroyed; they go down to a horrible end.

But you, LORD, are feared by all. No one can stand in your presence when you are angry.

Ever since I was young, I have suffered and been near death; I am worn out from the burden of your punishments.

Your furious anger crushes me; your terrible attacks destroy me.

Who has felt the full power of your anger? Who knows what fear your fury can bring?

The sinful people of Zion are trembling with fright. They say, "God's judgment is like a fire that burns forever. Can any of us survive a fire like that?"

When he is angry, who can survive? Who can survive his terrible fury? He pours out his flaming anger; rocks crumble to dust before him.

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.

These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life."

For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it.

There is nothing you can give to regain your life.

So if your hand makes you lose your faith, cut it off ! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than to keep both hands and go off to hell, to the fire that never goes out.

And if your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off ! It is better for you to enter life without a foot than to keep both feet and be thrown into hell.

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.

"Everyone will be purified by fire as a sacrifice is purified by salt.

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!

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

save others by snatching them out of the fire; and to others show mercy mixed with fear, but hate their very clothes, stained by their sinful lusts.

Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire.

Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends!

In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted.

But Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.' "

After the people had left the meeting, Paul and Barnabas were followed by many Jews and by many Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism. The apostles spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God.

He held discussions in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks.

"This man," they said, "is trying to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law!"

Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that hand-made gods are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia.

When they arrived, he said to them, "You know how I spent the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia.

You know that I did not hold back anything that would be of help to you as I preached and taught in public and in your homes.

And now, in obedience to the Holy Spirit I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

So I solemnly declare to you this very day: if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.

King Agrippa! I can speak to you with all boldness, because you know about these things. I am sure that you have taken notice of every one of them, for this thing has not happened hidden away in a corner.

So they set a date with Paul, and a large number of them came that day to the place where Paul was staying. From morning till night he explained to them his message about the Kingdom of God, and he tried to convince them about Jesus by quoting from the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets.

Does this sound as if I am trying to win human approval? No indeed! What I want is God's approval! Am I trying to be popular with people? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ.

So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me.

As the Lord's servant, you must not quarrel. You must be kind toward all, a good and patient teacher,

And then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will.

We are proud that our conscience assures us that our lives in this world, and especially our relations with you, have been ruled by God-given frankness and sincerity, by the power of God's grace and not by human wisdom.

(SEE 1:13)

We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.

God in his mercy has given us this work to do, and so we do not become discouraged.

We put aside all secret and shameful deeds; we do not act with deceit, nor do we falsify the word of God. In the full light of truth we live in God's sight and try to commend ourselves to everyone's good conscience.

My conscience is clear, but that does not prove that I am really innocent. The Lord is the one who passes judgment on me.

So you should not pass judgment on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes; he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve.

Our appeal to you is not based on error or impure motives, nor do we try to trick anyone.

You know very well that we did not come to you with flattering talk, nor did we use words to cover up greed---God is our witness!

even though as apostles of Christ we could have made demands on you. But we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother taking care of her children.

Surely you remember, our friends, how we worked and toiled! We worked day and night so that we would not be any trouble to you as we preached to you the Good News from God.

You know that we treated each one of you just as parents treat their own children.