By the time he is old enough to make his own decisions, people will be drinking milk and eating honey.

Even before that time comes, the lands of those two kings who terrify you will be deserted.

Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is.

Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the LORD will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.

yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones.

Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up.

you know what God wants you to do, and you have learned from the Law to choose what is right;

Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right.

My inner being delights in the law of God.

And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it.

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.

But just as your tongue enjoys tasting food, your ears enjoy hearing words.

You know good food when you taste it, but not wise words when you hear them.

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Those men are not true apostles---they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ.

So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves to look like servants of righteousness. In the end they will get exactly what their actions deserve.

Try to learn what pleases the Lord.

Put all things to the test: keep what is good

There has been enough time for you to be teachers---yet you still need someone to teach you the first lessons of God's message. Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk.

Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.

My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere.

I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and how patient you have been. I know that you cannot tolerate evil people and that you have tested those who say they are apostles but are not, and have found out that they are liars.

These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel.

Abraham himself said that she was his sister, and she said the same thing. I did this with a clear conscience, and I have done no wrong."

"Now then," Joshua continued, "honor the LORD and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the LORD.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!"

And so I do my best always to have a clear conscience before God and people.

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.

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.

I am not laying down any rules. But by showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is.

Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.

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

May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.

In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him.

May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being---spirit, soul, and body---free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus turned around and said to Peter, "Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature."

"If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea.

How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen---but how terrible for the one who causes them!

Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!"

Do not, because of food, destroy what God has done. All foods may be eaten, but it is wrong to eat anything that will cause someone else to fall into sin.

The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make other believers fall.

I urge you, my friends: watch out for those who cause divisions and upset people's faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them!

So then, if food makes a believer sin, I will never eat meat again, so as not to make a believer fall into sin.

Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God.

We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so we try not to put obstacles in anyone's way.

But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble.

In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him.

He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.