Jonathan said to the young man, "Let's cross over to the camp of those heathen Philistines. Maybe the LORD will help us; if he does, nothing can keep him from giving us the victory, no matter how few of us there are."

Asa prayed to the LORD his God, "O LORD, you can help a weak army as easily as a powerful one. Help us now, O LORD our God, because we are relying on you, and in your name we have come out to fight against this huge army. LORD, you are our God; no one can hope to defeat you."

The angel told me to give Zerubbabel this message from the LORD: "You will succeed, not by military might or by your own strength, but by my spirit.

"I, the LORD, will give victory to the armies of Judah first, so that the honor which the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem will receive will be no greater than that of the rest of Judah.

God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.

This means that no one can boast in God's presence.

and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit.

Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power.

Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us.

The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

But I could not let their enemies boast that they had defeated my people, when it was I myself who had crushed them.'

A day is coming when human pride will be ended and human arrogance destroyed. Then the LORD alone will be exalted.

Human pride will be ended, and human arrogance will be destroyed. Idols will completely disappear, and the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.

The LORD says, "The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth.

What, then, can we boast about? Nothing! And what is the reason for this? Is it that we obey the Law? No, but that we believe.

So then, you must not despise those who were broken off like branches. How can you be proud? You are just a branch; you don't support the roots---the roots support you.

This means that no one can boast in God's presence.

(SEE 2:8)

But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength.

The emperor of Assyria boasts, "I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled the people who live there.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine.

You were proud of being handsome, and your fame made you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the ground and left you as a warning to other kings.

he said, "Look how great Babylon is! I built it as my capital city to display my power and might, my glory and majesty."

They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.