Repentance Demanded: Broken Vessels and Divided Churches

1. “If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2. and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.” 3. For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. 4. Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5. Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’ 6. Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.” 7. A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8. For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us. 9. “It will happen at that day,” says Yahweh, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.” 10. Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.” 11. At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 12. a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.” 13. Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 14. Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you? 15. For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 16. “Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. 17. As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says Yahweh. 18. “Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.” 19. My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20. Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment. 21. How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22. “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.” 23. I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24. I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25. I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 26. I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger. 27. For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. 28. For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.” 29. Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. 30. You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. 31. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.” 1. “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. 2. Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.” 3. O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. 4. Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God. 5. I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6. Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them, a wolf of the evenings will destroy them, a leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding has increased. 7. “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses. 8. They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife. 9. Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10. “Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s. 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh. 12. They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. 13. The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.” 14. Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them. 15. Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say. 16. Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men. 17. They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword. 18. “But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you. 19. It will happen, when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 20. “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21. ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear: 22. Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’ 23. “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24. They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ 25. “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26. For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 28. They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy. 29. “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30. “An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it? 1. “Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction. 2. I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion. 3. Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed everyone in his place.” 4. “Prepare war against her! Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5. Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.” 6. For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is wholly oppression within herself. 7. As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me. 8. Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” 9. Yahweh of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” 10. To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, Yahweh’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. 11. Therefore I am full of Yahweh’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12. Their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.” 13. “For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. 14. They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says Yahweh. 16. Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17. I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’ 18. Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them. 19. Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20. To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” 21. Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.” 22. Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 23. They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.” 24. We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor. 25. Don’t go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side. 26. Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us. 27. “I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way. 28. They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are brass and iron. All of them deal corruptly. 29. The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. 30. Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”

1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2. to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours: 3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; 5. that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge; 6. even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7. so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; 8. who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 10. Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11. For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12. Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.” 13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14. I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius, 15. so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name. 16. (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.) 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void. 18. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.” 20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21. For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. 22. For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, 23. but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, 24. but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26. For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; 27. but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; 28. and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are: 29. that no flesh should boast before God. 30. Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31. that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” 1. When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5. that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 6. We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. 7. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, 8. which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. 9. But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” 10. But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. 12. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. 13. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. 16. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind. 1. Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready, 3. for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? 4. For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly? 5. Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? 6. I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8. Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. 10. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. 11. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; 13. each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. 14. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. 15. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. 16. Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are. 18. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. 19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.” 20. And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.” 21. Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22. whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, 23. and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1. So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2. Here, moreover, it is required of stewards, that they be found faithful. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment. Yes, I don’t judge my own self. 4. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God. 6. Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another. 7. For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 8. You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. 9. For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11. Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12. We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now. 14. I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15. For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. 16. I beg you therefore, be imitators of me. 17. Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly. 18. Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20. For God’s Kingdom is not in word, but in power. 21. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife. 2. You are puffed up, and didn’t rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you. 3. For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing. 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5. are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6. Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? 7. Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. 8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9. I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners; 10. yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world. 11. But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person. 12. For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within? 13. But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.” 1. Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2. Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3. Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4. If then, you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly? 5. I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers? 6. But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! 7. Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8. No, but you yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that against your brothers. 9. Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. 11. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 12. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. 13. “Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14. Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. 15. Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16. Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.” 17. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 18. Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19. Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20. for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1. Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2. But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3. Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband. 4. The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife. 5. Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6. But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment. 7. Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. 8. But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 9. But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn. 10. But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband 11. (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife. 12. But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her. 13. The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15. Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace. 16. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17. Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies. 18. Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 19. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. 20. Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called. 21. Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it. 22. For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant. 23. You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men. 24. Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God. 25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy. 26. Therefore I think that because of the distress that is on us, that it’s good for a man to remain as he is. 27. Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife. 28. But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you. 29. But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none; 30. and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess; 31. and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away. 32. But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33. but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. 34. There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35. This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction. 36. But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry. 37. But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no urgency, but has power over his own will, and has determined in his own heart to keep his own virgin, does well. 38. So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better. 39. A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord. 40. But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit. 1. Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2. But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know. 3. But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him. 4. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one. 5. For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”; 6. yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him. 7. However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of the idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8. But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better. 9. But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. 10. For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11. And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12. Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13. Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.

1. A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold. 2. The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all. 3. A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it. 4. The result of humility and the fear of Yahweh is wealth, honor, and life. 5. Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked: whoever guards his soul stays from them. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. 7. The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender. 8. He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. 9. He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor. 10. Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop. 11. He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend. 12. Yahweh’s eyes watch over knowledge; but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful. 13. The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!” 14. The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it. 15. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him. 16. Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty. 17. Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching. 18. For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. 19. I teach you today, even you, So that your trust may be in Yahweh. 20. Haven’t I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge, 21. To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you? 22. Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; 23. for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them. 24. Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man, and don’t associate with one who harbors anger: 25. lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul. 26. Don’t you be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts. 27. If you don’t have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you? 28. Don’t move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up. 29. Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won’t serve obscure men.