"I am the high and holy God, who lives forever. I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and repentant, so that I can restore their confidence and hope.

Before you created the hills or brought the world into being, you were eternally God, and will be God forever.

Your throne, O LORD, has been firm from the beginning, and you existed before time began.

I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began.

The LORD says, "Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times."

LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us.

In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

From the very beginning the Word was with God.

"I am telling you the truth," Jesus replied. "Before Abraham was born, 'I Am'."

To the eternal King, immortal and invisible, the only God---to him be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

"I am the first and the last," says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come.

Your cattle will be butchered before your very eyes, but you will not eat any of the meat. Your donkeys will be dragged away while you look on, and they will not be given back to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you.

" 'I, and I alone, am God; no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do.

"Listen to this, you that ignore me, or I will destroy you, and there will be no one to save you.

I will strip her naked in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to save her from my power.

I will attack the people of Israel and Judah like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one will be able to save them.

From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.

He takes what he wants, and no one can stop him; no one dares ask him, "What are you doing?"

If God took back the breath of life,

then everyone living would die and turn into dust again.

If God decided to do nothing at all, no one could criticize him. If he hid his face, we would be helpless.

Human wisdom, brilliance, insight---they are of no help if the LORD is against you.

He looks on the people of the earth as nothing; angels in heaven and people on earth are under his control. No one can oppose his will or question what he does.

So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.

But one of you will say to me, "If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?"

All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.

The LORD Almighty is determined to do this; he has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.