"Suppose you hear that in one of your towns some men or women have sinned against the LORD and broken his covenant

by worshiping and serving other gods or the sun or the moon or the stars, contrary to the LORD's command.

Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.

Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the LORD judge which of us is right, you or me!"

Son, why should you give your love to another woman? Why should you prefer the charms of another man's wife?

Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers.

Don't believe your neighbor or trust your friend. Be careful what you say even to your husband or wife.

But I will watch for the LORD; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so.

Saul and David finished their conversation. After that, Saul's son Jonathan was deeply attracted to David and came to love him as much as he loved himself.

Jonathan swore eternal friendship with David because of his deep affection for him.

Once again Jonathan made David promise to love him, for Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself.

"I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; how dear you were to me! How wonderful was your love for me, better even than the love of women.

I have not been led astray to honor them by kissing my hand in reverence to them.

although some wanted it done. Pretending to be believers, these men slipped into our group as spies, in order to find out about the freedom we have through our union with Christ Jesus. They wanted to make slaves of us,

Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.

I tell you, then, do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments, no matter how good they seem to be.

False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction.

I am writing this to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit's teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ.

The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.

And it deceived all the people living on earth by means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast. The beast told them to build an image in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived.

The angel threw him into the abyss, locked it, and sealed it, so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that he must be set loose for a little while.

Their idolatry made the LORD jealous; the evil they did made him angry.

They forgot their God, their mighty savior, the one who had given them life.

They stopped worshiping the LORD and served the Baals and the Astartes.

Then there was war in the land when the Israelites chose new gods. Of the forty thousand men in Israel, did anyone carry shield or spear?

Once again the Israelites sinned against the LORD by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the LORD and stopped worshiping him.

He worshiped Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon.

On the mountain east of Jerusalem he built a place to worship Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, and a place to worship Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon.

the people of Babylon made idols of the god Succoth Benoth; the people of Cuth, idols of Nergal; the people of Hamath, idols of Ashima;

the people of Ivvah, idols of Nibhaz and Tartak; and the people of Sepharvaim sacrificed their children as burnt offerings to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech.