Do not be afraid of them; remember what the LORD your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people.

I will remember your great deeds, LORD; I will recall the wonders you did in the past.

Our ancestors in Egypt did not understand God's wonderful acts; they forgot the many times he showed them his love, and they rebelled against the Almighty at the Red Sea.

You Gentiles by birth---called "the uncircumcised" by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)---remember what you were in the past.

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.

And so I will always remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly grounded in the truth you have received.

I think it only right for me to stir up your memory of these matters as long as I am still alive.

My dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written you. In both letters I have tried to arouse pure thoughts in your minds by reminding you of these things.

I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles.

On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything the LORD had commanded him to tell them.

even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.

"Remember how the LORD your God has blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you wandered through this vast desert. He has been with you these forty years, and you have had everything you needed.

For forty years the LORD led you through the desert, and your clothes and sandals never wore out.

He led his people through the desert; his love is eternal.

I brought you out of Egypt, led you through the desert for forty years, and gave you the land of the Amorites to be your own.

But Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the LORD had done for him, and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it.

Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the LORD did not punish the people until after Hezekiah's death.

In his suffering he became humble, turned to the LORD his God, and begged him for help.

The king's prayer and God's answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented---the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped---are all recorded in The History of the Prophets.

God speaks to make them stop their sinning and to save them from becoming proud.

In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.

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.

I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."

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

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

In the same way you younger people must submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, "God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble."

Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time.

In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things.

do not pay any attention to them. The LORD your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the LORD with all your heart.

Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, "Abraham!" And Abraham answered, "Yes, here I am!"

Moses prayed earnestly to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood, which he threw into the water; and the water became fit to drink. There the LORD gave them laws to live by, and there he also tested them.

The LORD said to Moses, "Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions.

and even when the Babylonian ambassadors came to inquire about the unusual event that had happened in the land, God let Hezekiah go his own way only in order to test his character.

When you were in trouble, you called to me, and I saved you. From my hiding place in the storm, I answered you. I put you to the test at the springs of Meribah.

Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person's heart is tested by the LORD.

But who will be able to endure the day when he comes? Who will be able to survive when he appears? He will be like strong soap, like a fire that refines metal.

He will come to judge like one who refines and purifies silver. As a metalworker refines silver and gold, so the LORD's messenger will purify the priests, so that they will bring to the LORD the right kind of offerings.

for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.

Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.

"Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.

I, the LORD, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do."

There was no need for anyone to tell him about them, because he himself knew what was in their hearts.

I will also kill her followers, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who knows everyone's thoughts and wishes. I will repay each of you according to what you have done.