With his great power the LORD warned me not to follow the road which the people were following. He said,

"And now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, honor, and glorify the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right and just, and he can humble anyone who acts proudly."

When I saw that they were not walking a straight path in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?"

In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless

We say this because we hear that there are some people among you who live lazy lives and who do nothing except meddle in other people's business.

especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God's authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them.

They are like wild waves of the sea, with their shameful deeds showing up like foam. They are like wandering stars, for whom God has reserved a place forever in the deepest darkness.

Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts

they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.

You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy (for greed is a form of idolatry) will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words; it is because of these very things that God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him.

In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that.

and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy

My tears pour down like a river, because people do not obey your law.

I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.

If you will not listen, I will cry in secret because of your pride; I will cry bitterly, and my tears will flow because the LORD's people have been taken away as captives.

He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it,

With all humility and many tears I did my work as the Lord's servant during the hard times that came to me because of the plots of some Jews.

The time will come when some men from your own group will tell lies to lead the believers away after them.

Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart

I wrote you with a greatly troubled and distressed heart and with many tears; my purpose was not to make you sad, but to make you realize how much I love you all.

When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will.

These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel.

For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power.

Actually, there is no "other gospel," but I say this because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ.

I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!

The people who are trying to force you to be circumcised are the ones who want to show off and boast about external matters. They do it, however, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.