So then, you will serve the enemies that the LORD is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked---in need of everything. The LORD will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed.

I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine: I put them in your power, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you treated harshly.

"The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.

Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet.

For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light."

So then, why do you now want to put God to the test by laying a load on the backs of the believers which neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry?

Were you a slave when God called you? Well, never mind; but if you have a chance to become free, use it.

For a slave who has been called by the Lord is the Lord's free person; in the same way a free person who has been called by Christ is his slave.

Freedom is what we have---Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.

He said, "Go back to her and be her slave."

He said to his oldest servant, who was in charge of all that he had, "Place your hand between my thighs and make a vow.

He prayed, " LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master.

He said, "Praise the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has faithfully kept his promise to my master. The LORD has led me straight to my master's relatives."

"The LORD has greatly blessed my master and made him a rich man. He has given him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, silver, gold, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.

My master made me promise with a vow to obey his command. He said, 'Do not choose a wife for my son from the young women in the land of Canaan.

And I asked my master, 'What if she will not come with me?'

There is only one way for you to be free from your vow: if you go to my relatives and they refuse you, then you will be free.'

Here I am at the well. When a young woman comes out to get water, I will ask her to give me a drink of water from her jar.

Before I had finished my silent prayer, Rebecca came with a water jar on her shoulder and went down to the well to get water. I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'

I asked her, 'Who is your father?' And she answered, 'My father is Bethuel son of Nahor and Milcah.' Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms.

Now, if you intend to fulfill your responsibility toward my master and treat him fairly, please tell me; if not, say so, and I will decide what to do."

Here is Rebecca; take her and go. Let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD himself has said."

Then he brought out clothing and silver and gold jewelry, and gave them to Rebecca. He also gave expensive gifts to her brother and to her mother.

But Rebecca's brother and her mother said, "Let her stay with us a week or ten days, and then she may go."

They answered, "Let's call her and find out what she has to say."

So they let Rebecca and her old family servant go with Abraham's servant and his men.

Then Rebecca and her young women got ready and mounted the camels to go with Abraham's servant, and they all started out.

He went out in the early evening to take a walk in the fields and saw camels coming.

and asked Abraham's servant, "Who is that man walking toward us in the field?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her scarf and covered her face.

Then Isaac brought Rebecca into the tent that his mother Sarah had lived in, and she became his wife. Isaac loved Rebecca, and so he was comforted for the loss of his mother.

In one of their raids against Israel, the Syrians had carried off a little Israelite girl, who became a servant of Naaman's wife.

One day she said to her mistress, "I wish that my master could go to the prophet who lives in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease."

His servants went up to him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. Now why can't you just wash yourself, as he said, and be cured?"

The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "Children honor their parents, and servants honor their masters. I am your father---why don't you honor me? I am your master---why don't you respect me? You despise me, and yet you ask, 'How have we despised you?'

Then the angel went away, and Cornelius called two of his house servants and a soldier, a religious man who was one of his personal attendants.

"Captain Cornelius sent us," they answered. "He is a good man who worships God and is highly respected by all the Jewish people. An angel of God told him to invite you to his house, so that he could hear what you have to say."

Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling; and do it with a sincere heart, as though you were serving Christ.

Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings.

Slaves, obey your human masters in all things, not only when they are watching you because you want to gain their approval; but do it with a sincere heart because of your reverence for the Lord.

Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve.

Slaves are to submit themselves to their masters and please them in all things. They must not talk back to them

Respect everyone, love other believers, honor God, and respect the Emperor.

God will bless you for this, if you endure the pain of undeserved suffering because you are conscious of his will.

So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us.

So quarrels broke out between the men who took care of Abram's animals and those who took care of Lot's animals. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were still living in the land.)

Then Abram said to Lot, "We are relatives, and your men and my men shouldn't be quarreling.

But because you have shown such contempt for the LORD in doing this, your child will die."

The following Levites gave a call to worship: Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah. They said: "Stand up and praise the LORD your God; praise him forever and ever! Let everyone praise his glorious name, although no human praise is great enough."

And now in Babylonia the same thing has happened: you are captives, and nothing was paid for you. Those who rule over you boast and brag and constantly show contempt for me.

Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name, because people would say, 'These are the people of the LORD, but they had to leave his land.'

When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name---the name you disgraced among them---then they will know that I am the LORD. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy.

Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen, but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!

The scripture says, "Because of you Jews, the Gentiles speak evil of God."

Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God.

to be self-controlled and pure, and to be good housewives who submit themselves to their husbands, so that no one will speak evil of the message that comes from God.

Use sound words that cannot be criticized, so that your enemies may be put to shame by not having anything bad to say about us.

or steal from them. Instead, they must show that they are always good and faithful, so as to bring credit to the teaching about God our Savior in all they do.

Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.

but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say.