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.)

So let's separate. Choose any part of the land you want. You go one way, and I'll go the other."

Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart.

Those who pay back evil for good are against me because I try to do right.

I have lived too long with people who hate peace!

How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony!

A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.

When you please the LORD, you can make your enemies into friends.

The start of an argument is like the first break in a dam; stop it before it goes any further.

Wolves and sheep will live together in peace, and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together, and little children will take care of them.

Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays near a poisonous snake.

"Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!

"Salt is good; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? "Have the salt of friendship among yourselves, and live in peace with one another."

Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.

So then, we must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help strengthen one another.

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose.

But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.

I urge you, then---I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you.

Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.

See that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but at all times make it your aim to do good to one another and to all people.

But you, man of God, avoid all these things. Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Avoid the passions of youth, and strive for righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who with a pure heart call out to the Lord for help.

But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.

And goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace.

You must turn away from evil and do good; you must strive for peace with all your heart.

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it.

The LORD says, "Listen to me, you that want to be saved, you that come to me for help. Think of the rock from which you came, the quarry from which you were cut.

so that we might be holy and righteous before him all the days of our life.

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

And so the Lord says, "You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.

All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.

I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.

In this way he will strengthen you, and you will be perfect and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all who belong to him.

God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness.

Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy.

The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy."

Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?

Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God,

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.

My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God.

Jacob said, "I have seen God face-to-face, and I am still alive"; so he named the place Peniel.

Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God.

when they pray, God will answer; they will worship God with joy; God will set things right for them again.

"Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!

What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete---as complete as God's knowledge of me.

All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe 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.

Does this mean that the Law is against God's promises? No, not at all! For if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it.

My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.

The peoples of the world will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their wealth into it.

The greatness and the wealth of the nations will be brought into the city.

Nothing that is under God's curse will be found in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.

They will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

Whoever is evil must go on doing evil, and whoever is filthy must go on being filthy; whoever is good must go on doing good, and whoever is holy must go on being holy."

I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

But outside the city are the perverts and those who practice magic, the immoral and the murderers, those who worship idols and those who are liars both in words and deeds.