So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female,

blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.

Then the LORD God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one.

He shall marry a virgin,

Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the LORD and I have set him apart as the High Priest."

Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to consult a woman named Huldah, a prophet who lived in the newer part of Jerusalem. (Her husband Shallum, the son of Tikvah and grandson of Harhas, was in charge of the Temple robes.) They described to her what had happened,

Be faithful to your own wife and give your love to her alone.

Your children should grow up to help you, not strangers.

pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love.

The LORD sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching.

They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.

Some time later my wife became pregnant. When our son was born, the LORD said to me, "Name him 'Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder.'

But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband.

A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is.

I tell you this not as an order, but simply as a permission.

Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do.

For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband;

To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her.

For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children; but as it is, they are acceptable to God.

How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?

Don't I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my trips?

A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife, be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach;

he must be able to manage his own family well and make his children obey him with all respect.

A church helper must have only one wife, and be able to manage his children and family well.

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.

an elder must be without fault; he must have only one wife, and his children must be believers and not have the reputation of being wild or disobedient.

Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son.

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

What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions;

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.

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).

Because of such things God's anger will come upon those who do not obey him.

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.

But God says to the wicked, "Why should you recite my commandments? Why should you talk about my covenant?

You become the friend of every thief you see, and you associate with adulterers.

You are ready to accuse your own relatives and to find fault with them.

"Listen to this, you that ignore me, or I will destroy you, and there will be no one to save you.

The LORD Almighty says, "I will appear among you to judge, and I will testify at once against those who practice magic, against adulterers, against those who give false testimony, those who cheat employees out of their wages, and those who take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners---against all who do not respect me.

(SEE 5:12)

For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life.