The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, "I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness.

I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin; but I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents."

You are good to us and forgiving, full of constant love for all who pray to you.

But you, O Lord, are a merciful and loving God, always patient, always kind and faithful.

There is no other god like you, O LORD; you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love.

You will be merciful to us once again. You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea!

Law was introduced in order to increase wrongdoing; but where sin increased, God's grace increased much more.

So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And may God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus,

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection; listen to my appeals; agree with one another; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

God has raised from death our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd of the sheep as the result of his blood, by which the eternal covenant is sealed. May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him. And to Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

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

We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.

And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, "The older will serve the younger." He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done.

For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.

God is to be trusted, the God who called you to have fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we kept urging you to live the kind of life that pleases God, who calls you to share in his own Kingdom and glory.

God called you to this through the Good News we preached to you; he called you to possess your share of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses.

He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. He gave us this grace by means of Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness.

And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.

and so I endure everything for the sake of God's chosen people, in order that they too may obtain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and brings eternal glory.

For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect.

And this is what Christ himself promised to give us---eternal life.

Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.

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.

And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.

And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection; listen to my appeals; agree with one another; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.

(SEE 13:20)

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence---

Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and keep you safe from the Evil One.

When I am surrounded by troubles, you keep me safe. You oppose my angry enemies and save me by your power.

"I will make the people of Judah strong; I will rescue the people of Israel. I will have compassion on them and bring them all back home. They will be as though I had never rejected them. I am the LORD their God; I will answer their prayers.

I will make my people strong; they will worship and obey me." The LORD has spoken.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers."

I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.

You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant---this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.

Those who preach must preach God's messages; those who serve must serve with the strength that God gives them, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power forever and ever. Amen.