I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

He led you through that vast and terrifying desert where there were poisonous snakes and scorpions. In that dry and waterless land he made water flow out of solid rock for you.

In the desert he gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you, so that in the end he could bless you with good things.

He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening.

Some messengers came and announced to King Jehoshaphat: "A large army from Edom has come from the other side of the Dead Sea to attack you. They have already captured Hazazon Tamar." (This is another name for Engedi.)

Jehoshaphat and his troops moved in to take the loot, and they found many cattle, supplies, clothing, and other valuable objects. They spent three days gathering the loot, but there was so much that they could not take everything.

The LORD says, "It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed.

And so I will give him a place of honor, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven."

We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us.

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!

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

But his answer was: "My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak." I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me.

I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I want you to know, my friends, that the things that have happened to me have really helped the progress of the gospel.

And my being in prison has given most of the believers more confidence in the Lord, so that they grow bolder all the time to preach the message fearlessly.

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

It does not matter! I am happy about it---just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy,

My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty, but that at all times, and especially right now, I shall be full of courage, so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,

and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death.

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.

When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.

My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,

Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed.

Wise sayings are too deep for stupid people to understand. They have nothing to say when important matters are being discussed.

Jesus answered, "The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

The official replied, "How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him.