Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.

But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert.

Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.

"Indeed you [are] to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

"But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

"yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

"These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

"and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.

for Herod feared John, knowing that he [was] a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

"He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

Have you suffered so many things in vain -- if indeed [it was] in vain?

What then was the blessing you [enjoyed?] For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

They zealously court you, [but] for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

If you should say, 'How shall we persecute him?' -- Since the root of the matter is found in me,

A man is not established by wickedness, But the root of the righteous cannot be moved.

The wicked covet the catch of evil [men,] But the root of the righteous yields [fruit.]

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving [only] themselves. [They are] clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift [you] as wheat.

"But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to [Me,] strengthen your brethren."

" O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.

and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess [Him,] lest they should be put out of the synagogue;

for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every [branch] that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw [them] into the fire, and they are burned.

Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

"You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

"For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity."

And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you -- unless you believed in vain.

if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.

having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.

Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but [they went out] that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.