according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting [me] into the ministry,

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all [is] vanity."

I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

" Here is what I have found," says the Preacher, "[Adding] one thing to the other to find out the reason,

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All [is] vanity."

The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and [what was] written [was] upright -- words of truth.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, [one of] eight [people,] a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

(Now [concerning] the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

"Then He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.' "

'I will deliver you from the [Jewish] people, as well as [from] the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

'to open their eyes, [in order] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'

"but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,

and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we [should go] to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

"knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

The works of His hands [are] verity and justice; All His precepts [are] sure.