And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion…

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.  Many prisoners in the Nazi death camps were put to work for no apparent purpose, moving bricks from one pile to another and then back…

He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you,…

For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”  And he worshiped the LORD there.  We love fairy tales like Cinderella where the downtrodden heroine finally is given her due and…

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites,…

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,        for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.                    There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,        and no knowledge of God in the land;              2       there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;        they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.  “I have…