Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就说明指示你们吗？并且你们是我的见证！除我以外，岂有真神吗？诚然没有磐石，我不知道一个！”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就告诉并指示你们了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，岂有上帝呢？诚然没有磐石，就我所知，一个也没有！”

你们不要恐惧，也不要害怕。我岂不是从上古就告诉并指示你们了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，岂有神呢？诚然没有磐石，就我所知，一个也没有！”

不要恐惧，不要害怕，我不是早已告诉过你们吗？你们是我的证人。除我以外还有真神吗？没有，没有别的磐石，一个也没有。’”

你们不要惊惶，也不要惧怕。我不是老早就说了给你们听，告诉了你们吗？你们就是我的见证人。除我以外，还有真神吗？没有别的磐石；我一个也不知道。”

你们不要惧怕，也不要害怕！难道我从前不就告知了你们、向你们宣告了吗？你们是我的见证人！除我以外，难道还有神吗？没有别的磐石！我知道没有！”

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就說明指示你們嗎？並且你們是我的見證！除我以外，豈有真神嗎？誠然沒有磐石，我不知道一個！

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就告訴並指示你們了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，豈有上帝呢？誠然沒有磐石，就我所知，一個也沒有！」

你們不要恐懼，也不要害怕。我豈不是從上古就告訴並指示你們了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，豈有神呢？誠然沒有磐石，就我所知，一個也沒有！」

不要恐懼，不要害怕，我不是早已告訴過你們嗎？你們是我的證人。除我以外還有真神嗎？沒有，沒有別的磐石，一個也沒有。』」

你們不要驚惶，也不要懼怕。我不是老早就說了給你們聽，告訴了你們嗎？你們就是我的見證人。除我以外，還有真神嗎？沒有別的磐石；我一個也不知道。”

你們不要恐懼，不要懼怕我不是從上古就說給你聽，就告訴了你了麼？你們就是我的見證！我以外哪有真神呢？實在沒有磐石；我不知道有啊。』

你們不要懼怕，也不要害怕！難道我從前不就告知了你們、向你們宣告了嗎？你們是我的見證人！除我以外，難道還有神嗎？沒有別的磐石！我知道沒有！」

爾勿畏葸、勿驚惶、我豈非自古宣示爾乎、爾為我證、我外豈有上帝乎、無有磐石、我不知其他也、

爾毋畏葸、在昔我有預言、已告乎爾、爾可為證。我乃全能上帝、外此我弗知之矣。

爾勿畏懼、勿驚惶、我豈未自始已示爾告爾乎、爾曹可為我作證、在我之外豈有天主、我之外實無可賴之主、我不知有誰也、

Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Do not tremble with fear. Do not be afraid. Didn’t I announce everything that has happened? Didn’t I tell you about it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any other God but me? No! There is no other Rock. I do not know even one.”

Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses— is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock— not one!”

Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.

Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.’ ”

Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’”

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared[ it]? ye[ are] even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea,[ there is] no God; I know not[ any].

Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock; I know of none.

Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”

“ You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,“ and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.

“ There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

I and the Father are one.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?—

“ For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?

“‘ See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:“ I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say,‘ My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these:

“ Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.

Then the Lord said to Abram,“ Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.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,the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

“ You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.“ If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.“ But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments,if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant,then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.“ Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins.And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.“ And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me,then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.“ But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me,then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas.And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.“ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths.As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues.They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.“ But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies— if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.

For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.

Jesus said,“ Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,“ O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors,“ Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king,“ True, O king.”He answered and said,“ But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared,“ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.Nebuchadnezzar answered and said,“ Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

“ And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.“ The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.“ But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.“ The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.“ The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind,and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.“ The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.“ All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.“ They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter,her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.“ If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.“ And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.In the morning you shall say,‘ If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say,‘ If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

“ The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you,“ Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

But his father refused and said,“ I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

The king answered and said to Daniel,“ Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said,“ I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

“ Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,“ and I am God.

remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,

I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.

“ When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger,I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice.For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

Then he said,“ I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.

Then Jacob called his sons and said,“ Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.“ Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.“ Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it— he went up to my couch!“ Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.“ Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.“ Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.“ Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds.He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.“ Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward.I wait for your salvation, O Lord.“ Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.“ Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.“ Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.“ Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely,yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob( from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.“ Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.

the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.“ Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription:‘ To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,for“‘ In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,“‘ For we are indeed his offspring.’Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king,“ The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”

Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

“ Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.