All of the Confessions of Sin and Their Intros in the Bible

You can also view “65 of the Best Introductions to and Confessions of Sin in the Bible” as well as “The Best Scriptures for an Ash Wednesday Worship Service” and “The Best Scriptures for a Lenten Worship Service.”

Listed below are all of the 667 Confessions of Sin and their Introductions that are in the Bible to use in your worship services.

The Scripture verses that follow are confessions of sin that are in the Bible or verses that emphasize our sinfulness and can be used to introduce a time of confession of sins. Another approach would be to use verses that emphasize the positive things that God wants us to do as an introduction to a time of prayer of confession. Then ask the worshippers if they are doing those things. And then say that if they are not, to invite them to confess that to God. Verses that use this approach are not included below. They can be found in “All the Introductions to and Prayers of Dedication in the Old Testament,” “All the Introductions to and Prayers of Dedication in the New Testament,” and “All the Exhortations in the Bible” areas of this section on “All the Scriptures and the Best Scriptures to Use in Worship Services in 17 Different Ways.”

Since the following scriptures may contain an incomplete verse and have been removed from their contexts in the NIV Bible, it is up to you to make the final determination if they will properly accomplish the purpose for which you are going to use them. Scriptures that are listed below that are incomplete will have an asterisk after their references.

³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. ⁶Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:3-7

⁷“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7

⁵The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. Genesis 6:5-6

¹¹Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹²God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.” Genesis 6:11-14

²⁷“This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.” Exodus 9:27bc*

³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. ³⁵So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses. Exodus 9:34-35

⁵I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6*

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” ³¹So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold.” Exodus 32:30-31

⁶And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7

²⁷“ ‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, when they realize their guilt ²⁸and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. ²⁹They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering.’ ” Leviticus 4:27-29

⁵when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned. ⁶As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin. Leviticus 5:5-6

¹⁴The LORD said to Moses: ¹⁵“When anyone is unfaithful to the LORD by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the LORD’s holy things, they are to bring to the LORD as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering. ¹⁶They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.” Leviticus 5:14-16

¹⁷“If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible. ¹⁸They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven.” Leviticus 5:17-18

²“If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, ³or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—⁴when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, ⁵or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. ⁶And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the LORD, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. ⁷In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the LORD, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.” Leviticus 6:2-7

⁶Then Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.” ⁷Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.” ²²Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down. ²³Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. ²⁴Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. Leviticus 9:6-7, 22-24

¹⁵Aaron then brought the offering that was for the people. He took the goat for the people’s sin offering and slaughtered it and offered it for a sin offering as he did with the first one. Leviticus 9:15

⁵From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁶“Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. ⁷Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. ⁹Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. ¹⁰But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat. ²¹He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. ²²The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:5-10, 21-22

¹⁴“ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, ¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ¹⁶then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. ¹⁸If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. ¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. ²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit. ²¹If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. ²⁷If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. ⁴⁰But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴⁴Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God.’ ” Leviticus 26:14-21, 27-28, 40, 44

⁵The LORD said to Moses, ⁶“Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD is guilty ⁷and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.’ ” Numbers 5:5-7

¹¹The LORD said . . . , “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?” Numbers 14:11*

¹⁸“ ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ ” Numbers 14:18

³²The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. ³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” ³⁴Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.” ³⁵The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials. Numbers 22:32-35

²³“[Y]ou may be sure that your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23*

⁹“I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Deuteronomy 5:9-10*

¹⁴To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁶Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods and LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome . . . . Deuteronomy 10:14, 16-17*

¹⁶Circumcise your hearts . . . and do not be stiff-necked any longer. Deuteronomy 10:16*

⁵They are corrupt and not his children; to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation. ⁶Is this the way you repay the LORD, you foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you? Deuteronomy 32:5-6

²⁸They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them. ²⁹If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be! Deuteronomy 32:28-29

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. ¹⁰The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. ¹²That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. ¹³Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.’ ” Joshua 7:6, 10-13

²“[Y]ou have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” Judges 2:2bc*

¹⁷They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands. ¹⁹They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. Judges 2:17b, 19b*

¹These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan ⁵The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁶They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. ⁷The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. Judges 3:1, 5-7

¹⁰“I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” Judges 6:10

¹⁰Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, “We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.” Judges 10:10

²⁶Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD. Judges 20:26

³“Do not keep talking . . . proudly or let your mouth speak . . . arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” 1 Samuel 2:3*

⁶On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” 1 Samuel 7:6b*

¹⁰“They cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the LORD . . . .’ ” 1 Samuel 12:10a*

¹⁹“Why did you not obey the LORD?” 1 Samuel 15:19a*

¹⁹“Why did you not obey the LORD?” ²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.” 1 Samuel 15:19a, 24*

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.” 1 Samuel 15:24

²⁴Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. ²⁵Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.” 1 Samuel 15:24-25

²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned.” 1 Samuel 26:21a*

⁹Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? ¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” 2 Samuel 12:9a, 13a*

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” 2 Samuel 12:13a*

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. ¹⁴But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.” ¹⁵After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. ¹⁶David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. ¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. ¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” ¹⁹David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” ²⁰Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. 2 Samuel 12:13-20

¹⁰David was conscience-stricken . . . and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” 2 Samuel 24:10*

¹⁷David . . . said to the LORD, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong.” 2 Samuel 24:17a*

²⁸“[G]ive attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. ³⁰Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” 1 Kings 8:28, 30b*

³⁰“Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people . . . when they pray . . . . Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” 1 Kings 8:30*

³³“When your people . . . have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you . . . , ³⁴then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people . . . .” 1 Kings 8:33-34*

⁴⁶“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin . . . ⁴⁷and if they have a change of heart . . . and repent and plead with you . . . and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; ⁴⁸and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul . . . and pray to you . . . ; ⁴⁹then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea . . . . ⁵⁰And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you . . . ⁵¹for they are your people and your inheritance . . . .” 1 Kings 8:46-51*

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ²They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 1 Kings 11:1-6

²⁰[King] Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. ²¹He says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. ²²I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ ” ²⁷When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 1 Kings 21:20-22, 27

²⁷When [King] Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 1 Kings 21:27

⁶“Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” 2 Kings 14:6

¹³He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. 2 Kings 16:13

¹⁵King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 2 Kings 16:15ab*

¹³“Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.” 2 Kings 17:13*

⁸Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. ¹⁰Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. ¹¹When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. ¹²He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: ¹³“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.” ¹⁸“Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: ¹⁹Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people—that they would become a curse and be laid waste—and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. ²⁰Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’ ” So they took her answer back to the king. 2 Kings 22: 8, 10-13, 18-20

⁸“I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” 1 Chronicles 21:8*

¹⁶David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. ¹⁷David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? LORD my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.” 1 Chronicles 21:16-17

¹⁹“LORD my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence ²¹Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.” 2 Chronicles 6:19, 21b*

²¹“Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people . . . when they pray . . . . Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.” 2 Chronicles 6:21*

²⁴“When your people . . . have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you . . . , ²⁵then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people . . . .” 2 Chronicles 6:24-25*

²⁶“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray . . . and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, ²⁷then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people . . . . Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land . . . .” 2 Chronicles 6:26-27*

²⁹“[W]hen a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people . . . —being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands . . . —³⁰then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart),” 2 Chronicles 6:29-30*

³⁶“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin . . . ; ³⁷and if they have a change of heart . . . and repent and plead with you . . . and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; ³⁸and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul . . . and pray . . . ; ³⁹then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas . . . . And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.” 2 Chronicles 6:36-39*

¹⁴“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

¹After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. ²Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. ³With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, ⁴he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. ⁵Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’ ” ⁶The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is just.” ⁷When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.” 2 Chronicles 12:1-7

⁸When [King] Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple. 2 Chronicles 15:8

²“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you.” 2 Chronicles 19:2*

¹⁰“In every case that comes before you from your people who live in the cities—whether bloodshed or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees or regulations—you are to warn them not to sin against the LORD; otherwise his wrath will come on you and your people. Do this, and you will not sin.” 2 Chronicles 19:10

⁴He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side ⁵and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. ⁶Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him ⁸Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.” 2 Chronicles 29:4-6, 8

¹⁵When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the LORD, as the king had ordered, following the word of the LORD. ¹⁶The priests went into the sanctuary of the LORD to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the LORD’s temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the LORD. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. 2 Chronicles 29:15-16

⁸“Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the LORD. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever.” 2 Chronicles 30:8a*

⁸“Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the LORD. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. ⁹He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.” 2 Chronicles 30:8a, 9b*

¹⁸Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹who sets their heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” 2 Chronicles 30:18b-19*

¹⁸Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹who sets their heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. 2 Chronicles 30:18–20

²⁴In those days [King] Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the LORD’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26

¹⁰The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. ¹¹So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. ¹²In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. ¹³And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. 2 Chronicles 33:10-13

³In the eighth year of his reign, while he [King Josiah] was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. 2 Chronicles 34:3

¹⁴While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. ¹⁵Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan. ¹⁸Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. ¹⁹When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. ²⁰He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: ²¹“Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” 2 Chronicles 34:14-15, 18-21

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. ¹²He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the LORD. ¹³He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 36:11-13

¹⁹On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. ²⁰The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. ²¹So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. Ezra 6:19-21

³When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled. ⁴Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God ⁶and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” Ezra 9:3-6

¹⁰Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful; you have married foreign women, adding to Israel’s guilt. ¹¹Now honor the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and from your foreign wives.” ¹²The whole assembly responded with a loud voice: “You are right! We must do as you say.” Ezra 10:10-12

⁵“LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants . . . . I confess the sins we . . . have committed against you. ⁷We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave . . . .” Nehemiah 1:5-7*

¹[T]he Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. ²They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. ³They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God. Nehemiah 9:1, 2b-3*

¹⁶“But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. ¹⁷They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,” Nehemiah 9:16-17

²⁶“[T]hey were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. [T]hey committed awful blasphemies.” Nehemiah 9:26*

²⁶“[T]hey were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. [T]hey committed awful blasphemies. ²⁷So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.” Nehemiah 9:26-27*

³³“In all that has happened to us, you [God] have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.” Nehemiah 9:33

³³“In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly. ³⁴Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep. ³⁵Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.” Nehemiah 9:33–35

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.” Job 6:24

¹³“[I]f you devote your heart to him [God Almighty] and stretch out your hands to him, ¹⁴if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, ¹⁵then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear. ¹⁶You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. ¹⁷Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. ¹⁸You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. ¹⁹You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.” Job 11:13-19*

²³“How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.” Job 13:23

¹⁴“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?” Job 15:14

¹⁴“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? ¹⁵If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, ¹⁶how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!” Job 15:14-16

¹⁵“If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, ¹⁶how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!” Job 15:15-16

¹⁵“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. ¹⁶My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;” Job 16:15-16

⁵“Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?” Job 22:5

²³“If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent” Job 22:23

²⁴“If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’ ²⁵if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, ²⁸then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.” Job 31:24-25, 28

²⁷“And they will go to others and say, ‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right, but I did not get what I deserved.’ ” Job 33:27

²¹“His eyes are on the ways of mortals; he sees their every step. ²²There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness, where evildoers can hide.” Job 34:21-22

³¹“ ‘I am guilty but will offend no more. ³²Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ ” Job 34:31-32*

⁸But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, ⁹he tells them what they have done—that they have sinned arrogantly. ¹⁰He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. ¹¹If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. ¹²But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge. Job 36:8-12

⁵“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. ⁶Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6

⁴Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Psalm 4:4

⁴[Y]ou are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. ⁵The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; Psalm 5:4-5*

⁵The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. Psalm 11:5

¹The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. Psalm 14:1

¹They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. Psalm 14:1b*

²The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. ³All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:2-3

²Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; Psalm 26:2

³When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. ⁶Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; . . . . Psalm 32:3, 5-6

¹⁸I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Psalm 38:18

¹¹Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. ¹²For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Psalm 40:11-12

⁴I said, “Have mercy on me, LORD; heal me, for I have sinned against you.” Psalm 41:4

¹Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. ²Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. ³For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. ⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Psalm 51:1-4

¹The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. Psalm 53:1

¹They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. Psalm 53:1b*

²God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. ³Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 53:2-3

⁵You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. Psalm 69:5

⁸Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. ⁹Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. Psalm 79:8-9

⁹Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. Psalm 79:9

⁶We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. Psalm 106:6

¹Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; ²LORD, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. ³If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, LORD, who could stand? ⁴But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. Psalm 130:1-4

²³Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

⁶I say to the LORD, “You are my God.” Hear, LORD, my cry for mercy. Psalm 140:6

¹I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. Psalm 142:1

²³Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. Proverbs 1:23

¹⁴Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. ¹⁵Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. Proverbs 4:14-15

²¹[Y]our ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. ²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. ²³For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. Proverbs 5:21-23*

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. Proverbs 5:22

²⁰The LORD detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in those whose ways are blameless. Proverbs 11:20

²²The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22

²⁵There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 16:25

⁶Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? Proverbs 20:6

⁹Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”? Proverbs 20:9

²³The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him. Proverbs 20:23

²A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2

²⁸Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28

¹³Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Proverbs 28:13

¹Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. Proverbs 29:1

⁶Evildoers are snared by their own sin, but the righteous shout for joy and are glad. Proverbs 29:6

²⁰Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20

²⁹“This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” Ecclesiastes 7:29

³The hearts of people . . . are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:3b*

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. Ecclesiastes 9:18

⁹You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Ecclesiastes 11:9

²Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.” Isaiah 1:2

⁴Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One . . . and turned their backs on him. ⁵Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. ⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil. Isaiah 1:4-6*

¹⁶Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. ¹⁷Learn to do right; . . . . Isaiah 1:16b-17a*

⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5

¹³But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty. Isaiah 9:13

¹⁰You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Isaiah 17:10a*

¹²The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. ¹³But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” Isaiah 22:12-13

⁵The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:5

¹⁸We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. Isaiah 26:18

¹³The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13

¹“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, . . . not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;” Isaiah 30:1*

⁹For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction. ¹⁰They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. ¹¹Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One . . . !” Isaiah 30:9-11*

¹⁵This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One . . . , says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15*

¹⁷Before him [the LORD] all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. Isaiah 40:17

⁹“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? ¹⁰Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ ” Isaiah 45:9-10

⁸You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. Isaiah 48:8

²²“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” Isaiah 48:22

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? Isaiah 53:1

⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

⁶Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ⁷Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7

¹⁵For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Isaiah 57:15

¹Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. ²But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. ³For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. Isaiah 59:1-3

¹²For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: Isaiah 59:12

¹²For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: ¹³rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. Isaiah 59:12-13

⁶All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. ⁷No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. ⁸Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. ⁹Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. Isaiah 64:6-9

²“All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— ³a people who continually provoke me to my very face, . . . ; ⁵who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me . . . .’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.” Isaiah 65:2-3, 5*

²“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” Isaiah 66:2b*

³“They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; ⁴so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” Isaiah 66:3b-4*

¹³“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

¹⁹“Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the LoORD the LORD Almighty. ²⁰“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ ” Jeremiah 2:19-20a*

²⁰“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ ²¹I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? ²²Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD. Jeremiah 2:20a, 21-22*

²¹“I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?” Jeremiah 2:21

²¹“I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? ²²Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD. Jeremiah 2:21-22

²²“Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD. Jeremiah 2:22

²⁷“They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ ” Jeremiah 2:27b*

²⁹“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 2:29

³²“Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.” Jeremiah 2:32

³⁵ “you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ ” Jeremiah 2:35

¹²“ ‘Return, . . . ,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever. ¹³Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the LORD your God . . . and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 3:12-13*

²²“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” ²⁵“We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.” Jeremiah 3:22, 25b*

²²“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” Jeremiah 4:22

³LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. Jeremiah 5:3

²¹“Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: ²²Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? ²³But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. ²⁴They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’ ²⁵Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.” Jeremiah 5:21-22ab, 23-25*

²⁶“Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people. ²⁷Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful ²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor. ²⁹Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 5:26-29

³“ ‘This is what the LORD Almighty . . . says: Reform your ways and your actions . . . .’ ” Jeremiah 7:3*

¹⁹“But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?” Jeremiah 7:19

⁵“ ‘Why then have these people turned away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. ⁶I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.’ ” Jeremiah 8:5ac-6*

⁶“ ‘I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.’ ” Jeremiah 8:6

¹⁰“ ‘From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. ¹²Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.’ ” Jeremiah 8:10b, 12*

³“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:3

¹²Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? ¹³The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. ¹⁴Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; . . . .” Jeremiah 9:12c-14*

⁷Although our sins testify against us, do something, LORD, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you. Jeremiah 14:7

²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you. Jeremiah 14:20

²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you. ²¹For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it. Jeremiah 14:20-21

¹⁹[T]his is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; . . . .” Jeremiah 15:19a*

¹²“[Y]ou have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me.” Jeremiah 16:12*

¹⁷“My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.” Jeremiah 16:17

⁵This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. ⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.” Jeremiah 17:5-6

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10

²³“ ‘Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.’ ” Jeremiah 17:23

⁷“If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.” Jeremiah 18:7-8

¹¹“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ ” Jeremiah 18:11

²“This is what the LORD says: Stand in . . . the LORD’s house and speak to all the people . . . who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. ³Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.” Jeremiah 26:2-3*

¹³“Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.” Jeremiah 26:13

¹⁸“ ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God. ¹⁹After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ ” Jeremiah 31:18-19*

¹⁸“You [Sovereign LORD] show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them.” Jeremiah 32:18a*

³³“They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.” Jeremiah 32:33

¹⁵“ ‘Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me.’ ” Jeremiah 35:15abd*

⁴“Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’ ⁵But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness . . . .” Jeremiah 44:4-5*

¹⁰“To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your ancestors.” Jeremiah 44:10

⁴⁰Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: ⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled . . . .” Lamentations 3:40-42*

⁹“ ‘[H]ow I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.’ ” Ezekiel 6:9*

³Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the LORD called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side ⁴and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” Ezekiel 9:3-4

³“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? ⁶Therefore say . . . , ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’ ” Ezekiel 14:3, 6*

⁶“ ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’ ” Ezekiel 14:6*

⁴⁹“ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.’ ” Ezekiel 16:49-50

²⁰“The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” Ezekiel 18:20

²¹“But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²²None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. ²³Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:21-23

²⁷“But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die.” Ezekiel 18:27-28

³⁰“I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.” Ezekiel 18:30*

³⁰“I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die . . . ? ³²For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” Ezekiel 18:30-32*

⁴³“ ‘[Y]ou will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done.’ ” Ezekiel 20:43*

⁴³“ ‘[Y]ou will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. ⁴⁴You will know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices . . . , declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ” Ezekiel 20:43-44*

²⁴“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do—because you have done this, you will be taken captive.’ ” Ezekiel 21:24

¹⁰“ ‘ “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” ’ ¹¹Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, . . . ?’ ” Ezekiel 33:10-11*

³¹“My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. ³²Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.” Ezekiel 33:31-32

¹⁰“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, ¹¹and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.” Ezekiel 43:10-11

²⁵“For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.” Ezekiel 43:25

²⁷“Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.” Daniel 4:27a*

⁴“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. ⁷Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame . . . . ⁸We . . . are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you. ⁹The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us . . . . ¹¹Therefore . . . curses . . . have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹³[D]isaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. ¹⁴The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. ¹⁵[W]e have sinned, we have done wrong. ¹⁶Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath . . . . ¹⁷Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. ¹⁸Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see . . . . We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because . . . your people bear your Name.” Daniel 9:4-5, 7-10, 11b, 13-16a, 17a, 18-19*

⁷“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame . . . . ⁸We . . . are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you.” Daniel 9:7-8*

⁹“The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.” Daniel 9:9-10

¹¹“[C]urses . . . have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹³[D]isaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. ¹⁴The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.” Daniel 9:11, 13-14*

¹³“[W]e have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.” Daniel 9:13*

¹⁴“[T]he LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. ¹⁵[W]e have sinned, we have done wrong.” Daniel 9:14-15*

¹Hear the word of the LORD, . . . , because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.” Hosea 4:1*

¹Hear the word of the LORD, . . . , because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. ²There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” Hosea 4:1-2*

⁷“The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their glorious God for something disgraceful.” Hosea 4:7

“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. ²After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” Hosea 6:1-2

¹¹“They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets; ²but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me.” Hosea 6:11b-7:2*

¹³“Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely. ¹⁴They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail on their beds.” Hosea 7:13-14a*

⁵“How long will they be incapable of purity?” Hosea 8:5c*

¹³“[Y]ou have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception.” Hosea 10:13a*

⁶But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. Hosea 12:6

⁶“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” Hosea 13:6

¹Return . . . to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! ²Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.” Hosea 14:1-2*

⁸Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth. ⁹The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. Joel 1:8-9b*

¹³Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; . . . . Joel 1:13*

¹²“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Joel 2:12

¹²“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” ¹³Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:12-13

¹²For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. Amos 5:12a*

¹²For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Amos 5:12

²¹“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. ²²Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. ²³Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:21-24

¹Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! ⁴You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. ⁵You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. ⁶You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. ⁷Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. Amos 6:1, 4–7

⁴Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. ⁶When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. ⁷This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. ⁸But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. ⁹Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” ¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Jonah 3:4-10

⁴Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” ⁵The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. ¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Jonah 3:4-5, 10

⁸“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. ⁹Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” ¹⁰When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. Jonah 3:8bc-10*

¹Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. Micah 2:1

⁹Listen! The LORD is calling to the city—and to fear your name is wisdom—“Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.” Micah 6:9

¹⁰“Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house . . . ? ¹¹Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? ¹²Your rich people are violent; your inhabitants are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully. ¹³Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.” Micah 6:10-13*

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Habakkuk 1:13a*

⁶“ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ ” Habakkuk 2:6*

¹³“Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? ¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:13-14

¹Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! ²She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD, she does not draw near to her God. Zephaniah 3:1-2

⁷“Of Jerusalem I thought, ‘Surely you will fear me and accept correction!’ Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed, nor all my punishments come upon her. But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did.” Zephaniah 3:7

¹⁵“ ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD’s temple. ¹⁶When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. ¹⁷I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the LORD.” Haggai 2:15-17

³“[T]ell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty. ⁴Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.” Zechariah 1:3-4*

³“[T]ell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty. ⁴This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ ” Zechariah 1:3-4a*

³“Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty. ⁴Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. ⁶But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors? Then they repented and said, ‘The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.’ ” Zechariah 1:3-4, 6

⁹“This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. ¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ ¹¹But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. ¹²They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.” Zechariah 7:9-12

⁶“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 1:6abc*

⁶“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ ⁷By offering defiled food on my altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. ⁸When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. ⁹“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the LORD Almighty. ¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. ¹¹My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. ¹²“But you profane it by saying, ‘The LORD’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ ¹³And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty. “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. ¹⁴“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the LORD. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.” Malachi 1:6-14

¹⁰“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. ¹¹My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 1:10-11

¹³“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. ¹⁴“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the LORD. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.” Malachi 1:13b-14*

¹“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. ²If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.” Malachi 2:1–2

¹³Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. ¹⁴You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. ¹⁵Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. Malachi 2:13-15

¹⁶“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD . . . “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. Malachi 2:16*

¹⁷You have wearied the LORD with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” Malachi 2:17

⁵“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:5

⁷“Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:7ab*

⁸“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Malachi 3:8-10

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 3:1-2

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:1-2, 5-8, 10

⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17

²¹“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister^, will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Matthew 5:21-22

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:27-30

²⁹“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30

³¹“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32

¹“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2

¹“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5

¹²Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13*

²⁶“[T]here is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” Matthew 10:26

³²“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33

²⁰Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. ²³And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. ^l For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. ²⁴But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” Matthew 11:20-24

³⁶“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

¹⁴“In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ” Matthew 13:14-15

²²“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” Matthew 13:22

⁸“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁹They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ” Matthew 15:8-9

¹⁰Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” ¹⁷Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰These are what defile a person; . . . .” Matthew 15:10-11, 17-20

⁶“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Matthew 18:6

⁷“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” Matthew 18:7

⁷“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! ⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” Matthew 18:7-9

²¹Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” ²²Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

¹²Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ¹³“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ ” Matthew 21:12-13

³¹Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³²For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” Matthew 21:31c-32*

²⁹Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” Matthew 22:29

²⁵“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matthew 23:25-26

²⁷“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:45-51

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ⁴¹Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ ⁴⁴They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ ⁴⁵He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ ⁴⁶Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-33, 41-46

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” Matthew 27:3–4a*

⁴And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Mark 1:4-5

¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14-15

¹⁷Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17*

¹⁸“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” Mark 4:18-19

²¹He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? ²²For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. ²³If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4:21-23

⁴⁰He [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40

⁶“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁷They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ” Mark 7:6-7*

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ²⁰He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²²adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Mark 7:14-15, 20-23

³⁶“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Mark 8:36-37

³⁸“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38

⁴²“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” Mark 9:42

⁴³“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ^[46] ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ ” Mark 9:43-48

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’ ” ²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” ²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” ²²At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Mark 10:17-23

²⁴Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” Mark 12:24

³⁸“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mark 14:38

³He [John the son of Zechariah] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 3:3

³He [John the son of Zechariah] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁸“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:3, 8a, 9*

⁸“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:8a, 9*

⁸“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. ¹¹John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” ¹³“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. ¹⁴Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” Luke 3:8a, 9-14*

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:8, 10b-11*

²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:29-32

²⁴“[W]oe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.” Luke 6:24*

⁴¹“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Luke 6:41-42

⁴⁶“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6:46-49

¹⁴“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Luke 8:14

¹⁷“For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Luke 8:17

²⁵“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” Luke 9:25

²⁶“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26

⁶²Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

¹Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1

²“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:2-3

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. ⁵But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” Luke 12:4-5

⁸“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. ⁹But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8-9

⁴²The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.” Luke 12:42-46

⁴⁷“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.” Luke 12:47

¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:1-5

⁴“[T]hose eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:4-5*

³⁴“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Luke 14:34-35

⁷“[T]here will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7*

⁷“[T]here will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. ¹⁰I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:7, 10*

¹⁰“I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10*

²¹“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ” Luke 15:21

¹⁵He [Jesus] said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” Luke 16:15

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²²The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ ²⁵But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ ²⁷He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ³⁰‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ³¹He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” Luke 16:19-31

¹Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ²It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” Luke 17:1-2

⁹To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ ¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” ⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:5-10

²⁵He [Jesus] said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Luke 24:25

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁹The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. John 1:1, 4, 9-11

¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19

²³“Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.” John 5:23b*

³⁹“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” John 5:39-40

⁴²“I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.” John 5:42b*

⁴⁴“How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” John 5:44

²⁴“I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I [Jesus] am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8:24

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” ³⁴Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” John 8:31-34

³⁴Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” John 8:34

⁴²Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³for they loved human praise more than praise from God. John 12:42-43

²²“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” John 15:22

⁷“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” John 16:7-11

³⁶“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” ³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:36-39

¹⁹“Repent . . . and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” Acts 3:19*

²⁶“When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” Acts 3:26

⁵¹“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” Acts 7:51

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money ¹⁹and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! ²¹You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. ²²Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. ²³For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Acts 8:18-23

²¹“You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.” Acts 8:21

^21 “[Y]our heart is not right before God. ²²Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. ²³For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Acts 8:21-23*

²³“I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” Acts 8:23*

¹⁵“We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from . . . worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” Acts 14:15c*

³⁰“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30

⁴Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” Acts 19:4

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Acts 19:17-20

¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. Acts 19:18

²¹“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:21

⁶“I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” Acts 24:16*

²⁰“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20

²⁷“ ‘[T]his people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ” Acts 28:27*

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:18-21

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Romans 1:18, 21, 24-25

²⁸Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³²Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32

¹You . . . have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 2:1*

¹You . . . have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. ²Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:1-4*

¹⁷Now you, . . . ; if you rely on the law and boast in God; ¹⁸if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—²¹you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed . . . because of you.” Romans 2:17-24*

¹⁷Now you, . . . ; if you rely on the law and boast in God; ¹⁸if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—²¹you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? ²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed . . . because of you.” Romans 2:17-21a, 23-24*

²¹you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? Romans 2:21-23

¹⁰As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. ¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” ¹³“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” ¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways, ¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know.” ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18

³[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23*

¹What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Romans 6:1-2

⁶[W]e know that our old self was crucified with him [Christ] so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— Romans 6:6*

¹²[D]o not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Romans 6:12-13*

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:15-16

⁸[S]in, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. Romans 7:8a*

⁸[S]in, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. Romans 7:8a, 11*

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. Romans 7:14

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:14-15

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁸For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²¹So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:14-15, 18-19, 21-25

¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15

¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. Romans 7:15, 17

¹⁸For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²¹So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:18-19, 21-25

²¹So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:21-25

⁵Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8

⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:8

¹³[I]f you live according to the flesh, you will die; . . . . Romans 8:13*

²¹“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” Romans 10:21*

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3

¹⁰You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹²So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Romans 14:10, 12

¹⁰[W]e will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹²So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Romans 14:10c, 12*

²³[E]verything that does not come from faith is sin. Romans 14:23*

¹⁸Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; ²⁰and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-20

⁷What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7bc*

⁶Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:6b-7*

⁹Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:15, 18-20

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

¹⁹Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 1 Corinthians 7:23

²⁹What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on . . . ; ³⁰. . . those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; ³¹those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31a*

¹[K]nowledge puffs up while love builds up. ²Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 1 Corinthians 8:1b-2*

⁶Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” ⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. ¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 1 Corinthians 10:6-11

¹⁴[M]y dear friends, flee from idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10:14*

²⁷So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. ³⁰That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. ³¹But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 1 Corinthians 11:27-31

³¹[I]f we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under . . . judgment. 1 Corinthians 11:31*

¹If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

³³Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

³⁴Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; . . . . 1 Corinthians 15:34*

²[W]e have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. 2 Corinthians 4:2a*

⁹yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. ¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. ¹¹See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. 2 Corinthians 7:9-11a*

¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10:12

³Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Galatians 3:3

²²Scripture has locked up everything [declares that everything is] under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Galatians 3:22

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? Galatians 4:8-9

⁴You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Galatians 5:4

⁷You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:7

¹³You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14

¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. Galatians 5:16-17

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:26

¹Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1-2

⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. Ephesians 4:17-19

²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; Ephesians 4:22

²⁵[E]ach of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 4:25*

²⁶“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:26-27, 30-31

³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Ephesians 5:3-5

¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18

²¹For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:21

⁵Put to death . . . whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5*

⁵Put to death . . . whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:5-8*

⁸[Y]ou must . . . rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Colossians 3:8*

¹⁵Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 1 Timothy 1:15

¹³[T]hey get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. 1 Timothy 5:13*

²⁰But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. 1 Timothy 5:20

²²[D]o not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. 1 Timothy 5:22*

²⁴The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 1 Timothy 5:24

²⁰Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. 1 Timothy 6:20b-21a*

¹⁶Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 2 Timothy 2:16

¹⁹“Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” 2 Timothy 2:19*

²⁰In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. ²¹Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

²²Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22

²³Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 2 Timothy 2:23

¹ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3:1-5a*

⁹But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:9

⁹But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. ¹⁰Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. Titus 3:9-10

¹⁰Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. Titus 3:10

¹⁸Because he [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18

⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸do not harden your hearts . . . .” Hebrews 3:7-8*

⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, ⁹where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. ¹⁰That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ ¹¹So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” ¹²See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Hebrews 3:7-12

¹²See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12

¹Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ²For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ⁶Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:1-2, 6-7

⁹There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13

¹⁴[S]ince we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16*

⁷Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Hebrews 6:7-8

²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience . . . . Hebrews 10:22*

²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1

¹⁵See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15

¹⁶See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ¹⁷Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. Hebrews 12:16-17

²⁵See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? Hebrews 12:25

⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD. ⁸Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:6-8

¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15

¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20

²¹[G]et rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1:21*

²²Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

²⁶Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. James 1:26

⁸If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:8-9

¹⁰[W]hoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. James 2:10*

¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17

²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:26

⁵[T]he tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:5-10*

⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:7-8

⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:9-10

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:13-16

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:1-3

²You do not have because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:2c-3*

⁴You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

⁶“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6b*

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. James 4:7-9

⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. James 4:8-9

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

¹¹Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:11-12

¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. James 4:16

¹⁷If anyone . . . knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17*

¹Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. ²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. James 5:1-3, 5

⁹Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! James 5:9

¹⁶[C]onfess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a*

¹[R]id yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 1 Peter 2:1*

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11

²⁴“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

¹⁷For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17

⁵All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5b*

⁵All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5:5b-6*

⁵[M]ake every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:5-9*

¹⁹“[P]eople are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 2 Peter 2:19*

⁹[H]e [the Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9b*

⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 1 John 1:5-6

⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him [God] and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:6-7

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him [God] out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:10

⁹Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 1 John 2:9

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ⁶For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15-16

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵But you know that he [the Son] appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:4-6

⁶No one who lives in him [the Son] keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 1 John 3:6

⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he [Christ] is righteous. ⁸The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 1 John 3:7-8

⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 1 John 3:7-10

⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1 John 3:9

¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. 1 John 3:10

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 John 3:14

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

²⁰Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1 John 4:20-21

¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. 1 John 5:17

¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 1 John 5:18

²¹Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21

¹¹Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 3 John 11

¹⁴“See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones ¹⁵to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Jude 14-15*

⁴“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Revelation 2:4-5

¹⁴“Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. ¹⁶Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Revelation 2:14, 16

²⁰“Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. ²¹I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. ²²So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. ²³I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.” Revelation 2:20-23

¹“I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” Revelation 3:1b-3*

¹⁴“These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:14-16

¹⁷“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17

¹⁷“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Revelation 3:17-19

¹⁹“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” Revelation 3:19

²⁰The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21

⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. ¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. Revelation 16:8-11

¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. Revelation 16:10-11

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “ ‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; ⁵for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. ⁶Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. ⁷Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ ⁸Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the LORD God who judges her.” Revelation 18:4-8

Other Scriptures to Consider

²¹Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²²On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³He said to them, “This is what the LORD commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” ²⁴So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” ²⁷Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Exodus 16:21-28

²He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the LORD.” Leviticus 9:2

⁶“ ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them . . . .’ ” Leviticus 20:6*

¹⁶“ ‘The priest is to present all these before the LORD and make the sin offering and the burnt offering.;’ ” Numbers 6:16

¹⁵“ ‘Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the LORD as a sin offering.’ ” Numbers 28:15

¹¹“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.’ ” Numbers 29:11

¹⁶“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:16

¹⁹“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.’ ” Numbers 29:19

²²“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:22

²⁵“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:25

^{28 “ ‘}Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:28

^{31 “ ‘}Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:31

³⁴“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:34

³⁸“ ‘Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.’ ” Numbers 29:38

¹⁶Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Deuteronomy 11:16

¹⁰After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹²They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger ¹³because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Judges 2:10-13

²⁰“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” 1 Samuel 12:20

³⁷“Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18:37

¹In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. ²He did evil in the eyes of the LORD by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them. 2 Kings 13:1-2

¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them. 2 Kings 13:10-11

²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. ²⁴He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 2 Kings 14:23-24

⁸In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned six months. ⁹He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his predecessors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 2 Kings 15:8-9

¹⁷In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria ten years. ¹⁸He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. During his entire reign he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 2 Kings 15:17-18

²³In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. ²⁴Pekahiah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 2 Kings 15:23-24

²⁷In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years. ²⁸He did evil in the eyes of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 2 Kings 15:27-28

²⁰Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the LORD. ²¹They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats as a sin offering ^u for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these on the altar of the LORD. ²²So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and splashed it against the altar; next they slaughtered the rams and splashed their blood against the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed their blood against the altar. ²³The goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. ²⁴The priests then slaughtered the goats and presented their blood on the altar for a sin offering to atone for all Israel, because the king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel. 2 Chronicles 29:20-24

¹While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. ²Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel. ³Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law. ⁴Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.” Ezra 10:1-4

⁹“What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God . . . ?” Nehemiah 5:9*

⁹Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah 8:9

²⁸“But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.” Nehemiah 9:28

⁵When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom. Job 1:5

¹⁷“Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” Job 5:17

⁹Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal? Job 13:9

⁴“How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? ⁵If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, ⁶how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot—a human being, who is only a worm!” Job 25:4-6

³³“if I have concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt in my heart ³⁴because I so feared the crowd . . . that I kept silent . . . ” Job 31:33-34*

³Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? ⁴The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, . . . . ⁵They will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior. ⁶Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face . . . . Psalm 24:3-6*

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures—the LORD detests them both. Proverbs 20:10

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. Isaiah 13:11

¹¹But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. ¹²Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD. ¹³“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. ¹⁴They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. ¹⁵Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 6:11-15

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ ¹⁷I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ ” Jeremiah 6:16-17

¹⁷“I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ ” Jeremiah 6:17

¹⁰“ ‘From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.’ ” Jeremiah 8:10b*

⁸“Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.” Jeremiah 9:8

⁸“Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. ⁹Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 9:8-9

⁴“In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.” Jeremiah 50:4

²¹“ ‘But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws, of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” and they desecrated my Sabbaths.’ ” Ezekiel 20:21a*

¹The word of the LORD came to me: ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. ⁷Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ⁸As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁰This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’ ” Ezekiel 34:1-10

⁶“Say to rebellious Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, people of Israel!’ ” Ezekiel 44:6

²⁷“ ‘On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ” Ezekiel 44:27

¹⁸“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. ²⁰But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. ²¹He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.” Daniel 5:18, 20-21

¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. ¹⁶Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. ¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” Joel 2:15-17

⁷“They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.” Amos 2:7a*

³“I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” ⁴Edom may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins.” But this is what the LORD Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD. ⁵You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD—even beyond the borders of Israel!’ ” Malachi 1:3-5*

³¹“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³²Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:31-32

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I have risen, will go ahead of you into Galilee.” ³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” ³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” ³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. Matthew 26:31–35

⁷⁴Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. Matthew 26:74-75

²⁸“Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” Mark 3:28-29

²⁷“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” ²⁹Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” ³⁰“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” ³¹But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same. Mark 14:27-31

⁴²“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” Luke 11:42

²⁴Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart.” Acts 1:24a*

¹³their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 1 Corinthians 3:13

³[W]hen we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. Galatians 4:3*

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Ephesians 2:1-3

⁸Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8

²⁵Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:25-26

⁸“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

²⁷Nothing impure will ever enter it [the Holy City Jerusalem], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:27

All the Introductions to and Confessions
of Sin in the Bible

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All the Introductions to and Confessionsof Sin in the Bible

Categories

All the Introductions to and Confessions
of Sin in the Bible