Romans 8

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death.

3 For though this was impossible under the law, because it was weakened by the flesh, God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and because of sin, in order to condemn sin in the flesh,

4 so that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us. For we are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

5 For those who are in agreement with the flesh are mindful of the things of the flesh. But those who are in agreement with the spirit are mindful of the things of the spirit.

6 For the prudence of the flesh is death. But the prudence of the spirit is life and peace.

7 And the wisdom of the flesh is inimical to God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.

8 So those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.

9 And you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if it is true that the Spirit of God lives within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

10 But if Christ is within you, then the body is indeed dead, concerning sin, but the spirit truly lives, because of justification.

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead lives within you, then he who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall also enliven your mortal bodies, by means of his Spirit living within you.

12 Therefore, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, so as to live according to the flesh.

13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if, by the Spirit, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.

14 For all those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

15 And you have not received, again, a spirit of servitude in fear, but you have received the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry out: “Abba, Father!”

16 For the Spirit himself renders testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God.

17 But if we are sons, then we are also heirs: certainly heirs of God, but also co-heirs with Christ, yet in such a way that, if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with that future glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the anticipation of the creature anticipates the revelation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to emptiness, not willingly, but for the sake of the One who made it subject, unto hope.

21 For the creature itself shall also be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

22 For we know that every creature groans inwardly, as if giving birth, even until now;

23 and not only these, but also ourselves, since we hold the first-fruits of the Spirit. For we also groan within ourselves, anticipating our adoption as the sons of God, and the redemption of our body.

24 For we have been saved by hope. But a hope which is seen is not hope. For when a man sees something, why would he hope?

25 But since we hope for what we do not see, we wait with patience.

26 And similarly, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself asks on our behalf with ineffable sighing.

27 And he who examines hearts knows what the Spirit seeks, because he asks on behalf of the saints in accordance with God.

28 And we know that, for those who love God, all things work together unto good, for those who, in accordance with his purpose, are called to be saints.

29 For those whom he foreknew, he also predestinated, in conformity with the image of his Son, so that he might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

30 And those whom he predestinated, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

31 So, what should we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

32 He who did not spare even his own Son, but handed him over for the sake of us all, how could he not also, with him, have given us all things?

33 Who will make an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One who justifies;

34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus who has died, and who has indeed also risen again, is at the right hand of God, and even now he intercedes for us.

35 Then who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Or anguish? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or persecution? Or the sword?

36 For it is as it has been written: “For your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We are being treated like sheep for the slaughter.”

37 But in all these things we overcome, because of him who has loved us.

38 For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor the present things, nor the future things, nor strength,

39 nor the heights, nor the depths, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 9

1 I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience offers testimony to me in the Holy Spirit,

2 because the sadness within me is great, and there is a continuous sorrow in my heart.

3 For I was desiring that I myself might be anathemized from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh.

4 These are the Israelites, to whom belongs adoption as sons, and the glory and the testament, and the giving and following of the law, and the promises.

5 Theirs are the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all things, blessed God, for all eternity. Amen.

6 But it is not that the Word of God has perished. For not all those who are Israelites are of Israel.

7 And not all sons are the offspring of Abraham: “For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.”

8 In other words, those who are the sons of God are not those who are sons of the flesh, but those who are sons of the Promise; these are considered to be the offspring.

9 For the word of promise is this: “I will return at the proper time. And there shall be a son for Sarah.”

10 And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act,

11 when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice),

12 and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: “The elder shall serve the younger.”

13 So also it was written: “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”

14 What should we say next? Is there unfairness with God? Let it not be so!

15 For to Moses he says: “I will pity whomever I pity. And I will offer mercy to whomever I will pity.”

16 Therefore, it is not based on those who choose, nor on those who excel, but on God who takes pity.

17 For Scripture says to the Pharaoh: “I have raised you up for this purpose, so that I may reveal my power by you, and so that my name may be announced to all the earth.”

18 Therefore, he takes pity on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 And so, you would say to me: “Then why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

20 O man, who are you to question God? How can the thing that has been formed say to the One who formed him: “Why have you made me this way?”

21 And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace?

22 What if God, wanting to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, endured, with much patience, vessels deserving wrath, fit to be destroyed,

23 so that he might reveal the wealth of his glory, within these vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory?

24 And so it is with those of us whom he has also called, not only from among the Jews, but even from among the Gentiles,

25 just as he says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘my people,’ and she who was not beloved, ‘beloved,’ and she who had not obtained mercy, ‘one who has obtained mercy.’

26 And this shall be: in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called the sons of the living God.”

27 And Isaiah cried out on behalf of Israel: “When the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.

28 For he shall complete his word, while abbreviating it out of equity. For the Lord shall accomplish a brief word upon the earth.”

29 And it is just as Isaiah predicted: “Unless the Lord of hosts had bequeathed offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made similar to Gomorrah.”

30 What should we say next? That the Gentiles who did not follow justice have attained justice, even the justice that is of faith.

31 Yet truly, Israel, though following the law of justice, has not arrived at the law of justice.

32 Why is this? Because they did not seek it from faith, but as if it were from works. For they stumbled over a stumbling block,

33 just as it was written: “Behold, I am placing a stumbling block in Zion, and a rock of scandal. But whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.”

Romans 10

1 Brothers, certainly the will of my heart, and my prayer to God, is for them unto salvation.

2 For I offer testimony to them, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For, being ignorant of the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own justice, they have not subjected themselves to the justice of God.

4 For the end of the law, Christ, is unto justice for all who believe.

5 And Moses wrote, about the justice that is of the law, that the man who will have done justice shall live by justice.

6 But the justice that is of faith speaks in this way: Do not say in your heart: “Who shall ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down);

7 “Or who shall descend into the abyss?” (that is, to call back Christ from the dead).

8 But what does Scripture say? “The word is near, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the word of faith, which we are preaching.

9 For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and if you believe in your heart that God has raised him up from the dead, you shall be saved.

10 For with the heart, we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is unto salvation.

11 For Scripture says: “All those who believe in him shall not be confounded.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is over all, richly in all who call upon him.

13 For all those who have called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

14 Then in what way will those who have not believed in him call upon him? Or in what way will those who have not heard of him believe in him? And in what way will they hear of him without preaching?

15 And truly, in what way will they preach, unless they have been sent, just as it has been written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize peace, of those who evangelize what is good!”

16 But not all are obedient to the Gospel. For Isaiah says: “Lord, who has believed our report?”

17 Therefore, faith is from hearing, and hearing is through the Word of Christ.

18 But I say: Have they not heard? For certainly: “Their sound has gone forth throughout all the earth, and their words unto the limits of the whole world.”

19 But I say: Has Israel not known? First, Moses says: “I will lead you into a rivalry with those who are not a nation; in the midst of a foolish nation, I will send you into wrath.”

20 And Isaiah dares to say: “I was discovered by those who were not seeking me. I appeared openly to those who were not asking about me.”

21 Then to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out my hands to a people who do not believe and who contradict me.”

Romans 11

1 Therefore, I say: Has God driven away his people? Let it not be so! For I, too, am an Israelite of the offspring of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not driven away his people, whom he foreknew. And do you not know what Scripture says in Elijah, how he calls upon God against Israel?

3 “Lord, they have slain your Prophets. They have overturned your altars. And I alone remain, and they are seeking my life.”

4 But what is the Divine response to him? “I have retained for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent their knees before Baal.”

5 Therefore, in the same way, again in this time, there is a remnant that has been saved in accord with the choice of grace.

6 And if it is by grace, then it is not now by works; otherwise grace is no longer free.

7 What is next? What Israel was seeking, he has not obtained. But the elect have obtained it. And truly, these others have been blinded,

8 just as it was written: “God has given them a spirit of reluctance: eyes that do not perceive, and ears that do not hear, even until this very day.”

9 And David says: “Let their table become like a snare, and a deception, and a scandal, and a retribution for them.

10 Let their eyes be obscured, so that they may not see, and so that they may bow down their backs always.”

11 Therefore, I say: Have they stumbled in such a way that they should fall? Let it not be so! Instead, by their offense, salvation is with the Gentiles, so that they may be a rival to them.

12 Now if their offense is the riches of the world, and if their diminution is the riches of the Gentiles, how much more is their fullness?

13 For I say to you Gentiles: Certainly, as long as I am an Apostle to the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry,

14 in such a way that I might provoke to rivalry those who are my own flesh, and so that I may save some of them.

15 For if their loss is for the reconciliation of the world, what could their return be for, except life out of death?

16 For if the first-fruit has been sanctified, so also has the whole. And if the root is holy, so also are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches are broken, and if you, being a wild olive branch, are grafted on to them, and you become a partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not glorify yourself above the branches. For though you glory, you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

19 Therefore, you would say: The branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted on.

20 Well enough. They were broken off because of unbelief. But you stand on faith. So do not choose to savor what is exalted, but instead be afraid.

21 For if God has not spared the natural branches, perhaps also he might not spare you.

22 So then, notice the goodness and the severity of God. Certainly, toward those who have fallen, there is severity; but toward you, there is the goodness of God, if you remain in goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

23 Moreover, if they do not remain in unbelief, they will be grafted on. For God is able to graft them on again.

24 So if you have been cut off from the wild olive tree, which is natural to you, and, contrary to nature, you are grafted on to the good olive tree, how much more shall those who are the natural branches be grafted on to their own olive tree?

25 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery (lest you seem wise only to yourselves) that a certain blindness has occurred in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has arrived.

26 And in this way, all of Israel may be saved, just as it was written: “From Zion shall arrive he who delivers, and he shall turn impiety away from Jacob.

27 And this will be my covenant for them, when I will take away their sins.”

28 Certainly, according to the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But according to the election, they are most beloved for the sake of the fathers.

29 For the gifts and the call of God are without regret.

30 And just as you also, in times past, did not believe in God, but now you have obtained mercy because of their unbelief,

31 so also have these now not believed, for your mercy, so that they might obtain mercy also.

32 For God has enclosed everyone in unbelief, so that he may have mercy on everyone.

33 Oh, the depths of the richness of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable are his ways!

34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?

35 Or who first gave to him, so that repayment would be owed?

36 For from him, and through him, and in him are all things. To him is glory, for all eternity. Amen.

Romans 12

1 And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind.

2 And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

3 For I say, through the grace that has been given to me, to all who are among you: Taste no more than it is necessary to taste, but taste unto sobriety and just as God has distributed a share of the faith to each one.

4 For just as, within one body, we have many parts, though all the parts do not have the same role,

5 so also we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one is a part, the one of the other.

6 And we each have different gifts, according to the grace that has been given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the reasonableness of faith;

7 or ministry, in ministering; or he who teaches, in doctrine;

8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, in simplicity; he who governs, in solicitude; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without falseness: hating evil, clinging to what is good,

10 loving one another with fraternal charity, surpassing one another in honor:

11 in solicitude, not lazy; in spirit, fervent; serving the Lord;

12 in hope, rejoicing; in tribulation, enduring; in prayer, ever-willing;

13 in the difficulties of the saints, sharing; in hospitality, attentive.

14 Bless those who are persecuting you: bless, and do not curse.

15 Rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Weep with those who are weeping.

16 Be of the same mind toward one another: not savoring what is exalted, but consenting in humility. Do not choose to seem wise to yourself.

17 Render to no one harm for harm. Provide good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men.

18 If it is possible, in so far as you are able, be at peace with all men.

19 Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.”

20 So if an enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing so, you will heap burning coals upon his head.

21 Do not allow evil to prevail, instead prevail over evil by means of goodness.

Romans 13

1 Let every soul be subject to higher authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those who have been ordained by God.

2 And so, whoever resists authority, resists what has been ordained by God. And those who resist are acquiring damnation for themselves.

3 For leaders are not a source of fear to those who work good, but to those who work evil. And would you prefer not to be afraid of authority? Then do what is good, and you shall have praise from them.

4 For he is a minister of God for you unto good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it is not without reason that he carries a sword. For he is a minister of God; an avenger to execute wrath upon whomever does evil.

5 For this reason, it is necessary to be subject, not solely because of wrath, but also because of conscience.

6 Therefore, you must also offer tribute. For they are the ministers of God, serving him in this.

7 Therefore, render to all whatever is owed. Taxes, to whom taxes is due; revenue, to whom revenue is due; fear, to whom fear is due; honor, to whom honor is due.

8 You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

9 For example: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not speak false testimony. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

10 The love of neighbor does no harm. Therefore, love is the plenitude of the law.

11 And we know the present time, that now is the hour for us to rise up from sleep. For already our salvation is closer than when we first believed.

12 The night has passed, and the day draws near. Therefore, let us cast aside the works of darkness, and be clothed with the armor of light.

13 Let us walk honestly, as in the daylight, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and sexual immorality, not in contention and envy.

14 Instead, be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its desires.

Romans 14

1 But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas.

2 For one person believes that he may eat all things, but if another is weak, let him eat plants.

3 He who eats should not despise him who does not eat. And he who does not eat should not judge him who eats. For God has accepted him.

4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? He stands or falls by his own Lord. But he shall stand. For God is able to make him stand.

5 For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind.

6 He who understands the age, understands for the Lord. And he who eats, eats for the Lord; for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

7 For none of us lives for himself, and none of us dies for himself.

8 For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

9 For Christ died and rose again for this purpose: that he might be the ruler of both the dead and the living.

10 So then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

12 And so, each one of us shall offer an explanation of himself to God.

13 Therefore, we should no longer judge one another. Instead, judge this to a greater extent: that you should not place an obstacle before your brother, nor lead him astray.

14 I know, with confidence in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in and of itself. But to him who considers anything to be unclean, it is unclean to him.

15 For if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are not now walking according to love. Do not allow your food to destroy him for whom Christ died.

16 Therefore, what is good for us should not be a cause of blasphemy.

17 For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but rather justice and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit.

18 For he who serves Christ in this, pleases God and is proven before men.

19 And so, let us pursue the things that are of peace, and let us keep to the things that are for the edification of one another.

20 Do not be willing to destroy the work of God because of food. Certainly, all things are clean. But there is harm for a man who offends by eating.

21 It is good to refrain from eating meat and from drinking wine, and from anything by which your brother is offended, or led astray, or weakened.

22 Do you have faith? It belongs to you, so hold it before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in that by which he is tested.

23 But he who discerns, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not of faith. For all that is not of faith is sin.

Romans 15

1 But we who are stronger must bear with the feebleness of the weak, and not so as to please ourselves.

2 Each one of you should please his neighbor unto good, for edification.

3 For even Christ did not please himself, but as it was written: “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me.”

4 For whatever was written, was written to teach us, so that, through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

5 So may the God of patience and solace grant you to be of one mind toward one another, in accord with Jesus Christ,

6 so that, together with one mouth, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 For this reason, accept one another, just as Christ also has accepted you, in the honor of God.

8 For I declare that Christ Jesus was the minister of circumcision because of the truth of God, so as to confirm the promises to the fathers,

9 and that the Gentiles are to honor God because of his mercy, just as it was written: “Because of this, I will confess you among the Gentiles, O Lord, and I will sing to your name.”

10 And again, he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, along with his people.”

11 And again: “All Gentiles, praise the Lord; and all peoples, magnify him.”

12 And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, and in him the Gentiles shall hope.”

13 So may the God of hope fill you with every joy and with peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the virtue of the Holy Spirit.

14 But I am also certain about you, my brothers, that you also have been filled with love, completed with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another.

15 But I have written to you, brothers, more boldly than to the others, as if calling you to mind again, because of the grace which has been given to me from God,

16 so that I may be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, sanctifying the Gospel of God, in order that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and may be sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

17 Therefore, I have glory in Christ Jesus before God.

18 So I dare not speak of any of those things which Christ does not effect through me, unto the obedience of the Gentiles, in word and deed,

19 with the power of signs and wonders, by power of the Holy Spirit. For in this way, from Jerusalem, throughout its surroundings, as far as Illyricum, I have replenished the Gospel of Christ.

20 And so I have preached this Gospel, not where Christ was known by name, lest I build upon the foundation of another,

21 but just as it was written: “Those to whom he was not announced shall perceive, and those who have not heard shall understand.”

22 Because of this also, I was greatly hindered in coming to you, and I have been prevented until the present time.

23 Yet truly now, having no other destination in these regions, and having already had a great desire to come to you over the past many years,

24 when I begin to set out on my journey to Spain, I hope that, as I pass by, I may see you, and I may be guided from there by you, after first having borne some fruit among you.

25 But next I will set out for Jerusalem, to minister to the saints.

26 For those of Macedonia and Achaia have decided to make a collection for those of the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.

27 And this has pleased them, because they are in their debt. For, since the Gentiles have become partakers of their spiritual things, they also ought to minister to them in worldly things.

28 Therefore, when I have completed this task, and have consigned to them this fruit, I shall set out, by way of you, to Spain.

29 And I know that when I come to you I shall arrive with an abundance of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ.

30 Therefore, I beg you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and though the love of the Holy Spirit, that you assist me with your prayers to God on my behalf,

31 so that I may be freed from the unfaithful who are in Judea, and so that the oblation of my service may be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem.

32 So may I come to you with joy, through the will of God, and so may I be refreshed with you.

33 And may the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Romans 16

1 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is in the ministry of the church, which is at Cenchreae,

2 so that you may receive her in the Lord with the worthiness of the saints, and so that you may be of assistance to her in whatever task she will have need of you. For she herself has also assisted many, and myself also.

3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus,

4 who have risked their own necks on behalf of my life, for whom I give thanks, not I alone, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;

5 and greet the church at their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is among the first-fruits of Asia in Christ.

6 Greet Mary, who has labored much among you.

7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow captives, who are noble among the Apostles, and who were in Christ prior to me.

8 Greet Ampliatus, most beloved to me in the Lord.

9 Greet Urbanus, our helper in Christ Jesus, and Stachys, my beloved.

10 Greet Apelles, who has been tested in Christ.

11 Greet those who are from the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodian, my kinsman. Greet those who are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, most beloved, who has labored much in the Lord.

13 Greet Rufus, elect in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them.

15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

17 But I beg you, brothers, to take note of those who cause dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine that you have learned, and to turn away from them.

18 For ones such as these do not serve Christ our Lord, but their inner selves, and, through pleasing words and skillful speaking, they seduce the hearts of the innocent.

19 But your obedience has been made known in every place. And so, I rejoice in you. But I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple in what is evil.

20 And may the God of peace quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

21 Timothy, my fellow laborer, greets you, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

22 I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

23 Gaius, my host, and the entire church, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and Quartus, a brother.

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

25 But to him who is able to confirm you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, in accord with the revelation of the mystery which has been hidden from time immemorial,

26 (which now has been made clear through the Scriptures of the Prophets, in accord with the precept of the eternal God, unto the obedience of faith) which has been made known among all the Gentiles:

27 to God, who alone is wise, through Jesus Christ, to him be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Acts 1

1 Certainly, O Theophilus, I composed the first discourse about everything that Jesus began to do and to teach,

2 instructing the Apostles, whom he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, even until the day on which he was taken up.

3 He also presented himself alive to them, after his Passion, appearing to them throughout forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God with many elucidations.

4 And dining with them, he instructed them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but that they should wait for the Promise of the Father, “about which you have heard,” he said, “from my own mouth.

5 For John, indeed, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.”

6 Therefore, those who had assembled together questioned him, saying, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?”

7 But he said to them: “It is not yours to know the times or the moments, which the Father has set by his own authority.

8 But you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit, passing over you, and you shall be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

9 And when he had said these things, while they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

10 And while they were watching him going up to heaven, behold, two men stood near them in white vestments.

11 And they said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall return in just the same way that you have seen him going up to heaven.”

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain, which is called Olivet, which is next to Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey.

13 And when they had entered into the cenacle, they ascended to the place where Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude of James, were staying.

14 All these were persevering with one accord in prayer with the women, and with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In those days, Peter, rising up in the midst of the brothers, said (now the crowd of men altogether was about one hundred and twenty):

16 “Noble brothers, the Scripture must be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit predicted by the mouth of David about Judas, who was the leader of those who apprehended Jesus.

17 He had been numbered among us, and he was chosen by lot for this ministry.

18 And this man certainly possessed an estate from the wages of iniquity, and so, having been hanged, he burst open in the middle and all his internal organs poured out.

19 And this became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that this field was called in their language, Akeldama, that is, ‘Field of Blood.’

20 For it has been written in the book of Psalms: ‘Let their dwelling place be desolate and may there be no one who dwells within it,’ and ‘Let another take his episcopate.’

21 Therefore, it is necessary that, out of these men who have been assembling with us throughout the entire time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22 beginning from the baptism of John, until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these be made a witness with us of his Resurrection.”

23 And they appointed two: Joseph, who was called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

24 And praying, they said: “May you, O Lord, who knows the heart of everyone, reveal which one of these two you have chosen,

25 to take a place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas prevaricated, so that he might go to his own place.”

26 And they cast lots concerning them, and the lot fell upon Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.