1 Corinthians 9:16

My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:

That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.

Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”

Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border opposite Joppa.

For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

Cain left Yahweh’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.

All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Moses said before Yahweh, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?”

Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

The arrogant mock me excessively, but I don’t swerve from your law.

Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale?

Zion spreads out her hands. There is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.

I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.

You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

Yahweh’s hand was there on me; and he said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there.”

For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.

But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”

Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did.

As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”

Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”

delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,

I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised—

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:

Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel haven’t listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, when I have uncircumcised lips?”

Now therefore tell my servant David this, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel.

Yahweh’s angel said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” Then he arose, and went down with him to the king.

The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

Therefore I am full of Yahweh’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.

“Isn’t my word like fire?” says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.

Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.

So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.

The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.

Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake;

For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;

that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries.

Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—

of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God,

to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia.

For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.

Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come to you. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.”

Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it.

Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish. There is no restraint any more.

But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.

My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

What will you say, when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.

He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”

for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

But rise up and enter into the city, then you will be told what you must do.”

Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”

Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me.

If I say, I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.

The Lord Yahweh says, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

But Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce God’s Kingdom.”

But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.”

I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.

For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God.