Acts 17:25

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!”

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.

But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don’t give up.

You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”

For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.

Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

But about the dead, that they are raised; haven’t you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.

These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season.

His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

“Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,

All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.

Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, “Don’t let the hair of your heads go loose, and don’t tear your clothes, so that you don’t die, and so that he will not be angry with all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which Yahweh has kindled.

You shall fear Yahweh your God. You shall serve him. You shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.

that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

that you must turn away today from following Yahweh? It will be, since you rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

who gives food to every creature; for his loving kindness endures forever.

I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.

For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.

So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

The Lord Yahweh says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live.

Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.

God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:

A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

“Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

“Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,

You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens.

You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways.

“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; “for he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is that which will not be destroyed. His dominion will be even to the end.

Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”

For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.

I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,

Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”