15 verses
1Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. When they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and that the place was a place for livestock, 2the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying, 3"Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4the land which Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock." 5They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don't bring us over the Jordan."
6Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? 7Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which Yahweh has given them? 8Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Yahweh had given them. 10Yahweh's anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying, 11'Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and older, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me, 12except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Yahweh completely.' 13Yahweh's anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in Yahweh's sight was consumed.
14"Behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, an increase of sinful men, to increase Yahweh's fierce anger toward Israel. 15For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all these people."
22 verses
8But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn't all throw away the abominations of their eyes. Nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. 10So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. 12Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn't walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 15Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16because they rejected my ordinances, and didn't walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn't destroy them, nor did I make a full end of them in the wilderness. 18I said to their children in the wilderness, Don't walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19I am Yahweh your God: walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; 20and make my Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.
21But the children rebelled against me; they didn't walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them; they profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; 24because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 25Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live; 26and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh.
27Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, Thus says LordOfMine Yahweh: In this moreover have your fathers blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. 28For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their pleasant aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings. 29Then I said to them, What does the high place where you go mean? So its name is called Bamah to this day.
21 verses
11Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus AnointedOne, direct our way to you. 12May the Lord make you to increase and exceed in selfless-love toward one another and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, 13to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
1Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don't know God, 6that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8So he who rejects this doesn't reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
9But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to selflessly-love one another, 10for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; 11and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
13But we don't want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don't grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God's trumpet. The dead in AnointedOne will rise first, 17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. 18So comfort one another with these words.