Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death.

But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him.

I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith!

Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to?

But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.

Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

This failure on your part isn’t good! As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead! Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.”

If the king is so inclined, let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, that Vashti may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another who is more deserving than she.

Because of this, the Lord said, “You must repent of such words and thoughts! If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless, I will again allow you to be my spokesman. They must become as you have been. You must not become like them.

How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace?

He is the one you should praise; he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen.

pick the best and most capable of your master’s sons, place him on his father’s throne, and defend your master’s dynasty.”

“But now they mock me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I disdained too much to put with my sheep dogs.

This is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: “Go visit this administrator, Shebna, who supervises the palace, and tell him:

To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

They court you eagerly, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly.

Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.