even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God&#8217;s purpose in election<n id="1" /> would stand, not by works but by<n id="2" /> his calling)<n id="3" /> &#8211;

because the person who sows to his own flesh<n id="1" /> will reap corruption<n id="2" /> from the flesh,<n id="3" /> but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office<n id="1" /> have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen,<n id="2" /> although they too are descendants of Abraham.<n id="3" />

because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions)<n id="1" /> is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Everyone who has been fathered<n id="1" /> by God does not practice sin,<n id="2" /> because<n id="3" /> God&#8217;s<n id="4" /> seed<n id="5" /> resides in him, and thus<n id="6" /> he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Dear friends, let us love one another, because<n id="1" /> love is from God, and everyone who loves<n id="2" /> has been fathered<n id="3" /> by God and knows God.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ<n id="1" /> has been fathered<n id="2" /> by God, and everyone who loves the father<n id="3" /> loves the child fathered by him.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">We know that everyone fathered<n id="1" /> by God does not sin, but God<n id="2" /> protects<n id="3" /> the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.

Then<n id="1" /> one of the elders said<n id="2" /> to me, &#8220;Stop weeping!<n id="3" /> Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered;<n id="4" /> thus he can open<n id="5" /> the scroll and its seven seals.&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Come!&#8221;<n id="2" />

He<n id="1" /> opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it<n id="2" /> like smoke from a giant furnace. The<n id="3" /> sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.

A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is,<n id="1" /> by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths.

and the temple was filled with smoke from God&#8217;s glory and from his power. Thus<n id="1" /> no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.p>

And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds<n id="1" /> each, fell from heaven<n id="2" /> on people,<n id="3" /> but they<n id="4" /> blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it<n id="5" /> was so horrendous.<n id="6" />p>

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus.<n id="1" /> I<n id="2" /> was greatly astounded<n id="3" /> when I saw her.

<p class="poetry">For all the nations<n id="1" /> have fallen<n id="2" /> fromp> <p class="poetry">the wine of her immoral passion,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,p> <p class="poetry">and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

The<n id="1" /> others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged<n id="2" /> themselves with their flesh.p>

and Jesse the father of David the king.p> <p class="bodytext">David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah<n id="1" />),

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom<n id="1" /> Jesus was born, who is called Christ.<n id="2" />p>

Let your word be &#8216;Yes, yes&#8217; or &#8216;No, no.&#8217; More than this is from the evil one.<n id="1" />p>