The One Year Bible TLB (170 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
August 10As I lay on the ground in front of the Temple, weeping and praying and making this confession, a large crowd of men, women, and children gathered around and cried with me.
2
Then Shecaniah (the son of Jehiel of the clan of Elam) said to me, “We acknowledge our sin against our God, for we have married these heathen women. But there is hope for Israel in spite of this.
3
For we agree before our God to divorce our heathen wives and to send them away with our children; we will follow your commands and the commands of the others who fear our God. We will obey the laws of God.
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Take courage and tell us how to proceed in setting things straight, and we will fully cooperate.”
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So I stood up and demanded that the leaders of the priests and the Levites and all the people of Israel swear that they would do as Shecaniah had said; and they all agreed.
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Then I went into the room of Jehohanan in the Temple and refused all food and drink, for I was mourning because of the sin of the returned exiles.
7-8
Then a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that everyone should appear at Jerusalem within three days and that the leaders and elders had decided that anyone who refused to come would be disinherited and excommunicated from Israel.
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Within three days, on the fifth day of December,
*
all the men of Judah and Benjamin had arrived and were sitting in the open space before the Temple; and they were trembling because of the seriousness of the matter and because of the heavy rainfall.
10
Then I, Ezra the priest, arose and addressed them:
“You have sinned, for you have married heathen women; now we are even more deeply under God’s condemnation than we were before.
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Confess your sin to the Lord God of your fathers and do what he demands: separate yourselves from the heathen people about you and from these women.”
12
Then all the men spoke up and said, “We will do what you have said.
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But this isn’t something that can be done in a day or two, for there are many of us involved in this sinful affair. And it is raining so hard that we can’t stay out here much longer.
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Let our leaders arrange trials for us. Everyone who has a heathen wife will come at the scheduled time with the elders and judges of his city; then each case will be decided and the situation will be cleared up, and the fierce wrath of our God will be turned away from us.”
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Only Jonathan (son of Asahel), Jahzeiah (son of Tikvah), Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite opposed this course of action.
16-19
So this was the plan that was followed: Some of the clan leaders and I were designated as judges; we began our work on December 15 and finished by March 15.
Following is the list of priests who had married heathen wives (they vowed to divorce their wives and acknowledged their guilt by offering rams as sacrifices): Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, Gedaliah.
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The sons of Immer: Hanani, Zebadiah.
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The sons of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, Uzziah.
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The sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, Elasah.
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The Levites who were guilty: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah (also called Kelita), Pethahaiah, Judah, Eliezer.
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Of the singers, there was Eliashib.
Of the gatekeepers, Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
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Here is the list of ordinary citizens who were declared guilty:
From the clan of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Hashabiah, Benaiah.
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From the clan of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, Elijah.
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From the clan of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, Aziza.
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From the clan of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.
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From the clan of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, Jeremoth.
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From the clan of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, Manasseh.
31-32
From the clan of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.
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From the clan of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.
34-42
From the clan of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel, Banaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasu, Bani, Binnui, Shimei, Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah, Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.
43
From the clan of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel, Benaiah.
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Each of these men had heathen wives, and many had children by these wives.
How is it that when you have something against another Christian, you “go to law” and ask a heathen court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other Christians to decide which of you is right?
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Don’t you know that someday we Christians are going to judge and govern the world? So why can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves?
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Don’t you realize that we Christians will judge and reward the very angels in heaven? So you should be able to decide your problems down here on earth easily enough.
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Why then go to outside judges who are not even Christians?
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5
I am trying to make you ashamed. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these arguments?
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But, instead, one Christian sues another and accuses his Christian brother in front of unbelievers.
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To have such lawsuits at all is a real defeat for you as Christians. Why not just accept mistreatment and leave it at that? It would be far more honoring to the Lord to let yourselves be cheated.
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But, instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong, cheating others, even your own brothers.
9-10
Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals—will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers.
11
There was a time when some of you were just like that but now your sins are washed away, and you are set apart for God; and he has accepted you because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
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I can do anything I want to if Christ has not said no,
*
but some of these things aren’t good for me. Even if I am allowed to do them, I’ll refuse to if I think they might get such a grip on me that I can’t easily stop when I want to.
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For instance, take the matter of eating. God has given us an appetite for food and stomachs to digest it. But that doesn’t mean we should eat more than we need. Don’t think of eating as important because someday God will do away with both stomachs and food.
But sexual sin is never right: our bodies were not made for that but for the Lord, and the Lord wants to fill our bodies with himself.
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And God is going to raise our bodies from the dead by his power just as he raised up the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts and members of Christ? So should I take part of Christ and join him to a prostitute? Never!
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And don’t you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute she becomes a part of him and he becomes a part of her? For God tells us in the Scripture that in his sight the two become one person.
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But if you give yourself to the Lord, you and Christ are joined together as one person.
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That is why I say to run from sex sin. No other sin affects the body as this one does. When you sin this sin it is against your own body.
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Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you.
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For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it.
O Lord, have mercy on me in my anguish. My eyes are red from weeping; my health is broken from sorrow. I am pining away with grief; my years are shortened, drained away because of sadness. My sins have sapped my strength; I stoop with sorrow and with shame.
*
11
I am scorned by all my enemies and even more by my neighbors and friends. They dread meeting me and look the other way when I go by.
12
I am forgotten like a dead man, like a broken and discarded pot.
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I heard the lies about me, the slanders of my enemies. Everywhere I looked I was afraid, for they were plotting against my life.
14-15
But I am trusting you, O Lord. I said, “You alone are my God; my times are in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.
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Let your favor shine again upon your servant; save me just because you are so kind!
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Don’t disgrace me, Lord, by not replying when I call to you for aid. But let the wicked be shamed by what they trust in; let them lie silently in their graves,
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their lying lips quieted at last—the lips of these arrogant men who are accusing honest men of evil deeds.”
God is more pleased when we are just and fair than when we give him gifts.
August 11The autobiography of
Nehemiah, the son of Hecaliah:
In December of the twentieth year of the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia,
*
when I was at the palace at Shushan,
2
one of my fellow Jews named Hanani came to visit me with some men who had arrived from Judah. I took the opportunity to inquire about how things were going in Jerusalem.
“How are they getting along—,” I asked, “the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from their exile here?”
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“Well,” they replied, “things are not good; the wall of Jerusalem is still torn down, and the gates are burned.”
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When I heard this, I sat down and cried. In fact, I refused to eat for several days, for I spent the time in prayer to the God of heaven.
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“O Lord God,” I cried out; “O great and awesome God who keeps his promises and is so loving and kind to those who love and obey him! Hear my prayer!
6-7
Listen carefully to what I say! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you; yes, I and my people have committed the horrible sin of not obeying the commandments you gave us through your servant Moses.
8
Oh, please remember what you told Moses! You said,
“‘If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations;
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but if you return to me and obey my laws, even though you are exiled to the farthest corners of the universe, I will bring you back to Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is the place in which I have chosen to live.’
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“We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power.
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O Lord, please hear my prayer! Heed the prayers of those of us who delight to honor you. Please help me now as I go in and ask the king for a great favor—put it into his heart to be kind to me.” (I was the king’s cupbearer.)
2:
1-2
One day in April, four months later, as I was serving the king his wine he asked me, “Why so sad? You aren’t sick, are you? You look like a man with deep troubles.” (For until then I had always been cheerful when I was with him.) I was badly frightened,
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but I replied, “Sir,
*
why shouldn’t I be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been burned down.”
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“Well, what should be done?” the king asked.
With a quick prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, “If it please Your Majesty and if you look upon me with your royal favor, send me to Judah to rebuild the city of my fathers!”
5-6
The king replied, with the queen sitting beside him, “How long will you be gone? When will you return?”
So it was agreed! And I set a time for my departure!
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Then I added this to my request: “If it please the king, give me letters to the governors west of the Euphrates River instructing them to let me travel through their countries on my way to Judah;
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also a letter to Asaph, the manager of the king’s forest, instructing him to give me timber for the beams and for the gates of the fortress near the Temple, and for the city walls, and for a house for myself.”
And the king granted these requests, for God was being gracious to me.
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When I arrived in the provinces west of the Euphrates River, I delivered the king’s letters to the governors there. (The king, I should add, had sent along army officers and troops to protect me!)
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But when Sanballat (the Horonite) and Tobiah (an Ammonite who was a government official) heard of my arrival, they were very angry that anyone was interested in helping Israel.
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Three days after my arrival at Jerusalem I stole out during the night, taking only a few men with me; for I hadn’t told a soul about the plans for Jerusalem that God had put into my heart. I was mounted on my donkey and the others were on foot,
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and we went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal’s Well and over to the Dung Gate to see the broken walls and burned gates.
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Then we went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but my donkey couldn’t get through the rubble. So we circled the city, and I followed the brook, inspecting the wall, and entered again at the Valley Gate.
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The city officials did not know I had been out there or why, for as yet I had said nothing to anyone about my plans—not to the political or religious leaders, or even to those who would be doing the work.
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But now I told them, “You know full well the tragedy of our city; it lies in ruins and its gates are burned. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and rid ourselves of this disgrace!”
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Then I told them about the desire God had put into my heart, and of my conversation with the king, and the plan to which he had agreed.
They replied at once, “Good! Let’s rebuild the wall!” And so the work began.
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But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed and said, “What are you doing, rebelling against the king like this?”
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But I replied, “The God of heaven will help us, and we, his servants, will rebuild this wall; but you may have no part in this affair.”
3:
1
Then Eliashib the High Priest and the other priests rebuilt the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel; then they rebuilt the Sheep Gate, hung its doors, and dedicated it.
2
Men from the city of Jericho worked next to them, and beyond them was the work crew led by Zaccur (son of Imri).
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The Fish Gate was built by the sons of Hassenaah; they did the whole thing—cut the beams, hung the doors, and made the bolts and bars.
4
Meremoth (son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz) repaired the next section of wall, and beyond him were Meshullam (son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel) and Zadok (son of Baana).
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Next were the men from Tekoa, but their leaders were lazy and didn’t help.
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The Old Gate was repaired by Joiada (son of Paseah) and Meshullam (son of Besodeiah). They laid the beams, set up the doors, and installed the bolts and bars.
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Next to them were Melatiah from Gibeon; Jadon from Meronoth; and men from Gibeon and Mizpah, who were citizens of the province.
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Uzziel (son of Harhaiah) was a goldsmith by trade, but he too worked on the wall. Beyond him was Hananiah, a manufacturer of perfumes. Repairs were not needed from there to the Broad Wall.
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Rephaiah (son of Hur), the mayor of half of Jerusalem, was next down the wall from them.
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Jedaiah (son of Harumaph) repaired the wall beside his own house, and next to him was Hattush (son of Hashabneiah).
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Then came Malchijah (son of Harim) and Hasshub (son of Pahath-moab), who repaired the Furnace Tower in addition to a section of the wall.
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Shallum (son of Hallohesh) and his daughters repaired the next section. He was the mayor of the other half of Jerusalem.
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The people from Zanoah, led by Hanun, built the Valley Gate, hung the doors, and installed the bolts and bars; then they repaired the 1,500 feet of wall to the Dung Gate.
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The Dung Gate was repaired by Malchijah (son of Rechab), the mayor of the Beth-haccherem area; and after building it, he hung the doors and installed the bolts and bars.
Now about those questions you asked in your last letter: my answer is that if you do not marry, it is good.
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But usually it is best to be married, each man having his own wife, and each woman having her own husband, because otherwise you might fall back into sin.
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The man should give his wife all that is her right as a married woman, and the wife should do the same for her husband:
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for a girl who marries no longer has full right to her own body, for her husband then has his rights to it, too; and in the same way the husband no longer has full right to his own body, for it belongs also to his wife.
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So do not refuse these rights to each other. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from the rights of marriage for a limited time, so that they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterwards, they should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control.
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I’m not saying you
must
marry, but you certainly
may
if you wish.
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I wish everyone could get along without marrying, just as I do. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of a husband or wife, and others he gives the gift of being able to stay happily unmarried.
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So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—better to stay unmarried if you can, just as I am.
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But if you can’t control yourselves, go ahead and marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.
10
Now, for those who are married I have a command, not just a suggestion. And it is not a command from me, for this is what the Lord himself has said: A wife must not leave her husband.
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But if she is separated from him, let her remain single or else go back to him. And the husband must not divorce his wife.
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Here I want to add some suggestions of my own. These are not direct commands from the Lord, but they seem right to me: If a Christian has a wife who is not a Christian, but she wants to stay with him anyway, he must not leave her or divorce her.
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And if a Christian woman has a husband who isn’t a Christian, and he wants her to stay with him, she must not leave him.
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For perhaps the husband who isn’t a Christian may become a Christian with the help of his Christian wife. And the wife who isn’t a Christian may become a Christian with the help of her Christian husband. Otherwise, if the family separates, the children might never come to know the Lord; whereas a united family may, in God’s plan, result in the children’s salvation.
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But if the husband or wife who isn’t a Christian is eager to leave, it is permitted. In such cases the Christian husband or wife should not insist that the other stay, for God wants his children to live in peace and harmony.
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For, after all, there is no assurance to you wives that your husbands will be converted if they stay; and the same may be said to you husbands concerning your wives.
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But be sure in deciding these matters that you are living as God intended, marrying or not marrying in accordance with God’s direction and help, and accepting whatever situation God has put you into. This is my rule for all the churches.
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For instance, a man who already has gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision before he became a Christian shouldn’t worry about it; and if he hasn’t been circumcised, he shouldn’t do it now.
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For it doesn’t make any difference at all whether a Christian has gone through this ceremony or not. But it makes a lot of difference whether he is pleasing God and keeping God’s commandments. That is the important thing.
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Usually a person should keep on with the work he was doing when God called him.
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Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but of course, if you get a chance to be free, take it.
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If the Lord calls you, and you are a slave, remember that Christ has set you free from the awful power of sin; and if he has called you and you are free, remember that you are now a slave of Christ.
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You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears.
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So, dear brothers, whatever situation a person is in when he becomes a Christian, let him stay there, for now the Lord is there to help him.
Oh, how great is your goodness to those who publicly declare that you will rescue them. For you have stored up great blessings for those who trust and reverence you.
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Hide your loved ones in the shelter of your presence, safe beneath your hand, safe from all conspiring men.
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Blessed is the Lord, for he has shown me that his never-failing love protects me like the walls of a fort!
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I spoke too hastily when I said, “The Lord has deserted me,” for you listened to my plea and answered me.
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Oh, love the Lord, all of you who are his people; for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but harshly punishes all who haughtily reject him.
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So cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord.