If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? 

  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.

When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me.

 The whole earth will acknowledge the LORD and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him. 

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

  He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the LORD fills the earth. 

The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

The Lord remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endures forever.

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

 Because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. 

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.

 The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. 

For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

 Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. 

They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

"Therefore, wait for me,” declares the LORD, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.

 But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are! 

 Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 

 He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. 

 I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. 

"Don’t tear your clothing in your grief but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. 

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 

 The LORD says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever."

 Then I will purify the speech of all people, so that everyone can worship the LORD together. 

 The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.” 

 I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’ 

 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD—his name alone will be worshiped. 

  When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. 

 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.
 

 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 

 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.

 He answered them, “Elijah does come first and restores and reestablishes all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things [grief and physical distress] and be treated with contempt [utterly despised and rejected]? 

  For everyone will be salted with fire. 

 And all humanity will see God’s salvation.

 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.
 

 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
 

 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning. 

 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.

 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 

 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. 

 For this reason, Christ died and returned to life, that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 

 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 

 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere. 

 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 

 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 

 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth  

 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. 

 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. 

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. 

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given.

 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers. 

And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.

  For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. 

 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 

  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already. 

 And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.

 He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 

... Mercy triumphs over judgment.
 

 So, he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. 

  For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 

  There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]. 

I am the living one. I died but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. 

 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.