Overcoming Temptation: Biblical Strategy

but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die,

for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.

The LORD God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”

God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.

He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.

Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the LORD.

They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he didn’t know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”

No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside.

Dan will be a serpent on the trail, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.

The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

Therefore the people quarrelled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”

“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.”

Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”

They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”

All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a moulded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;

The mixed multitude that was amongst them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic;

While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the LORD’s anger burnt against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.

The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.

because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all the LORD’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;

The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”

Balak again sent princes, more, and more honourable than they.

They came to Balaam, and said to him, “Balak the son of Zippor says, ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me,

for I will promote you to very great honour, and whatever you say to me I will do. Please come therefore, and curse this people for me.’”

Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”

Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab;

for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.

Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;

and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

When you father children and children’s children, and you have been long in the land, and then corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the LORD your God’s sight to provoke him to anger,

“You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbour’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.”

You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.

You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.

You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other gods and worship them;

be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you not enquire after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises amongst you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,

and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let’s go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let’s serve them,”

you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods”—which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth—

certain wicked fellows have gone out from amongst you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods,” which you have not known,

He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against the LORD your God.

When you go out and camp against your enemies, then you shall keep yourselves from every evil thing.

and you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were amongst them);

lest there should be amongst you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be amongst you a root that produces bitter poison;

But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them,

The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land where they go to be amongst them, and will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them.

They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations.

But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore the LORD’s anger burnt against the children of Israel.

When I saw amongst the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”

they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wine skins,

and old and patched sandals on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and mouldy.

This our bread we took hot for our supplies out of our houses on the day we went out to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and has become mouldy.

“But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain amongst you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;

but the Asherites lived amongst the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they didn’t drive them out.

You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?

Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the LORD’s commandments. They didn’t do so.

But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They didn’t cease what they were doing, or give up their stubborn ways.

They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the LORD’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

The children of Israel lived amongst the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

They chose new gods. Then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen amongst forty thousand in Israel?

Gideon made an ephod out of it, and put it in Ophrah, his city. Then all Israel played the prostitute with it there; and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD, and didn’t serve him.

On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?”

Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.

The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”

Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.”

He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.”

She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric.

She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.

He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.

She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that the LORD had departed from him.

As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”

His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

and the people pounced on the plunder, and took sheep, cattle, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.

The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”

Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.”

Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall today be my son-in-law.”

Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly.

Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”

At evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.

David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.

But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.

Jonadab said to him, “Lay down on your bed and pretend to be sick. When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’”

So Amnon lay down and faked being sick. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

She took the pan and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Have all men leave me.” Then every man went out from him.

Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the room, that I may eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the room to Amnon her brother.

When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister!”

Again the LORD’s anger burnt against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”

But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites,

of the nations concerning which the LORD said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go amongst them, neither shall they come amongst you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love.

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. His wives turned his heart away.

When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father was.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the LORD’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.

So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.

His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah;

They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.

But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

A spirit came out and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’

The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’

Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.”

Nevertheless he held to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He didn’t depart from them.

But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.”

He said to him, “Didn’t my heart go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and cattle, and male servants and female servants?

However, Jehu didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin—the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan.

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He didn’t depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn’t depart from them

Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern;

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.”

Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.

But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

The messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Let your word therefore, please be like one of theirs, and speak good.”

He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counsellor in acting wickedly.

He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as did Ahab’s house, for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction.

He also followed their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them and burnt incense to them.

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly and he trespassed against the LORD his God, for he went into the LORD’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Doesn’t Hezekiah persuade you to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria’?

Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand?

Who was there amongst all the gods of those nations which my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come! Let’s meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.

in which was written, “It is reported amongst the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words.

You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.”

I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”

He was hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares camped outside of Jerusalem once or twice.

Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet amongst many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin.

But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

The LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

“Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,

though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth,

The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.

“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door,

“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;

who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?

Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside.

Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.

He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David. I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.

Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.

They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, “Who will see them?”

For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.

They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths,

They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies,

Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work.

but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.

because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips.

but mixed themselves with the nations, and learnt their works.

They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.

Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practise deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.

Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lie in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit.

We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder.

You shall cast your lot amongst us. We’ll all have one purse”—

So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,

who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,

who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,

who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,

to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,

for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.

None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.

you are trapped by the words of your mouth; you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths,

for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army.

Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.

She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their ways,

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

“Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.”

But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires.

A man of violence entices his neighbour, and leads him in a way that is not good.

One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.

An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under the LORD’s wrath will fall into it.

lest you learn his ways and ensnare your soul.

put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.

Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.

Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.

Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,

Don’t be amongst ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat;

For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful amongst men.

Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.

Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.

“They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.”

Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;

a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,

The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.

To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

A man who flatters his neighbour spreads a net for his feet.

lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.

Don’t give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’

lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.

He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practise divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope,

Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgement.

For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.

The king says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you.

Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’

Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.

Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship.

“Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.

“Come,” they say, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”

They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.

a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

“Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’

They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbour’s wife.

For wicked men are found amongst my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went, and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.”

Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.

“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be enquired of at all by them?

Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him there according to the multitude of his idols,

that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’

“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to enquire for himself of me, I the LORD will answer him by myself.

“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.

You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colours, and played the prostitute on them. This shouldn’t happen, neither shall it be.

You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them.

You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied.

You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.

in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution.

You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’

or who does not do any of those things but has eaten at the mountain shrines and defiled his neighbour’s wife,

has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there.

“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

who were clothed with blue—governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after.

She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples and they poured out their prostitution on her.

“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the prostitution of her sister.

She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers—her neighbours, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

“She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red,

dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.

“‘The Lord GOD says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord GOD, “and they will bear their iniquity.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

“In his place a contemptible person will stand up, to whom they had not given the honour of the kingdom; but he will come in time of security, and will obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

After the treaty made with him he will work deceitfully; for he will come up and will become strong with few people.

For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.

On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.

For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their anger smoulders all night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.

“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’

If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink,” he would be the prophet of this people.

because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.

All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous: an arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol; he is like death and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations and heaps to himself all peoples.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the LORD’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’”

Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple,

and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”

Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

What was sown amongst the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also amongst the wheat, and went away.

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced amongst them and pleased Herod.

Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.

“Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.

If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

But the farmers, when they saw the son, said amongst themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’

Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.

Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites?

One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.

Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray.

“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ don’t believe it.

For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.

and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit and kill him.

From that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him.

Others fell amongst the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”

For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,

covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven and testing him.

He warned them, saying, “Take heed: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”

But he, turning around and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,

If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched—

If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire,

Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.

But those farmers said amongst themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’

They sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words.

Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and will lead many astray.

Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ don’t believe it.

For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them.

They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.

Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

He led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,

Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.

The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.

Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.

Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.

Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation.

What fell amongst the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity.

Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.

If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will turn back to my house from which I came out.’

When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.

Then he goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.

He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken,

Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and travelled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned amongst themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’

They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.

Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test me?

He said, “Watch out that you don’t get led astray, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is at hand.’ Therefore don’t follow them.

“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

Satan entered into Judas, who was also called Iscariot, who was counted with the twelve.

He went away and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them.

They were glad, and agreed to give him money.

He consented and sought an opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the multitude.

The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,

When he was at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you don’t enter into temptation.”

and said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.

The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you?

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?

But Peter asked her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practise sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,

to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”

They listened to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar Jesus,

But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.

Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.

Men will arise from amongst your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore also he sent for him more often and talked with him.

Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured amongst themselves;

For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burnt in their lust towards one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned.

Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.

It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

For those who are such don’t serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality amongst you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named amongst the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything.

Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn with passion.

However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

But be careful that by no means does this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.

For if a man sees you who have knowledge sitting in an idol’s temple, won’t his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.

Let’s not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.

Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we didn’t preach, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different “good news” which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.

And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.

Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.

By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.

This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage,

That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfil the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.

Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,

idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,

envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practise such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.

in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.

We also all once lived amongst them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit,

“Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,

and don’t give place to the devil.

But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned amongst you, as becomes saints;

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.

whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.

“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”

These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us.

For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labour would have been in vain.

For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,

For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction.

even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

Because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion, that they should believe a lie,

Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;

not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.

But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,

through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,

But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives.

But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.

For already some have turned away after Satan.

But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,

traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

For some of these are people who creep into houses and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts,

and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables.

For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

whose mouths must be stopped: men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.

For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.

You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin.

lest there be any sexually immoral person or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.

Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.

Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity amongst our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

Where do wars and fightings amongst you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?

You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask.

You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.

then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement,

but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, revelling in their deceit while they feast with you;

having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children!

For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.

For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts

as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.

Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.

For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.

These things I have written to you concerning those who would lead you astray.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”

These are those who cause divisions and are sensual, not having the Spirit.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira—as many as don’t have this teaching, who don’t know what some call ‘the deep things of Satan’—to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you.

The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.

Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.

The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.

I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the sight of people.

He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived.

I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;

for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God the Almighty.

with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth.

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”

The fruits which your soul lusted after have been lost to you. All things that were dainty and sumptuous have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all.

The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur.

He seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,

and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.

And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison

and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.