The Resurrection

¹On the first day of the week,very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.

²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them.

⁵As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

⁶He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee:

⁷‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’”

⁸Then they remembered His words.

⁹And when they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

¹¹But their words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women.

¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. And after bending down and seeing only the linen cloths, he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

The Road to Emmaus

¹³That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven milesfrom Jerusalem.

¹⁴They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

¹⁵And as they talked and deliberated, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them.

¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.

¹⁷He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”They stood still, with sadness on their faces.

¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, “Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in recent days?”

¹⁹“What things?” He asked.“The events involving Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet, powerful in speech and action before God and all the people.

²⁰Our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and they crucified Him.

²¹But we were hoping He was the One who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is the third day since these things took place.

²²Furthermore, some of our women astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,

²³but they did not find His body. They came and told us they had seen a vision of angels, who said that Jesus was alive.

²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had described. But Him they did not see.”

²⁵Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

²⁶Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”

²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

²⁸As they approached the village where they were headed, He seemed to be going farther.

²⁹But they pleaded with Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”So He went in to stay with them.

³⁰While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them.

³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.

³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem.There they found the Eleven and those with them, gathered together

³⁴and saying, “The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

³⁶While they were describing these events, Jesus Himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

³⁷But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit.

³⁸“Why are you troubled,” Jesus asked, “and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

³⁹Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch Me and see—for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet.

⁴¹While they were still in disbelief because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

⁴²So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish,

⁴³and He took it and ate it in front of them.

⁴⁴Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

⁴⁵Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

⁴⁶And He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

⁴⁷and in His name repentance andforgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰When Jesus had led them out as far as Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

⁵¹While He was blessing them, He left them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵²And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

⁵³praising God continually in the temple.

The Beginning

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was with God in the beginning.

³Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.

⁴In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

⁵The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomeit.

The Witness of John

⁶There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John.

⁷He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.

⁸He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

⁹The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.

¹¹He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

¹²But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

¹³children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

The Word Became Flesh

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Sonfrom the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”

¹⁶From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God andis at the Father’s side,has made Him known.

The Mission of John the Baptist

¹⁹And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?”He said, “I am not.”“Are you the Prophet?”He answered, “No.”

²²So they said to him, “Who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet:“I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness,‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

²⁴Then the Pharisees who had been sent

²⁵asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize withwater,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.

²⁷He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

²⁸All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Jesus the Lamb of God

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁰This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’

³¹I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

³²Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.

³³I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁴I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples

³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

³⁶When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

³⁸Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked.They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

³⁹“Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus.

⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).

⁴²Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to set out for Galilee. Finding Philip, He told him, “Follow Me.”

⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

⁴⁶“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.“Come and see,” said Philip.

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do You know me?” Nathanael asked.Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

⁴⁹“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

⁵¹Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

God Remains Faithful

¹What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

²Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very wordsof God.

³What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

⁴Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written:“So that You may be proved right when You speakand victorious when You judge.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.

⁶Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

⁷However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?

⁸Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

There Is No One Righteous

⁹What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.

¹⁰As it is written:“There is no one righteous,not even one.

¹¹There is no one who understands,no one who seeks God.

¹²All have turned away,they have together become worthless;there is no one who does good,not even one.”

¹³“Their throats are open graves;their tongues practice deceit.”“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

¹⁴“Their mouths are fullof cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and misery lie in their wake,

¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸“There is no fear of Godbefore their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

Righteousness through Faith in Christ

²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.

²²And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

²⁴and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

²⁵God presented Him as an atoning sacrificein His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

²⁶He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

²⁸For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

Rescue Me from Evil Men

¹Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men.Protect me from men of violence,

²who devise evil in their heartsand stir up war all day long.

³They sharpen their tongues like snakes;the venom of vipers is on their lips.Selah

⁴Guard me, O LORD,from the hands of the wicked.Keep me safe from men of violencewho scheme to make me stumble.

⁵The proud hide a snare for me;the cords of their net are spread along the path,and lures are set out for me.Selah

⁶I say to the LORD, “You are my God.”Hear, O LORD, my cry for help.

⁷O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation,You shield my head in the day of battle.

⁸Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked;do not promote their evil plans,lest they be exalted.Selah

⁹May the heads of those who surround mebe covered in the trouble their lips have caused.

¹⁰May burning coals fall on them;may they be thrown into the fire,into the miry pits, never to rise again.

¹¹May no slanderer be established in the land;may calamity hunt down the man of violence.

¹²I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poorand defends the cause of the needy.

¹³Surely the righteous will praise Your name;the upright will dwell in Your presence.