16 Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. 17 The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds.

15 Since childhood, you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. 16 Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. 17 The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds.

20 But you need to realize that no one alone can understand any of the prophecies in the Scriptures. 21 The prophets did not think these things up on their own, but they were guided by the Spirit of God.

15 Do your best to win God’s approval as a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message.

2 to preach God’s message. Do it willingly, even if it isn’t the popular thing to do. You must correct people and point out their sins. But also cheer them up, and when you instruct them, always be patient.

13 Until I arrive, be sure to keep on reading the Scriptures in worship, and don’t stop preaching and teaching.

12 God’s word is alive and powerful! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.

35 The sky and the earth won’t last forever, but my words will.

4 *Jesus answered, "The Scriptures say:

‘No one can live only on food.

People need every word

that God has spoken.’ "

10 *"Rain and snow fall from the sky.

But they don’t return

without watering the earth

that produces seeds to plant

and grain to eat.

11 That’s how it is with my words.

They don’t return to me

without doing everything

I send them to do."

17 Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours.

39 *You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me,

25 But what the Lord has said

will stand forever."

Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.

9 Young people can live

a clean life

by obeying your word.

160 All you say can be trusted;

your teachings are true

and will last forever.

11 The people in Berea were much nicer than those in Thessalonica, and they gladly accepted the message. Day after day they studied the Scriptures to see if these things were true.

2 So as usual, Paul went there to worship, and on three Sabbaths he spoke to the people. He used the Scriptures 3 to show them that the Messiah had to suffer, but that he would rise from death. Paul also told them that Jesus is the Messiah he was preaching about.

30 Philip ran up close and heard the man reading aloud from the book of Isaiah. Philip asked him, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

31 The official answered, "How can I understand unless someone helps me?" He then invited Philip to come up and sit beside him.

32 *The man was reading the passage that said,

"He was led like a sheep

on its way to be killed.

He was silent as a lamb

whose wool

is being cut off,

and he did not say

a word.

35 So Philip began at this place in the Scriptures and explained the good news about Jesus.

10 Ezra had spent his entire life studying and obeying the Law of the Lord and teaching it to others.

25 Then Jesus asked the two disciples, "Why can’t you understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets said? 26 Didn’t you know that the Messiah would have to suffer before he was given his glory?" 27 Jesus then explained everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets.*

18 Jesus came to them and said:

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! 19 *Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

7 *As you go, announce that the kingdom of heaven will soon be here.*

8 The Lord told Elijah,

1 I am Joel the son of Pethuel.

And this is the message

the Lord gave to me.

19 Then the Lord told me:

1 I am Malachi. And this is the message that the Lord gave me for Israel.

8,9 So once again, I, the Lord All-Powerful, tell you, "See that justice is done and be kind and merciful to one another!

4 Then the Lord sent me

1 **The Spirit of the Lord God

has taken control of me!

The Lord has chosen and sent me

to tell the oppressed

the good news,

to heal the brokenhearted,

and to announce freedom

for prisoners and captives.

2 *This is the year

when the Lord God

will show kindness to us

and punish our enemies.

The Lord has sent me

to comfort those who mourn,

3 especially in Jerusalem.

He sent me to give them flowers

in place of their sorrow,

olive oil in place of tears,

and joyous praise

in place of broken hearts.

They will be called

"Trees of Justice,"

planted by the Lord

to honor his name.

5 Everything God says is true—

and it’s a shield for all

who come to him for safety.

6 Don’t change what God has said!

He will correct you and show

that you are a liar.

18 *Here is my warning for everyone who hears the prophecies in this book:

If you add anything to them, God will make you suffer all the terrible troubles written in this book. 19 If you take anything away from these prophecies, God will not let you have part in the life-giving tree and in the holy city described in this book.

6 I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you with his gift of undeserved grace.* You have believed another message, 7 when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. 8 I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn’t matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. 9 I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.

15 Don’t forget that the Lord is patient because he wants people to be saved. This is also what our dear friend Paul said when he wrote you with the wisdom God had given him. 16 Paul talks about these same things in all his letters, but part of what he says is hard to understand. Some ignorant and unsteady people even destroy themselves by twisting what he said. They do the same thing with other Scriptures too.

4 *And the Scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.

14 How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? 15 *And how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news. 16 *Yet not everyone has believed the message. For example, the prophet Isaiah asked, "Lord, has anyone believed what we said?"

17 No one can have faith without hearing the message about Christ.

16 *I am proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 17 *The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith.* It is just as the Scriptures say, "The people God accepts because of their faith will live."*

12 But God has given us his Spirit. This is why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think. This is also why we can recognize the blessings God has given us.

13 Every word we speak was taught to us by God’s Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people.*14 This is why only someone who has God’s Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn’t have God’s Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish.

21 *God was wise and decided not to let the people of this world use their wisdom to learn about him.

Instead, God chose to save only those who believe the foolish message we preach.

22 Jews ask for miracles, and Greeks want something that sounds wise. 23 But we preach that Christ was nailed to a cross. Most Jews have problems with this, and most Gentiles think it is foolish. 24 Our message is God’s power and wisdom for the Jews and the Greeks that he has chosen.

17 Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using words that sound wise and would make the cross of Christ lose its power.

9 *But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things he has done. The Scriptures say,