So Will I (100 Billion X)

⁴in 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. ⁵For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, ⁶seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. ⁸We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork. ²Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge. ³There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. ⁴Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, ⁵which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course. ⁶His going out is from the end of the heavens, his circuit to its ends. There is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁶Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. ⁷The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” ⁹When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying, ¹¹“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”

¹⁷For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.” ¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. ²⁰For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. ²¹Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. ²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

⁴For the LORD’s word is right. All his work is done in faithfulness. ⁵He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of the LORD. ⁶By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth. ⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses. ⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ⁹For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm. ¹⁰The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. ¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

¹God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ²has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. ³His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴having become as much better than the angels as the more excellent name he has inherited is better than theirs. ⁵For to which of the angels did he say at any time, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father?” and again, “I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?”

¹⁴in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. ¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. ¹⁹For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,

¹⁸and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. ¹⁹There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. ²⁰God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” ²¹God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” ²³There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. ²⁴God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so. ²⁵God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good. ²⁶God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

²⁵There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals. ²⁶There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there. ²⁷These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. ²⁸You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. ²⁹You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust. ³⁰You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground. ³¹Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works. ³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

¹⁷For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.” ¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. ²⁰For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. ²¹Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. ²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. ⁶Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. ⁷Ascribe to the LORD, you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. ⁸Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come into his courts. ⁹Worship the LORD in holy array. Tremble before him, all the earth. ¹⁰Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. ¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness!

⁸The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” ⁹When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying, ¹¹“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”

³¹Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself. ³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him. ³³When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.” ³⁷Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit. ³⁸The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. ³⁹When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” ⁴⁰There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; ⁴¹who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

⁷The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. ⁹The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. ¹²But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

²For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. ⁴Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. ⁸He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

²²who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” ²³When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. ²⁵For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

¹Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, ²by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony at the proper time, ⁷to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. ⁸I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.

¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, ¹⁷that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ⁶For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.