Bible Browser

⁸ Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
   for the husband of her youth.
⁹ The grain-offering and the drink-offering are cut off
   from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
   the ministers of the Lord.
¹⁰ The fields are devastated,
   the ground mourns;
for the grain is destroyed,
   the wine dries up,
   the oil fails.

¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods,^*
   the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
   because the grain has failed.
¹⁸ How the animals groan!
   The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
   even the flocks of sheep are dazed.^*

¹⁹ To you, O Lord, I cry.
For fire has devoured
   the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
   all the trees of the field.
²⁰ Even the wild animals cry to you
   because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
   the pastures of the wilderness.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire.
¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.^*
14 And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Future Glory

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in^* hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes^* for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes^* with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷And God,^* who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit^* intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.^*

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,^* with whom I am well pleased.’

The Temptation of Jesus

4Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.