The Fall of Mankind

3 Now ^(A)the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

⁵ For this reason, ^(A)when I could no longer endure it, I also ^(B)sent to ^[a]find out about your faith, for fear that ^(C)the tempter might have tempted you, and ^(D)our labor would be for nothing.

¹⁶ holding firmly the word of life, so that on ^(A)the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not ^(B)run in vain nor ^(C)labor in vain.

¹¹ We count those ^(A)blessed who endured. You have heard of ^(B)the ^[a]endurance of Job and have seen ^(C)the ^[b]outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that ^(D)the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.