The Lord Had Pity

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

³⁰ “And I will show ^(AS)wonders in the heavens and ^(AT)on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. ^31 (AU)The sun shall be turned to darkness, ^(AV)and the moon to blood, ^(AW)before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ³² And it shall come to pass that ^(AX)everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. ^(AY)For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among ^(AZ)the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

²⁰ Brothers, ^(A)do not be children in your thinking. ^(B)Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be ^(C)mature. ^21 (D)In the Law it is written, ^(E)“By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” ²² Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign^[a] not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³ If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, ^(F)will they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴ But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, ^25 (G)the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, ^(H)falling on his face, he will worship God and ^(I)declare that God is really among you.

Orderly Worship

²⁶ What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has ^(J)a hymn, ^(K)a lesson, ^(L)a revelation, ^(M)a tongue, or ^(N)an interpretation. ^(O)Let all things be done for building up. ²⁷ If any speak in ^(P)a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. ²⁸ But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others ^(Q)weigh what is said. ³⁰ If a revelation is made to another sitting there, ^(R)let the first be silent. ³¹ For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, ³² and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³ For God is not a God of ^(S)confusion but of peace.

As in ^(T)all the churches of the saints, ^34 (U)the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but ^(V)should be in submission, as ^(W)the Law also says. ³⁵ If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

³⁶ Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? ^37 (X)If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. ³⁸ If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. ³⁹ So, my brothers, ^(Y)earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ^40 (Z)But all things should be done decently and ^(AA)in order.

The Lord Judges the Nations

3 ^[a] “For behold, ^(A)in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ^2 (B)I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And ^(C)I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, ³ and ^(D)have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

⁴ “What are you to me, ^(E)O Tyre and Sidon, and all ^(F)the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, ^(G)I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. ⁵ For ^(H)you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.^{[b] 6} You have sold ^(I)the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. ⁷ Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and ^(J)I will return your payment on your own head. ⁸ I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the ^(K)Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

The Glorious Future of Judah

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ² and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, ^(T)how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, ^(U)then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that ^(V)he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and ^(W)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who ^(X)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, ^(Y)we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact ^(Z)Christ has been raised from the dead, ^(AA)the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as ^(AB)by a man came death, ^(AC)by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For ^(AD)as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then ^(AE)at his coming ^(AF)those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers ^(AG)the kingdom to God the Father after destroying ^(AH)every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign ^(AI)until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be ^(AJ)destroyed is death. ²⁷ For ^(AK)“God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸ When ^(AL)all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that ^(AM)God may be all in all.

²⁹ Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? ³⁰ Why are we ^(AN)in danger every hour? ³¹ I protest, brothers, by ^(AO)my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, ^(AP)I die every day! ³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^(AQ)I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^(AR)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ^33 (AS)Do not be deceived: ^(AT)“Bad company ruins good morals.”^{[d] 34 (AU)}Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For ^(AV)some have no knowledge of God. ^(AW)I say this to your shame.