Chapter 1
1 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
2 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
3 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.
4 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
5 One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
6 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
7 "Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: " 'You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
8 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
9 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
10 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
11 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
12 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
13 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.
14 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.' "
15 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
16 The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
17 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
18 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."
19 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
20 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
21 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
22 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
23 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
24 And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water."
25 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.
26 God called the vault "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
27 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.
28 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
29 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.
30 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
31 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
32 And God said, "Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,
33 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.
34 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
35 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth,
36 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
37 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
38 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky."
39 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
40 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."
41 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
42 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so.
43 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good
44 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.
45 Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
46 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
47 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
48 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
49 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
50 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
51 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor.
52 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
53 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ
54 and, "A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
55 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light
56 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
57 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
58 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
59 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
60 So you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
61 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
62 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
63 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
64 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
65 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world
66 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light
67 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
68 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
69 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
70 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
71 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
72 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.
73 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
74 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!