2 Corinthians 4:1-18 "Therefore seeing we have this ministry,..." KJV - Online Bible Study

2 Corinthians 4:1-18 "Therefore seeing we have this ministry,..." KJV - Online Bible Study2 Corinthians 4:1-18
¹ Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy , we faint not; ² But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. ³ But if our gospel be hid , it is hid to them that are lost : ⁴ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ⁵ For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness , hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. ⁸ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; we are perplexed , but not in despair ; ⁹ Persecuted , but not forsaken ; cast down , but not destroyed ; ¹⁰ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. ¹¹ For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then death worketh in us, but life in you. ¹³ We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written , I believed , and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe , and therefore speak ; ¹⁴ Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. ¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. ¹⁶ For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish , yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen , but at the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

¹ For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved , we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ² For in this we groan , earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: ³ If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. ⁴ For we that are in this tabernacle do groan , being burdened : not for that we would be unclothed , but clothed upon , that mortality might be swallowed up of life. ⁵ Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. ⁶ Therefore we are always confident , knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: ⁷ (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) ⁸ We are confident , I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. ⁹ Wherefore we labour , that, whether present or absent , we may be accepted of him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad.

2 Kings 17:1-41

¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. ² And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. ³ Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. ⁴ And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up , and bound him in prison . ⁵ Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. ⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷ For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸ And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made . ⁹ And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. ¹⁰ And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: ¹¹ And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger : ¹² For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. ¹³ Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying , Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. ¹⁴ Notwithstanding they would not hear , but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. ¹⁵ And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain , and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. ¹⁶ And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments , and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger . ¹⁸ Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. ¹⁹ Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made . ²⁰ And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers , until he had cast them out of his sight. ²¹ For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king : and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. ²² For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did ; they departed not from them; ²³ Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. ²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. ²⁵ And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them. ²⁶ Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying , The nations which thou hast removed , and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded , saying , Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. ²⁸ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. ²⁹ Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made , every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt . ³⁰ And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. ³³ They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. ³⁴ Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; ³⁵ With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying , Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: ³⁶ But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear , and him shall ye worship , and to him shall ye do sacrifice . ³⁷ And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget ; neither shall ye fear other gods. ³⁹ But the LORD your God ye shall fear ; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies . ⁴⁰ Howbeit they did not hearken , but they did after their former manner. ⁴¹ So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

Micah 6:1-16

¹ Hear ye now what the LORD saith ; Arise , contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. ² Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. ³ O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. ⁴ For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵ O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted , and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. ⁶ Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? ⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸ He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ⁹ The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. ¹⁰ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable ? ¹¹ Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? ¹² For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. ¹³ Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. ¹⁴ Thou shalt eat , but not be satisfied ; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold , but shalt not deliver ; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. ¹⁵ Thou shalt sow , but thou shalt not reap ; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. ¹⁶ For the statutes of Omri are kept , and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.