What the Bible Says About the Meaning of Life

Scripture

¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
⁴ And God saw that the light was good.
⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1:1-5

Exodus 3:1-6: ¹ Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Leviticus 19:1-4: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
³ Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

Numbers 6:22-27: ²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
²⁷ “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9: ⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Joshua 1:1-9: ¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,
² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.”
³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.
⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Judges 6:11-16: ¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
¹⁴ And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
¹⁵ And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Ruth 1:16-18: ¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
¹⁸ And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

1 Samuel 3:1-10: ³ Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place.
³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
⁴ Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!”
⁵ and he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
⁶ And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.”
⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
⁸ And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.
⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
¹⁰ And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

2 Samuel 7:18-22: ¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
¹⁹ And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!
²⁰ And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God!
²¹ Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.
²² Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

1 Kings 8:22-30: ²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,
²³ and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,
²⁴ who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
²⁵ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
²⁶ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!”
²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,
²⁹ that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.
³⁰ And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

2 Kings 2:1-6: ¹ Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
² And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
³ And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
⁴ Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
⁵ The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
⁶ And Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

1 Chronicles 16:8-12: ⁸ Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
⁹ Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
¹⁰ Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
¹¹ Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
¹² Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,

2 Chronicles 7:14-16: ¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
¹⁶ For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

Ezra 3:10-13: ¹⁰ And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.
¹¹ And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
¹² But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,
¹³ so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Nehemiah 8:1-8: ¹ And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
² So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
³ And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
⁴ And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.
⁵ And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.
⁶ And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
⁷ Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places.
⁸ They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Esther 4:12-16: ¹² And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.
¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Job 1:6-12: ⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
⁸ And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
¹⁰ Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
¹¹ But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
¹² And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Psalms 23:1-6: ¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Proverbs 3:5-6: ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: ¹ For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Song of Solomon 2:10-13: ¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
¹¹ For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

Isaiah 40:28-31: ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Jeremiah 29:11-14: ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Lamentations 3:22-26: ²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Ezekiel 36:24-28: ²⁴ I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Daniel 3:16-18: ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
¹⁷ If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
¹⁸ But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Hosea 6:1-3: ¹ “Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.”
² After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
³ Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.

Joel 2:28-32: ²⁸ “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
²⁹ Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
³⁰ “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.”
³¹ The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
³² And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Amos 5:14-15: ¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.
¹⁵ Hate evil, and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Obadiah 1:15-18: ¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.
¹⁷ But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.

Jonah 2:1-10: ¹ Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,
² saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
³ For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head.
⁶ I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
⁷ When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
⁸ Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!
¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Micah 6:6-8: ⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?”
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
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 has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Nahum 1:7-8: ⁷ The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸ But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Habakkuk 3:17-19: ¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Zephaniah 3:14-17: ¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Haggai 2:4-9: ⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts,
⁵ According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.
⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
⁷ And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.
⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.
⁹ The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6-10: ⁶ Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
⁷ Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
⁹ “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
¹⁰ For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

Malachi 3:1-4: ¹ “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”
² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Matthew 5:1-12: ¹ Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”
¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Mark 12:28-31: ²⁸ And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Luke 10:25-28: ²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

John 3:16-17: ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Acts 2:1-4: ¹ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Romans 8:28-30: ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13: ¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never ends.
⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21: ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 5:22-23: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Ephesians 2:8-10: ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Philippians 4:6-7: ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:12-17: ¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: ¹⁶ Rejoice always,
¹⁷ pray without ceasing,
¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

2 Thessalonians 3:3-5: ³ But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
⁴ And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.
⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

1 Timothy 4:12-16: ¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
¹³ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
¹⁵ Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.
¹⁶ Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

2 Timothy 1:7-9: ⁷ for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
⁹ who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Titus 3:4-7: ⁴ But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
⁵ he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
⁶ whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
⁷ so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Philemon 1:4-7: ⁴ I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,
⁵ because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,
⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
⁷ For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Hebrews 11:1-3: ¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
² For by it the people of old received their commendation.
³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

James 1:2-5: ² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

1 Peter 5:6-7: ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

2 Peter 1:3-8: ³ His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 4:7-12: ⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

2 John 1:5-6: ⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.
⁶ And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

3 John 1:11-12: ¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
¹² Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

Jude 1:20-21: ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Revelation 21:1-4: ¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.