⁵ Which is a clear sign of the decision which God in his righteousness has made; to give you a part in his kingdom, for which you have undergone this pain;

²⁸ Having no fear of those who are against you; which is a clear sign of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God;

² For true and upright are his decisions; for by him has the evil woman been judged, who made the earth unclean with the sins of her body; and he has given her punishment for the blood of his servants.

³⁵ But those to whom is given the reward of the world to come, and to come back from the dead, have no wives, and are not married;

¹¹ For this reason, you are ever in our prayers, that you may seem to our God such as may have a part in his purpose and that by his power he will make all his good purpose, and the work of faith, complete;

²² Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.

¹⁴ For you, my brothers, took as your examples the churches of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus; because you underwent the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Jews;

⁶ For it is an act of righteousness on God's part to give trouble as their reward to those who are troubling you,

⁷ And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire,

¹² If we go on to the end, then we will be ruling with him: if we say we have no knowledge of him, then he will say he has no knowledge of us:

³² But give thought to the days after you had seen the light, when you went through a great war of troubles;

³³ In part, in being attacked by angry words and cruel acts, before the eyes of everyone, and in part, in being united with those who were attacked in this way.

¹⁴ If men say evil things of you because of the name of Christ, happy are you; for the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you.

¹⁵ Let no one among you undergo punishment as a taker of life, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as one who is over-interested in other men's business;

¹⁶ But if he undergoes punishment as a Christian, that is no shame to him; let him give glory to God in this name.

¹⁷ For the time has come for the judging, starting with the church of God; but if it makes a start with us, what will be the end of those who are not under the rule of God?

¹⁸ And if it is hard for even the good man to get salvation, what chance has the man without religion or the sinner?

⁴ But you have some names in Sardis who have kept clean their robes; and as a reward they will go in white with me.

⁴ What man is there who will not have fear before you, O Lord, and give glory to your name? because you only are holy; for all the nations will come and give worship before you; for your righteousness has been made clear.

⁷ And a voice came from the altar, saying, Even so, O Lord God, Ruler of all, true and full of righteousness is your judging.

¹² Giving praise to the Father who has given us a part in the heritage of the saints in light;

¹ I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,

⁷ But the Lord is King for ever: he has made ready his high seat for judging.

⁸ And he will be the judge of the world in righteousness, giving true decisions for the peoples.

⁵ His delight is in righteousness and wisdom; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.

⁶ And let the heavens make clear his righteousness; for God himself is the judge. (Selah.)

² May he be a judge of your people in righteousness, and make true decisions for the poor.

⁴ The king's power is used for righteousness; you give true decisions, judging rightly in the land of Jacob.

⁷ The works of his hands are faith and righteousness; all his laws are unchanging.

²⁴ But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord.

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give worship and praise and honour to the King of heaven; for all his works are true and his ways are right: and those who go in pride he is able to make low.

³⁶ But keep watch at all times with prayer, that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and take your place before the Son of man.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas without fear said, It was necessary for the word of God to be given to you first; but because you will have nothing to do with it, and have no desire for eternal life, it will now be offered to the Gentiles.

⁵ But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness;

¹⁷ And if we are children, we have a right to a part in the heritage; a part in the things of God, together with Christ; so that if we have a part in his pain, we will in the same way have a part in his glory.

³ Does God give wrong decisions? or is the Ruler of all not upright in his judging?