⁶ And ye are called `Priests of Jehovah,' `Ministers of our God,' is said of you, The strength of nations ye consume, And in their honour ye do boast yourselves.

⁶ and ye -- ye are to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: these `are' the words which thou dost speak unto the sons of Israel.'

⁹ and ye `are' a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light;

⁵ and ye yourselves, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

²¹ And also of them I take for priests, For Levites, said Jehovah.

⁵ Then thou seest, and hast become bright, And thine heart hath been afraid and enlarged, For turn unto thee doth the multitude of the sea, The forces of nations do come to thee.

⁶ A company of camels covereth thee, Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, All of them from Sheba do come, Gold and frankincense they bear, And of the praises of Jehovah they proclaim the tidings.

⁷ All the flock of Kedar are gathered to thee, The rams of Nebaioth do serve thee, They ascend for acceptance Mine altar, And the house of My beauty I beautify.

¹¹ and He gave some `as' apostles, and some `as' prophets, and some `as' proclaimers of good news, and some `as' shepherds and teachers,

¹² unto the perfecting of the saints, for a work of ministration, for a building up of the body of the Christ,

⁶ and did make us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him `is' the glory and the power to the ages of the ages! Amen.

¹⁰ and didst make us to our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth.'

⁶ Happy and holy `is' he who is having part in the first rising again; over these the second death hath not authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

²³ ministrants of Christ are they? -- as beside myself I speak -- I more; in labours more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths many times;

⁴ but in everything recommending ourselves as God's ministrants; in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses,

¹ Let a man so reckon us as officers of Christ, and stewards of the secrets of God,

¹⁰ And sons of a stranger have built thy walls, And their kings do serve thee, For in My wrath I have smitten thee, And in My good pleasure I have pitied thee.

¹¹ And opened have thy gates continually, By day and by night they are not shut, To bring unto thee the force of nations, Even their kings are led.

¹⁶ And thou hast sucked the milk of nations, Yea, the breast of kings thou suckest, And thou hast known that I, Jehovah, Thy Saviour, and Thy Redeemer, `Am' the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷ Instead of the brass I bring in gold, And instead of the iron I bring in silver, And instead of the wood brass, And instead of the stone iron, And I have made thy inspection peace, And thy exactors righteousness.

¹² For thus said Jehovah: `Lo, I am stretching out to her peace as a river, And as an overflowing stream the honour of nations, And ye have sucked, on the side ye are carried, And on the knees ye are dandled.

¹¹ so that the house of Israel do not wander any more from after Me, nor are defiled any more with all their transgressions, and they have been to Me for a people, and I am to them for God -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

²⁸ and one of them, by name Agabus, having stood up, did signify through the Spirit a great dearth is about to be throughout all the world -- which also came to pass in the time of Claudius Caesar --

²⁹ and the disciples, according as any one was prospering, determined each of them to send for ministration to the brethren dwelling in Judea,

³⁰ which also they did, having sent unto the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

¹ I call upon you, therefore, brethren, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a sacrifice -- living, sanctified, acceptable to God -- your intelligent service;

²⁶ for it pleased Macedonia and Achaia well to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who `are' in Jerusalem;

²⁷ for it pleased well, and their debtors they are, for if in their spiritual things the nations did participate, they ought also, in the fleshly things, to minister to them.

⁵ Who, then, is Paul, and who Apollos, but ministrants through whom ye did believe, and to each as the Lord gave?

¹⁸ And her merchandise and her gift have been holy to Jehovah, Not treasured up nor stored, For to those sitting before Jehovah is her merchandise, To eat to satiety, and for a lasting covering!