19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was xfilled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics,1 their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up yin haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, zand they are anot hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And bthe satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that cthe fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, d“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has esent his angel and delivered his servants, who ftrusted in him, and gset aside2 the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 hTherefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be itorn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Love One Another
11 For tthis is the message uthat you have heard from the beginning, that we should vlove one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and wmurdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s xrighteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,1 that the world yhates you. 14 We know that we have zpassed out of death into life, abecause we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 bEveryone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 cBy this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But dif anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide ein him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
The Temptation of Jesus
1 lAnd Jesus, mfull of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the nwilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he oate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, p‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been qdelivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will rworship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
s“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
t“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
u“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, v‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
