Against Selfishness

(compiled and formatted by Bill Stevenson)

Note: During the night of Friday December 16, 2005, the thought came to me that I should do
a Bible study on the word “self”. The next morning I did a computer software search in
the King James Version Bible for verses with “self” and “selfish”. I thought that I would
get a lot of verses, but only 6 came up for “self” and none for “selfish”. Then I did a
search for “Myself” and 114 came up. Read the results and decide how each is not for
selfishness as is so common in our lives. Selfishness is the common element of every sin
and is the basis of humanism. And humanism is never God-pleasing because it goes
against faith and being guided by the Holy Spirit. I knew a pastor who tried to claim that
God the Father and Jesus Christ were selfish, and so he said that we should be selfish in
erotic sex in marriage. One of my emphasis was that marriages needed only unselfish
agapè love in marriage including the physical intimacy. I then left that pastor’s church.

***In relation to God the Father:

Genesis 22
15 And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said,
16 “By Myself have I sworn”, says the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing,
and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 that in blessing I will bless thee,
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed
as the stars of the heaven, and
as the sand which is upon the sea shore;
and thy seed shall possess the gate of their enemies;
18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed My voice.
Numbers 8
17 For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast:
on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt
I sanctified them for Myself.
18 And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons
from among the children of Israel,
to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and
and to make an atonement for the children of Israel:
that there be no plague among the children of Israel,
when the children of Israel come near unto the Sanctuary.”

Exodus 19
1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt,
the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai,
and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
3 And Moses went up unto God,
and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying,
“Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself.

1
 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My Covenant,
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people:
for all the Earth is Mine:
6 and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
These are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel.”
Exodus 32
7 And the Lord said unto Moses, “Go, get thee down; for thy people,
which thou brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them:
they have made them a molten calf,
and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto,
and said, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel,
which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, “I have seen this people,
and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
10 Now therefore let Me alone,
that My wrath may wax hot against them,
and that I may consume them.
And I will make of thee a great nation.”
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said,
“Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people,
which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say,
‘For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains,
and to consume them from the face of the Earth?’
Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants,
to whom Thou swore by Thine Own Self, and said unto them,
‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed,
and they shall inherit it for ever.’”
14 And the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount,
and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand:
the tables were written on both their sides;
on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God,
and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

Numbers 12
5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle,
and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 And He said, “Hear now My words:
If there be a prophet among you, I The Lord will make Myself known unto him
in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently, and not in dark speeches;
and the similitude of The Lord shall he behold:
wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and He departed.

2
Romans 11
1 I say then, has God cast away His people?”
God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.
Do you not know what the Scripture said of Elias?
How he made intercession to God against Israel, saying,
3 “Lord, they have killed Thy Prophets, and dug down Thine altars;
and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what was the answer of God unto him?
“I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men,
who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.”
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Isaiah 33
10 “Now will I rise”, said the Lord, “now will I be exalted; now will I lift up Myself.”
Isaiah 42
13 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man,
He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war:
He shall cry, yea, roar;
He shall prevail against his enemies.
14 “I have long time held My peace;
I have been still and refrained Myself;
now will I cry like a travailing woman;
I will pant and grasp at once.”
Isaiah 43
21 “This people have I formed for Myself;
they shall show forth My praise.
22 But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob;
but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings;
neither hast thou honored Me with thy sacrifices.
I have not caused thee to serve with an offering,
nor wearied thee with incense.”
Isaiah 44
24 Thus said the Lord, thy Redeemer,
and He that formed thee from the womb,
“I am the LORD
Who makes all things;
Who stretches forth the heavens alone;
Who spreads abroad the Earth by Myself;”
Isaiah 45
22 “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the Earth:
for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by Myself,
the Word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return,
that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 ‘Surely’, shall one say, ‘in the Lord have I righteousness and strength:
even to Him shall men come;
and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.
25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.’”

3
Jeremiah 21
4 “Thus said the Lord God of Israel:
‘Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands,
wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans,
which besiege you without the walls,
and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm,
even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city [Babylon], both man and beast:
they shall die of a great pestilence.’”
Jeremiah 22
5 “But if ye [the Israelites] will not hear these words,
I swear by Myself”, said the Lord, “that this house [of the King of Judah]
shall become a desolation.
Jeremiah 49
12 For thus said the Lord:
“Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken;
and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished?
Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
13 For I have sworn by Myself”, said the Lord, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation,
a reproach, a waste, and a curse;
and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.”
Ezekiel 14
6 “Therefore say unto the house of Israel,
‘Thus said the Lord God: “Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols,
and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, who
separates himself from Me, and
sets up his idols in his heart, and
puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and
comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me;
I the Lord will answer him by Myself:
8 And I will set My face against that man,
and will make him a sign and a proverb,
and I will cut him off from the midst of My people;
and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 20
2 Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,
3 “Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them,
‘Thus said the Lord God;
“Are ye come to inquire of Me?
As I live”, said the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’
4 “Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them?
Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers;
5 And say unto them, ‘Thus said the Lord God:
“In the day when I chose Israel,
and lifted up Mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob,
and made Myself known unto them in the land of Egypt,
when I lifted up Mine hand unto them, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God.’

4
 6 In the day that I lifted up Mine hand unto them,
to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched for them,
‘flowing with milk and honey’, which is the glory of all lands.”
7 “Then said I unto them,
‘Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes,
and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt;
I am the Lord your God.’
8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me:
they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes,
neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
Then I said,
‘I will pour out my fury upon them,
to accomplish my anger against them
in the midst of the land of Egypt.’
9 But I acted for My Name's sake,
that it should not be polluted before the heathen,
among whom they were,
in whose sight I made Myself known unto them,
in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.”
Ezekiel 35
11 “Therefore, as I live”, said the Lord God, “I will even do according to thine anger,
and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them;
and I will make Myself known among them when I have judged thee.
12 And thou shalt know that I am the Lord,
and that I have heard all thy blasphemies
which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying,
‘They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.’
13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against Me,
and have multiplied your words against Me;
I have heard them.”
Ezekiel 38
18 “And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel”,
said the Lord God, “that My fury shall come up in My face.
19 For in My jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken,
surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven,
and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the Earth,
and all the men that are upon the face of the Earth,
shall shake at My presence,
and the mountains shall be thrown down,
and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all My mountains”, said the Lord God,
“every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands,
and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain,
and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself;
and I will be known in the eyes of many nations,
and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

5
John 17
4 “I [Jesus Christ] have glorified Thee on the Earth:
I have finished the work which thou gave Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”

***Jesus Christ became a perfect human example of unselfishness

even in His relationship to God the Father.
John 5
24 “Verily, verily, I [Jesus Christ] say unto you,
he that hears My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me,
hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of The Son Of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in Himself;
so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;
27 and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also,
because He is The Son Of Man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming,
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;
29 they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of Mine Own Self do nothing: as I hear, I judge:
and my judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will,
but the will of The Father which hath sent Me.”
31 If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
32 There is another that bears witness of Me;
and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I receive not testimony from man;
but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
35 He was a burning and a shining light;
and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater witness than that of John,
for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do,
bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me.
37 And the Father Himself, Who hath sent Me, hath borne witness of Me.
Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape.”
John 7
14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the Temple, and taught.
15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”
16 Jesus answered them, and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.
17 If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself.
18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory;
but He that seeketh His glory that sent Him,
the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.”
28 Then cried Jesus in the Temple as he taught, saying, “Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am;
and I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, Whom ye know not.
29 But I know Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.”

6
John 8
14 Jesus answered and said unto them, “Though I bear record of Myself,
yet My record is true.
For I know whence I came, and whither I go;
but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
16 And yet if I judge, My judgment is true:
for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me.
17 It is also written in your Law, that the testimony of two men is true.
18 I am one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me bares witness of Me.”
28 Then said Jesus unto them,
“When ye have lifted up The Son Of Man,
then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself;
but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.
29 And He that sent Me is with Me:
The Father hath not left Me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.”
30 As He spoke these words, many believed on Him.
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him,
“If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
42 Jesus said unto them, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me:
for I proceeded forth and came from God;
neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me.”
54 Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing:
it is My Father that honors Me;
of Whom ye say, that He is your God:
55 Yet ye have not known Him; but I know Him,
and if I should say, ‘I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you:
but I know Him, and keep His saying.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day:
and he saw it, and was glad.”
57 Then said the Jews unto Him, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 Then took they up stones to cast at Him, but Jesus hid Himself,
and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
John 10
14 “I am The Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.
15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father:
and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold,
them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice;
and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.
18 No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of My Father.”
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, “He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of him that hath a devil.
Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”

7
John 12
44 Jesus cried and said,
“He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.
45 And he that sees Me, sees Him that sent Me.
46 I am come a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.
47 And if any man hear My words, and believe not,
I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejects Me and receives not My words, hath one that judges him:
the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the Last Day.
49 For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father which sent Me,
He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
50 And I know that His commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.”
John 14
1 “Let not your heart be troubled:
ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto Myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.”
8 Philip said unto Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us.”
9 Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father;
and how say thou then, ‘Show us the Father?’
10 Believe thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself,
but the Father that dwells in Me, He doeth the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me:
or else believe Me for the very works' sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.”
21 He that hath My commandments, and keeps them,
he it is that loves Me:
and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father,
and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”
John 17
12 “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name:
those that Thou gave Me I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to Thee;
and these things I speak in the world
that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”
19 “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself,
that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word:
21 that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in Us:
that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.

8
22 And the glory which Thou gave Me, I have given them,
that they may be one, even as We are One:
23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that Thou has sent Me,
and has loved them, as Thou has loved Me.”
Luke 24
36 And as they thus spoke,
Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, “Peace be unto you.”
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And He said unto them, “Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself,;
handle Me, and see;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.
1 Peter 2
19 For this is thankworthy,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently?
But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God.
21 For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow His steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth:
23 Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again.
When He suffered, He threatened not;
but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously:
24 Who His Own Self bare our sins in His Own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by Whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray;
but are now returned unto The Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

***Related to human beings:

Genesis 3
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
“Where art thou?”
10 And he said,
“I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Job 6
7 “The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.
8 Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off!
10 Then should I yet have comfort;
yea, I would harden myself in sorrow:
let Him not spare;
for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.”
Job 7
20 “I have sinned?
What shall I do unto Thee, O Thou preserver of men?
Why hast Thou set me as a mark against thee,
so that I am a burden to myself?

9
21 And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?
For now shall I sleep in the dust;
and Thou shalt seek me diligently,
but I shall not be.”
Job 9
20 “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me:
if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.”
27 “If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,
I know that Thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29 If I be wicked, why then labor I in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
31 Yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”
Job 10
1 “My soul is weary of my life;
I will leave my complaint upon myself;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God,
“Do not condemn me;
show me wherefore Thou contends with me.
3 Is it good unto Thee that Thou should oppress,
that Thou should despise the work of Thine hands,
and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?”
Job 13
20 “Only do not two things unto me, then will I not hide myself from Thee:
21 withdraw Thine hand far from me and
let not Thy dread make me afraid.
22 Then call Thou, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and answer Thou me.”
Job 19
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 “How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me:
ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
4 And be it indeed that I have erred,
mine error remained with myself.
5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
6 know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with His net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:
I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.”
25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;
though my reins be consumed within me.”
Job 31
16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
17 or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me,
and by reason of His highness I could not endure.
10
”
29 “If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30 neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
35 Oh that one would hear me!
Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me,
and that mine adversary had written a book.
36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
37 I would declare unto Him the number of my steps;
as a prince would I go near unto Him.”
Job 42
1 Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
2 ] “I know that Thou can do every thing,
and that no thought can be withheld from Thee.
3 You asked ‘Who is he that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore have I uttered that I understood not:
things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak:
You said, ‘I will question thee, and answer thou unto Me.
5 I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear:
but now mine eye see Thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.
Deuteronomy 1
5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this Law, saying,
6 “The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, ‘Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites,
and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale,
and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites,
and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
8 Behold, I have set the land before you:
go in and possess the land
which The LORD swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
to give unto them and to their seed after them.’
9 And I spoke unto you at that time, saying,
‘I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10 The LORD your God hath multiplied you,
and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11 (The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more
as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?’
13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes,
and I will make them rulers over you.”
Deuteronomy 10
3 And I [Moses] made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first,
and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
4 And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing,
the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spoke unto you
in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly:
and the Lord gave them unto me.
5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount,
and put the tables in the ark which I had made;
and there they be, as The LORD commanded me.”

11
Judges 16
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart,
she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying,
“Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart.”
Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man,
and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head;
and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
20 And she said, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.”
And He awoke out of his sleep, and said,
“I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. “
And he did not know that the Lord was departed from him.
Ruth 4
5 Then said Boaz, “What day thou buy the field of the hand of Naomi,
thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.”
6 And the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance:
redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.”
1 Samuel 13
11 And Samuel said, “What hast thou done?”
And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me,
and that thou came not within the days appointed,
and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
12 Therefore said I, \the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal,
and I have not made supplication unto the Lord’;
I forced myself therefore,
and offered a burnt offering.”
1 Samuel 20
5 And David said unto Jonathan,
“Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the King at meat:
but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.”
1 Samuel 25
32 And David said to Abigail,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day
from coming to shed blood, and
from avenging myself with mine own hand.”
Psalms 57
4 My soul is among lions, and I lie even among them that are set on fire,
even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Thy glory be above all the Earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down:
they have dug a pit before me,
into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp!
I myself will awake early.
Psalms 108
1 “O God, my heart is fixed;
I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early.

12
 3 I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people;
and I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations.
4 For Thy mercy is great above the heavens;
and Thy truth reaches unto the clouds.”
Psalms 55
12 “For it was not an enemy that reproached me,
then I could have borne it;
neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;
then I would have hid myself from him:
13 But it was thou [Nathan], a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together,
and walked unto the house of God in company.”
Psalms 101
1 “I will sing of mercy and judgment:
unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.
O when will Thou come unto me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:
I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”
2 Samuel 22
21 “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness:
according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all His judgments were before me:
and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 I was also upright before Him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.
25 Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in His eye sight. (Also in Psalm 18:20-24.)
Psalms 35
11 False witnesses did rise up;
they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth,
I humbled my soul with fasting;
and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother:
I bowed down heavily, as one that mourns for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:
yea, the attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not;
they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, how long will Thou look on?
Rescue my soul from their destructions, my precious life from the lions.
Psalms 109
1 “Hold not Thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me;
they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred;
and fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love,
they are my adversaries;
but I give myself unto prayer.

13
 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.”
2 Samuel 18
1 And David numbered the people that were with him,
2 And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab,
and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother,
and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite.
And the King said unto the people,
“I will surely go forth with you myself also.”
Psalms 131
1 “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty;
neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
or in things too high for me.
2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother;
my soul is even as a weaned child.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD from henceforth and forever.
Psalms 119
14 “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways.
16 I will delight myself in Thy statutes: I will not forget Thy Word.
47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
52 I remembered Thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself.
53 Horror hath taken hold upon me
because of the wicked who forsake Thy Law.
54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have remembered Thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept Thy Law.”
2 Chronicles 7
11 Thus Solomon finished the House of the Lord, and the King's house;
and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the House of the Lord and in his own house,
he prosperously effected.
12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him,
“I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice.”
Ecclesiastes 2
1 I said in mine heart, “Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth,
therefore enjoy pleasure”,
and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of laughter, “It is mad”;
and of mirth, “What doeth it?”
3 I sought in mine heart
how to gratify myself unto wine,
while acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and
how to lay hold on folly,
till I might see what was that good for the sons of men,
which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
12 And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly;
for what can the man do that cometh after the king?
even that which hath been already done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
14 The wise man's eyes are in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.
And I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.

14
15 Then said I in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me;
and why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart, “that this also is vanity.”
16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever,
seeing that which now is in the days to come
shall all be forgotten.
And how does the wise man die? As the fool!
17 Therefore I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me:
for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun,
because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?
Yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored,
and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun.
This is also vanity.
1 Kings 18
7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him;
and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, “Art thou that my lord Elijah?”
8 And he answered him, “I am: go, tell thy lord [King Ahab], ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’”
9 And he said, “What have I sinned that thou would deliver thy servant
into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?”
15 And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand,
I will surely show myself unto him today.”
1 Kings 22
30 And the King of Israel [Ahab] said unto Jehoshaphat,
“I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes.”
And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.
35 And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians,
and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
(See also 2 Chronicles 18:29 & 34.)
2 Kings 5
17 And Naaman said,
“Shall there not then, I pray thee [Elisha] be given to thy servant two mules' burden of Earth?
for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods,
but unto the Lord.
18 In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant,
that when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there,
and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon:
when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon,
the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
Esther 5
12 Haman said moreover,
“Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet
that she had prepared
but myself;
and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king.
13 Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.
14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him,
“Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou unto the king
that Mordecai may be hanged thereon:
then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet.
And the thing pleased Haman;
and he caused the gallows to be made.

15
Esther 6
5 And the king's servants said unto him, “Behold, Haman standeth in the court.”
And the king said, “Let him come in.”
6 So Haman came in. And the king said unto him,
“What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor?”
Now Haman thought in his heart,
“To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?”
Nehemiah 5
4 There were also that said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tribute,
and that upon our lands and vineyards.
5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children:
and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants,
and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already:
neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.”
6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
7 Then I consulted with myself,
and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them,
“Ye exact usury, every one of his brother.”
And I set a great assembly against them.
Jeremiah 8
18 “When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people
because of them that dwell in a far country:
Is not the LORD in Zion?
Is not her King in her?
Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt;
I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?
Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?”
Ezekiel 29
2 “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt.
3 Speak, and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God;
“Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers,
who hath said, ‘My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
Daniel 10
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel,
whose name was called Belteshazzar;
and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long;
and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
2 In those days, I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth,
neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Micah 6
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?
16
 8 He hath showed thee, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of thee, but
to do justly, and
to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?
Habakkuk 3
16 When I heard, my belly trembled;
my lips quivered at the voice;
rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself,
that I might rest in the day of trouble:
when He cometh up unto the people,
He will invade them with His troops.
Zechariah 7
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came
unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
2 when they had sent unto the House of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men,
to pray before the Lord,
3 and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts,
and to the prophets, saying,
“Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself,
as I have done these so many years?”
Luke 7
6 Then Jesus went with them.
And when He was now not far from the house,
the centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him,
“Lord, trouble not Thyself:
for I am not worthy that Thou should enter under my roof.
7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee,
but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.”
8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers,
and I say unto one, ‘Go’, and he goeth;
and to another, ‘Come’, and he cometh;
and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he doeth it.
9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him,
and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him,
“I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
10 And they that were sent, returning to the house,
found the servant whole that had been sick.
Acts 10
25 And as Peter was coming in,
Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
26 But Peter took him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself also am a man.”
Acts 20
18 And when they [the elders of the Ephesus Church] were come to him [the Apostle Paul],
he said unto them, “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia,
after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
19 serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations,
which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.
20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you,
and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21 testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
17
23 save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
24 But none of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy
and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 24
10 Then Paul, after that the Governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered,
“Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation,
I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:
11 Because that thou may understand,
that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.
12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man,
neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city:
13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy,
so worship I the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets:
15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow,
that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
16 And herein do I exercise myself,
to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.”
Acts 25
21 But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,
I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar.
22 Then Agrippa said unto Festus,
“I would also hear the man myself. Tomorrow”, said he, “thou shall hear him.”
Acts 26
1 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, “Thou art permitted to speak for thyself.”
Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
2 I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee
touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:
3 Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions
which are among the Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
4 My manner of life from my youth,
which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
5 which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify,
that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
7 unto which promise our twelve tribes,
instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.
For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you,
that God should raise the dead?
9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem:
and many of the saints did I shut up in prison,
having received authority from the chief priests;
and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.

18
11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue,
and compelled them to blaspheme;
and being exceedingly mad against them,
I persecuted them even unto strange cities.”
1 Corinthians 4
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ,
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you,
or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified:
but He that judges me is The Lord.
Romans 7
22 For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God;
but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 15
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
Romans 16
1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
2 that ye receive her in the Lord, as becomes saints,
and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you:
for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.
1 Corinthians 4
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment:
yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified:
but He that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who both
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and
will make manifest the counsels of the hearts;
and then shall every man have praise of God.
6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes;
that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written,
that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
7 For who makes thee to differ from another?
And what has thou that thou did not receive?
Now if thou did receive it, why does thou glory as if thou had not received it?
1 Corinthians 7
7 For I would that all men were even as I myself.
But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

19
2 Corinthians 2
1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
2 For if I make you sorry,
who is he then that makes me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came,
I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice;
having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart
I wrote unto you with many tears;
not that ye should be grieved,
but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
2 Corinthians 10
1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,
who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence,
wherewith I think to be bold against some,
who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.)
5 casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and
6 having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience,
when your obedience is fulfilled.
2 Corinthians 11
10 As the truth of Christ is in me,
no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knows.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion;
that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works.
16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool;
if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.
1 Corinthians 9
16 For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of,
for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!
17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward:
but if against my will, a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me.
18 What is my reward then?
Verily that, when I preach the Gospel, I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge,
that I abuse not my power in the Gospel.
19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,
that I might gain the more:
20 and unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews;
to them that are under the Law, as under the Law,
that I might gain them that are under the Law;

20
21 to them that are without Law, as without Law,
(being not without Law to God, but under the Law to Christ),
that I might gain them that are without Law;
22 to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak.
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
23 And this I do for the Gospel's sake,
that I might be partaker thereof with you.
24 Know ye not that
they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain.
25 And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown;
but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly;
so fight I, not as one that beats the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway.
Romans 9
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 who are Israelites; to whom pertains
the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants,
and the giving of the Law,
and the service of God,
and the promises;
5 whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,
Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
2 Corinthians 11
6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge;
but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted,
because I have preached to you the Gospel of God freely?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted,
I was chargeable to no man:
for that which was lacking to me
the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied:
and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you,
and so will I keep myself.
2 Corinthians 12
1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory.
I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,
(whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows)
such an one caught up to the Third Heaven.
3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows)
4 how that he was caught up into paradise,
and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

21
 5 Of such an one will I glory;
yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool;
for I will say the truth;
but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me
above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears of me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought The Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee:
for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong.
11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me.
For I ought to have been commended of you,
for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles,
though I be nothing.
12 Truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you
in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
13 For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches,
except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you?
Forgive me this wrong.
14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you;
and I will not be burdensome to you:
for I seek not yours, but you:
for the children ought not to lay up for the parents,
but the parents for the children.
15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you;
though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
Philemon 1
17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him [Onesimus] as myself.
18 If he hath wronged thee, or owes thee ought,
put that on mine account;
19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand,
I will repay it:
albeit I do not say to thee
how thou owe unto me even thine own self besides.
Philippians 2
24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus,
my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier,
but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
Philippians 3
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

22
***Concluding verses for unselfishness:
Galatians 2
17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ,
we ourselves also are found sinners,
is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ lives in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God:
for if righteousness come by the Law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
Ephesians 2
4 But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and
6 hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
9 not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 for we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 9
7 Every man according as he purposes in his heart,
so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity:
for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you,
that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work:
9 As it is written,
“He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor;
His righteousness remains for ever.
10 Now He that ministers seed to the sower
both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown,
and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness,
which causes through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints,
but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
13 while by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God
for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ, and
for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
14 and by their prayer for you, who long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!

23