7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law,I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet ifthe law had not said, You shall not covet.8But sin,seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.For apart from the law, sin lies dead.9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.10The very commandmentthat promised life proved to be death to me.11For sin,seizing an opportunity through the commandment,deceived me and through it killed me.12Sothe law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

7Or do you not know, brothers[a]for I am speaking to those who know the lawthat the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?2Fora married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.[b]3Accordingly,she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4Likewise, my brothers,you also have diedto the lawthrough the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead,in order that we may bear fruit for God.5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at workin our membersto bear fruit for death.6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in thenew way ofthe Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

19I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. Forjust as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your membersas slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.21But what fruit were you getting at that time from the thingsof which you are now ashamed?For the end of those things is death.22But now that youhave been set free from sin andhave become slaves of God,the fruit you get leads to sanctification andits end, eternal life.23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

15What then?Are we to sinbecause we are not under law but under grace? By no means!16Do you not know that if you present yourselvesto anyone as obedient slaves,[a]you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?17Butthanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to thestandard of teaching to which you were committed,18and,having been set free from sin,have become slaves of righteousness.

8Nowif we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9We know thatChrist, being raised from the dead, will never die again;death no longer has dominion over him.10For the death he died he died to sin,once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.11So you also must consider yourselvesdead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12Let notsin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.13Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, butpresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.14Forsinwill have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

6What shall we say then?Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?2By no means! How canwe who died to sin still live in it?3Do you not know that all of uswho have been baptizedinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?4We wereburied therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just asChrist was raised from the dead bythe glory of the Father, we too might walk innewness of life.

5Forif we have been united with him ina death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.6We know thatour old self[a]was crucified with him in order thatthe body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.7Forone who has diedhas been set free[b]from sin.

Matthew 2:13-23

Now when they had departed, behold,an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.14And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt15and remained there until the death of Herod.This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,Out of Egypt I called my son.

16Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.17Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud lamentation,Rachel weeping for her children;she refused to be comforted, because theyare no more.

19But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,20saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, forthose who sought the child's life are dead.21And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, andbeing warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.23And he went and lived in a city calledNazareth,so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Revelation 12

12And a great sign appeared in heaven: a womanclothed withthe sun, withthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.2She was pregnant andwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a greatred dragon,with seven heads andten horns, and on his headsseven diadems.4His tail swept downa third of the stars of heaven andcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her childhe might devour it.5She gave birth to a male child,one who is to rule[a]all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child wascaught up to God and to his throne,6and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for1,260 days.

7Now war arose in heaven,Michael andhis angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,8but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.9Andthe great dragon was thrown down,that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan,the deceiver of the whole worldhe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Nowthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[b]has been thrown down,who accuses them day and night before our God.11Andthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, forthey loved not their liveseven unto death.12Therefore,rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! Butwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, becausehe knows that his time is short!

13And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursuedthe woman who had given birth to the male child.14But the woman was given the twowings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpentinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourishedfor a time, and times, and half a time.15The serpent poured waterlike a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.16But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.17Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went offto make war on the rest ofher offspring,on those who keep the commandments of God and hold tothe testimony of Jesus. And he stood[c]on the sand of the sea.

Matthew 2:1-12

2Nowafter Jesus was born inBethlehem of Judeain the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a]fromthe east came to Jerusalem,2saying, Where is he who has been bornking of the Jews? For we sawhis star when it rose[b]and have come toworship him.3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;4and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them wherethe Christ was to be born.5They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for from you shall come a rulerwho willshepherd my people Israel.

7Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.8And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.9After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.11And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures,they offered him gifts,gold andfrankincense andmyrrh.12Andbeing warnedin a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Rev. 7:9-12

9After this I looked, and behold,a great multitude that no one could number,from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,clothed in white robes, withpalm branches in their hands,10and crying out with a loud voice,Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders andthe four living creatures, and theyfell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,12saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

Luke 1:26-33

26In the sixth month the angelGabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee namedNazareth,27to a virgin betrothed[a]to a man whose name was Joseph,of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.28And he came to her and said, Greetings,O favored one,the Lord is with you![b]29Butshe was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.30And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, foryou have found favor with God.31And behold,you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, andyou shall call his name Jesus.32He will be great and will be called the Son ofthe Most High. And the Lord Godwill give to him the throne ofhis father David,33and he will reign over the house of Jacobforever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Rev. 22:1-5

22Then the angel[a]showed methe river ofthe water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb2through the middle ofthe street of the city;also, on either side of the river,the tree of life[b]with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree werefor the healing of the nations.3No longer will there be anything accursed, butthe throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, andhis servants will worship him.4They will see his face, andhis name will be on their foreheads.5Andnight will be no more. They will need no light of lampor sun, forthe Lord God will be their light, andthey will reign forever and ever.