Verses about temptation

Now the serpent was more shrewd than any animal of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden Elohim has said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, or you will die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You will certainly not die; for Elohim knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.” And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight; and she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

And he said, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” And the man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” And YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

And YHWH said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will there not be a lifting up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and toward you is its desire, but you will rule over it.”

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted by his own desire, being dragged away and enticed. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

And it happened, at the time of evening, that David rose from his bed and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent messengers and took her; she came to him, and he lay with her (she was sanctifying herself from her uncleanness), and she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and reported it to David, and said, “I am pregnant.”

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world — the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of possessions — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and its desire; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward the Messiah.

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tested by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. And the one testing him came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘A person will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out through the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil takes him into the holy city and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple, and says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will lift you up, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God.’”

Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these things I will give you, if you fall down and bow down before me.” Then Jesus says to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall bow down before the Lord your God, and him alone you shall serve.’” Then the devil leaves him, and look, angels came and were serving him.

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every way, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things relating to God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tested, he is able to help those who are being tested.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way just as we are, yet without sin. Let us draw near, then, with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

No temptation has seized you except a human one; and God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide the way out, so as to be able to endure it.

After these things, his lord’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his lord’s wife, “Look, with me here my lord does not concern himself with what is in the house, and all that he has he has put in my hand. He is not greater in this house than I, and he has not withheld from me anything except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against Elohim?” Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her, to lie beside her, to be with her. It happened one day that he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house. She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside.

A covenant I made with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Into the path of the wicked do not enter, and do not walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it; do not pass through it; turn aside from it and pass on.

But flee youthful desires, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Keep watch and pray, so that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh weak.”

Submit then to God. And resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be sober, keep watch. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being accomplished in your brotherhood in the world.

For what I do I do not understand; for what I want, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. But if what I do not want, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wanting is present with me, but the doing of the good is not. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want, this I practice. But if what I do not want, this I do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me. So I find this law: that, when I want to do the good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, but I see another law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus the Messiah our Lord. So then, I myself with the mind serve as a slave to the law of God, but with the flesh, to the law of sin.

But I say: walk by the Spirit, and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to one another, so that you do not do whatever you want.

And he was saying, “What comes out of a person, that defiles the person. For from within, out of the heart of people, come the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, arrogance, foolishness. All these evil things come out from within and defile the person.”

Deceitful is the heart above all things, and beyond remedy it is; who can know it?

Examine me, El, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there is a way of pain in me, and lead me in the eternal way.

For there is no righteous human being on the earth who does good and does not sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, so as to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Whoever covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and abandons them will obtain compassion.

For the director. A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Show me favor, Elohim, according to your loyal love; according to the abundance of your mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and from my sin make me clean. For my transgressions I know, and my sin is before me always. Against you, against you alone, I have sinned, and what is evil in your eyes I have done, so that you may be righteous when you speak, pure when you judge.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

So you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in the Messiah Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires; and do not present your members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness to God. For sin will not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. What fruit then did you have at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and made slaves to God, you have your fruit for sanctification, and the end, eternal life. For the pay of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in the Messiah Jesus our Lord.

So there is now no condemnation for those who are in the Messiah Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in the Messiah Jesus set you free from the law of sin and of death.

For freedom the Messiah has set us free; stand firm, then, and do not be subjected again to a yoke of slavery.

So if anyone is in the Messiah, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; look, new things have come.

So put to death the members that are on the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry; because of which things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you were living in them. But now you also put away all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old man with its practices, and have put on the new man, which is being renewed for knowledge according to the image of the one who created it,

Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the might of his strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil; because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. For this reason take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having accomplished everything, to stand.

Therefore, since we also have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured a cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider the one who endured such opposition from sinners against themselves, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart in your souls. You have not yet resisted to the point of blood in struggling against sin;