Patience

⁷ Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

⁸ You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

⁹ Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰ Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹ See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

By your patient endurance you will gain your souls.

But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’

A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.

Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

¹ As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³ and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

“Go and look toward the sea,” he said to his servant. So the servant went and looked, and he said, “There is nothing there.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”

And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;

⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

⁸ Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.

And so Abraham, after waiting patiently, obtained the promise.

That is why we boast among God’s churches about your perseverance and faith in the face of all the persecution and affliction you are enduring.

By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

² I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.

³ Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.

“If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed.” Here is a call for the perseverance and faith of the saints.

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

¹⁹ in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison

²⁰ who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.

Noah waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.

I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.

Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.

Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

⁷ Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request:

⁸ If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

¹⁸ Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus,

¹⁹ but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

So his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you back.’

Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.

² And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God,

³ and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”