In the past, God spoke to our people through the prophets. He spoke at many times. He spoke in different ways.

神既在古时藉着众先知多次多方地晓谕列祖，

古时候，上帝藉着众先知多次多方向列祖说话，

古时候，神藉着众先知多次多方向列祖说话，

在古代，上帝曾借着先知以各种方式多次向我们的祖先说话；

神在古时候，曾经多次用种种方法，藉着先知向我们的祖先说话；

过去，神在不同的时代，用不同的方式，藉着先知们对祖先说话，

神既在古時藉着眾先知多次多方地曉諭列祖，

古時候，上帝藉着眾先知多次多方向列祖說話，

古時候，神藉着眾先知多次多方向列祖說話，

在古代，上帝曾藉著先知以各種方式多次向我們的祖先說話；

神在古時候，曾經多次用種種方法，藉著先知向我們的祖先說話；

上帝既用許多階段許多方式、在往古時候、藉着眾神言人向列祖說話，

過去，神在不同的時代，用不同的方式，藉著先知們對祖先說話，

昔上帝以諸先知多次多方諭列祖、

伊昔上帝、以多方托先知、數諭我祖、今值季世、使其子諭我、

古時天主藉諸先知屢次多方諭列祖、

粵若稽古、天主迭假先知之口、多方曉諭列祖；

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners,

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets,

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

Above all, here is what you must understand. No prophecy in Scripture ever came from a prophet’s own understanding of things.Prophecy never came simply because a prophet wanted it to. Instead, the Holy Spirit guided the prophets as they spoke. So, although prophets are human, prophecy comes from God.

“ After that, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will have dreams. Your young men will have visions.

Then the Lord said,“ Listen to my words.“ Suppose there is a prophet among you. I, the Lord, make myself known to them in visions. I speak to them in dreams.But this is not true of my servant Moses. He is faithful in everything he does in my house.With Moses I speak face to face. I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles. I let him see something of what I look like. So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

The prophets searched very hard and with great care to find out about this salvation. They spoke about the grace that was going to come to you.They wanted to find out when and how this salvation would come. The Spirit of Christ in them was telling them about the sufferings of the Messiah. These were his sufferings that were going to come. The Spirit of Christ was also telling them about the glory that would follow.It was made known to the prophets that they were not serving themselves. Instead, they were serving you when they spoke about the things that you have now heard. Those who have preached the good news to you have told you these things. They have done it with the help of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures. He began with Moses and all the Prophets.

But David was a prophet. He knew that God had made a promise to him. God had promised that he would make someone in David’s family line king after him.

to Abraham and his children down through the years. He has done it just as he promised to our people of long ago.”

I will make you and the woman hate each other. Your children and her children will be enemies. Her son will crush your head. And you will bite his heel.”

We know that God spoke to Moses. But we don’t even know where this fellow comes from.”

Jesus said to them,“ This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms must come true.”

He has been kind to our people of long ago. He has remembered his holy covenant.

Even the message God spoke through angels had to be obeyed. Every time people broke the Law, they were punished. Every time they didn’t obey, they were punished.

The Lord had said to Abram,“ Go from your country, your people and your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you.“ I will make you into a great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others.I will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you.”

“ We are telling you the good news. What God promised our people long ago

They decided to meet Paul on a certain day. At that time even more people came to the place where he was staying. From morning until evening, he told them about God’s kingdom. Using the Law of Moses and the Prophets, he tried to get them to believe in Jesus.

Moses gave you circumcision, and so you circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. But circumcision did not really come from Moses. It came from Abraham.

God spoke to Israel in a vision at night.“ Jacob! Jacob!” he said.“ Here I am,” Jacob replied.“ I am God. I am the God of your father,” he said.“ Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. There I will make you into a great nation.I will go down to Egypt with you. I will surely bring you back again. And when you die, Joseph will close your eyes with his own hand.”

Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said to them,“ Have children so that there are many of you. Fill the earth.All the land animals will be afraid of you. All the birds in the sky will be afraid of you. Every creature that moves along the ground will be afraid of you. So will every fish in the seas. Every living thing is put under your control.Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. I have already given you the green plants for food. Now I am giving you everything.“ But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it.I will certainly hold someone accountable if you are murdered. I will even hold animals accountable if they kill you. I will also hold anyone accountable who murders another person.“ Anyone who murders a human being will be killed by a human being. That is because I have made human beings so that they are like me.Have children so that there will be many of you. Multiply and become many on the earth.”Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons who were with him. He said,“ I am now making my covenant with you and with all your children who will be born after you.I am making it also with every living creature that was with you in the ark. I am making my covenant with the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals. I am making it with all the creatures that came out of the ark with you. In fact, I am making it with every living thing on earth.Here is my covenant I am making with you. The waters of a flood will never again destroy all life. A flood will never again destroy the earth.”God continued,“ My covenant is between me and you and every living creature with you. It is a covenant for all time to come. Here is the sign of the covenant I am making.I have put my rainbow in the clouds. It will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.Sometimes when I bring clouds over the earth, a rainbow will appear in them.Then I will remember my covenant between me and you and every kind of living creature. The waters will never again become a flood to destroy all life.When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it. I will remember that my covenant will last forever. It is a covenant between me and every kind of living creature on earth.”So God said to Noah,“ The rainbow is the sign of my covenant. I have made my covenant between me and all life on earth.”

Then God said to Noah,“ Come out of the ark. Bring your wife and your sons and their wives with you.Bring out every kind of living thing that is with you. Bring the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground. Then they can multiply on the earth. They can have little ones and the number of them can increase.”So Noah came out of the ark. His sons and his wife and his sons’ wives were with him.All the animals came out of the ark. The creatures that move along the ground also came out. So did all the birds. Everything that moves on land came out of the ark, one kind after another.

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said,“ Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live.Stay there for a while. I will be with you and give you my blessing. I will give all these lands to you and your children after you. And I will keep my word that I gave to your father Abraham.I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. And I will give them all these lands. All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children.I will do all these things because Abraham obeyed me. He did everything I required. He kept my commands, my rules and my instructions.”

So God said to Noah,“ I am going to put an end to everyone. They have filled the earth with their harmful acts. I am certainly going to destroy them and the earth.So make yourself an ark out of cypress wood. Make rooms in it. Cover it with tar inside and out.Here is how I want you to build it. The ark has to be 450 feet long. It has to be 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.Make a roof for it. Leave below the roof an opening all the way around that is a foot and a half high. Put a door in one side of the ark. Make lower, middle and upper decks.I am going to bring a flood on the earth. It will destroy all life under the sky. It will destroy every living creature that breathes. Everything on earth will die.But I will make my covenant with you. You will go into the ark. Your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will enter it with you.Bring a male and a female of every living thing into the ark. They will be kept alive with you.Two of every kind of bird will come to you. Two of every kind of animal will also come to you. And so will two of every kind of creature that moves along the ground. All of them will be kept alive with you.Take every kind of food that you will need. Store it away as food for you and them.”Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

In a dream he saw a stairway standing on the earth. Its top reached to heaven. The angels of God were going up and coming down on it.The Lord stood beside the stairway. He said,“ I am the Lord. I am the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your children after you the land you are lying on.They will be like the dust of the earth that can’t be counted. They will spread out to the west and to the east. They will spread out to the north and to the south. All nations on earth will be blessed because of you and your children after you.I am with you. I will watch over you everywhere you go. And I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Moses was taking care of the flock of his father- in- law Jethro. Jethro was the priest of Midian. Moses led the flock to the western side of the desert. He came to Horeb. It was the mountain of God.There the angel of the Lord appeared to him from inside a burning bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire. But it didn’t burn up.So Moses thought,“ I’ll go over and see this strange sight. Why doesn’t the bush burn up?”The Lord saw that Moses had gone over to look. So God spoke to him from inside the bush. He called out,“ Moses! Moses!”“ Here I am,” Moses said.“ Do not come any closer,” God said.“ Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.”He continued,“ I am the God of your father. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard that, he turned his face away. He was afraid to look at God.The Lord said,“ I have seen how my people are suffering in Egypt. I have heard them cry out because of their slave drivers. I am concerned about their suffering.So I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them up out of that land. I will bring them into a good land. It has a lot of room. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites live there.And now Israel’s cry for help has reached me. I have seen how badly the Egyptians are treating them.So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. I want you to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. They are my people.”But Moses spoke to God.“ Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he said.“ Who am I that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”God said,“ I will be with you. I will give you a sign. It will prove that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship me on this mountain.”Moses said to God,“ Suppose I go to the people of Israel. Suppose I say to them,‘ The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And suppose they ask me,‘ What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”God said to Moses,“ I am who I am. Here is what you must say to the Israelites. Tell them,‘ I am has sent me to you.’ ”God also said to Moses,“ Say to the Israelites,‘ The Lord is the God of your fathers. He has sent me to you. He is the God of Abraham. He is the God of Isaac. And he is the God of Jacob.’ My name will always be The Lord. Call me this name for all time to come.“ Go. Gather the elders of Israel together. Say to them,‘ The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God said,“ I have watched over you. I have seen what the Egyptians have done to you.I have promised to bring you up out of Egypt where you are suffering. I will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” ’“ The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt. You must say to him,‘ The Lord has met with us. He is the God of the Hebrews. Let us take a journey that lasts about three days. We want to go into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you and your people go. Only a mighty hand could make him do that.So I will reach out my hand. I will strike the Egyptians with all the amazing things I will do. After that, their king will let you go.“ I will cause the Egyptians to treat you in a kind way. Then when you leave, you will not go with your hands empty.Every woman should ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for things made out of silver and gold. Ask them for clothes too. Put them on your children. In that way, you will take the wealth of Egypt along with you.”

So Jacob was left alone. A man wrestled with him until morning.The man saw that he couldn’t win. So he touched the inside of Jacob’s hip. As Jacob wrestled with the man, Jacob’s hip was twisted.Then the man said,“ Let me go. It is morning.” But Jacob replied,“ I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”The man asked him,“ What is your name?”“ Jacob,” he answered.Then the man said,“ Your name will not be Jacob anymore. Instead, it will be Israel. You have wrestled with God and with people. And you have won.”Jacob said,“ Please tell me your name.” But he replied,“ Why do you want to know my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.So Jacob named the place Peniel. He said,“ I saw God face to face. But I’m still alive!”

Then the Lord said,“ My Spirit will not struggle with human beings forever. They will have only 120 years to live.”