Revelation 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Not so much for the message, but for the scansion:
Joel 2:28-31:
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
What a great heavy metal song that would make – I’ll often hum those verses to the tune of Iron Maiden’s “Back in the Village” 
I’m not religious, but I’ve always found this so striking:
Job 41
Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.
From Ephesians: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
From Ecclesiastes: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.
I’m an atheist, by I take wisdom wherever I find it.
John 8:1-11
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
**
11** She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
I’ve always loved the prelude to John myself.
I love that overcome can also be translated as comprehend. That seems so much more powerful to me.
That’s a good one. I often imagaine Jesus writing a list of sins, and then a list of names of people in the crowd, and then starting to draw lines from one list to the other.
My favorite, Micah 6:8, is already quoted so I’ll go with Psalm 121 I shall lift up my eyes to the mountains, from whence comes my help, my help comes from the Lord
Gosh, that is pretty. I have not read* that is freakin’ years.
*or carefully read.
I heard an interview on NPR with the author of the book “Misquoting Jesus”. In it, they talked specifically about these verses, how they weren’t part of the “official” bible until the twelve century.
J.
As well as many of the already mentined, James 2:15-16
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
I like the beattitudes.
Micah 7:7
But as for me, I watch in hopes of the Lord.
I’ll wait for God, my savior
My God will hear me.
I don’t know if this qualifies as my absolute favorite, but there goes:
On every Sabbath and holiday, a section from the Prophets is read in shul after the Torah Reading. The reading for the second day of Rosh HaShannah comes from Jeremiah 31.
Of course, when you read this, you have to keep the context in mind:
Rachel was was not buried in Hebron with Jacob, but rather on the road, as she died suddenly in childbirth.
“Ephraim” is the name of Rachel’s grandson. However, in Biblical literature, Ephraim is also used as a proxy for the Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom (because the first king, Yeravam, was from the tribe of Ephraim). The Ten Tribes has been exiled from Israel years earlier, which included all of Rachel’s descendants through Joseph (Ephraim’s father).
It’s a message of hope and longing. Who can’t sympathize with a mother crying over the plight of her children? Who can’t understand a person regretting past actions when they see the ruin that it brought them?
The imagery that the prophet chose to use (that of Rachel weeping and wailing over her children and of God comforting her is, IMHO, beautiful.
Zev Steinhardt
Oh my. I just made the mistake of looking up the lolcatbible version of that chapter.
Today’s favourite:
Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
If your eye offends you, pluck it out.
That covers so many situations in life.
Ecclesiastes 1:
Nearest the Bible comes to existentialist philosophy, or serious philosophy of any kind.
Zephaniah 3:17," your life is precious because to God you are precious"
I’ve always been partial to Matthew 7:1-5.
1Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
I especially like the Brick Testament version.
Must include this:
I Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Mike 16:32 - “Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil because I am the baddest mother f*cker in the Valley.”
But seriously
Isiah 2:4 - And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.