If ¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

As a result they ¹  will conquer those left in Edom ²  and all the nations subject to my rule.” ³  The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

Your shepherds ¹  are sleeping, O king of Assyria! Your officers ²  are slumbering! ³  Your people are scattered like sheep ⁴  on the mountains and there is no one to regather them!

He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, ¹  so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” ² 

“But woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. ⁴ 

Now when the centurion ¹  and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!”

Six days later ¹  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them alone up a high mountain privately. And he was transfigured before them, ² 

When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

The ¹  next day he took out two silver coins ²  and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ ³ 

So ¹  he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For ²  three years ³  now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it ⁴  I find none. Cut ⁵  it down! Why ⁶  should it continue to deplete ⁷  the soil?’

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ¹  ‘God, I thank ²  you that I am not like other people: ³  extortionists, ⁴  unrighteous people, ⁵  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ⁶ 

and said to him, “Everyone ¹  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ²  wine when the guests ³  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

The one who comes from above is superior to all. ¹  The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. ²  The one who comes from heaven ³  is superior to all. ⁴ 

Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him to buy whatever they needed for the feast, ¹  or to give something to the poor.) ² 

But I have nothing definite ¹  to write to my lord ²  about him. ³  Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, ⁴  so that after this preliminary hearing ⁵  I may have something to write.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹ 

Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹  shown up as a liar, ²  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ³  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁴ 

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord ¹  is able to make him stand.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, ¹  it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.