“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴ 

The time of judgment ¹  is about to arrive! ²  The time of retribution ³  is imminent! ⁴  Let Israel know! ⁵ The prophet is considered a fool ⁶  – the inspired man ⁷  is viewed as a madman ⁸  – because of the multitude of your sins and your intense ⁹  animosity.

I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹  and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ²  and cause every head to be shaved bald. ³  I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴  when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁵ 

So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. ¹  After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” ² 

For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ¹  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ²  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ³  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Then those who respected ¹  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ²  A scroll ³  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name.

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ¹  the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

On that same occasion ¹  Jesus ²  rejoiced ³  in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise ⁴  you, Father, Lord ⁵  of heaven and earth, because ⁶  you have hidden these things from the wise ⁷  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. ⁸ 

Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ¹  cried out, ²  “You both know me and know where I come from! ³  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁴  but the one who sent me ⁵  is true. You do not know him, ⁶ 

Before it was sold, ¹  did it not ²  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ³  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ⁴  You have not lied to people ⁵  but to God!”

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ¹  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²  from these worthless ³  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ⁴  the sea, and everything that is in them.

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ¹  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ²  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

For the commandments, ¹  “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” ²  (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ³ 

And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are ¹  the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them ²  and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ³ 

And so ¹  we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, ²  you accepted it not as a human message, ³  but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.

They replied, ¹  “A man came up to meet us. He told us, “Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. ²  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’”

Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? ¹  Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water. ⁵