What father among you, if your ¹  son asks for ²  a fish, will give him a snake ³  instead of a fish?

Then a slave girl, ¹  seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!”

He ordered the centurion ¹  to guard Paul, ²  but to let him have some freedom, ³  and not to prevent any of his friends ⁴  from meeting his needs. ⁵ 

Greet Tryphena ¹  and Tryphosa, laborers in the Lord. Greet my dear friend ²  Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ²  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

I became a servant of this gospel ¹  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ²  the exercise of his power. ³ 

I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹  urge you to live ²  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ³ 

I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ²  the word of God,

But do not accept younger widows on the list, ¹  because their passions may lead them away from Christ ²  and they will desire to marry,

Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.

And every priest stands day after day ¹  serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins.

Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another ¹  as good stewards of the varied grace of God.

You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice ¹  the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors, ²  who led them out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why he brought all this disaster down on them.’”

Now Joseph was 30 years old ¹  when he began serving ²  Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph was commissioned by ³  Pharaoh and was in charge of ⁴  all the land of Egypt.

These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting.

Now if you forget the Lord your God at all ¹  and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated.