Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! ¹  Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry.

There is nothing better for ¹  people ²  than ³  to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment ⁴  in their ⁵  work. I also perceived that this ability to find enjoyment ⁶  comes from God. ⁷ 

It is better to go to a funeral ¹  than a feast. ²  For death ³  is the destiny ⁴  of every person, ⁵  and the living should ⁶  take this ⁷  to heart.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have ¹  two hands and go into hell, ²  to the unquenchable fire. ³ 

For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, ¹  and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly ²  had a better and lasting possession.

It is better for a person to meet ¹  a mother bear being robbed of her cubs, than ²  to encounter ³  a fool in his folly. ⁴ 

Thus he became ¹  so far better than the angels as ²  he has inherited a name superior to theirs.

Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument ¹  that will be better than sons and daughters. I will set up a permanent monument ²  for them that will remain.

At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ¹  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

They say to the people: ¹  “Journey over to Calneh and look at it! Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah! ²  Then go down to Gath of the Philistines! Are they superior to our two ³  kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?” ⁴ 

You are no more secure ¹  than Thebes ²  – she was located on the banks of the Nile; the waters surrounded her, her ³  rampart ⁴  was the sea, the water ⁵  was her wall.

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.

If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better to enter life lame than to have ¹  two feet and be thrown into hell. ² 

If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! ¹  It is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have ²  two eyes and be thrown into hell,

It would be better for him to have a millstone ¹  tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea ²  than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³ 

He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, ¹  for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She ²  is better to you than seven sons!”

The more one argues with words, the less he accomplishes. ¹  How does that benefit him? ² 

The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shouting of a ruler is heard ¹  among fools.