and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, ¹ 

His armor bearer said to him, “Do everything that is on your mind. ¹  Do as you’re inclined. I’m with you all the way!” ² 

If I lie down, I say, ¹  ‘When will I arise?’, and the night stretches on ²  and I toss and turn restlessly ³  until the day dawns.

Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ¹  In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ¹ 

You who have escaped the sword, ¹  go, do not delay. ²  Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem. ³ 

Then ¹  the experts in the law ²  and the Pharisees began to think ³  to themselves, ⁴  “Who is this man ⁵  who is uttering blasphemies? ⁶  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? ¹  And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”

“Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, ¹  I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

Guard against self-deception, each of you. ¹  If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.

Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. ¹ 

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

Where do the conflicts and where ¹  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²  from your passions that battle inside you? ³ 

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ²  You had better take note! ³  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

How long will they go on plotting ¹  to make my people forget who I am ²  through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors ³  did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. ⁴ 

Woe ¹  to those who live in ease in Zion, ²  to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as ³  the elite class of the best nation. The family ⁴  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ⁵ 

‘Think carefully about the past: ¹  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ²  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ³  think about it. ⁴ 

For there is no partiality with God.

Why too are we in danger every hour?

Have you been thinking all this time ¹  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ²