But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say! ¹  We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’” ² 

You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your sexual desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied.

I ate no choice food; no meat or wine came to my lips, ¹  nor did I anoint myself with oil ²  until the end of those three weeks.

Ephraim will be struck down ¹  – their root will be dried up; they will not yield any fruit. Even if they do bear children, I will kill their precious offspring.

For whoever wants to save his life ¹  will lose it, ²  but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ¹  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!”

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ¹  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Woe to you Pharisees! You love the best seats ¹  in the synagogues ²  and elaborate greetings ³  in the marketplaces!

That ¹  servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked ²  will receive a severe beating.

If anyone wants to do God’s will, ¹  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ² 

Then they prayed, ¹  “Lord, you know the hearts of all. Show us which one of these two you have chosen

but that we should write them a letter ¹  telling them to abstain ²  from things defiled ³  by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled ⁴  and from blood.

For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ¹ 

But because of immoralities, each man should have relations with ¹  his own wife and each woman with ²  her own husband.

But if they do not have self-control, let them get married. For it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire. ¹ 

just as I also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit, but the benefit ¹  of many, so that they may be saved.

With every prayer and petition, pray ¹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

I feel torn between the two, ¹  because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far,

for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹  “The spirit that God ²  caused ³  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ⁴