Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, ¹  and your children ²  like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. ³ 

The seed is still in the storehouse, isn’t it? And the vine, fig tree, pomegranate, and olive tree have not produced. Nevertheless, from today on I will bless you.’”

Look at the birds in the sky: ¹  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ²  them. Aren’t you more valuable ³  than they are?

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, ¹  a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors ²  and sinners!’ ³  But wisdom is vindicated ⁴  by her deeds.” ⁵ 

“Blessed are you when people ¹  hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil ²  on account of the Son of Man!

Consider the ravens: ¹  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ²  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner ¹  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people ²  who have no need to repent. ³ 

But a time ¹  is coming – and now is here ²  – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks ³  such people to be ⁴  his worshipers. ⁵ 

Jesus replied, ¹  “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. ²  The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people ³  say, ‘He is our God.’

I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the person who believes in me will perform ²  the miraculous deeds ³  that I am doing, ⁴  and will perform ⁵  greater deeds ⁶  than these, because I am going to the Father.

When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know ¹  that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense. ² 

I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ¹  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ²  jealous.

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving ¹  according to human standards. ² 

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ¹  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ²  based on Christ’s ³  faithfulness. ⁴ 

This saying ¹  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ²  so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people.

So in fact children ¹  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ²  on the seashore. ³ 

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, ¹  who is the Spirit of God, ²  rests ³  on you.

And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, ¹  just as also our dear brother Paul ²  wrote to you, ³  according to the wisdom given to him,

This calls for wisdom: ¹  Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, ²  and his number is 666. ³