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.

and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back ¹  to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you.

From Paul, ¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], ²  the faithful ³  in Christ Jesus.

In Christ ¹  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ²  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

namely, that through the gospel ¹  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ²  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

The purpose of this enlightenment is that ¹  through the church the multifaceted wisdom ²  of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

Pray ¹  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ²  – that I may confidently make known ³  the mystery of the gospel,

And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress ¹  and joy in the faith, ² 

nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ¹  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ²  that operates by faith.

In the same way ¹  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ²  and so he intervened with an oath,

But ¹  now Jesus ²  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ⁴  on better promises. ⁵ 

And he did not enter to offer ¹  himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own,

then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ¹  He does away with ²  the first to establish the second.

By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ¹  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Therefore, I intend to remind you constantly ¹  of these things even though you know them and are well established in the truth that you now have.

and ¹  whatever we ask we receive from him, because ²  we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that ¹  whenever ²  we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ¹  a holy Sabbath ²  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ³  bake, bake today; ⁴  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

So the exiles proceeded accordingly. Ezra the priest separated out ¹  by name men who were leaders in their family groups. ²  They sat down to consider this matter on the first day of the tenth month,

“For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹  my laws in their minds ²  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ³