So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper,

Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I would hunt them down and take them from there. Even if they tried to hide from me ¹  at the bottom of the sea, from there ²  I would command the Sea Serpent ³  to bite them.

You ¹  have not seen him, but you love him. You ²  do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice ³  with an indescribable and glorious ⁴  joy,

For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ¹  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ²  Destruction has been decreed; ³  just punishment ⁴  is about to engulf you. ⁵ 

Therefore we do not despair, ¹  but even if our physical body ²  is wearing away, our inner person ³  is being renewed day by day.

But in your case, dear friends, even though we speak like this, we are convinced of better things relating to salvation.

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 your raised offering will be credited ¹  to you as though it were grain from the threshing floor or as new wine ²  from the winepress.

“For God speaks, the first time in one way, the second time in another, though a person does not perceive ¹  it.

He will not consider ¹  any compensation; ²  he will not be willing, even if you multiply the compensation. ³ 

A poor person ¹  who walks in his integrity is better than one who is perverse in his ways ²  even though ³  he is rich. ⁴ 

Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, those who are deaf, even though they have ears!

Yet ¹  not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek.

But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ¹  and thorns ²  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ³  for they are a rebellious house!

I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. ¹  I bowed down ²  in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother. ³ 

For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen one, I call you by name and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize ¹  me.

They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹  I tried over and over again ²  to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. ³ 

Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, ¹  I will soon gather them together for judgment. ²  Then ³  they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king. ⁴ 

For ¹  a while he refused, but later on ²  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ³ 

And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children ¹  of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,