Mordecai was of high rank ¹  in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence ²  continued to become greater and greater.

They will perish, but you will endure. ¹  They will wear out like a garment; like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. ² 

So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: ¹  “Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. ² 

The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee. Panic will grip them. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor.

The king of Babylon will become paralyzed with fear ¹  when he hears news of their coming. ²  Anguish will grip him, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ³ 

From one of them came a small horn. ¹  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ² 

It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

And the child kept growing ¹  and becoming strong ²  in spirit, and he was in the wilderness ³  until the day he was revealed ⁴  to Israel.

It is like a mustard seed ¹  that a man took and sowed ²  in his garden. It ³  grew and became a tree, ⁴  and the wild birds ⁵  nested in its branches.” ⁶ 

and most of the brothers and sisters, ¹  having confidence in the Lord ²  because of my imprisonment, now more than ever ³  dare to speak the word ⁴  fearlessly.

But do not accept younger widows on the list, ¹  because their passions may lead them away from Christ ²  and they will desire to marry,

quenched raging fire, ¹  escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, ²  became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight,

Then ¹  I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back ²  and sealed with seven seals. ³ 

But Moses sought the favor ¹  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. ¹  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ² 

But Jeshurun ¹  became fat and kicked, you ²  got fat, thick, and stuffed! Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.

Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food, but the hungry no longer lack. Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ²  but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

I answered, ¹  “Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? ²  Their ears are so closed ³  that they cannot hear! Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns ¹  in its place, ²  extending toward the four winds of the sky. ³