who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ¹  and humiliates ²  the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men ³  and makes their advice ⁴  seem foolish,

There were ninety-six pomegranate-shaped ornaments on the sides; in all there were one hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments over the latticework that went around it.

And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.

They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious ¹  among women, and they executed judgments against her.

I will do these things to you ¹  because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols.

For her blood was in it; she poured it on an exposed rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.

To arouse anger, to take vengeance, I have placed her blood on an exposed rock so that it cannot be covered up.

At that very moment the fingers of a human hand appeared ¹  and wrote on the plaster of the royal palace wall, opposite the lampstand. ²  The king was watching the back ³  of the hand that was writing.

O LORD, we have been humiliated ¹  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.

Is there idolatry ¹  in Gilead? ²  Certainly its inhabitants ³  will come to nothing! ⁴  Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

“Therefore, on that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and will no longer wear the hairy garment ¹  of a prophet to deceive the people. ² 

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil.

Jesus ¹  said,] ²  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, ³  and the ones who see may become blind.”

So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy ¹  to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. ² 

Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? ¹  Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

God chose ¹  what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something,

that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth ¹  of their generosity.

For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ¹  “Awake, ²  O sleeper! ³  Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!” ⁴ 

So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord ¹  or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by ²  God’s power accept your share of suffering ³  for the gospel.

Every scripture ¹  is inspired by God ²  and useful for teaching, for reproof, ³  for correction, and for training in righteousness,