keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹ 

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

Then ¹  I saw standing in the middle of the throne ²  and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. ³  He had ⁴  seven horns and seven eyes, which ⁵  are the seven ⁶  spirits of God ⁷  sent out into all the earth.

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made ¹  of gold, silver, ²  bronze, stone, and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ¹  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ²  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not ¹  dishevel the hair of your heads ²  and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused, ³ 

May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ¹  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.

They replied, ¹  “A man came up to meet us. He told us, “Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. ²  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.”’”

Oded, a prophet of the Lord, was there. He went to meet the army as they arrived in Samaria and said to them: “Look, because the Lord God of your ancestors was angry with Judah he handed them over to you. You have killed them so mercilessly that God has taken notice. ¹ 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David written to instruct others. ⁴  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ⁵  12,000 Edomites ⁶  in the Valley of Salt. ⁷  O God, you have rejected us. ⁸  You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ⁹  Please restore us!

Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’

Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led off all the people who had been left alive at Mizpah. They had rescued them from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. They led off the men, women, children, soldiers, and court officials whom they had brought away from Gibeon.

Then ¹  I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. ²  I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These ³  had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They ⁴  came to life ⁵  and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ¹  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ²  your very breath and all your ways!