But understand this, that in the last days difficult ¹  times will come.

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Distress and hardship confront ¹  me, yet I find delight in your commands.

For they flee from the swords – from the drawn sword and from the battle-ready bow and from the severity of the battle.

I have a baptism ¹  to undergo, ²  and how distressed I am until it is finished!

But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, ¹  and I am trying to spare you such problems. ² 

Banish ¹  emotional stress ²  from your mind. ³  and put away pain ⁴  from your body; ⁵  for youth ⁶  and the prime of life ⁷  are fleeting. ⁸ 

but ¹  worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, ²  and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, ³  and it produces nothing.

So ¹  in all our distress and affliction, we were reassured about you, brothers and sisters, ²  through your faith.

But Hannah replied, “That’s not the way it is, ¹  my lord! I am under a great deal of stress. ²  I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to ³  the Lord.

I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.”’” ¹ 

This saying ¹  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ²  so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people.