“‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword ¹  at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.

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.

The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat ¹  with unwashed hands?”

As ¹  the crowds were increasing, Jesus ²  began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign, ³  but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ⁴ 

from the blood of Abel ¹  to the blood of Zechariah, ²  who was killed ³  between the altar and the sanctuary. ⁴  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against ⁵  this generation.

They ¹  will fall by the edge ²  of the sword and be led away as captives ³  among all nations. Jerusalem ⁴  will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ⁵ 

Without being weak in faith, he considered ¹  his own body as dead ²  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Do not be conformed ¹  to this present world, ²  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ³  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, ¹  if she is past the bloom of youth ²  and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.

in which ¹  you formerly lived ²  according to this world’s present path, ³  according to the ruler of the kingdom ⁴  of the air, the ruler of ⁵  the spirit ⁶  that is now energizing ⁷  the sons of disobedience, ⁸ 

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ¹  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ² 

For our struggle ¹  is not against flesh and blood, ²  but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, ³  against the spiritual forces ⁴  of evil in the heavens. ⁵ 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists ¹  have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.

So ¹  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. ¹  For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, ²  a land rich in ³  milk and honey.

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, ¹  in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, ²  along with the rest of their associates, ³  the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed ⁴  the Levites who were at least twenty years old ⁵  to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple.

And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹  and said ²  to himself, ³  “I will never again curse ⁴  the ground because of humankind, even though ⁵  the inclination of their minds ⁶  is evil from childhood on. ⁷  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

One of his attendants replied, ¹  “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem ²  who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior ³  and is articulate ⁴  and handsome, ⁵  for the Lord is with him.”