But at this statement, the man ¹  looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. ² 

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” ¹ 

He built a hedge around it, ¹  removed its stones, and planted a vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress. He waited for it to produce edible grapes, but it produced sour ones instead. ² 

Indeed ¹  Israel ²  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people ³  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁴  He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁵ 

and sent them to Jesus ¹  to ask, ²  “Are you the one who is to come, ³  or should we look for another?”

Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, ¹  said, “This is a difficult ²  saying! ³  Who can understand it?” ⁴ 

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

Yet many of the crowd ¹  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ²  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ³ 

He thought his own people ¹  would understand that God was delivering them ²  through him, ³  but they did not understand. ⁴ 

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely ¹  is the arrival ²  of those who proclaim the good news.” ³ 

‘You expected a large harvest, but instead ¹  there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. ²  Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! ³ 

David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. ¹  You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

In those days the Philistines gathered their troops ¹  for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” ² 

when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news ¹  – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ¹  the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear ²  in the day of disease and incurable pain.

For this reason deliverance ¹  is far from us ²  and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, ³  but see only darkness; ⁴  we wait for ⁵  a bright light, ⁶  but live ⁷  in deep darkness. ⁸ 

“Then there will arise in his place a despicable person ¹  to whom the royal honor has not been rightfully conferred. He will come on the scene in a time of prosperity and will seize the kingdom through deceit.

From that time ¹  when one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty measures from it, there were only twenty.

Now ¹  there was a man in Jerusalem ²  named Simeon who was righteous ³  and devout, looking for the restoration ⁴  of Israel, and the Holy Spirit ⁵  was upon him.

When ¹  the men came to Jesus, ²  they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ³  ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” ⁴