All of them were wanting ¹  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.” So now, strengthen my hands! ² 

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

The ¹  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

Just then ¹  some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man ²  on a stretcher. ³  They ⁴  were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus. ⁵ 

Jesus ¹  was teaching daily in the temple courts. The chief priests and the experts in the law ²  and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate ³  him,

Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps ¹  the law! Why do you want ²  to kill me?”

But the magician Elymas ¹  (for that is the way his name is translated) ²  opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul ³  away from the faith.

You who are trying to be declared righteous ¹  by the law have been alienated ²  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ¹  with blindness. The men outside ²  wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs – also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!

The sick man answered him, “Sir, ¹  I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, ²  someone else ³  goes down there ⁴  before me.”

I am not trying to get ¹  praise for myself. ²  There is one who demands ³  it, and he also judges. ⁴ 

They set ¹  a day to meet with him, ²  and they came to him where he was staying ³  in even greater numbers. ⁴  From morning until evening he explained things ⁵  to them, ⁶  testifying ⁷  about the kingdom of God ⁸  and trying to convince ⁹  them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.

They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city.

Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired, ¹  but you do not say, ‘I give up.’ ²  You get renewed energy, ³  so you don’t collapse. ⁴ 

Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? ¹  Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? ²  I will very quickly repay you for what you have done! ³ 

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 

We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.

Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ¹  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ²  only to avoid being persecuted ³  for the cross of Christ.

As for the actions of people ¹  – just as you have commanded, I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men. ²