And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” ¹ 

I pray that ¹  the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, ²  may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation ³  in your growing knowledge of him, ⁴ 

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight

For if ¹  these things are really yours ²  and are continually increasing, ³  they will keep you from becoming ⁴  ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of ⁵  knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. ⁶ 

At the time ¹  of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants ²  in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ¹  that there may be ²  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ³  and on everything that grows ⁴  in the field in the land of Egypt.”

The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ¹  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ²  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

When Joshua was very old, ¹  the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered.

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number.” ¹ 

Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, an ephah ¹  of flour, and a container ²  of wine. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, even though he was young. ³ 

For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted, and the ripening fruit appears, ¹  he will cut off the unproductive shoots ²  with pruning knives; he will prune the tendrils. ³ 

But those who wait for the Lord’s help ¹  find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, ²  they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired.

They will be like a shrub ¹  in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.

“Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ¹  as fuel. ² 

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked ¹  the unclean spirit, ²  saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Now in those ¹  days, when the disciples were growing in number, ²  a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews ³  against the native Hebraic Jews, ⁴  because their widows ⁵  were being overlooked ⁶  in the daily distribution of food. ⁷ 

Then ¹  the church throughout Judea, Galilee, ²  and Samaria experienced ³  peace and thus was strengthened. ⁴  Living ⁵  in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church ⁶  increased in numbers.

Have you been thinking all this time ¹  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ² 

From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together ¹  through every supporting ligament. ²  As each one does its part, the body grows in love.