But you, O God, will bring them ¹  down to the deep Pit. ²  Violent and deceitful people ³  will not live even half a normal lifespan. ⁴  But as for me, I trust in you.

Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says: “Look, I am laying ¹  a stone in Zion, an approved ²  stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ³  The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁴ 

For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: “If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; ¹  if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, ²  but you are unwilling.

He feeds on ashes; ¹  his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ² 

Persist ¹  in trusting ²  your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited ³  since your youth! Maybe you will be successful ⁴  – maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁵ 

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ¹  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ²  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ³ 

But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your chariots; ¹  you have relied ²  on your many warriors.

Residents of Lachish, ¹  hitch the horses to the chariots! You ²  influenced Daughter Zion ³  to sin, ⁴  for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back ⁵  to you!

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, ¹  but take courage ²  – I have conquered the world.” ³ 

But these ¹  are recorded ²  so that you may believe ³  that Jesus is the Christ, ⁴  the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. ⁵ 

A ¹  woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth ²  from the city of Thyatira, ³  a God-fearing woman, listened to us. ⁴  The Lord opened her heart to respond ⁵  to what Paul was saying.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” ¹  (that is, the word of faith that we preach),

because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord ¹  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but ¹  God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; ²  otherwise you also will be cut off.

Some of you once lived this way. ¹  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ²  and by the Spirit of our God.

Does God then give ¹  you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law ²  or by your believing what you heard? ³ 

I am confident ¹  in the Lord that you will accept no other view. ²  But the one who is confusing ³  you will pay the penalty, ⁴  whoever he may be.

and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ¹  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ²  based on Christ’s ³  faithfulness. ⁴ 

But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that ¹  in me as the worst, ²  Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.

let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ¹  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ²  and our bodies washed in pure water.