Hearing this, ¹  the men became even more afraid ²  and said to him, “What have you done?” (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape ³  from the Lord, ⁴  because he had previously told them. ⁵ )

Those survivors from ¹  Jacob will live ²  in the midst of many nations. ³  They will be like the dew the Lord sends, like the rain on the grass, that does not hope for men to come or wait around for humans to arrive. ⁴ 

For the message is a witness to what is decreed; ¹  it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. ²  Even if the message ³  is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; ⁴  for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.

Seek the Lord’s favor, ¹  all you humble people ²  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ³  Strive to do what is right! ⁴  Strive to be humble! ⁵  Maybe you will be protected ⁶  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

“My covenant with him was designed to bring life and peace. I gave its statutes to him to fill him with awe, and he indeed revered me and stood in awe before me.

At that time Jesus said, ¹  “I praise ²  you, Father, Lord ³  of heaven and earth, because ⁴  you have hidden these things from the wise ⁵  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children.

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief ¹  was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.

People ¹  from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem ²  were going out to him, and he was baptizing them ³  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

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?”

Then ¹  he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So ²  they served the crowd.

So they brought the boy ¹  to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He ²  fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, ¹  “Children, how hard it is ²  to enter the kingdom of God!

And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them ¹  short.

They went out and proclaimed everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the accompanying signs.]]

They ¹  were all amazed and began to say ²  to one another, “What’s happening here? ³  For with authority and power ⁴  he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

The tax collector, however, stood ¹  far off and would not even look up ²  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ³  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁴ 

Then ¹  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ²  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ³  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ⁴  of the governor.

and they said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

“I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ²  by the door, ³  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

(Now Judas ¹  said this not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money box, ²  he used to steal what was put into it.) ³