But I am sending ¹  these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready ²  just as I kept telling them.

“Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, ¹  or fill his belly ²  with the east wind? ³ 

The one who works his land will be satisfied with food, ¹  but whoever chases daydreams ²  will have his fill ³  of poverty.

Just as there is futility in many dreams, so also in many words. ¹  Therefore, fear God!

They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’ ¹ 

For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations ¹  from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. ²  Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier ³  who does not return from the battle empty-handed. ⁴ 

Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and the accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver.

The Lord ¹  found him ²  in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. ³  He continually guarded him ⁴  and taught him; ⁵  he continually protected him ⁶  like the pupil ⁷  of his eye.

those who bear false testimony against a person, ¹  who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ²  and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ³ 

We have heard about Moab’s pride, their great arrogance, their boasting, pride, and excess. ¹  But their boastful claims are empty! ² 

Highways are empty, ¹  there are no travelers. ²  Treaties are broken, ³  witnesses are despised, ⁴  human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

They will lay it waste. It will lie parched ¹  and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed. ² 

No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years.

The grains of seed ¹  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ²  Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

When ¹  you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹ 

It is the same for you. If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

O Timothy, protect what has been entrusted to you. Avoid ¹  the profane chatter and absurdities ²  of so-called “knowledge.” ³ 

But you even break off ¹  piety, ²  and hinder ³  meditation ⁴  before God.