Again he measured 1,750 feet and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed ¹  toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders ²  to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated.

Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

From one of them came a small horn. ¹  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ² 

It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ¹  from whom ²  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ³  was thrown down.

He said to me, “Don’t be afraid, you who are valued. ¹  Peace be to you! Be strong! Be really strong!” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. I said, “Sir, you may speak now, ²  for you have given me strength.”

She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord ¹  said to him, “Name her ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah) because I will no longer have pity ²  on the nation ³  of Israel. For ⁴  I will certainly not forgive ⁵  their guilt. ⁶ 

“I am the Lord your God ¹  who brought you ²  out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. ³ 

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me; except me there is no Savior.

You should not ¹  have gloated ²  when your relatives ³  suffered calamity. ⁴  You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. ⁵  You should not have boasted ⁶  when they suffered adversity. ⁷ 

Where now is the den of the lions, ¹  the feeding place ²  of the young lions, where ³  the lion, lioness, ⁴  and lion cub once prowled ⁵  and no one disturbed them? ⁶ 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, ¹  she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ¹  This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? ² 

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah ¹  the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one whose price had been set by the people of Israel, ² 

Now when the centurion ¹  and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what took place, they were extremely terrified and said, “Truly this one was God’s Son!”

After looking around ¹  at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, ²  he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ³ 

They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind – the one who had the “Legion” – and they were afraid.

Six days later ¹  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them alone up a high mountain privately. And he was transfigured before them, ² 

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.