The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake ¹  realized that only one small boat ²  had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded ³  it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

But Barnabas took ¹  Saul, ²  brought ³  him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that ⁴  the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly ⁵  in the name of Jesus.

Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ¹  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ²  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ³  of eternal life, we ⁴  are turning to the Gentiles. ⁵ 

After the city secretary ¹  quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person ²  is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper ³  of the temple of the great Artemis ⁴  and of her image that fell from heaven? ⁵ 

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ³ 

For God achieved what the law could not do because ¹  it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I would be telling ¹  the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may regard ²  me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me,

I went there ¹  because of ²  a revelation and presented ³  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ⁴  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ⁵  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ⁶  – in vain.

speaking of these things in all his letters. ¹  Some things in these letters ²  are hard to understand, things ³  the ignorant and unstable twist ⁴  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ⁵ 

Then ¹  the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. And there was no light for a third of the day ²  and for a third of the night likewise.

Even the light from a lamp will never shine in you again! The voices of the bridegroom and his bride will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the tycoons of the world, because all the nations ¹  were deceived by your magic spells! ² 

But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, ¹  idol worshipers, ²  and all those who lie, their place ³  will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. ⁴  That ⁵  is the second death.”

“You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me – how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. ¹  During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; ²  when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet. ³ 

The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, ¹  and the guards ²  to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the items that were used in the worship of ³  Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. ⁴  The king ⁵  burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces ⁶  of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁷ 

Then ¹  I, the Lord, promise that ²  I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’