Now there happened to be a Jewish man in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai. ¹  He was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite,

Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, ¹  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

So Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, “Are you that Daniel who is one of the captives of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?

This is what the Lord says: “Because Gaza ¹  has committed three crimes ²  – make that four! ³  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁴  They deported a whole community ⁵  and sold them ⁶  to Edom.

This is what the Lord says: “Because Tyre has committed three crimes ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They sold ⁴  a whole community ⁵  to Edom; they failed to observe ⁶  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁷ 

“On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes ¹  and the king’s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ² 

Now ¹  they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So ²  they left him and went away. ³ 

Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law ¹  and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ² 

Joseph of Arimathea, a highly regarded member of the council, ¹  who was himself looking forward to ²  the kingdom of God, ³  went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴ 

During the reign ¹  of Herod ²  king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to ³  the priestly division of Abijah, ⁴  and he had a wife named Elizabeth, ⁵  who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ 

Jesus replied, ¹  “A man was going down ²  from Jerusalem ³  to Jericho, ⁴  and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat ⁵  him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. ⁶ 

Then the people ¹  who were with Mary ²  in the house consoling her saw her ³  get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep ⁴  there.

Nevertheless, even among the rulers ¹  many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees ²  they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, ³  so that they would not be put out of ⁴  the synagogue. ⁵ 

Jesus replied, ¹  “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues ²  and in the temple courts, ³  where all the Jewish people ⁴  assemble together. I ⁵  have said nothing in secret.

Pilate asked, ¹  “What is truth?” ²  When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders ³  and announced, ⁴  “I find no basis for an accusation ⁵  against him.

Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, ¹  “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation ²  against him.”

Thus many of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem ¹  read this notice, ²  because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was written in Aramaic, ³  Latin, and Greek.

The ¹  proposal pleased the entire group, so ²  they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with ³  Philip, ⁴  Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism ⁵  from Antioch. ⁶ 

The word of God continued to spread, ¹  the number of disciples in Jerusalem ²  increased greatly, and a large group ³  of priests became obedient to the faith.

But some men from the Synagogue ¹  of the Freedmen (as it was called), ²  both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, ³  stood up and argued with Stephen.