But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. ¹  In fact, it would be better for me to die than – no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting! ² 

So then, dear brothers and sisters, ¹  be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

But if we are afflicted, ¹  it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.

Nor do we boast beyond certain limits ¹  in the work ²  done by others, but we hope ³  that as your faith continues to grow, our work may be greatly expanded ⁴  among you according to our limits, ⁵ 

For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

by holding on to ¹  the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

I have great joy in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me. (Now I know you were concerned before but had no opportunity to do anything.) ¹ 

Even though they have the appearance of wisdom ¹  with their self-imposed worship and false humility ²  achieved by an ³  unsparing treatment of the body – a wisdom with no true value – they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. ⁴ 

when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired ¹  on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony. ² 

but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He ¹  has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in ¹  their humanity, ²  so that through death he could destroy ³  the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

But ¹  showing its fault, ²  God ³  says to them, ⁴  “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

And so he is the mediator ¹  of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, ²  since he died ³  to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, ¹  and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he ²  will be blessed in what he does. ³ 

For God has put into their minds ¹  to carry out his purpose ²  by making ³  a decision ⁴  to give their royal power ⁵  to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. ⁶ 

Stay ¹  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ²  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ³  and I will fulfill ⁴  the solemn promise I made ⁵  to your father Abraham.

But if the bright spot stays in its place, has not spread on the skin, ¹  and it has faded, then it is the swelling of the burn, so the priest is to pronounce him clean, ²  because it is the scar of the burn.

Then the priest will put the woman under oath and say to the her, “If no other ¹  man has had sexual relations with you, and if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ² 

It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ¹  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ²  made on oath to your ancestors, ³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’ ¹  equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”