These men worked for Solomon as supervisors; there were a total of 250 of them who were in charge of the people. ¹ 

He ¹  exercised all the ruling authority ²  of the first beast on his behalf, ³  and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

I decided ¹  to carefully ²  and thoroughly examine ³  all that has been accomplished on earth. ⁴  I concluded: ⁵  God has given people ⁶  a burdensome task ⁷  that keeps them ⁸  occupied. ⁹ 

By David; a well-written song. ²  How blessed ³  is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, ⁴  whose sin is pardoned! ⁵ 

I have observed the burden that God has given to people ¹  to keep them occupied.

His son Shemaiah also had sons, who were leaders of their families, for they were highly respected.

We existed from ancient times, ¹  but you did not rule over them, they were not your subjects. ² 

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ¹ 

so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Brothers and sisters, ¹  do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

This power ¹  he exercised ²  in Christ when he raised him ³  from the dead and seated him ⁴  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ⁵ 

And God ¹  put ²  all things under Christ’s ³  feet, ⁴  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁵ 

Their eyes, ¹  full of adultery, ²  never stop sinning; ³  they entice ⁴  unstable people. ⁵  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ⁶ 

Shortly after his rise to power, ¹  his kingdom will be broken up and distributed toward the four winds of the sky ²  – but not to his posterity or with the authority he exercised, for his kingdom will be uprooted and distributed to others besides these.

When Israel saw ¹  the great power ²  that the Lord had exercised ³  over the Egyptians, they ⁴  feared the Lord, and they believed in ⁵  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ⁶ 

While applying ¹  my mind ²  to everything ³  that happens in this world, ⁴  I have seen all this: Sometimes one person ⁵  dominates ⁶  other people ⁷  to their harm. ⁸ 

Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type ¹  of the coming one) transgressed. ² 

For if, by the transgression of the one man, ¹  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving? But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.