Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  before Abraham came into existence, ²  I am!” ³ 

So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  I am the door for the sheep. ² 

Then Peter started speaking: ¹  “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, ² 

and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

But you, O Lord, reign ¹  forever!

On that day I swore ¹  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ²  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ³  the most beautiful of all lands.

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trying to learn ¹  what is pleasing to the Lord.

and he is to purify ¹  the Most Holy Place, ²  he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar, ³  and he is to make atonement for ⁴  the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

Hear my plea for mercy when I cry out to you for help, when I lift my hands ¹  toward your holy temple! ² 

In the future ¹  the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ²  as the most important of mountains, and will be the most prominent of hills. ³  All the nations will stream to it,

Therefore, the Lord says, “Ask the people of other nations whether they have heard of anything like this. Israel should have been like a virgin. But she has done something utterly revolting!

“Listen! I am opposed to you, you proud city,” ¹  says the Lord God who rules over all. ²  “Indeed, ³  your day of reckoning ⁴  has come, the time when I will punish you. ⁵ 

I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries ¹  will be desecrated.

She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

It will be the most insignificant of the kingdoms; it will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations.

I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

They know, ¹  because they have known ²  me from time past, ³  if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party ⁴  of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁵ 

And he did not enter to offer ¹  himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own,

The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal ¹  over your heart, ²  like a signet ³  on your arm. ⁴  For love is as strong as death, ⁵  passion ⁶  is as unrelenting ⁷  as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, ⁸  it is a blazing flame. ⁹