Then say to him, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Look – here is the man whose name is Branch, ¹  who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the Lord.

So then, if someone ¹  says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ ²  do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him.

Now ¹  as Jesus ²  was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ³ 

So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, ¹  about whom you testified – see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

“For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ¹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ² 

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 

Which of the prophets did your ancestors ¹  not persecute? ²  They ³  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ⁴  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ⁵ 

But while John was completing his mission, ¹  he said repeatedly, ²  ‘What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!’ ³ 

that this promise ¹  God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising ²  Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; ³  today I have fathered you.’ ⁴ 

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, ¹  “If ²  you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, ³  come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded ⁴  us.

Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors ¹  has already chosen ²  you to know his will, to see ³  the Righteous One, ⁴  and to hear a command ⁵  from his mouth,

a promise ¹  that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God ²  night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, ³  Your Majesty! ⁴ 

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!

And do this ¹  because we know ²  the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.

We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Some of you once lived this way. ¹  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ²  and by the Spirit of our God.

For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ’s slave.

For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, ¹  but we are speaking in Christ before ²  God as persons of sincerity, ³  as persons sent from God.

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, ¹  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, ²  which is from ³  the Lord, who is the Spirit. ⁴