But just suppose you continue to say, ‘The message of the Lord is burdensome.’ Here is what the Lord says will happen: ‘I sent word to you that you must not say, “The Lord’s message is burdensome.” But you used the words “The Lord’s message is burdensome” anyway.

All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah. ¹  He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. ²  They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation. ³ 

The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. ¹  They will be as frightened as women. ²  The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down. ³ 

“But as for you, son of man, your people ¹  (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, ²  ‘Come hear the word that comes ³  from the Lord.’

Plead earnestly ¹  with your ²  mother (for ³  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that ⁴  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁵  and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁶ 

He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ¹  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ² 

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: ¹  He wants you to ²  promote ³  justice, to be faithful, ⁴  and to live obediently before ⁵  your God.

“Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither completely away, and his right eye become completely blind!”

So ¹  Jesus went with them. When ²  he was not far from the house, the centurion ³  sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, ⁴  for I am not worthy ⁵  to have you come under my roof.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves ¹  as obedient slaves, ²  you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? ³ 

So then, ¹  if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her ²  husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.

But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, ¹  are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” ² 

You are looking at outward appearances. ¹  If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.

For we would not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. ¹ 

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 

So ¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

Command those who are rich in this world’s goods ¹  not to be haughty or to set their hope on riches, which are uncertain, ²  but on God who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

speaking of these things in all his letters. ¹  Some things in these letters ²  are hard to understand, things ³  the ignorant and unstable twist ⁴  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ⁵