For it is written in the law of Moses, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” ¹  God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?

I am confident ¹  in the Lord that you will accept no other view. ²  But the one who is confusing ³  you will pay the penalty, ⁴  whoever he may be.

So I say this, and insist ¹  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ²  of their thinking. ³ 

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition ¹  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

But for now ¹  I have considered it necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. For he is my brother, ²  coworker and fellow soldier, and your messenger ³  and minister ⁴  to me in my need. ⁵ 

Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in your speech, conduct, love, faithfulness, ¹  and purity.

and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness ¹  is a way of making a profit.

how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him ¹  or the son of man that you care for him?

Dear friends, do not be astonished ¹  that a trial by fire is occurring among you, ²  as though something strange were happening to you.

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written ¹  you, in which ²  I am trying to stir up ³  your pure mind by way of reminder:

Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you.

The Gazites were told, ¹  “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town ²  and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. ³  They relaxed ⁴  all night, thinking, ⁵  “He will not leave ⁶  until morning comes; ⁷  then we will kill him!”

So her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best. ¹  Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise.” ²  So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Taking an oath, David again ¹  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ²  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ³  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

and in the presence of his colleagues ¹  and the army of Samaria ²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ³  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

She said, “If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, ¹  which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king’s provinces.

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

But now Timothy has come ¹  to us from you and given us the good news of your faith and love and that you always think of us with affection ²  and long to see us just as we also long to see you! ³ 

Pharaoh was thinking, ¹  “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”