My hand made them; ¹  that is how they came to be,” ²  says the Lord. I show special favor ³  to the humble and contrite, who respect what I have to say. ⁴ 

For,’ I say, ¹  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ²  tightly ³  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ⁴  But they would not obey me.

What will you say ¹  when the Lord ²  appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? ³  Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby. ⁴ 

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

“They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ¹  For them you bathed, ²  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry.

They will designate men to scout continually ¹  through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, ²  in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months.

The vision ¹  that Obadiah ²  saw. ³  The Lord God ⁴  says this concerning ⁵  Edom: ⁶ We have heard a report from the Lord. An envoy was sent among the nations, saying, ⁷  “Arise! Let us make war against Edom!” ⁸ 

how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest ¹  and ate the sacred bread, ²  which is against the law ³  for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?” ⁴ 

because Herod stood in awe of ¹  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ³  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁴  and yet ⁵  he liked to listen to John. ⁶ 

Blessed are those slaves ¹  whom their master finds alert ²  when he returns! I tell you the truth, ³  he will dress himself to serve, ⁴  have them take their place at the table, ⁵  and will come ⁶  and wait on them! ⁷ 

So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; ¹  we have only done what was our duty.’” ² 

For this reason the Jewish leaders ¹  were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

Jesus replied, ¹  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ²  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ³ 

And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹  him.Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria.

When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate ¹  with them, the church ²  appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with ³  the apostles and elders in Jerusalem ⁴  about this point of disagreement. ⁵ 

even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election ¹  would stand, not by works but by ²  his calling) ³  –

Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ¹  the richness of the olive root,

And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside some income ¹  and save ²  it to the extent that God has blessed you, ³  so that a collection will not have to be made ⁴  when I come.