With every prayer and petition, pray ¹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

rooted ¹  and built up in him and firm ²  in your ³  faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, ¹  stand firm and hold on to the traditions that we taught you, whether by speech or by letter. ² 

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain, ¹ 

and make straight paths for your feet, ¹  so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

And God will exalt you in due time, ¹  if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand ² 

and the stars in the sky ¹  fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping ²  its unripe figs ³  when shaken by a fierce ⁴  wind.

Then ¹  they ²  heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!” So the two prophets ³  went up to heaven in a cloud while ⁴  their enemies stared at them.

Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk ¹  and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” ² 

They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things – wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full ¹  and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.

that sends messengers by sea, who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people, ¹  to a people that are feared far and wide, ²  to a nation strong and victorious, ³  whose land rivers divide. ⁴ 

At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord who commands armies, by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned, a people that are feared far and wide, a nation strong and victorious, whose land rivers divide. ¹  The tribute ²  will be brought to the place where the Lord who commands armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion. ³ 

“A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan ¹  scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. ²  So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. ³  Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. ⁴  For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. ⁵  There is no ⁶  ruler ⁷  who can stand up against me.

“A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land. Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. For there is no one like me. There is no one who can call me to account. There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

They will sing this lament over you: ¹  “‘How you have perished – you have vanished ²  from the seas, O renowned city, once mighty in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! ³ 

It will be ¹  a day of dreadful darkness, ²  a day of foreboding storm clouds, ³  like blackness ⁴  spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army ⁵  – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁶ 

(To my disgrace ¹  I must say that we were too weak for that!) ²  But whatever anyone else dares to boast about ³  (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing. ⁴ 

God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God ¹  appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, ¹  not even under force. ²