Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.

as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet – see! – we continue to live; as those who are scourged ¹  and yet not executed;

Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, ¹  and I will welcome ²  you, ³ 

For you can be confident of this one thing: ¹  that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

But in your case, dear friends, even though we speak like this, we are convinced of better things relating to salvation.

So in fact children ¹  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ²  on the seashore. ³ 

By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. ¹ 

So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ¹  yet it has great pretensions. ²  Think ³  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.

Grieve, mourn, ¹  and weep. Turn your laughter ²  into mourning and your joy into despair.

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him ¹  and in you, because ²  the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ³ 

Wake up then, and strengthen what remains that was about ¹  to die, because I have not found your deeds complete ²  in the sight ³  of my God.

Abraham ¹  looked up ²  and saw ³  three men standing across ⁴  from him. When he saw them ⁵  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ⁶  to the ground. ⁷ 

Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ¹  That is why I have kept you ²  from sinning against me and why ³  I did not allow you to touch her.

When ¹  Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, ²  he called his older ³  son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau ⁴  replied.

He reached a certain place ¹  where he decided to camp because the sun had gone down. ²  He took one of the stones ³  and placed it near his head. ⁴  Then he fell asleep ⁵  in that place

He saw ¹  in the field a well with ²  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ³  a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

The man said, “They left this area, ¹  for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Joseph said to his father, “They are the ¹  sons God has given me in this place.” His father ²  said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” ³ 

When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ¹  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ²  Abel Mizraim, ³  which is beyond the Jordan.

¹ During ²  that long period of time ³  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁴  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ⁵  because of their slave labor went up to God.