Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹  Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby? Why then do I see all these strong men grabbing their stomachs in pain like ²  a woman giving birth? And why do their faces turn so deathly pale?

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹  like a woman writhing in childbirth. ² 

The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops.

So they put foremen ¹  over the Israelites ²  to oppress ³  them with hard labor. As a result ⁴  they built Pithom and Rameses ⁵  as store cities for Pharaoh.

The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work? ¹  Return to your labor!”

(2:1) Solomon had ¹  70,000 common laborers ²  and 80,000 stonecutters ³  in the hills, in addition to 3,600 supervisors. ⁴ 

He designated ¹  70,000 as common laborers, ²  80,000 as stonecutters ³  in the hills, and 3,600 as supervisors to make sure the people completed the work. ⁴ 

who were rebuilding the wall. ¹  Those who were carrying loads did so ²  by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon.

At that time I instructed ¹  the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

“Does not humanity have hard service ¹  on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man? ² 

So I loathed all the fruit of ¹  my effort, ²  for which I worked so hard ³  on earth, ⁴  because ⁵  I must leave it ⁶  behind ⁷  in the hands of my successor. ⁸ 

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee. Panic will grip them. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor.

I struck all the products of your labor ¹  with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ ²  says the Lord.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner ¹  who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

When ¹  it was evening ²  the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay ³  starting with the last hired until the first.’

Now if I am to go on living in the body, ¹  this will mean productive work ²  for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer: ³ 

Toward this goal ¹  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ²  works in me.

Elders who provide effective leadership ¹  must be counted worthy ²  of double honor, ³  especially those who work hard in speaking ⁴  and teaching.