Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. ¹  Do you really think you will be rescued? ² 

They are eager to do evil, ¹  quick to shed innocent blood. ²  Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. ³ 

Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number.

“You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹ 

But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land.

I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying, I will bring them down like birds in the sky; I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.

Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

Lend your aid ¹  and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves ²  to that place.” Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! ³ 

Why do you force me to witness injustice? ¹  Why do you put up with wrongdoing? ²  Destruction and violence confront ³  me; conflict is present and one must endure strife. ⁴ 

And large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, ¹  Jerusalem, ²  Judea, and beyond the Jordan River. ³ 

Then Jesus went throughout all the towns ¹  and villages, teaching in their synagogues, ²  preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. ³ 

I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, ¹  and find pasture. ² 

Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ¹  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ² 

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession ¹  in Christ ²  and who makes known ³  through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

Finally, pray for us, brothers and sisters, ¹  that the Lord’s message ²  may spread quickly and be honored ³  as in fact it was among you,

So I want the men ¹  to pray ²  in every place, lifting up holy hands ³  without anger or dispute.

And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. ¹ 

These people are grumblers and ¹  fault-finders who go ²  wherever their desires lead them, ³  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁴  enchanting folks ⁵  for their own gain. ⁶