They will put you out of ¹  the synagogue, ²  yet a time ³  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ⁴ 

After two years ¹  had passed, Porcius Festus ²  succeeded Felix, ³  and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. ⁴ 

Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.

But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. ¹ 

For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ¹ 

And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.

So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ¹ 

For I do not want to see you now in passing, since I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows.

But when the one ¹  who set me apart from birth ²  and called me by his grace was pleased

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching ¹  – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. ² 

while God confirmed their witness ¹  with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed ²  according to his will.

“Then I said, ‘Here I am: ¹  I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’” ² 

then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ¹  He does away with ²  the first to establish the second.

And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, ¹  for God is pleased with such sacrifices.

Where do the conflicts and where ¹  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²  from your passions that battle inside you? ³ 

And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains ¹  forever.

They were having a good time, ¹  when suddenly ²  some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, ³  surrounded the house and kept beating ⁴  on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” ⁵ 

They crossed at the ford in order to help the king’s household cross and to do whatever he thought appropriate. Now after he had crossed the Jordan, Shimei son of Gera threw himself down before the king.

The Lord God of Israel chose me out of my father’s entire family to become king over Israel and have a permanent dynasty. ¹  Indeed, ²  he chose Judah as leader, and my father’s family within Judah, and then he picked me out from among my father’s sons and made me king over all Israel. ³ 

So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, ¹  who lives securely, who says to herself, ²  ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ³  I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.’ ⁴