They ¹  entered the house under the pretense of getting wheat and mortally wounded him ²  in the stomach. Then Recab and his brother Baanah escaped.

When the wicked sprout up like grass, and all the evildoers glisten, ¹  it is so that they may be annihilated. ² 

O Lord our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ¹ 

then I discerned all that God has done: ¹  No one really comprehends what happens ²  on earth. ³  Despite all human ⁴  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁵  it. ⁶  Even if ⁷  a wise person claimed ⁸  that he understood, he would not really comprehend ⁹  it.

So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, ¹  but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens ²  to his advice. ³ 

¹ All your leaders ran away together – they fled to a distant place; all your refugees ²  were captured together – they were captured without a single arrow being shot. ³ 

“Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, ¹  although they are a rebellious house.

“Son of man, say to the prince ¹  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Your heart is proud ²  and you said, “I am a god; ³  I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” – yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike. ⁴ 

“‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands ¹  will be mine, and we will possess them,” ²  – although the Lord was there –

Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ¹  a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; ²  his well will become dry. That wind ³  will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.

For the Lord will restore ¹  the majesty ²  of Jacob, as well as ³  the majesty of Israel, though ⁴  their enemies have plundered them ⁵  and have destroyed their fields. ⁶ 

“I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ¹  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ²  and will bring them back ³  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

He replied, ¹  “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing – that although I was blind, now I can see.”

But when the Jews objected, ¹  I was forced to appeal to Caesar ²  – not that I had some charge to bring ³  against my own people. ⁴ 

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but ¹  the Spirit is your life ²  because of righteousness.

It is necessary to go on boasting. ¹  Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, ¹  I offer an example from everyday life: ²  When a covenant ³  has been ratified, ⁴  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ¹  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others,

By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, ¹  he received the ability to procreate, ²  because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.