Let the word of Christ ¹  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ²  in your hearts to God.

And we all agree, ¹  our religion contains amazing revelation: ²  He ³  was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, ⁴  seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office ¹  have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, ²  although they too are descendants of Abraham. ³ 

So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ¹ 

but ¹  every spirit that does not confess ²  Jesus ³  is not from God, and this is the spirit ⁴  of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

For God has put into their minds ¹  to carry out his purpose ²  by making ³  a decision ⁴  to give their royal power ⁵  to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. ⁶ 

Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ¹  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ²  to investigate is a land that devours ³  its inhabitants. ⁴  All the people we saw there ⁵  are of great stature.

“You must measure ¹  from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, ²  and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. ³  This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns.

The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

So now order some cedars of Lebanon to be cut for me. My servants will work with your servants. I will pay your servants whatever you say is appropriate, for you know that we have no one among us who knows how to cut down trees like the Sidonians.”

All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. ¹ 

Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Why are you here? ¹  Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets!” The king of Israel replied to him, “No, for the Lord is the one who summoned these three kings so that he can hand them over to Moab.”

David said to the whole Israelite assembly, “If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, ¹  let’s spread the word ²  to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, ³  so they may join us.

All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. ¹ 

Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what ¹  the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” ²  So they readied themselves ³  for this good project.

My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders, ¹  the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records ²  of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record: ³ 

“We – the priests, the Levites, and the people – have cast lots concerning the wood offerings, to bring them to the temple of our God according to our families ¹  at the designated times year by year to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as is written in the law.

Everyone shares the same fate ¹  – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ²  the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ³  what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

He built a hedge around it, ¹  removed its stones, and planted a vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress. He waited for it to produce edible grapes, but it produced sour ones instead. ² 

“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴