So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met together. ¹ 

For if by my lie the truth of God enhances ¹  his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner?

And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. ¹  (Their ²  condemnation is deserved!)

Why not? Because they pursued ¹  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ²  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³ 

I do not mean yours but the other person’s. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?

Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? ¹  If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?

Now, brothers and sisters, ¹  if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? ²  In that case the offense of the cross ³  has been removed. ⁴ 

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?

Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ¹  That is why I have kept you ²  from sinning against me and why ³  I did not allow you to touch her.

Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? ¹  Is my hand too weak ²  to deliver ³  you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout ⁴  I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water. ⁵ 

Why do you forget ¹  the Lord, who made you, who stretched out the sky ²  and founded the earth? Why do you constantly tremble all day long ³  at the anger of the oppressor, when he makes plans to destroy? Where is the anger of the oppressor? ⁴ 

You have been the object of Israel’s hopes. You have saved them when they were in trouble. Why have you become like a resident foreigner ¹  in the land? Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish? Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound? Will you let me down when I need you like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?” ¹ 

This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away. He will be like a clay vessel ¹  that no one wants. ²  Why will he and his children be forced into exile? Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? ³ 

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?

For King Zedekiah ¹  had confined Jeremiah there after he had reproved him for prophesying as he did. He had asked Jeremiah, “Why do you keep prophesying these things? Why do you keep saying that the Lord says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon? I will let him capture it. ² 

Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ¹ 

That is why its name was called ¹  Babel ²  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

Laban said to him, ¹  “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord! ²  Why are you standing out here when I have prepared ³  the house and a place for the camels?”

So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed ¹  me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called ²  Edom.) ³