And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others. ¹ 

Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes ¹  of the devil.

So then, my brothers and sisters, ¹  dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

to Timothy, my genuine child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. ¹ 

So all of you approached me and said, “Let’s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there.”

That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. ¹  Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin ¹  to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots ²  I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars, and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ³  its thickest woods.

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 

The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood, it is covered ¹  with fat; it drips ²  with the blood of young rams and goats and is covered ³  with the fat of rams’ kidneys. For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ⁴  in Bozrah, ⁵  a bloody ⁶  slaughter in the land of Edom.

Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹  ‘With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, ²  its thickest woods.

So the king assigned them a daily ration ¹  from his royal delicacies ²  and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained ³  for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service. ⁴ 

Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. ¹  He journeyed ²  to the region of Aram Naharaim ³  and the city of Nahor.

When the man ¹  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ²  he struck ³  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

Judah said, “Let her keep the things ¹  for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. ²  I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”