In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, ¹  because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, ²  as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.

I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’ ¹  I sent a herald to Jerusalem. ² 

For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men. ¹ 

Similarly good works are also obvious, and the ones that are not cannot remain hidden.

But you, dear friends – recall the predictions ¹  foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ² 

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

But when they bring you before the synagogues, ¹  the ²  rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense ³  or what you should say,

In Christ ¹  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ²  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

The sins of some people are obvious, going before them into judgment, but for others, they show up later. ¹ 

I want you to recall ¹  both ²  the predictions ³  foretold by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. ⁴ 

For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ¹  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ² 

Tell me! Present the evidence! ¹  Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; ²  there is none but me.

Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ¹  Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock; ²  I know of none.

who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand ¹  what has not yet occurred, who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire,’

I announced them to you beforehand; before they happened, I predicted them for you, so you could never say, ‘My image did these things, my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. ¹  For I know that you are very deceitful; ²  you were labeled ³  a rebel from birth.

“Brothers, ¹  the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through ²  David concerning Judas – who became the guide for those who arrested Jesus –

From one man ¹  he made every nation of the human race ²  to inhabit the entire earth, ³  determining their set times ⁴  and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, ⁵ 

God publicly displayed ¹  him ²  at his death ³  as the mercy seat ⁴  accessible through faith. ⁵  This was to demonstrate ⁶  his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. ⁷ 

because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son ¹  would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ²