After God spoke long ago ¹  in various portions ²  and in various ways ³  to our ancestors ⁴  through the prophets,

In his teaching Jesus ¹  also said, “Watch out for the experts in the law. ²  They like walking ³  around in long robes and elaborate greetings ⁴  in the marketplaces,

while others were saying that Elijah ¹  had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had risen. ² 

They ¹  answered, ²  “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; ³  and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” ⁴ 

Then ¹  shouldn’t ²  this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan ³  bound for eighteen long ⁴  years, be released from this imprisonment ⁵  on the Sabbath day?”

If he cannot succeed, ¹  he will send a representative ²  while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace. ³ 

Won’t ¹  God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out ²  to him day and night? ³  Will he delay ⁴  long to help them?

Then ¹  he began to tell the people this parable: “A man ²  planted a vineyard, ³  leased it to tenant farmers, ⁴  and went on a journey for a long time.

We must perform the deeds ¹  of the one who sent me ²  as long as ³  it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work.

The Jewish leaders ¹  surrounded him and asked, ²  “How long will you keep us in suspense? ³  If you are the Christ, ⁴  tell us plainly.” ⁵ 

But the things God foretold ¹  long ago through ²  all the prophets – that his Christ ³  would suffer – he has fulfilled in this way.

This one ¹  heaven must ²  receive until the time all things are restored, ³  which God declared ⁴  from times long ago ⁵  through his holy prophets.

Then Paul ¹  went back upstairs, ²  and after he had broken bread and eaten, he talked with them ³  a long time, until dawn. Then he left.

As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ¹ 

but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. ¹ 

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth ¹  we are absent from the Lord –

And in their prayers on your behalf they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you. ¹ 

Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ²  of everything.

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!

Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.