Some men from Manasseh joined ¹  David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. (But in the end they did not help the Philistines because, after taking counsel, the Philistine lords sent David away, saying: “It would be disastrous for us if he deserts to his master Saul.”) ² 

At that time Hanani the prophet ¹  visited King Asa of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.

Now don’t let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors. So how ¹  can your gods rescue ²  you from my power?’”

At that time ¹  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ²  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ³  Instead they will truly ⁴  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ 

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider ¹  and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. ² 

I also told the priests and all the people, “The Lord says, ‘Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that ¹  the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon. ²  But they are prophesying a lie to you.

When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ¹  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ²  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices.

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ¹  “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel ²  and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring ³  the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than ⁴  serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!

Her ¹  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ²  her priests proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay. Yet they claim to trust ³  the Lord and say, “The Lord is among us. ⁴  Disaster will not overtake ⁵  us!”

He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ¹  if you have faith the size of ²  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ³  will be impossible for you.” ⁴ 

Jesus ¹  answered them, “I tell you the truth, ²  if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

All ¹  who heard him were amazed and were saying, “Is this not ²  the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging ³  those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners ⁴  to the chief priests?”

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹  He is our father ²  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ³  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁴ 

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

yet we know ¹  that no one ²  is justified by the works of the law ³  but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. ⁴  And ⁵  we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ ⁶  and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one ⁷  will be justified.

I have been crucified with Christ, ¹  and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So ²  the life I now live in the body, ³  I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, ⁴  who loved me and gave himself for me.

Only conduct yourselves ¹  in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that – whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent – I should hear that ²  you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, ³ 

if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹  without shifting ²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

And so ¹  we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, ²  you accepted it not as a human message, ³  but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. ¹  Let them do this ²  with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.