For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, ¹  and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

To him ¹  also Abraham apportioned a tithe ²  of everything. ³  His name first means ⁴  king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹  full of mercy and good fruit, ²  impartial, and not hypocritical. ³ 

Above all, understand this: ¹  In the last days blatant scoffers ²  will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ³ 

How ¹  else can someone enter a strong man’s ²  house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. ³ 

But no one is able to enter a strong man’s ¹  house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. ² 

He said to them, “Elijah does indeed come first, and restores all things. And why is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised?

Meanwhile, ¹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ³  the yeast of the Pharisees, ⁴  which is hypocrisy. ⁵ 

Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down ¹  first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose ²  the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ¹  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ²  performing deeds consistent with ³  repentance.

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes ¹  and the man of lawlessness ²  is revealed, the son of destruction. ³ 

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty ¹  toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. ²  For this is what pleases God. ³ 

I recall ¹  your sincere faith ²  that was alive first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am sure ³  is in you.

For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house ¹  of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate ²  of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?

Let both grow together until the harvest. At ¹  harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then ²  gather ³  the wheat into my barn.”’”

But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. ¹  Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ¹  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ²  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ³  of eternal life, we ⁴  are turning to the Gentiles. ⁵