So then, ¹  God ²  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ³ 

But I do not allow ¹  a woman to teach or exercise authority ²  over a man. She must remain quiet. ³ 

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

On this topic we have much to say ¹  and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish ²  in hearing.

Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ¹  over the miseries that are coming on you.

I wrote something to the church, ¹  but Diotrephes, ²  who loves to be first among them, does not acknowledge us. ³ 

But if you diligently obey him ¹  and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.

Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number ¹  – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, ²  said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ¹  commandments which I am urging ²  you today to be careful to do.

Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law.

People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s display of wisdom; ¹  they came from all the kings of the earth who heard about his wisdom.

may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ¹  against you – both I myself and my family ²  have sinned.

They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ¹  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ²  You did not abandon them,

These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ¹  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ²  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ³  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it ²  all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused ³  to pay any attention to what I have said!’”

I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. ¹  I will bring on them, the citizens of Jerusalem, ²  and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”’” ³ 

But ¹  listen to what the Lord has to say, all you people of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt. The Lord says, ‘I hereby swear by my own great name that none of the people of Judah who are living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name in their oaths! Never again will any of them use it in an oath saying, “As surely as the Lord God lives….” ² 

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom, what I intend to do to ¹  the people who live in Teman. ²  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. ³ 

So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon, what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. ¹  Their little ones will be dragged off. I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

Listen attentively, ¹  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ²  and the city called by your name. ³  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ⁴  but because your compassion is abundant.