“The law and the prophets were in force ¹  until John; ²  since then, ³  the good news of the kingdom of God ⁴  has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it. ⁵ 

yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ¹  by her unending pleas.’” ² 

Then a slave girl, ¹  seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!”

on the day when God will judge ¹  the secrets of human hearts, ²  according to my gospel ³  through Christ Jesus.

Greet Tryphena ¹  and Tryphosa, laborers in the Lord. Greet my dear friend ²  Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

Or do you not know that anyone who is united with ¹  a prostitute is one body with her? ²  For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ³ 

Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

These things may be treated as an allegory, ¹  for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.

Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him ¹  or the son of man that you care for him?

By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, ¹  he received the ability to procreate, ²  because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.

By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of ¹  the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace.

And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Then ¹  the angel ²  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ³  nations, and languages.

saying, “Woe, woe, O great city – dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet clothing, ¹  and adorned with gold, ²  precious stones, and pearls –

But you have attacked ¹  my father’s family ²  today. You murdered his seventy legitimate ³  sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative. ⁴ 

On the fourth day they woke up early and the Levite got ready to leave. ¹  But the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have a bite to eat for some energy, ²  then you can go.”

When her master ¹  got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

He then handed out to each member of the entire assembly of Israel, ¹  both men and women, a portion of bread, a date cake, ²  and a raisin cake. Then all the people went home. ³ 

His servants advised ¹  him, “A young virgin must be found for our master, the king, ²  to take care of the king’s needs ³  and serve as his nurse. She can also sleep with you ⁴  and keep our master, the king, warm.” ⁵ 

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.