But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate ¹  of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation. ² 

But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed.

And he must be well thought of by ¹  those outside the faith, ²  so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil’s trap. ³ 

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, ¹  partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, ² 

Therefore we must be wary ¹  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, ¹  if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith ²  save him? ³ 

So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ¹  yet it has great pretensions. ²  Think ³  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.

But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? ¹ 

Therefore, get your minds ready for action ¹  by being fully sober, and set your hope ²  completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ³ 

You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

These people are grumblers and ¹  fault-finders who go ²  wherever their desires lead them, ³  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁴  enchanting folks ⁵  for their own gain. ⁶ 

Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you.

Everyone who saw the sight ¹  said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since ²  the Israelites left the land of Egypt! ³  Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

Saul became angry with Jonathan ¹  and said to him, “You stupid traitor! ²  Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?

For all of you have conspired against me! No one informs me ¹  when my own son makes an agreement with this son of Jesse! Not one of you feels sorry for me or informs me that my own son has commissioned my own servant to hide in ambush against me, as is the case today!”

Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My lord should not say, ‘They have killed all the young men who are the king’s sons.’ For only Amnon is dead. This is what Absalom has talked about ¹  from the day that Amnon ²  humiliated his sister Tamar.

He said to the king, “Don’t think badly of me, my lord, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left ¹  Jerusalem! ²  Please don’t call it to mind!

three ¹  years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, ²  or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the Lord’s messenger will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ ³  Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, ¹  they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”