When ¹  it was evening ²  the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay ³  starting with the last hired until the first.’

“What ¹  do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother.

Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

After he sat down, he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

But ¹  when a stronger man ²  attacks ³  and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s ⁴  armor on which the man relied ⁵  and divides up ⁶  his plunder. ⁷ 

So ¹  he contacted ²  his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

And when you hear of wars and rebellions, ¹  do not be afraid. ²  For these things must happen first, but the end will not come at once.” ³ 

Now on the first day ¹  of the week, at early dawn, the women ²  went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices ³  they had prepared.

and said to him, “Everyone ¹  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ²  wine when the guests ³  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ¹  in Cana ²  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ³  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ⁴ 

“Our law doesn’t condemn ¹  a man unless it first hears from him and learns ²  what he is doing, does it?” ³ 

When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight ¹  and replied, ²  “Whoever among you is guiltless ³  may be the first to throw a stone at her.”

They ¹  brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ² 

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified ¹  with Jesus, ²  first the one and then the other. ³ 

God raised up ¹  his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning ²  each one of you from your iniquities.” ³ 

that ¹  the Christ ²  was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people ³  and to the Gentiles.” ⁴ 

First of all, ¹  I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

If the first portion ¹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ² 

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, ¹  who was the first convert ²  to Christ in the province of Asia. ³