Bless, O Lord, his goods, and be pleased with his efforts; undercut the legs ¹  of any who attack him, and of those who hate him, so that they cannot stand.

“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined ¹  and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”

Then the king, with his consort ¹  sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, ²  I gave him a time.

Show me evidence of your favor! ¹  Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ²  for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ³ 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we belong to him; ¹  we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

But now plead for God’s favor ¹  that he might be gracious to us. ²  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ¹  rather than the Pharisee. ²  For everyone who exalts ³  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“Men of Israel, ¹  listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, ²  wonders, and miraculous signs ³  that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know –

The ¹  proposal pleased the entire group, so ²  they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with ³  Philip, ⁴  Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism ⁵  from Antioch. ⁶ 

and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made ¹  him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

But Festus, ¹  wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried ²  before me there on these charges?” ³ 

They ¹  show that the work of the law is written ²  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ³  them, ⁴ 

Do you not know that if you present yourselves ¹  as obedient slaves, ²  you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? ³ 

The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him.

But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin. ¹ 

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.

Through the evidence ¹  of this service ²  they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing ³  with them and with everyone.

so that you may live ¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,