As ¹  she stood ²  behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She ³  wiped them with her hair, ⁴  kissed ⁵  them, ⁶  and anointed ⁷  them with the perfumed oil.

“A sower went out to sow ¹  his seed. ²  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ³  devoured it.

Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil ¹  comes and takes away the word ²  from their hearts, so that they may not believe ³  and be saved.

So ¹  the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus. They ²  found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Then ¹  a man named Jairus, who was a ruler ²  of the synagogue, ³  came up. Falling ⁴  at Jesus’ feet, he pleaded ⁵  with him to come to his house,

Or those eighteen who were killed ¹  when the tower in Siloam fell on them, ²  do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? ³ 

No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down ¹  of my own free will. ²  I have the authority ³  to lay it down, and I have the authority ⁴  to take it back again. This commandment ⁵  I received from my Father.”

I no longer call you slaves, ¹  because the slave does not understand ²  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ³  I heard ⁴  from my Father.

because I have given them the words you have given me. They ¹  accepted ²  them ³  and really ⁴  understand ⁵  that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ¹ 

So then, exalted ¹  to the right hand ²  of God, and having received ³  the promise of the Holy Spirit ⁴  from the Father, he has poured out ⁵  what you both see and hear.

And a man lame ¹  from birth ²  was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day ³  so he could beg for money ⁴  from those going into the temple courts. ⁵ 

But I do not consider my life ¹  worth anything ²  to myself, so that ³  I may finish my task ⁴  and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news ⁵  of God’s grace.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received ¹  from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote ²  against them when they were sentenced to death. ³ 

They ¹  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ²  and worshiped and served the creation ³  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith ¹  he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith ²  he still speaks, though he is dead.

So in fact children ¹  were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand ²  on the seashore. ³ 

Pure and undefiled religion before ¹  God the Father ²  is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when that ¹  voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.” ²