I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. ¹  My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.”’

that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols ¹  and from blood and from what has been strangled ²  and from sexual immorality. ³  If you keep yourselves from doing these things, ⁴  you will do well. Farewell. ⁵ 

But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided ¹  that they should avoid ²  meat that has been sacrificed to idols ³  and blood and what has been strangled ⁴  and sexual immorality.”

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ¹  are without excuse.

Have you been thinking all this time ¹  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ² 

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

Everyone who has been fathered ¹  by God does not practice sin, ²  because ³  God’s ⁴  seed ⁵  resides in him, and thus ⁶  he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

So he named it Shibah; ¹  that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba ²  to this day.

The first disappeared ¹  and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since.

What has been done ¹  on this day the Lord has commanded to be done ²  to make atonement for you.

So Moses numbered them according to the word ¹  of the Lord, just as he had been commanded. ² 

When all the men ¹  had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed.

But you must be loyal to ¹  the Lord your God, as you have been ²  to this very day.

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

When the ark of the Lord had been in the land ¹  of the Philistines for seven months, ² 

David’s two wives had been taken captive – Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow.

The king longed ¹  to go to Absalom, for he had since been consoled over the death of Amnon. ² 

Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader in earlier times, and the Lord was with him.

Hezekiah and all the people were happy about what God had done ¹  for them, ²  for it had been done quickly. ³