with the harvest of the earth and its fullness and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. ¹  May blessing rest on Joseph’s head, and on the top of the head of the one set apart ²  from his brothers.

So they selected ¹  Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

King David dedicated these things to the Lord, ¹  along with the silver and gold which he had carried off from all the nations, including ²  Edom, ³  Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.

They went to King Hezekiah and said: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment.

They made disbursements to all the males three years old and up who were listed in the genealogical records – to all who would enter the Lord’s temple to serve on a daily basis and fulfill their duties as assigned to their divisions. ¹ 

Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.

The Lord says to the people of Judah, ¹  “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? ²  Many of you have done wicked things. ³  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings ⁴  that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them? ⁵ 

“For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ¹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ² 

with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, ¹  that ²  God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He ³  went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, ⁴  because God was with him. ⁵ 

And now I entrust ¹  you to God and to the message ²  of his grace. This message ³  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ¹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²  – which is your reasonable service.

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve ¹  the gospel of God ²  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, ³  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Some of you once lived this way. ¹  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ²  and by the Spirit of our God.

Now, brothers and sisters, ¹  you know about the household of Stephanus, that as the first converts ²  of Achaia, they devoted themselves to ministry for the saints. I urge you

To me – less than the least of all the saints ¹  – this grace was given, ²  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired ¹  on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony. ² 

So if someone cleanses himself of such behavior, ¹  he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints.

How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for ¹  the Son of God, and profanes ²  the blood of the covenant that made him holy, ³  and insults the Spirit of grace?