“You must observe ¹  the Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat – and the Feast of Ingathering at the end ²  of the year.

He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness.

And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity ¹  for the elders of the city at the gate.

All the people of Judah and Israel had security; everyone from Dan to Beer Sheba enjoyed the produce of their vines and fig trees throughout Solomon’s lifetime. ¹ 

The hungry ¹  eat up his harvest, ²  and take it even from behind the thorns, ³  and the thirsty ⁴  swallow up ⁵  their fortune. ⁶ 

The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ¹  Israel will blossom and grow branches. The produce ²  will fill the surface of the world. ³ 

You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you. ³ 

ט (Tet) Those who died by the sword ¹  are better off than those who die of hunger, ²  those who ³  waste away, ⁴  struck down ⁵  from lack of ⁶  food. ⁷ 

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

For false messiahs ¹  and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Other seed fell among the thorns, ¹  and they grew up and choked it, ²  and it did not produce grain.

For false messiahs ¹  and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, the elect.

Then ¹  he said, ‘I ²  will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Yet many of the crowd ¹  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ²  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ³ 

Now the law came in ¹  so that the transgression ²  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

For our momentary, light suffering ¹  is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death.

My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously ¹  will also reap generously.

I pray ¹  that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing ²  that belongs to you ³  in Christ. ⁴