Now, brothers and sisters, ¹  if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? ²  In that case the offense of the cross ³  has been removed. ⁴ 

The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, because they think they can cause trouble for me in my imprisonment. ¹ 

My aim is to know him, ¹  to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, ²  and to be like him in his death,

I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ²  the word of God,

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, ¹  kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

He regarded abuse suffered for Christ ¹  to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on ²  the reward.

Endure your suffering ¹  as discipline; ²  God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

Remember those in prison as though you were in prison with them, ¹  and those ill-treated as though you too felt their torment. ² 

For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps.

When he was maligned, he ¹  did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened ²  no retaliation, ³  but committed himself to God ⁴  who judges justly.

Dear friends, do not be astonished ¹  that a trial by fire is occurring among you, ²  as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed ¹  you may also rejoice and be glad. ² 

Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ²  but when she realized ³  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁴  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁵ 

When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell, her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict ¹  you in your villages.

From that time on ¹  Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem ²  and suffer ³  many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, ⁴  and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see ¹  my father’s pain.” ² 

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ¹  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ²  but by no means clearing ³  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ⁴ 

and your children will wander ¹  in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, ²  until your dead bodies lie finished ³  in the wilderness.

According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for ¹  your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. ²