But understand this, that in the last days difficult ¹  times will come.

“This commandment I am giving ¹  you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ¹  and difficult language, ²  but ³  to the house of Israel –

What the king is asking is too difficult, and no one exists who can disclose it to the king, except for the gods – but they don’t live among mortals!” ¹ 

Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, ¹  said, “This is a difficult ²  saying! ³  Who can understand it?” ⁴ 

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ¹  – surely if ²  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

And,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘though such a thing may seem to be difficult in the opinion of the small community of those days, will it also appear difficult to me?’ asks the Lord who rules over all.

They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

When Jesus noticed this, ¹  he said, “How hard ²  it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ³ 

“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me. ¹ 

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵ 

Elijah ¹  replied, “That’s a difficult request! ²  If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, ¹  she came to challenge ²  him with difficult questions. ³ 

But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, ¹  it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!

Then ¹  Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

When I tried to make sense of this, it was troubling to me. ¹ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: I am a ¹  meadow flower ²  from Sharon, ³  a lily ⁴  from the valleys.

So remember ¹  your Creator in the days of your youth – before ²  the difficult ³  days come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, ¹  “Children, how hard it is ²  to enter the kingdom of God!