So give orders to secure the tomb until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal his body ¹  and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem. ¹  Jesus was going ahead of them, and they were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

He ¹  said also to the man ²  who had invited him, “When you host a dinner or a banquet, ³  don’t invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors so you can be invited by them in return and get repaid.

Also some of the Epicurean ¹  and Stoic ²  philosophers were conversing ³  with him, and some were asking, ⁴  “What does this foolish babbler ⁵  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ⁶  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ⁷ 

The next day, because the commanding officer ¹  wanted to know the true reason ²  Paul ³  was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council ⁴  to assemble. He then brought ⁵  Paul down and had him stand before them.

So now you and the council ¹  request the commanding officer ²  to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine ³  his case ⁴  by conducting a more thorough inquiry. ⁵  We are ready to kill him ⁶  before he comes near this place.” ⁷ 

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³ 

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. ¹  Then resume your relationship, ²  so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving? But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

But we have rejected ¹  shameful hidden deeds, ²  not behaving ³  with deceptiveness ⁴  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, ¹ 

Finally then, brothers and sisters, ¹  we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how ²  you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) ³  that you do so more and more.

but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, ¹  now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, ²  so that by God’s grace he would experience ³  death on behalf of everyone.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” ¹  And yet God’s works ²  were accomplished from the foundation of the world.

keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹ 

You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

Moreover, ¹  we ²  possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. ³  You do well if you pay attention ⁴  to this ⁵  as you would ⁶  to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star ⁷  rises in your hearts. ⁸ 

For certain men ¹  have secretly slipped in among you ²  – men who long ago ³  were marked out ⁴  for the condemnation I am about to describe ⁵  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ⁶  and who deny our only Master ⁷  and Lord, ⁸  Jesus Christ.

So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder ¹  and said, “You must ²  hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men ³  a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” ⁴