Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were ¹  in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute ²  to the king of Assyria.

“So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ¹  its good things – we are slaves!

For ²  Solomon. O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ³  Grant the king’s son ⁴  the ability to make fair decisions! ⁵ 

He generously gives ¹  to the needy; his integrity endures. ²  He will be vindicated and honored. ³ 

The one who oppresses the poor to increase his own gain and the one who gives to the rich ¹  – both end up only in poverty.

You take olive oil as tribute ¹  to your king, ²  along with many perfumes. ³  You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol. ⁴ 

Afterward, the Israelites will turn and seek the Lord their God and their Davidic king. ¹  Then they will submit to the Lord in fear and receive his blessings ²  in the future. ³ 

They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ¹  government officials and judges take bribes, ²  prominent men make demands, and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ³ 

“Choose some people ¹  from among the exiles, namely, Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, all of whom have come from Babylon, and when you have done so go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ² 

so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ¹ 

At that very time ¹  Jesus ²  cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, ³  and evil spirits, and granted ⁴  sight to many who were blind.

For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. ¹  But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.” ² 

and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity ¹  have been remembered before God. ² 

Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.

He, the very one ¹  who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

and he must present his offering ¹  to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish for a purification offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, ² 

You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners ¹  and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers. ² 

and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled ¹  spun goats’ hair.