“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ¹ 

We ¹  have come to believe and to know ²  that you are the Holy One of God!” ³ 

and said to Jesus, ¹  “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.

They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, ¹  to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ² 

but Paul chose Silas and set out, commended ¹  to the grace of the Lord by the brothers and sisters. ² 

I ¹  persecuted this Way ²  even to the point of death, ³  tying up ⁴  both men and women and putting ⁵  them in prison,

Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ¹  against those who practice such things.

Deacons must be husbands of one wife ¹  and good managers of their children and their own households.

So whoever knows what is good to do ¹  and does not do it is guilty of sin. ² 

In the same way, there are also some among you who follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹ 

Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the field when they heard the news. ¹  They ²  were offended ³  and very angry because Shechem ⁴  had disgraced Israel ⁵  by sexually assaulting ⁶  Jacob’s daughter, a crime that should not be committed. ⁷ 

But he refused, saying ¹  to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought ²  to his household with me here, ³  and everything that he owns he has put into my care. ⁴ 

“If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ¹  (although he did not know it at the time, ²  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ³ 

when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, ¹  then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, ²  or the lost thing that he had found,

You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! ¹  For everything that is abhorrent ²  to him, ³  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, ¹  in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord. ² 

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray ³ , we have done evil!’

The rest of the events of Jehoiakim’s reign, including the horrible sins he committed and his shortcomings, are recorded in the Scroll of the Kings of Israel and Judah. ¹  His son Jehoiachin replaced him as king.

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ²  Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³  your loyal love! Because of ⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ⁵