“‘This is what the Lord says: Egypt’s supporters will fall; her confident pride will crumble. ¹  From Migdol to Syene ²  they will die by the sword within her, declares the sovereign Lord.

In Tahpanhes the day will be dark ¹  when I break the yoke of Egypt there. Her confident pride will cease within her; a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die.

The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

but you rise up as an enemy against my people. ¹  You steal a robe from a friend, ²  from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. ³ 

Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. ¹  Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

Then ¹  he said to them, “Where is your faith?” ²  But they were afraid and amazed, ³  saying to one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the water, ⁴  and they obey him!”

So ¹  the Lord replied, ²  “If ³  you had faith the size of ⁴  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ⁵  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ⁶  and it would obey ⁷  you.

I no longer call you slaves, ¹  because the slave does not understand ²  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ³  I heard ⁴  from my Father.

But Barnabas took ¹  Saul, ²  brought ³  him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that ⁴  the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly ⁵  in the name of Jesus.

‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! ¹  For I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” ² 

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, ¹  “If ²  you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, ³  come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded ⁴  us.

But I confess this to you, that I worship ¹  the God of our ancestors ²  according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law ³  and that is written in the prophets.

a promise ¹  that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God ²  night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, ³  Your Majesty! ⁴ 

Nor do we boast beyond certain limits ¹  in the work ²  done by others, but we hope ³  that as your faith continues to grow, our work may be greatly expanded ⁴  among you according to our limits, ⁵ 

My confident hope ¹  is that I will in no way be ashamed ²  but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. ³ 

For though ¹  I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see ²  your morale ³  and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

For from you the message of the Lord ¹  has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, ²  so that we do not need to say anything.

so that your hearts are strengthened in holiness to be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. ¹ 

For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, ¹  that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.