I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. ¹  Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.

They will not need to take ¹  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ²  declares the sovereign Lord.

Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody – each one – against everyone else.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell. ¹ 

Thus whenever you do charitable giving, ¹  do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues ²  and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.

“But woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. ⁴ 

Six days later ¹  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them alone up a high mountain privately. And he was transfigured before them, ² 

When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

The ¹  next day he took out two silver coins ²  and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ ³ 

So ¹  he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For ²  three years ³  now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it ⁴  I find none. Cut ⁵  it down! Why ⁶  should it continue to deplete ⁷  the soil?’

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ¹  ‘God, I thank ²  you that I am not like other people: ³  extortionists, ⁴  unrighteous people, ⁵  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ⁶ 

and said to him, “Everyone ¹  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ²  wine when the guests ³  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹  shown up as a liar, ²  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ³  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁴ 

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, ¹  it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. ¹  Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

who comforts us in all our troubles ¹  so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble ²  with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Through the evidence ¹  of this service ²  they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing ³  with them and with everyone.

For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ. ¹