Woe ¹  to those who wish for the day of the Lord! Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light.

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ²  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

“Go immediately ¹  to Nineveh, ²  that ³  large capital ⁴  city, ⁵  and announce judgment against ⁶  its people ⁷  because their wickedness ⁸  has come to my attention.” ⁹ 

Indeed, the residents of Maroth ¹  hope for something good to happen, ²  though the Lord has sent disaster against the city of Jerusalem. ³ 

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ¹  The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²  and then you will experience confusion. ³ 

“On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes ¹  and the king’s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. ² 

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb ¹  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ² 

So John ¹  said to the crowds ²  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ³  Who warned you to flee ⁴  from the coming wrath?

I have many things to say and to judge ¹  about you, but the Father ²  who sent me is truthful, ³  and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” ⁴ 

So Pilate went back into the governor’s residence, ¹  summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” ² 

and he went back into the governor’s residence ¹  and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

When I was in Jerusalem, ¹  the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed ²  me about him, ³  asking for a sentence of condemnation ⁴  against him.

But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects ¹  of wrath ²  prepared for destruction? ³ 

The one who is spiritual discerns ¹  all things, yet he himself is understood ²  by no one.

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight

Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days –

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. ¹  The ²  one who fears punishment ³  has not been perfected in love.

If a matter is too difficult for you to judge – bloodshed, ¹  legal claim, ²  or assault ³  – matters of controversy in your villages ⁴  – you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses. ⁵ 

What ¹  I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess. ² 

David went out to meet them and said, ¹  “If you come to me in peace and want to help me, then I will make an alliance with you. ²  But if you come to betray me to my enemies when I have not harmed you, ³  may the God of our ancestors ⁴  take notice and judge!”