Now before faith ¹  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ²  until the coming faith would be revealed.

So ¹  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ² 

Your faith and love have arisen ¹  from the hope laid up ²  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³ 

and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed ¹  from heaven with his mighty angels. ² 

You, however, ¹  have followed my teaching, my ²  way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance,

Preach the message, ¹  be ready ²  whether it is convenient or not, ³  reprove, rebuke, exhort ⁴  with complete patience and instruction.

For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. ¹ 

But as it is, ¹  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! ² 

But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ¹ 

Listen! ¹  I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home ²  and share a meal with him, and he with me.

“Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants ¹  of our God.”

When Lot ¹  hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. ²  They led them away and placed them ³  outside the city.

When they had brought them outside, they ¹  said, “Run ²  for your lives! Don’t look ³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Here I am, standing by the spring. ¹  When ²  the young woman goes out to draw water, I’ll say, “Give me a little water to drink from your jug.”

He saw ¹  in the field a well with ²  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ³  a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

“‘If anyone dies very suddenly ¹  beside him and he defiles ²  his consecrated head, ³  then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.

Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, ¹  that the cloud prolonged its stay ²  over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; ³  but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with ¹  his sword drawn in his hand, so the donkey turned aside from the road and went into the field. But Balaam beat the donkey, to make her turn back to the road.

The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹  will rage ²  against that man; all the curses ³  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁴  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁵