I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; ¹  I spoke in parables ²  through ³  the prophets.”

He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then ¹  how will you understand any parable?

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem ¹  to visit Cephas ²  and get information from him, ³  and I stayed with him fifteen days.

Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving.

He builds the upper rooms of his palace ¹  in heaven and sets its foundation supports ²  on the earth. ³  He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name.

Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived ¹  me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.”

This ought not to be, ¹  my sons! For the report that I hear circulating among the Lord’s people is not good.

“What ¹  profit is there in taking my life, ²  in my descending into the Pit? ³  Can the dust of the grave ⁴  praise you? Can it declare your loyalty? ⁵ 

so that the next generation, children yet to be born, might know about them. They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ¹ 

I reported, ¹  “All of them are the most stubborn of rebels! ²  They are as hard as bronze or iron. They go about telling lies. They all deal corruptly.

Now the upper chambers were narrower, because the galleries took more space from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.

Then Paul ¹  went back upstairs, ²  and after he had broken bread and eaten, he talked with them ³  a long time, until dawn. Then he left.

Each one of you should give ¹  just as he has decided in his heart, ²  not reluctantly ³  or under compulsion, ⁴  because God loves a cheerful giver.

and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell ¹  how I made fools ²  of the Egyptians ³  and about ⁴  my signs that I displayed ⁵  among them, so that you may know ⁶  that I am the Lord.”

He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it. ¹ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ²  O God, we have clearly heard; ³  our ancestors ⁴  have told us what you did ⁵  in their days, in ancient times. ⁶ 

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

Sounds of violence ¹  will no longer be heard in your land, or the sounds of ²  destruction and devastation within your borders. You will name your walls, ‘Deliverance,’ and your gates, ‘Praise.’

A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, ¹  was sinking ²  into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak ³  for a long time. Fast asleep, ⁴  he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their ¹  condemnation pronounced long ago ²  is not sitting idly by; ³  their ⁴  destruction is not asleep.