The Lord who rules over all ¹  says, “The people of Israel are oppressed. So too are the people of Judah. ²  All those who took them captive are holding them prisoners. They refuse to set them free.

“‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ¹  became his.

The army was given over, ¹  along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. ²  It hurled ³  truth ⁴  to the ground and enjoyed success. ⁵ 

He will also take their gods into captivity to Egypt, along with their cast images and prized utensils of silver and gold. Then he will withdraw for some years from ¹  the king of the north.

“At that time ¹  I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish ²  the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare ³  – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.” ⁴ 

The prophet ¹  is a watchman ²  over Ephraim ³  on behalf of God, ⁴  yet traps ⁵  are laid for him along all of his paths; ⁶  animosity rages against him in the land ⁷  of his God.

Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem ¹  was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah ²  were also populated?

He told him, ¹  “See that you do not say anything to anyone, ²  but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded ³  for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” ⁴ 

Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while ¹  the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.

And they began making fun of him. ¹  But he put them all outside ²  and he took the child’s father and mother and his own companions ³  and went into the room where the child was. ⁴ 

Then ¹  he ordered the man ²  to tell no one, ³  but commanded him, ⁴  “Go ⁵  and show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering ⁶  for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, ⁷  as a testimony to them.” ⁸ 

And a man lame ¹  from birth ²  was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day ³  so he could beg for money ⁴  from those going into the temple courts. ⁵ 

“For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ¹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ² 

After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return ¹  and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord ²  to see how they are doing.” ³ 

So the next day Agrippa ¹  and Bernice came with great pomp ²  and entered the audience hall, ³  along with the senior military officers ⁴  and the prominent men of the city. When Festus ⁵  gave the order, ⁶  Paul was brought in.

Indeed, he who ¹  did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

I urged Titus to visit you ¹  and I sent our ²  brother along with him. Titus did not take advantage of you, did he? ³  Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit? Did we not behave in the same way? ⁴ 

For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, ¹  and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly ²  had a better and lasting possession.

So ¹  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

King Jehoash of Judah collected all the sacred items that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, as well as his own sacred items and all the gold that could be found in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace. He sent it all ¹  to King Hazael of Syria, who then withdrew ²  from Jerusalem.