Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time ¹  not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” ² 

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ²  as long as he lives?

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ¹  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ² 

¹ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages,

A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, ¹  she is free to marry anyone she wishes (only someone in the Lord).

So God ¹  again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David ²  after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, ³  “O, that today you would listen as he speaks! ⁴  Do not harden your hearts.”

after they were disobedient long ago ¹  when God patiently waited ²  in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark ³  a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.

For they deliberately suppress this fact, ¹  that by the word of God ²  heavens existed long ago and an earth ³  was formed out of water and by means of water.

They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say, “Woe, woe, O great city, Babylon the powerful city! For in a single hour your doom ¹  has come!”

The merchants who sold ¹  these things, who got rich from her, will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment. They will weep ²  and mourn,

because in a single hour such great wealth has been destroyed!” ¹  And every ship’s captain, ²  and all who sail along the coast ³  – seamen, and all who ⁴  make their living from the sea, stood a long way off

But they were expecting that he was going to swell up ¹  or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited ²  a long time and had seen ³  nothing unusual happen ⁴  to him, they changed their minds ⁵  and said he was a god. ⁶ 

They were shown ¹  that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things angels long to catch a glimpse of.

For certain men ¹  have secretly slipped in among you ²  – men who long ago ³  were marked out ⁴  for the condemnation I am about to describe ⁵  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ⁶  and who deny our only Master ⁷  and Lord, ⁸  Jesus Christ.

Each ¹  of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached ²  of both their fellow servants ³  and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.

After these things I looked, and here was ¹  an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, ²  people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.