Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, ¹  for I proclaim to you good news ²  that brings great joy to all the people:

Every day ¹  they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ²  breaking bread from ³  house to house, sharing their food with glad ⁴  and humble hearts, ⁵ 

When they had appointed elders ¹  for them in the various churches, ²  with prayer and fasting ³  they entrusted them to the protection ⁴  of the Lord in whom they had believed.

Crispus, the president of the synagogue, ¹  believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it ²  believed and were baptized.

that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in ¹  our sufferings, so also you will share in ²  our comfort.

He ¹  delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him ²  that ³  he will deliver us yet again,

So I recommend the enjoyment of life, ¹  for there is nothing better on earth ²  for a person to do ³  except ⁴  to eat, drink, and enjoy ⁵  life. ⁶  So ⁷  joy ⁸  will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life which God gives him on earth. ⁹ 

I ¹  will greatly rejoice ²  in the Lord; I will be overjoyed because of my God. ³  For he clothes me in garments of deliverance; he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. ⁴  I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would; I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. ⁵ 

“The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth ¹  months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages. ¹ 

When the men ¹  arrived after David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul. They were happy as they played their tambourines and three-stringed instruments. ² 

His wife Jezebel said to him, “You are the king of Israel! ¹  Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. ²  I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.”

Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat leading them; the Lord had given them reason to rejoice over their enemies.

for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ¹  those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ²  “Sing for us a song about Zion!” ³ 

So I weep along with Jazer ¹  over the vines of Sibmah. I will saturate you ²  with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the conquering invaders shout triumphantly over your fruit and crops. ³ 

those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ¹  They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, ²  happiness and joy will overwhelm ³  them; grief and suffering will disappear. ⁴ 

This is what the Lord says, your protector, ¹  the Holy One of Israel: ²  “For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives, ³  turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs. ⁴ 

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! ¹  Say, ‘The Lord protects ²  his servant Jacob.