Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath ¹  (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), ²  the Jewish leaders ³  asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs ⁴  broken ⁵  and the bodies taken down. ⁶ 

The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, ¹  “Unless I see the wounds ²  from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!” ³ 

‘And in the last days ¹  it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, ²  and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. ¹  So ²  for a whole year Barnabas and Saul ³  met with the church and taught a significant number of people. ⁴  Now it was in Antioch ⁵  that the disciples were first called Christians. ⁶ 

After they had passed the first and second guards, ¹  they came to the iron ²  gate leading into the city. It ³  opened for them by itself, ⁴  and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, ⁵  when at once the angel left him.

She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, ¹  and turned ²  and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ ³  to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once. ⁴ 

He came ¹  to us, took ²  Paul’s belt, ³  tied ⁴  his own hands and feet with it, ⁵  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ⁶  to the Gentiles.’”

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹  He is our father ²  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ³  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁴ 

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ³ 

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The ¹  one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. ¹  In fact, it would be better for me to die than – no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting! ² 

No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. ¹  And God is faithful: He ²  will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, ³  but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

For if someone comes and proclaims ¹  another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, ²  or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, ³  or a different gospel than the one you accepted, ⁴  you put up with it well enough! ⁵ 

Because of this I am writing these things while absent, so that when I arrive ¹  I may not have to deal harshly with you ²  by using my authority – the Lord gave it to me for building up, not for tearing down!

I have been crucified with Christ, ¹  and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So ²  the life I now live in the body, ³  I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, ⁴  who loved me and gave himself for me.

For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; ¹  break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains, because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.” ² 

For ¹  it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, ²  since both in my imprisonment ³  and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace ⁴  together with me.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.