If you don’t inform me of the dream, there is only one thing that is going to happen to you. ¹  For you have agreed among yourselves to report to me something false and deceitful ²  until such time as things might change. So tell me the dream, and I will have confidence ³  that you can disclose its interpretation.”

“You are righteous, ¹  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ²  – the people ³  of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.

The time of judgment ¹  is about to arrive! ²  The time of retribution ³  is imminent! ⁴  Let Israel know! ⁵ The prophet is considered a fool ⁶  – the inspired man ⁷  is viewed as a madman ⁸  – because of the multitude of your sins and your intense ⁹  animosity.

Even now they persist in sin! ¹  They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion ²  from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: ³  “Those who sacrifice ⁴  to the calf idol are calf kissers!” ⁵ 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Edom has committed three crimes ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  He chased his brother ⁴  with a sword; he wiped out his allies. ⁵  In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest; ⁶  in his fury he relentlessly attacked them. ⁷ 

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, ¹  along with the whole remnant of the people, ²  obeyed ³  the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, ⁴  and the people began to respect the Lord. ⁵ 

“There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

“I ¹  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ²  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ³  who refuse to help ⁴  the immigrant ⁵  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

After they had gone, an ¹  angel of the Lord ²  appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod ³  is going to look for the child to kill him.”

Then ¹  Jesus ²  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross, ⁵  and follow me.

Now on ¹  one of those days, while he was teaching, there were Pharisees ²  and teachers of the law ³  sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), ⁴  and the power of the Lord was with him ⁵  to heal.

On that same occasion ¹  Jesus ²  rejoiced ³  in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise ⁴  you, Father, Lord ⁵  of heaven and earth, because ⁶  you have hidden these things from the wise ⁷  and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. ⁸ 

Now ¹  look, the hand of the Lord is against ²  you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness ³  and darkness came over ⁴  him, and he went around seeking people ⁵  to lead him by the hand.

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 

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

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.

For see what this very thing, this sadness ¹  as God intended, has produced in you: what eagerness, what defense of yourselves, ²  what indignation, ³  what alarm, what longing, what deep concern, ⁴  what punishment! ⁵  In everything you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

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 

(To my disgrace ¹  I must say that we were too weak for that!) ²  But whatever anyone else dares to boast about ³  (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing. ⁴ 

But ¹  he said to me, “My grace is enough ²  for you, for my ³  power is made perfect ⁴  in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly ⁵  about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in ⁶  me.