Through Silvanus, ¹  whom I know to be a faithful brother, ²  I have written to you briefly, in order to encourage you and testify ³  that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. ⁴ 

And we have come to know and to believe ¹  the love that God has in us. ²  God is love, and the one who resides ³  in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

I also call on you ¹  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ²  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love ¹  the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, ²  obey ³  his commands, be loyal to him, ⁴  and serve him with all your heart and being!” ⁵ 

When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ¹  knelt ²  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

He got up on the bed and spread his body out over ¹  the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s ²  mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin ³  grew warm.

I thought deeply ¹  about the effects of ²  indulging ³  myself ⁴  with wine (all the while ⁵  my mind was guiding me ⁶  with wisdom) ⁷  and the effects of ⁸  behaving foolishly, ⁹  so that I might discover what is profitable for people to do on earth during the few days of their lives.

So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, ¹  he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, ²  because he willingly submitted ³  to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened ⁴  on behalf of the rebels.”

Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. ¹ 

For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally.

Jesus ¹  answered them, “I tell you the truth, ²  if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ²  How often I have longed ³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ⁴  you would have none of it! ⁵ 

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.

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ¹  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²  from these worthless ³  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ⁴  the sea, and everything that is in them.

After there had been much debate, ¹  Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago ²  God chose ³  me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message ⁴  of the gospel ⁵  and believe. ⁶ 

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ¹  so that he would become ²  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ³  that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ²  who is the father of us all

More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ¹  – that I may gain Christ,