Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, ¹  through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join fervently with me in prayer to God on my behalf.

For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

My confident hope ¹  is that I will in no way be ashamed ²  but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die. ³ 

not to be easily ¹  shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, ²  to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

Now ¹  when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed ²  because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.

But ¹  they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives ²  so much that they were afraid to die.

This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they said, “for it is written this way by the prophet:

And you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Now when John ¹  heard in prison about the deeds Christ ²  had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: ³ 

Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. ¹ 

Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd ¹  would not press toward him.

When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, ¹  it withered.

Although it grieved the king deeply, ¹  he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

Then ¹  he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

They went out from there and passed through Galilee. But ¹  Jesus ²  did not want anyone to know,

It is easier for a camel ¹  to go through the eye of a needle ²  than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

You will be hated by everyone because of my name. ¹  But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ² 

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus ¹  from one town after another, ²  he spoke to them ³  in a parable: