And now I advise ¹  you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost. ² 

So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.” ¹ 

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.

And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters ¹  in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ² 

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,

But now ¹  I ask you, lady (not as if I were ²  writing a new commandment ³  to you, but the one ⁴  we have had from the beginning), ⁵  that ⁶  we love one another.

Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go ¹  to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”

and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay ¹  to you the price ²  of the field. Take it from me so that I may ³  bury my dead there.”

When Esau heard ¹  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ²  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”

At the time ¹  of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants ²  in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

“No, please take them,” Jacob said. ¹  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ²  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ³  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ⁴ 

Please take my present ¹  that was brought to you, for God has been generous ²  to me and I have all I need.” ³  When Jacob urged him, he took it. ⁴ 

So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, honor ¹  the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me!”

Manoah prayed to the Lord, ¹  “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God ²  to visit ³  us again, so he can teach ⁴  us how we should raise ⁵  the child who will be born.”

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

Those who are well-fed hire themselves out to earn food, but the hungry no longer lack. Even ¹  the barren woman gives birth to seven, ²  but the one with many children withers away. ³ 

All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God on behalf of us – your servants – so we won’t die, for we have added to all our sins by asking for a king.” ¹ 

May his blood whirl over ¹  the head of Joab and the entire house of his father! ²  May the males of Joab’s house ³  never cease to have ⁴  someone with a running sore or a skin disease or one who works at the spindle ⁵  or one who falls by the sword or one who lacks food!”

Then all the people came and encouraged David to eat food while it was still day. But David took an oath saying, “God will punish me severely ¹  if I taste bread or anything whatsoever before the sun sets!”

When your people ¹  come to their senses ²  in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting, ‘We have sinned and gone astray; ³  we have done evil.’