Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to guard the city gates to make sure the Sabbath remained holy. Remember me, my God, for this. Have mercy on me because of your great love.
I have been sent to preach this Good News, and I am doing that now, here in prison. Pray that when I preach the Good News I will speak without fear, as I should.
I am suffering now because I tell the Good News, but I am not ashamed, because I know Jesus, the One in whom I have believed. And I am sure he is able to protect what he has trusted me with until that day.
So do not be ashamed to tell people about our Lord Jesus, and do not be ashamed of me, in prison for the Lord. But suffer with me for the Good News. God, who gives us the strength to do that,
God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them.
But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back home, each of you to your own mother’s house. May the Lord be as kind to you as you have been to me and my sons who are now dead.