But ¹  indeed, ²  some are last ³  who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor ¹  of Syria.

But first he must ¹  suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Whenever ¹  you enter a house, ²  first say, ‘May peace ³  be on this house!’

Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman ¹  and died without children.

Jesus ¹  said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, ²  “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Yet ¹  another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” ² 

The ¹  Pharisee was astonished when he saw that Jesus ²  did not first wash his hands ³  before the meal.

So ¹  the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, ²  your mina ³  has made ten minas more.’

So ¹  he contacted ²  his master’s debtors one by one. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

Now on the first day ¹  of the week, at early dawn, the women ²  went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices ³  they had prepared.

And when you hear of wars and rebellions, ¹  do not be afraid. ²  For these things must happen first, but the end will not come at once.” ³ 

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down ¹  first and compute the cost ²  to see if he has enough money to complete it?

Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down ¹  first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose ²  the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so ¹  the last state of that person ²  is worse than the first.” ³ 

Meanwhile, ¹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ³  the yeast of the Pharisees, ⁴  which is hypocrisy. ⁵ 

But one after another they all ¹  began to make excuses. ²  The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, ³  and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’ ⁴ 

But ¹  when a stronger man ²  attacks ³  and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s ⁴  armor on which the man relied ⁵  and divides up ⁶  his plunder. ⁷ 

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

I tell you, even though the man inside ¹  will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s ²  sheer persistence ³  he will get up and give him whatever he needs.