¹⁸ Then the king said to the woman, “Don’t keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you.”

“Let my lord the king speak,” the woman said.

¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer^(A) to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope^(B) that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering,^(A) but the bodies are burned outside the camp.^(B)

¹⁷ “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird^(A) and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.^(B)

¹³ So I gave you a land^(A) on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’^(B)

² If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back.

³ When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver.^(A) I will give it back to you.”