Drop the oracular, and be plain.

Wherein have I hurt you ?" The other drew a long breath, and said, pulling at the cord about his waist, "In the five years, I, too, have learned somewhat.
Hillel may not be the equal of the logician you heard, and Simeon and Shammai are, no doubt, inferior to your master hard by the Forum.
Their learning goes not out into forbidden paths; those who sit at their feet arise enriched simply with knowledge of God, the law, and Israel; and the effect is love and reverence for everything that pertains to them.

Attendance at the Great College, and study of what I heard there, have taught me that Judea is not as she used to be.

I know the space that lies between an independent kingdom and the petty province Judea is.

I were meaner, viler, than a Samaritan not to resent the degradation of my country.
Ishmael is not lawfully high-priest, and he cannot be while the noble Hannas lives; yet he is a Levite; one of the devoted who for thousands of years have acceptably served the Lord God of our faith and worship.