5 ⁿBuild houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^opray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^pDo not let your prophets and ^qyour diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,¹ 9 for ^rit is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^sI did not send them, declares the Lord.

By Grace Through Faith

1 ^jAnd you were ^kdead in the trespasses and sins 2 ^lin which you once walked, following the course¹ of this world, following ^mthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ⁿthe sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in ^othe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and ^pwere by nature ^qchildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.² 4 But³ God, being ^rrich in mercy, ^sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even ^twhen we were dead in our trespasses, ^umade us alive together with Christ—^vby grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and ^wseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable ^xriches of his grace in ^ykindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For ^zby grace you have been saved ^athrough faith. And this is ^bnot your own doing; ^cit is the gift of God, 9 ^dnot a result of works, ^eso that no one may boast. 10 For ^fwe are his workmanship, ^gcreated in Christ Jesus ^hfor good works, ⁱwhich God prepared beforehand, ^jthat we should walk in them.

The Fellowship of the Believers

42 And ^athey devoted themselves to the apostles’ ^bteaching and the ^cfellowship, to ^dthe breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe¹ came upon every soul, and ^emany wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and ^fhad all things in common. 45 And ^fthey were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, ^gattending the temple ^htogether and ⁱbreaking bread in their homes, they received their food ^jwith glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and ^khaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ^ladded to their number ^mday by day those who ⁿwere being saved.