12 x“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ythe covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will zlove you, bless you, and multiply you. aHe will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. bThere shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil cdiseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And dyou shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. eYour eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be fa snare to you.
17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 gyou shall not be afraid of them but you shall hremember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, ithe signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, jthe Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is kin your midst, la great and awesome God. 22 mThe Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,1 lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 nBut the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And ohe will give their kings into your hand, and you shall pmake their name perish from under heaven. qNo one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods ryou shall burn with fire. You sshall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be tensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction2 like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ufor it is devoted to destruction.
1 “The whole commandment that I command you today vyou shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you wthese forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, xtesting you yto know what was in your heart, zwhether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and alet you hunger and bfed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that cman does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word3 that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 dYour clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, eas a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, fa land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, gof vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 hlest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 ithen your heart be lifted up, and you jforget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who kled you through the great and terrifying wilderness, lwith its fiery serpents and scorpions mand thirsty ground where there was no water, nwho brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with omanna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, pto do you good in the end. 17 Beware qlest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for rit is he who gives you power to get wealth, sthat he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, tI solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, uso shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
1 “Hear, O Israel: you are vto cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations wgreater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, xthe sons of the Anakim, ywhom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that he who zgoes over before you aas a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. bSo you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
4 c“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is dbecause of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 eNot because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm fthe word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are ga stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. hFrom the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 Even iat Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. 9 jWhen I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain kforty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. 10 And lthe Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire mon the day of the assembly. 11 And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord said to me, n‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have oturned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’
13 p“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is ga stubborn people. 14 qLet me alone, that I may destroy them and rblot out their name from under heaven. And sI will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 tSo I turned and came down from the mountain, and uthe mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And vI looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden4 calf. wYou had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I xlay prostrate before the Lord yas before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, zin doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. aBut the Lord listened to me that time also. 20 And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then bI took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
22 “At cTaberah also, and at dMassah and at eKibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. 23 And fwhen the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and gdid not believe him or obey his voice. 24 hYou have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
25 x“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. 26 iAnd I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, 28 lest the land from which you brought us say, j“Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” 29 kFor they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’
1 “At that time the Lord said to me, l‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and mmake an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and nyou shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark oof acacia wood, and pcut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4 And qhe wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments5 rthat the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire son the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and tcame down from the mountain and uput the tablets in the ark that I had made. vAnd there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”
6 (The people of Israel wjourneyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan6 to Moserah. xThere Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. 7 yFrom there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. 8 At that time zthe Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ato carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord bto stand before the Lord to minister to him and cto bless in his name, to this day. 9 dTherefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.)
10 e“I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, fand the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. 11 gAnd the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
12 “And now, Israel, hwhat does the Lord your God require of you, but ito fear the Lord your God, jto walk in all his ways, kto love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and lto keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today mfor your good? 14 Behold, nto the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, othe earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet pthe Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore qthe foreskin of your heart, and be no longer rstubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is sGod of gods and tLord of lords, uthe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is vnot partial and takes no bribe. 18 wHe executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 xLove the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 iYou shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and yhold fast to him, and zby his name you shall swear. 21 aHe is your praise. He is your God, bwho has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt cseventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you das numerous as the stars of heaven.
1 e“You shall therefore love the Lord your God and fkeep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. 2 And consider today (since I am not speaking to gyour children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline7 of the Lord your God, hhis greatness, ihis mighty hand and his outstretched arm, 3 jhis signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, khow he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, 5 and lwhat he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, 6 and mwhat he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. 7 For your eyes have seen nall the great work of the Lord that he did.
8 “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may obe strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, 9 and pthat you may live long in the land qthat the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, ra land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it,8 like a garden of vegetables. 11 sBut the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, 12 a land that the Lord your God cares for. tThe eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, uto love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 vhe9 will give the rain for your land in its season, wthe early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 xAnd he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and yyou shall eat and be full. 16 Take care zlest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and aserve other gods and worship them; 17 then bthe anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he cwill shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and dyou will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
18 e“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and fyou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 gYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 hthat your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, ias long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if jyou will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and kholding fast to him, 23 then the Lord lwill drive out all these nations before you, and you will mdispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 nEvery place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be ofrom the wilderness to10 the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. 25 pNo one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay qthe fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, ras he promised you.
Isaiah 49:14–51:3
14 But Zion said, m“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 n“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;1
pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 qLift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
rAs I live, declares the Lord,
syou shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 uThe children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
t‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
uI was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
vand raise my signal to the peoples;
wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,2
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 xKings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and zlick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant3 be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
c“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk ewith their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that fI am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
1 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is gyour mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which hI sent her away?
Or iwhich of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 kWhy, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
mBehold, by my rebuke nI dry up the sea,
oI make the rivers a desert;
ptheir fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 qI clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord God has given rme
the tongue of those who are taught,
that sI may know how to sustain with a word
thim who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 uThe Lord God has opened my ear,
vand I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 wI gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 yHe who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 zBehold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys athe voice of his servant?
bLet him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
cThis you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
1 d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for ehe was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord fcomforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like gEden,
her desert like hthe garden of the Lord;
ijoy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Luke 4:1–13
1 sAnd Jesus, tfull of the Holy Spirit, ureturned from the Jordan and was led vby the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for wforty days, xbeing tempted by the devil. wAnd he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, yhe was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are zthe Son of God, command athis stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, b“It is written, c‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 dAnd the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you eI will give all this authority and their glory, efor it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, f“It is written,
g“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and hhim only shall you serve.’”
9 iAnd he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are jthe Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
k“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
k“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, l‘You shall not mput the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him nuntil an opportune time.
John 13:31–15:27
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, n“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and oGod is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, pGod will also glorify him in himself, and qglorify him at once. 33 Little children, ryet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just sas I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 tA new commandment uI give to you, vthat you love one another: wjust as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 xBy this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” yJesus answered him, “Where I am going zyou cannot follow me now, abut you will follow afterward.” 37 bPeter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, cthe rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
1 d“Let not your hearts be troubled. eBelieve in God;1 believe also in me. 2 In fmy Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that gI go to prepare a place for you?2 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you hto myself, that iwhere I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”3 5 jThomas said to him, “Lord, kwe do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am lthe way, and mthe truth, and nthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 oIf you had known me, you would have pknown my Father also.4 From now on you do know him and qhave seen him.”
8 rPhilip said to him, “Lord, sshow us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? tWhoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that uI am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you vI do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that uI am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else wbelieve on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, xwhoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I yam going to the Father. 13 zWhatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that athe Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 zIf you ask me5 anything in my name, I will do it.
15 b“If you love me, you will ckeep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another dHelper,6 to be with you forever, 17 even ethe Spirit of truth, fwhom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and gwill be7 in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; hI will come to you. 19 iYet a little while and the world will see me no more, but jyou will see me. kBecause I live, you also will live. 20 lIn that day you will know that mI am in my Father, and nyou in me, and oI in you. 21 pWhoever has my commandments and qkeeps them, he it is who loves me. And rhe who loves me swill be loved by my Father, and I will love him and tmanifest myself to him.” 22 uJudas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it vthat you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, w“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and xwe will come to him and ymake our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And zthe word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the aHelper, the Holy Spirit, bwhom the Father will send in my name, che will teach you all things and dbring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 ePeace I leave with you; fmy peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. gLet not your hearts be troubled, neither hlet them be afraid. 28 iYou heard me say to you, j‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I kam going to the Father, for lthe Father is greater than I. 29 And mnow I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for nthe ruler of this world is coming. oHe has no claim on me, 31 but I do pas the Father has commanded me, qso that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
1 “I am the rtrue vine, and my Father is sthe vinedresser. 2 tEvery branch in me that does not bear fruit uhe takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, vthat it may bear more fruit. 3 Already wyou are clean xbecause of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 yAbide zin me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; ayou are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bbears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me che is thrown away like a branch and withers; dand the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If eyou abide in me, and my words abide in you, fask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 gBy this my Father is glorified, that you hbear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 iAs the Father has loved me, jso have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 kIf you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as lI have kept mmy Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, nthat my joy may be in you, and that oyour joy may be full.
12 p“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 qGreater love has no one than this, rthat someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are smy friends tif you do what I command you. 15 uNo longer do I call you servants,8 for the servant wdoes not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for xall that I have heard from my Father yI have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but zI chose you and appointed you that you should go and abear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that bwhatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, cso that you will love one another.
18 d“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 eIf you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because fyou are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: g‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, hthey will also persecute you. iIf they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But jall these things they will do to you kon account of my name, lbecause they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, mthey would not have been guilty of sin,9 but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 nWhoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 oIf I had not done among them the works that no one else did, mthey would not be guilty of sin, but now they have pseen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But qthe word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: r‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “But swhen the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, the will bear witness about me. 27 And uyou also will bear witness, vbecause you have been with me wfrom the beginning.
Romans 8:31–39
31 What then shall we say to these things? pIf God is for us, who can be1 against us? 32 qHe who did not spare his own Son but rgave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? sIt is God who justifies. 34 tWho is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—uwho is at the right hand of God, vwho indeed is interceding for us.2 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
w“For your sake xwe are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than yconquerors through zhim who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 12
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and wsin which clings so closely, and xlet us run ywith endurance the race that is zset before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, awho for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising bthe shame, and cis seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 dConsider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or efainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
f“My son, gdo not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For hthe Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. iGod is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, jin which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to kthe Father of spirits land live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, mthat we may share his holiness. 11 nFor the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields othe peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore plift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and qmake straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint rbut rather be healed. 14 sStrive for peace with everyone, and for the tholiness uwithout which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one vfails to obtain the grace of God; that no w“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is xsexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that yafterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
18 For you have not come to zwhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and athe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words bmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, c“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, dso terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to eMount Zion and to the city of the living God, fthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to ginnumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to hthe assembly1 of the firstborn who are ienrolled in heaven, and to jGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, kthe mediator of a new covenant, and to lthe sprinkled blood mthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For nif they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time ohis voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, p“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates qthe removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ra kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus slet us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our tGod is a consuming fire.
James 5:7–11
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives kthe early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. lEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord mis at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, nso that you may not be judged; behold, othe Judge is standing pat the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take qthe prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of rthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen sthe purpose of the Lord, how tthe Lord is compassionate and merciful.
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