1 Now ^mthe Lord said¹ to Abram, “Go from your country² and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 ⁿAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 ^oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”³

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^qHaran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram ^rpassed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^sthe oak⁴ of ^tMoreh. At that time ^uthe Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^v“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^wBethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

A Song of ^mAscents.

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, ^tour forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but ^unot before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? ^v“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now ^wto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but ^xbelieves in¹ him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

13 For ^ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring ^fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 ^gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For ^hthe law brings wrath, but ⁱwhere there is no law ^jthere is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, ^kin order that the promise may rest on grace and ^lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, ^mwho is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, ⁿ“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, ^owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence ^pthe things that do not exist.

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named ^hNicodemus, ⁱa ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus^{1 j}by night and said to him, ^k“Rabbi, ^lwe know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do ^munless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ⁿborn ^oagain² he cannot ^psee the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^qof water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 ^rThat which is born of the flesh is ^sflesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.³ 7 ^tDo not marvel that I said to you, ‘You⁴ must be born ^uagain.’ 8 ^vThe wind⁵ blows ^wwhere it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, ^x“How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel ^yand yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, ^zwe speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but ^zyou⁶ do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 ^aNo one has ^bascended into heaven except ^che who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.⁷ 14 And ^das Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ^ebe lifted up, 15 that whoever believes ^fin him ^gmay have eternal life.⁸

16 “For ^hGod so loved ⁱthe world,^{9 j}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^kperish but have eternal life. 17 For ^lGod did not send his Son into the world ^mto condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.