Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹ “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not learn to follow the ^[a]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(B)pass^[b] through the fire, ^(C)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ^11 (D)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(E)one who calls up the dead. ¹² For all who do these things are ^[c]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(F)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[d]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[e]appointed such for you.

A New Prophet Like Moses

^15 (G)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, ¹⁶ according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb ^(H)in the day of the assembly, saying, ^(I)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

¹⁷ “And the Lord said to me: ^(J)‘What they have spoken is good. ^18 (K)I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and ^(L)will put My words in His mouth, ^(M)and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ^19 (N)And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰ But ^(O)the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(P)who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (Q)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, ^(R)if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it ^(S)presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Three Cities of Refuge^(T)

19 “When the Lord your God ^(U)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel

A Better Estimate

⁹ But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. ¹⁰ For ^(A)God is not unjust to forget ^(B)your work and ^[a]labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ^(C)ministered to the saints, and do minister. ¹¹ And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence ^(D)to the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² that you do not become ^[b]sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience ^(E)inherit the promises.

God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, ^(F)He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(G)“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the ^(H)promise. ¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and ^(I)an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷ Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to ^(J)the heirs of promise ^(K)the ^[c]immutability of His counsel, ^[d]confirmed it by an oath, ¹⁸ that by two ^[e]immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to ^(L)lie, we ^[f]might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope ^(M)set before us.

¹⁹ This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, ^(N)and which enters the Presence behind the veil, ^20 (O)where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, ^(P)having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The King of Righteousness^(Q)

7 For this ^(R)Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ² to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” ³ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the ^[g]spoils.

The New Birth

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ^2 (A)This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for ^(B)no one can do these signs that You do unless ^(C)God is with him.”

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(D)unless one is born ^[a]again, he cannot see 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, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(E)unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is ^(F)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ^8 (G)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ^(H)“How can these things be?”

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? ^11 (I)Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and ^(J)you do not receive Our witness. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (K)No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man ^[b]who is in heaven. ^14 (L)And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so ^(M)must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever ^(N)believes in Him should ^[c]not perish but ^(O)have eternal life. ^16 (P)For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten ^(Q)Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ^17 (R)For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

^18 (S)“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, ^(T)that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For ^(U)everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been ^(V)done in God.”

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

²² After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them ^(W)and baptized.