⁴ “This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have ^(A)sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ ‘^(B)Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their ^[a]produce. ⁶ Take ^(C)wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease.

²³ But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some ^(A)a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.”

^2 (A)Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter ^(B)various ^[a]trials, ³ knowing that ^(C)the testing of your ^(D)faith produces ^[b](E)endurance. ⁴ And let ^[c](F)endurance have its perfect ^[d]result, so that you may be ^[e](G)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.