¹⁴ I do not write these things ^(A)to make you ashamed, but to admonish you ^(B)as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For ^(C)though you have countless^[a] guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For ^(D)I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ I urge you, then, ^(E)be imitators of me.

¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, ^(A)“My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”