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“O Israel,[a] stay away from idols!
    I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
    all your fruit comes from me.”

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Footnotes

  1. 14:8 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel.

Ephraim, what more have I[a] to do with idols?(A)
    I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a flourishing juniper;(B)
    your fruitfulness comes from me.”

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 14:8 Or Hebrew; Septuagint What more has Ephraim

32 Or ‘I don’t know what evil I have done—tell me.
    If I have done wrong, I will stop at once’?

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32 Teach me what I cannot see;(A)
    if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’(B)

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You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.

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For you have spent enough time in the past(A) doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.(B) They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you.(C)

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17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.[a] He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:17a Greek from above, from the Father of lights.
  2. 1:17b Some manuscripts read He never changes, as a shifting shadow does.

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above,(A) coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,(B) who does not change(C) like shifting shadows.

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19 I will plant trees in the barren desert—
    cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.

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19 I will put in the desert(A)
    the cedar and the acacia,(B) the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers(C) in the wasteland,
    the fir and the cypress(D) together,(E)

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14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:16 Lev 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7.

14 As obedient(A) children, do not conform(B) to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.(C) 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;(D) 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a](E)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 1:16 Lev. 11:44,45; 19:2

for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.

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for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned(A) to God from idols(B) to serve the living and true God,(C)

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13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

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13 for it is God who works in you(A) to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.(B)

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For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

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(for the fruit(A) of the light consists in all goodness,(B) righteousness and truth)

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22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

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22 But the fruit(A) of the Spirit is love,(B) joy, peace,(C) forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.(D) Against such things there is no law.(E)

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18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.[a] 20 So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:19 Greek 50,000 pieces of silver, each of which was the equivalent of a day’s wage.

18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.[a] 20 In this way the word of the Lord(A) spread widely and grew in power.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 19:19 A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages.

Jesus, the True Vine

15 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

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The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am(A) the true vine,(B) and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,(C) while every branch that does bear fruit(D) he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.(E) Remain in me, as I also remain in you.(F) No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;(G) apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.(H) If you remain in me(I) and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.(J) This is to my Father’s glory,(K) that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. John 15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans.

16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:16 Or received the grace of Christ rather than the grace of the law; Greek reads received grace upon grace.

16 Out of his fullness(A) we have all received grace(B) in place of grace already given.

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