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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.

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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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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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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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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.

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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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.

20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

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13 “The glory of Lebanon will be yours—
    the forests of cypress, fir, and pine—
to beautify my sanctuary.
    My Temple will be glorious!

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13 Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
    Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
    they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

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27 He will declare to his friends,
‘I sinned and twisted the truth,
    but it was not worth it.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 33:27 Greek version reads but he [God] did not punish me as my sin deserved.

13 For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:13 Greek through the one.

11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ[a]—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:11 Greek with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ.

47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

48 “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

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Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him,
“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.[a]
Assyria cannot save us,
    nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
    ‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
    do the orphans find mercy.”

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Footnotes

  1. 14:2 As in Greek and Syriac versions, which read may repay the fruit of our lips; Hebrew reads may repay the bulls of our lips.

18 I have heard Israel[a] saying,
‘You disciplined me severely,
    like a calf that needs training for the yoke.
Turn me again to you and restore me,
    for you alone are the Lord my God.
19 I turned away from God,
    but then I was sorry.
I kicked myself for my stupidity!
    I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’

20 “Is not Israel still my son,
    my darling child?” says the Lord.
“I often have to punish him,
    but I still love him.
That’s why I long for him
    and surely will have mercy on him.

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Footnotes

  1. 31:18 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 31:20.

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