¹⁸ Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹² So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³ For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and arguing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

⁶ Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.