¹² But to all who did receive him, ^(A)who believed in his name, ^(B)he gave the right ^(C)to become ^(D)children of God, ¹³ who ^(E)were born, ^(F)not of blood ^(G)nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁵ For he says to Moses, ^(A)“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^[a] but on God, who has mercy.

^18 (A)Of his own will he ^(B)brought us forth by the word of truth, ^(C)that we should be a kind of ^(D)firstfruits of his creatures.

^23 (A)since you have been born again, ^(B)not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through ^(C)the living and abiding word of God;