God’s Commission to Joshua

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying, ² “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.^{(A) 3} Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.^{(B) 4} From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.^{(C) 5} No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.^{(D) 6} Be strong and courageous, for you shall lead this people to possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go.^{(E) 8} This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.^{(F) 9} I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”^(G)

³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,^{(A) 34} quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.^{(B) 35} Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.^{(C) 36} Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.^{(D) 37} They were stoned to death; they were sawn in two;^[a] they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented^(E)— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.^(F)

³⁹ Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.^(G)

The Example of Jesus

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,^[b] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,^{(H) 2} looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of^[c] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.^(I)

Jesus the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes^[a] to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed^[b] by the word that I have spoken to you.^{(A) 4} Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.^{(B) 5} I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^{(C) 8} My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become^[c] my disciples.^{(D) 9} As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.^{(E) 11} I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^(F)

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.^{(G) 13} No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^{(H) 14} You are my friends if you do what I command you.^{(I) 15} I do not call you servants^[d] any longer, because the servant^[e] does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.^(J)