⁴⁴ I am the Lord your God;^(A) consecrate yourselves^(B) and be holy,^(C) because I am holy.^(D) Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.^(E)

⁴⁵ I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt^(A) to be your God;^(B) therefore be holy, because I am holy.^(C)

⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.^(A)

⁷ The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous^(A) than other peoples, for you were the fewest^(B) of all peoples.^(C)

⁴ But because of his great love for us,^(A) God, who is rich in mercy,

3 See what great love^(A) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(B) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^(C)

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another,^(A) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God^(B) and knows God.^{(C) 8} Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.^{(D) 9} This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^(E) into the world that we might live through him.^{(F) 10} This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(G) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.^{(H) 11} Dear friends,^(I) since God so loved us,^(J) we also ought to love one another.^{(K) 12} No one has ever seen God;^(L) but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.^(M)