²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.

¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’^(A)

¹⁷ For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.^(A)

¹⁷ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.^(A)

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.^{(A) 10} If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.^(B)

⁴ even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;^{(A) 6} as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

³ Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.^(A)

⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived

²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’^(A)

²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.’ ”^{(A) 21} He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth.”