¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of ^(A)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “^(B)It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ And ^(C)Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so; ²⁰ for ^(D)Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he ^[a]used to enjoy listening to him.

Christ Is Our Advocate

2 ^(A)My little children, I am ^(B)writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^(C)we have an ^[a](D)Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is ^(E)the ^[b]propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also ^(F)for the sins of the whole world.

^2 (A)By this we know that ^(B)we love the children of God, when we love God and ^[a]follow His commandments. ³ For ^(C)this is the love of God, that we ^(D)keep His commandments; and ^(E)His commandments are not burdensome.

²¹ However, if you have ^(A)warned ^[a]the righteous person that the righteous is not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall certainly live because he took warning; and you have saved yourself.”

²² Because you ^(A)disheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him pain, but you have ^[a](B)encouraged the wicked not to ^(C)turn from his wicked way to keep him alive,

⁵ “But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness, ⁶ if he does not ^(A)eat at the mountain shrines or ^(B)raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or ^(C)defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period— ⁷ and if a man does not oppress anyone, but ^(D)restores to the debtor his pledge, ^(E)does not commit robbery, but ^(F)gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing, ⁸ and if he does not ^[a]lend money at ^(G)interest or take ^[b](H)interest, if he keeps his hand from injustice and ^(I)executes true justice between one person and another, ⁹ if he walks in ^(J)My statutes and keeps My ordinances so as to deal faithfully—^(K)he is righteous and will certainly ^(L)live,” declares the Lord God.