⁹ In this ^(A)manner, therefore, pray:

³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But ^(A)seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

^14 (A)“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in ^(B)sincerity and in truth, and ^(C)put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of ^[a]the River and ^(D)in Egypt. Serve the Lord! ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, ^(E)choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether ^(F)the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of ^[b]the River, or ^(G)the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. ^(H)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁵ “See, ^(A)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (B)I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ^19 (C)I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that ^(D)I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

¹⁹ And my God ^(A)shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. ^20 (B)Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(A)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(B)we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, ^(C)because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, ^(D)now we are children of God; and ^(E)it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, ^(F)we shall be like Him, for ^(G)we shall see Him as He is.

Knowing the True—Rejecting the False

¹⁸ We know that ^(A)whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God ^(B)keeps^{[a] [b]}himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

God the Help of Those Who Seek Him

A Song of Ascents.