¹⁴ but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”^(A)

³ and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.^(A)

¹⁶ But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”^(A)

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.^(A)

¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

Jesus Thanks His Father

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I thank^[a] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;^(A)

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

2 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.^{(A) 2} Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation^(B)—

²⁴ When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull,^[a] an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and the child was young.^(A)

²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.”^[a](A)

¹¹ She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,^[a] and no razor shall touch his head.”^(A)