Warning Against Idolatry

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together^(A) with unbelievers.^(B) For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?^{(C) 15} What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[a]?^(D) Or what does a believer^(E) have in common with an unbeliever?^{(F) 16} What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?^(G) For we are the temple^(H) of the living God.^(I) As God has said:

¹⁷ Therefore,

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life,^(A) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^(B)

³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,^(A) so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.^(B)

The Faithful Remnant

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.^(A) A scroll^(B) of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared^(C) the Lord and honored his name.

¹⁷ “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my^(D) treasured possession.^(E) I will spare^(F) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son^(G) who serves him. ¹⁸ And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^(H) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.^(I)