Sons and Heirs

²⁶ For you ^(A)are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For ^(B)as many of you as were baptized into Christ ^(C)have put on Christ. ^28 (D)There is neither Jew nor Greek, ^(E)there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ^(F)one in Christ Jesus.

^23 (A)having been born again, not of ^[a]corruptible seed but ^[b]incorruptible, ^(B)through the word of God which lives and abides ^[c]forever, ²⁴ because

³² And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of ^(A)Gideon and ^(B)Barak and ^(C)Samson and ^(D)Jephthah, also of ^(E)David and ^(F)Samuel and the prophets: ³³ who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, ^(G)stopped the mouths of lions, ^34 (H)quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. ^35 (I)Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were ^(J)tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and ^(K)of chains and imprisonment. ^37 (L)They were stoned, they were sawn in two, ^[a]were tempted, were slain with the sword. ^(M)They wandered about ^(N)in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, ^(O)in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And all these, ^(P)having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be ^(Q)made perfect apart from us.

The Race of Faith

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ^(R)let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and ^(S)let us run ^(T)with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the ^[b]author and ^[c]finisher of our faith, ^(U)who for the joy that was set before Him ^(V)endured the cross, despising the shame, and ^(W)has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? ^(A)If God is for us, who can be against us?

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(A)unless one is born ^[a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(B)unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

¹² But ^(A)as many as received Him, to them He gave the ^[a]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ^13 (B)who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Becomes Flesh

^14 (C)And the Word ^(D)became ^(E)flesh and dwelt among us, and ^(F)we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, ^(G)full of grace and truth.

³⁵ All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; ^(A)and the name of the city from that day shall be: ^(B)THE^[a] LORD IS THERE.”

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[a]general assembly and church of ^(A)the firstborn ^(B)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(C)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(D)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(E)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(F)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(G)than that of Abel.