⁴ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:^{(A) 5} Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.^{(B) 7} But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.^{(C) 8} For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to your dreams that you dream,^{(D) 9} for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.^(E)

¹⁰ For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.^{(F) 11} For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.^{(G) 12} Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.^{(H) 13} When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,^{(I) 14} I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.^(J)

² through whom we have obtained access^[a] to this grace in which we stand, and we^[b] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.^{(A) 3} And not only that, but we^[c] also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,^{(B) 4} and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.^(C)

Life in the Spirit

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^{(A) 2} For the law of the Spirit^[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you^[b] free from the law of sin and of death.^{(B) 3} For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,^[c] he condemned sin in the flesh,^{(C) 4} so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^{[d](D) 5} For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit^[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit.^{[f](E) 6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit^[g] is life and peace.^{(F) 7} For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot,^{(G) 8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,^[h] since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.^{(H) 10} But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit^[i] is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus^[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through^[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.^(I)

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.^{(J) 14} For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.^{(K) 15} For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!^[l] Father!”^{(L) 16} it is that very Spirit bearing witness^[m] with our spirit that we are children of God,^{(M) 17} and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.^(N)

Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.^{(O) 24} For in^[n] hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes^[o] with groanings too deep for words.^{(P) 27} And God,^[p] who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit^[q] intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.^(Q)

²⁸ We know that all things work together^[r] for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.^{(R) 29} For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.^{[s](S) 30} And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.^(T)

God’s Love in Christ Jesus

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?^{(U) 32} He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.^{(V) 34} Who is to condemn? It is Christ^[t] who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.^{(W) 35} Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.^{(Y) 38} For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,^{(Z) 39} nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹¹ Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.^{(A) 13} Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.^(B)

⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.^(A)