God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(A)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(B)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[a] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(C)a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^(D)your very own son^[b] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(E)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(F)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(G)he believed the Lord, and ^(H)he counted it to him as righteousness.

³⁰ As he was saying these things, ^(A)many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^(B)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will ^(C)know the truth, and the truth ^(D)will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, ^(E)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(F)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[a] to sin. ^35 (G)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(H)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(I)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (J)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(K)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(L)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(M)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(N)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(O)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(P)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(Q)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(R)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(S)I came from God and ^(T)I am here. ^(U)I came not of my own accord, but ^(V)he sent me. ^43 (W)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(X)bear to hear my word. ^44 (Y)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(Z)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(AA)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(AB)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ^47 (AC)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(AD)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(AE)you are not of God.”