for the LORD loves what is right and does not abandon his faithful people. He protects them forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be driven out.

The LORD has made a solemn promise, and he will not abandon you, for he has decided to make you his own people.

But the people of Jerusalem said, "The LORD has abandoned us! He has forgotten us."

So the LORD answers, "Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you.

I will give them a single purpose in life: to honor me for all time, for their own good and the good of their descendants.

I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.

Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him.

And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future,

neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I ask, then: Did God reject his own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. You know what the scripture says in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel:

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you."

They crush your people, LORD; they oppress those who belong to you.

Would you like to enjoy life? Do you want long life and happiness?

but Jacob's descendants he chose for himself.

The God of Jacob is not like them; he is the one who made everything, and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people. The LORD Almighty is his name.

I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people,