"Listen to me, my people, listen to what I say: I give my teaching to the nations; my laws will bring them light.

"Listen to me, you that know what is right, who have my teaching fixed in your hearts. Do not be afraid when people taunt and insult you;

"Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who are left of my people. I have cared for you from the time you were born.

I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you.

The LORD says, "Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the first, the last, the only God!

Why spend money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry? Listen to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all.

"Listen now, my people, and come to me; come to me, and you will have life! I will make a lasting covenant with you and give you the blessings I promised to David.

"Listen to me, you that know what is right, who have my teaching fixed in your hearts. Do not be afraid when people taunt and insult you;

Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it.

The LORD hates the ways of evil people, but loves those who do what is right.

Be kind and honest and you will live a long life; others will respect you and treat you fairly.

"Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!

Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith;

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

So then, we must always aim at those things that bring peace and that help strengthen one another.

Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.

But you, man of God, avoid all these things. Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Avoid the passions of youth, and strive for righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who with a pure heart call out to the Lord for help.

Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.

I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the LORD, and I speak the truth; I make known what is right."

Turn to the LORD and pray to him, now that he is near.

Such are the people who come to God, who come into the presence of the God of Jacob.

Be glad that we belong to him; let all who worship him rejoice.

Go to the LORD for help; and worship him continually.

Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.

Turn to the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who obey his commands. Do what is right, and humble yourselves before the LORD. Perhaps you will escape punishment on the day when the LORD shows his anger.

God said to Abraham, "You must no longer call your wife Sarai; from now on her name is Sarah.

Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, "Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?"

You Gentiles by birth---called "the uncircumcised" by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)---remember what you were in the past.

At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.