Your people will all do what is right, And will possess the land forever. I planted them, I made them, To reveal my greatness to all.

Do this because you belong to the LORD your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

He will make you greater than any other nation that he has created, and you will bring praise and honor to his name. You will be his own people, as he promised."

"If you obey the LORD your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised.

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.

No lions will be there; no fierce animals will pass that way. Those whom the LORD has rescued will travel home by that road.

Repeat these words in praise to the LORD, all you whom he has saved. He has rescued you from your enemies

For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold;

it was the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or flaw.

They sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. For you were killed, and by your sacrificial death you bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.

The LORD said, "I was ready to answer my people's prayers, but they did not pray. I was ready for them to find me, but they did not even try. The nation did not pray to me, even though I was always ready to answer, 'Here I am; I will help you.'

"I, the Sovereign LORD, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them

I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.

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When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost.

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them---what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it.

When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants.

There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

No longer will you be called "Forsaken," Or your land be called "The Deserted Wife." Your new name will be "God Is Pleased with Her." Your land will be called "Happily Married," Because the LORD is pleased with you And will be like a husband to your land.

And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.

and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

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."