When the LORD saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time,

he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret

The odor of the sacrifice pleased the LORD, and he said to himself, "Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time.

Can any human being be really pure? Can anyone be right with God?

And we drink evil as if it were water; yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.

I have been evil from the day I was born; from the time I was conceived, I have been sinful.

"I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit.

I know that good does not live in me---that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them.

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.

As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

In the case of our human fathers, they punished us and we respected them. How much more, then, should we submit to our spiritual Father and live!

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

It is God who clothes the wild grass---grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!

By his blood we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God's anger!

We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!

It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ.

Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son---will he not also freely give us all things?

The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation!

For if there was glory in that which lasted for a while, how much more glory is there in that which lasts forever!

Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say this: 'Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come.

But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!'

But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' "

In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

"If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you.

(These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.

Listen when I reprimand you; I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you.

"I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants.

They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water.

I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.

"Afterward I will pour out my Spirit on everyone: your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old people will have dreams, and your young people will see visions.

As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Jesus answered, "If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water."

On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, "Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and

Jesus said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were going to receive. At that time the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not been raised to glory.