What about you? You call yourself a Jew; you depend on the Law and boast about God;

Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Of course he is.

God is one, and he will put the Jews right with himself on the basis of their faith, and will put the Gentiles right through their faith.

Hannah prayed: "The LORD has filled my heart with joy; how happy I am because of what he has done! I laugh at my enemies; how joyful I am because God has helped me!

You that are righteous, be glad and rejoice because of what the LORD has done. You that obey him, shout for joy!

All you that are righteous, shout for joy for what the LORD has done; praise him, all you that obey him.

Then I will go to your altar, O God; you are the source of my happiness. I will play my harp and sing praise to you, O God, my God.

May he be pleased with my song, for my gladness comes from him.

Be glad, Israel, because of your Creator; rejoice, people of Zion, because of your king!

Jerusalem rejoices because of what the LORD has done. She is like a bride dressed for her wedding. God has clothed her with salvation and victory.

Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty,

I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior.

Mary said, "My heart praises the Lord;

But now that you know God---or, I should say, now that God knows you---how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

In conclusion, my friends, be joyful in your union with the Lord. I don't mind repeating what I have written before, and you will be safer if I do so.

It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.

May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!

You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express,

Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die.

This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them.

This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."

The cup we use in the Lord's Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ.

Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

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!

All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.

Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.