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.

and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn.

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

Remember the covenant you made with us. There is violence in every dark corner of the land.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on them.

"I will lead my blind people by roads they have never traveled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. These are my promises, and I will keep them without fail.

Other nations will be covered by darkness, But on you the light of the LORD will shine; The brightness of his presence will be with you.

Honor the LORD, your God, before he brings darkness, and you stumble on the mountains; before he turns into deep darkness the light you hoped for.

The people who live in darkness will see a great light. On those who live in the dark land of death the light will shine."

and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death, to guide our steps into the path of peace."

God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways.

You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.'

They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.

you are sure that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in darkness,

Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?

He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son,

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.

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.

However, the command I now write you is new, because its truth is seen in Christ and also in you. For the darkness is passing away, and the real light is already shining.

"I, the LORD, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.

You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.

The LORD said to me, "I have a greater task for you, my servant. Not only will you restore to greatness the people of Israel who have survived, but I will also make you a light to the nations--- so that all the world may be saved."

I will say to the prisoners, 'Go free!' and to those who are in darkness, 'Come out to the light!' They will be like sheep that graze on the hills;

Arise, Jerusalem, and shine like the sun; The glory of the LORD is shining on you!

Nations will be drawn to your light, And kings to the dawning of your new day.

"No longer will the sun be your light by day Or the moon be your light by night; I, the LORD, will be your eternal light; The light of my glory will shine on you.

Your days of grief will come to an end. I, the LORD, will be your eternal light, More lasting than the sun and moon.

The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

This was the real light---the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. "I am the light of the world," he said. "Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness."

I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.

But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free.

All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.

The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!" is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ.

But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief.

So then, we should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober.

But we belong to the day, and we should be sober. We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet.

If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour.

But if we hate others, we are in the darkness; we walk in it and do not know where we are going, because the darkness has made us blind.

Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God.

Now, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light which the LORD gives us!

As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light."

Believe in the light, then, while you have it, so that you will be the people of the light." After Jesus said this, he went off and hid himself from them.

The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.

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.

I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul.

But if we live in the light---just as he is in the light---then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.