"The LORD did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.

But the LORD loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.

Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests."

He chose for us the land where we live, the proud possession of his people, whom he loves.

He gives his message to his people, his instructions and laws to Israel.

He has not done this for other nations; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD!

I appeared to them from far away. People of Israel, I have always loved you, so I continue to show you my constant love.

The LORD says, "When Israel was a child, I loved him and called him out of Egypt as my son.

The LORD says to his people, "I have always loved you." But they reply, "How have you shown your love for us?" The LORD answers, "Esau and Jacob were brothers, but I have loved Jacob and his descendants,

But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, "The older will serve the younger." He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done.

As the scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great,

that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved.

We love because God first loved us.

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 protects the lives of his faithful people, but the wicked disappear in darkness; a man does not triumph by his own strength.

I am always in your care; save me from my enemies, from those who persecute me.

He says, "Gather my faithful people to me, those who made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice."

I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.

What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.

And now I am coming to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father! Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one.

And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy in their hearts in all its fullness.

I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One.

Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!

neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory!

They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time.

On the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions.

People went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were all afraid.

She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching.

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today.

My child, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do.

You imitated us and the Lord; and even though you suffered much, you received the message with the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit.