who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

(just as it is written, "I have appointed you a father of many nations") before God, whom he believed, the [One] who gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were;

Because whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who [can be] against us?

For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very thing I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth."

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

But we are obligated to give thanks to God always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth,

to which He called you through our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

Therefore laying aside all filthiness and abundance of evil, in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

For though you might have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet [you do] not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

so that we should be to the praise of His glory, we who first trusted in Christ;

having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.

No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, When you shall enter into the land which I give you, and reap the harvest of it, then shall you bring a sheaf, the firstfruits of your harvest, to the priest;

in following the Holy One of Israel, says the Lord, Israel was holiness unto the Lord, [and] the firstfruits of His increase. All that devoured him shall offend; evils shall come upon them, says the Lord.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and that trust in the mountain of Samaria; they have gathered [the harvest of] the heads of the nations, and they have gone in themselves.

to the general assembly and church of the firstborn having been enrolled in [the] heavens, to God the Judge of all, and to spirits of just men made perfect,

These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were redeemed by Jesus from [among] men, firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.