¹ Become, then, followers of God, as children beloved,

⁴⁸ ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father who `is' in the heavens is perfect.

¹⁵ but according as He who did call you `is' holy, ye also, become holy in all behaviour,

¹⁶ because it hath been written, `Become ye holy, because I am holy;'

¹² Put on, therefore, as choice ones of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humble-mindedness, meekness, long-suffering,

³² and become one to another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, according as also God in Christ did forgive you.

¹¹ Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;

²⁰ A precious son is Ephraim to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, I do thoroughly remember him still, Therefore have My bowels been moved for him, I do greatly love him, An affirmation of Jehovah.

¹ See ye what love the Father hath given to us, that children of God we may be called; because of this the world doth not know us, because it did not know Him;

² beloved, now, children of God are we, and it was not yet manifested what we shall be, and we have known that if he may be manifested, like him we shall be, because we shall see him as he is;

³⁵ `But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward will be great, and ye shall be sons of the Highest, because He is kind unto the ungracious and evil;

³⁶ be ye therefore merciful, as also your Father is merciful.

¹⁰ and the number of the sons of Israel hath been as the sand of the sea, that is not measured nor numbered, and it hath come to pass in the place where it is said to them, Ye `are' not My people, it is said to them, Sons of the Living God;

⁴⁵ for I `am' Jehovah who am bringing you up out of the land of Egypt to become your God; and ye have been holy, for I `am' holy.

¹² but as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God -- to those believing in his name,

⁴⁵ that ye may be sons of your Father in the heavens, because His sun He doth cause to rise on evil and good, and He doth send rain on righteous and unrighteous.