¹ When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in Baal and died.

² And now they have sinned more and more : and they have made to themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye that adore calves.

³ Therefore they shall be as a morning aloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴ But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.

⁵ I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

⁶ According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full: and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.

⁷ And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians.

⁸ I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹ Destruction is thy own, 0 Israel: thy help is only in me.

¹⁰ Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Q Give me kings and princes.

¹¹ I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in my indignation.

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

¹³ The sorrows of a woman in labour snail come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

¹⁴ I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite: comfort is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵ Because he shall make a separation between brothers: s the Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

² The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."

³ Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God."

⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

⁵ Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!

⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

⁷ Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'

⁸ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

⁹ Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"

¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things?

¹¹ Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our witness.

¹² If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

¹³ No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

¹⁵ that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁷ For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

¹⁸ He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

¹⁹ This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.

²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."

²² After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.

²³ John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.

²⁴ For John was not yet thrown into prison.

²⁵ There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with some Jews about purification.

²⁶ They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."

²⁷ John answered, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.

²⁸ You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before him.'

²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.

³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹ He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

³² What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.

³³ He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.

³⁴ For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵ The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

³⁶ One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."