Jeremiah 31:20

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.

I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

You shall consider in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.

Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,

Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth?’

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.

Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, who walks in his ways.

One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Yahweh says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says Yahweh.

Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh.

Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.

The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim

He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

When Yahweh raised up judges for them, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.

They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land each man cast his stone, and filled it. They also stopped all the springs of water, and cut down all the good trees, until in Kir Hareseth all they left was its stones; however the men armed with slings went around it, and attacked it.

For the whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, both him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel.

For Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for all, slave and free, and there was no helper for Israel.

Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!

For Yahweh will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.

One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.

Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.

“In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God.

until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven.

I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’ ”

Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble?

Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.

then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”

“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name.

But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

They put away the foreign gods from among them and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.

Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.

“I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.”

“He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,

Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.

Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.”

My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’

Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times.

I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’

They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.

“Look, Yahweh; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart turns over within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad, the sword bereaves. At home, it is like death.

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”

Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people.

He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

“I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them.

They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ ”