To all those loved by God in Rome, ¹  called to be saints: ²  Grace and peace to you ³  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.

Now I will most gladly spend and be spent for your lives! ¹  If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

to the praise of the glory of his grace ¹  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ² 

and live ¹  in love, just as Christ also loved us ²  and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering ³  to God.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, ¹  kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

For Demas deserted me, since he loved ¹  the present age, and he went to Thessalonica. ²  Crescens went to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia.

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions ¹  with the oil of rejoicing.” ² 

By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, ¹  who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ² 

Then Isaac brought Rebekah ¹  into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took her ²  as his wife and loved her. ³  So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. ⁴ 

Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, ¹  and they both ²  bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife.

So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. ¹  She gave birth to a son, and David ²  named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child ³ 

Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than his other wives and concubines. ¹  He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands ¹  and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, ²  for he loved agriculture. ³ 

In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you. ¹ 

He will not respect ¹  the gods of his fathers – not even the god loved by women. ²  He will not respect any god; he will elevate himself above them all.

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke ¹ on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! ²  Let Jacob break up ³  the unplowed ground for himself!

For this is the way ¹  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ²  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ³  but have eternal life. ⁴ 

Now this is the basis for judging: ¹  that the light has come into the world and people ²  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.