Blessed be ¹  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues ¹  of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

But set Christ ¹  apart ²  as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. ³ 

This is what we proclaim to you: ¹  what was from the beginning, ²  what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life –

Now ¹  this is the gospel ²  message ³  we have heard from him ⁴  and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. ⁵ 

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses ¹  us from all sin. ² 

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

I am writing to you, fathers, that ¹  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that ²  you have conquered the evil one. ³ 

I have written to you, children, that ¹  you have known the Father. ²  I have written to you, fathers, that ³  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁴  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that ¹  we should be called God’s children – and indeed ²  we are! ³  For this reason ⁴  the world does not know us: because it did not know him. ⁵ 

The one who practices sin is of the devil, ¹  because the devil has been sinning ²  from the beginning. For this purpose ³  the Son of God was revealed: to destroy ⁴  the works of the devil.

But whoever has the world’s possessions ¹  and sees his fellow Christian ²  in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God ³  reside ⁴  in such a person? ⁵ 

In this ¹  is love: not that ²  we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice ³  for our sins.

(Now this is love: that we walk ¹  according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus ²  you should walk in it. ³ 

Though I have many other ¹  things to write to you, I do not want to do so with ²  paper and ink, ³  but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, ⁴  so that our joy may be complete. ⁵ 

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching ¹  (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets ²  of Satan”), to you I say: I do not put any additional burden on you.

In ¹  those days people ²  will seek death, but ³  will not be able to ⁴  find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them! But ¹  woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you! He ²  is filled with terrible anger, for he knows that he only has a little time!”

Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” ¹  Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, ²  tax collectors ³  and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!

When ¹  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ²  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ³  has made known to us.”