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14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. ¹⁶If you see your brother or sister^* committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God^* will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. ¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

18 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. ¹⁹We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;^* and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.^*

Psalm 149

Praise for God’s Goodness to Israel

¹ Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
   his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
² Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
³ Let them praise his name with dancing,
   making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
⁴ For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
   he adorns the humble with victory.
⁵ Let the faithful exult in glory;
   let them sing for joy on their couches.
⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their throats
   and two-edged swords in their hands,
⁷ to execute vengeance on the nations
   and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters
   and their nobles with chains of iron,
⁹ to execute on them the judgement decreed.
   This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!

Jesus and John the Baptist

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. ²³John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized— ²⁴John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.^{* 26}They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’ ²⁷John answered, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah,^* but I have been sent ahead of him.” ²⁹He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.’^*