When the LORD saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all the time,

he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth. He was so filled with regret

God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives.

Can any human being be really pure? Can anyone be right with God?

And we drink evil as if it were water; yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.

The LORD looks down from heaven at us humans to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

But they have all gone wrong; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die.

because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?

At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them.

The LORD hates evil thoughts, but he is pleased with friendly words.

There are people who think they are pure when they are as filthy as they can be.

Many people will be purified. Those who are wicked will not understand but will go on being wicked; only those who are wise will understand.

"Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!

"To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears.

He made no difference between us and them; he forgave their sins because they believed.

Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure; but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been defiled.

He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.

he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us.

Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.

For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

You know that Christ is righteous; you should know, then, that everyone who does what is right is God's child.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.