"But you, Israel my servant, you are the people that I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend.

"I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.

Then the LORD said, "I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings,

Then you must tell him that I, the LORD, say, 'Israel is my first-born son.

I told you to let my son go, so that he might worship me, but you refused. Now I am going to kill your first-born son.' "

I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the LORD your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt.

Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests."

I ask, then: Did God reject his own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. You know what the scripture says in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel:

Because they reject the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies for the sake of you Gentiles. But because of God's choice, they are his friends because of their ancestors.

The LORD says, "Who are these gods that make you afraid, so that you tell me lies and forget me completely? Have you stopped honoring me because I have kept silent for so long?

Then he took the book of the covenant, in which the LORD's commands were written, and read it aloud to the people. They said, "We will obey the LORD and do everything that he has commanded."

But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.

They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

I thought that then my people would have reverence for me and accept my discipline, that they would never forget the lesson I taught them. But soon they were behaving as badly as ever.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!"

No more lying, then! Each of you must tell the truth to the other believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ.

Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits

God is my savior; I will trust him and not be afraid. The LORD gives me power and strength; he is my savior.

For I am the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Ethiopia and Seba.

"I alone am the LORD, the only one who can save you.

Israel, how happy you are! There is no one like you, a nation saved by the LORD. The LORD himself is your shield and your sword, to defend you and give you victory. Your enemies will come begging for mercy, and you will trample them down.

They forgot the God who had saved them by his mighty acts in Egypt.

You are Israel's only hope; you are the one who saves us from disaster. Why are you like a stranger in our land, like a traveler who stays for only one night?

The LORD says, "I am the LORD your God, who led you out of Egypt. You have no God but me. I alone am your savior.

And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and forever and ever! Amen.