11 But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,  * endurance,  * and gentleness.

12 Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech,  * in conduct,  * in love,  *,* in faith, and in purity.  *

13 Be alert, stand firm in the faith,  * be courageous,  * be strong. 14 Do everything in love.  *

8 Mankind, he has told each of you what is good  *

and what it is the  Lord requires of you:  *

to act justly,  *

to love faithfulness,  *

and to walk humbly with your God.  *

9 These are the family records  * of Noah. Noah was a righteous man,  * blameless among his contemporaries;  * Noah walked with God.  *

1 There was a man in the country of Uz  * named Job.  * He was a man of complete integrity,  * who feared God and turned away from evil.  *

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  *7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.  *

24 Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive,

but a fool’s eyes  * roam to the ends of the earth.

12 But to all who did receive  * him,  * he gave them the right  * to be  * children  * of God,  * to those who believe  * in his name,  *13 who were born,  * not of natural descent,  * or of the will  * of the flesh,  * or of the will of man,  * but of God.  *

31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners,  * but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will,  * he listens to him.  *

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping your  *  word.  *

10 I have sought you with all my heart;  *

don’t let me wander from your commands.  *

11 I have treasured your word in my heart  *

so that I may not sin against you.

12 Lord, may you be blessed;

teach me your statutes.  *

13 With my lips I proclaim

all the judgments from your mouth.  *

14 I rejoice in the way revealed by your decrees  *

as much as in all riches.

15 I will meditate on your precepts  *

and think about your ways.  *

16 I will delight in your statutes;  *

I will not forget your word.

1 How happy is the one who does not

walk in the advice of the wicked

or stand in the pathway with sinners

or sit in the company of mockers!  *

2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,

and he meditates on it day and night.  *

3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams  *

that bears its fruit in its season,  *

and its leaf does not wither.  *

Whatever he does prospers.  *

4 The wicked are not like this;

instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.  *

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,  *

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,  *

but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.  *

22 to take off  *,* your former way of life,  * the old self  * that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed  * in the spirit  * of your minds, 24 and to put on  *,* the new self, the one created  * according to God’s likeness  * in righteousness and purity of the truth.