| I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. | Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. |
| But godliness with contentment is great gain. | But godliness with contentment is great gain. |
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| For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. | For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. |
| Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” | Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” |
| I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. | I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. |
| That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. |
| The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. | A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. |
| Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. | He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. |
| As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? | When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? |
| Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. | By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom. |
| Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. | Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. |
| The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. | Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. |
