| Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. | My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. |
| Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. | Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. |
| Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. | I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. |
| Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. | But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. |
| This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live.” | Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!” |
| The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. | But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. |
| Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. | Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. |
| Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. | Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. |
| For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” | The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” |
| ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ | For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ |
| You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. | You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. |
| He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. | He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. |
| Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. | That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. |
| And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. | The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. |
| Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. | Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. |
| The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. | All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. |
| Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. | God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. |
| Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. | So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! |
| For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. | Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. |
| However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. | But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. |
| I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. | I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. |
| Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. | Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. |
| His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. | By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. |
| A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. | For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. |
| But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” | But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” |
Bible verse of the day
Not to us, Lord, not to usbut to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.