He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before 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. |
Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works. | So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! |
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Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. | Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. |
But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. | 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. |
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. | Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. |
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. | I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. |
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. | For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. |
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? | Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? |
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. | For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! |
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. | If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. |
Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. | Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. |
As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. | For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. |
You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time. | If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time. |
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. | Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. |
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. | Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. |
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” | Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” |
And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.” | Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.” |
Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? | Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! |
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. | Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. |
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. | I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! |
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. | Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. |
Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord. | Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. |
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. | Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. |
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. | But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. |
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. | Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. |