| If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. |
| To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper. | The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper. |
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| Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. | Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. |
| So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. | Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. |
| If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. |
| Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. | Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. |
| Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life. | Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. |
| This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. | The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. |
| If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. | Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. |
| For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. | For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. |
| But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive! | Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. |
| The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. | The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” |
| My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. | My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. |
| God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. | This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. |
| You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. | “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. |
| Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. | He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. |
| For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. | For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. |
| That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? | Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? |
| God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. | Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. |
| I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life. | I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life. |
| Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. | Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. |
| Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. | Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. |
| Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. | Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. |
| Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” | Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” |
| Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. | For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. |
