Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom. | 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. |
He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good. | To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper. |
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Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this: he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun. | 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. |
Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient. | So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. |
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. | 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. |
Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. | 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. |
Do all things without complaining and arguing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding up the word of life. | 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. |
This is the day that Yahweh has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! | This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. |
He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. | If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. |
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. | 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. |
Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul. | But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive! |
The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” | 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. |
My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. | 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. |
By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. | 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. |
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. | 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. |
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. | 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. |
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. | For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. |
Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? | 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? |
Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him. | 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. |
I will never forget your precepts, for with them, you have revived me. | I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life. |
Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. | Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. |
If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. | Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. |
Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. | 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. |
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” | Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” |
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. | Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. |