| Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart. | This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. |
| But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? | If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? |
| Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. | Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. |
| For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! | If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. |
| And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. | A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. | In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. |
| By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. | We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. |
| Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. | Never abandon a friend— either yours or your father’s. When disaster strikes, you won’t have to ask your brother for assistance. It’s better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away. |
| Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. | You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. |
| Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
| If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. | Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. |
| Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” | Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” |
| No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. | No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. |
| Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? | No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. |
| Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. | Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless! |
| If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. | And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. |
| Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. | Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. |
| Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. | Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. |
| And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” | John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” |
| There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? | God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? |
| You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. | You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. |
| It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. | But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. |
| Honor widows who are truly widows. | Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. |
| Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. | Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
| So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. | But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. |
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