But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain 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? |
This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ | 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. |
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The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ | A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who 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 either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is 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. |
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. | 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. |
Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. | You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. |
If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people. | Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. |
Do not abandon your friend or your father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your disaster; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother 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. |
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, 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. |
Is this not the fast that I choose: To release the bonds of wickedness, To undo the ropes of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And 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. |
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains 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. |
Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to 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!” |
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. | 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. |
Arise, Lord; God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the humble. | Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless! |
Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls 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. |
Honor widows who are actually widows. | Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. |
And he would answer and say to them, “The one who has two tunics is to share with the one who has none; and the one who 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.” |
Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. | Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. |
So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, 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. |
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you, judging 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? |
It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall 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. |
I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a person and his neighbor. This too is futility and 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 the prison, but prayer for him was being made to God intensely by the church. | But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. |