| Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render fair judgments, and show kindness and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor. Do not plot evil in your heart against one another. | This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ |
| If anyone is rich in worldly possessions and sees a brother in need but refuses to open his heart, how can the love of God abide in him? | If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? |
| Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. | Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. |
| And if one should fall, his companion will help him up. How pathetic is the man who is alone and falls and has no one to assist him to his feet. | If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. |
| The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ | And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| In view of all this, you should make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with piety, and piety with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. | For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. |
| This is how we know what love is: he laid down his life for us, and we in turn must be prepared to lay down our lives for our brethren. | This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. |
| Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your father, and do not run to your brother’s house when troubles befall you; far better is a friend nearby than a brother who is far away. | Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you— better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away. |
| Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. | Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. |
| Therefore, accept one another for the glory of God, just as Christ has accepted you. | Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. |
| As much as possible, and to the extent of your ability, live in peace with everyone. | If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. |
| No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is made complete in us. | No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. |
| Then Peter came up to him and asked, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy times seven.” | Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” |
| This rather is the type of fast that I wish: to loosen the fetters of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to set free those who are oppressed and to break every yoke. | Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? |
| Arise, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God! Do not forget the afflicted. | Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. |
| So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. | Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. |
| Grant justice to the weak and the orphan; defend the rights of the lowly and the poor. | Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. |
| Take care, brethren, that none of you will ever have an evil and unbelieving heart that will cause you to forsake the living God. | See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. |
| He said to them in reply, “Anyone who has two coats must share with the person who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” | John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” |
| There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save or to destroy. Who then are you to pass judgment on a neighbor? | There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? |
| You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his oxen, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor. | You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. |
| This must not be so with you. Instead, whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your servant. | Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave. |
| Give proper consideration to those widows who are truly in need. | Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. |
| Then I came to realize that all toil and skill in work derive from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chase after the wind. | And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
| While Peter was thus imprisoned, the Church prayed fervently to God for him. | So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. |
Bible verse of the day
Behold, he is coming with the clouds;every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will mourn him.
So shall it be. Amen.