| 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? | But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him? |
| 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. | Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ |
| The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ | A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. | Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and 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. | For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. |
| 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. | By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. |
| Therefore, accept one another for the glory of God, just as Christ has accepted you. | Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. |
| Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. | Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful. |
| As much as possible, and to the extent of your ability, live in peace with everyone. | If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. |
| 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. | Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster. A neighbor who is near is better than a distant brother. |
| 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. | Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, perseverance; and in perseverance, godliness; and in godliness, brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. |
| 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. | Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? |
| 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 seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected 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 and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.” |
| 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, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. |
| Arise, O Lord! Lift up your hand, O God! Do not forget the afflicted. | Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless. |
| Take care, brethren, that none of you will ever have an evil and unbelieving heart that will cause you to forsake the living God. | Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling 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.” | He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.” |
| Grant justice to the weak and the orphan; defend the rights of the lowly and the poor. | Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. |
| Give proper consideration to those widows who are truly in need. | Honor widows who are widows indeed. |
| So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. | If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. |
| 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. | It shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant. |
| 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? | Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another? |
| 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. | Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. |
| While Peter was thus imprisoned, the Church prayed fervently to God for him. | Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him. |
Related topics
Love
Love is patient; love...
Law
You shall keep these...
Gentleness
Let your kindness be...
Righteousness
Whoever pursues righteousness and...
Selfishness
Do nothing out of...
Humility
With all humility, gentleness...