| 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.’ | 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 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? | 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’s love one another, for love is of 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 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. | If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. |
| A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ | A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| 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. | 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, because 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. | Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. |
| Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful. | You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. |
| Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
| 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.” | 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 seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been 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. |
| 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, 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, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless. | Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless! |
| If I then, the Lord and the 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. |
| Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. | Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. |
| Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling 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. |
| He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him 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.” |
| Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another? | 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, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor 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 desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant. | 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 widows indeed. | Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. |
| 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. | Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
| Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him. | But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. |
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