| The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. | The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” |
| For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. | For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
|
| If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. | If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. |
| Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. | Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. |
| For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. | For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. |
| And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. | Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. |
| For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. | Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. |
| As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. | Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. |
| Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. | I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. |
| Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. | Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. |
| I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. | I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. |
| The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor. | Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor. |
| I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. | I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. |
| Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. | Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. |
| To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. | To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. |
| Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. | When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. |
| By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. | And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. |
| By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. | Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. |
| But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. | But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. |
| But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. | But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. |
| Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; For You render to each one according to his work. | “And with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.” |
| For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. | If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. |
| “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.” | “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.” |
