Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. | Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city. |
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. | So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. |
|
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. | You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. |
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. | So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. |
The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. | A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. |
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? | 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? |
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. | This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. |
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. | “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” |
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. | There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. |
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. | No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. |
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. | All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. |
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. 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. |
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. | Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. |
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. | Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. |
The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. | Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. |
But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. | But the one who endures to the end will be saved. |
A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. | Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last. |
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. | In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents. |
But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. | But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. |
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. | For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. |
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. | I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. |
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! | But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. |
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. | Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. |
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. | Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil. |
But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. | But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together. |