| Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. | The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them. |
| Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. | Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. |
| The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. | Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. |
| Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. | But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. |
| We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. | Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. |
| Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. | Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance. |
| Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. | Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. |
| A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ | A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. | Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. |
| The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. | Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband. The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife does. |
| For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. | For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. |
| Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. | Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. |
| Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt. | Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. |
| Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty! | In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty. |
| He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. | He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. |
| But Lord, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. | You, Yahweh, remain forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. |
| He proclaimed his covenant—the Ten Commandments—which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets. | He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. |
| The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these. | The second is like this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. |
| Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool. | He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool. |
| Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. | He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends. |
| Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants. | My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb. |
| 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. | 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. |
| For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. | For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death. |
| Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success. | Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established. |
| How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! | See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! |
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