| I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. | I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free. |
| Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. | Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. |
| For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ | For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ |
| But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. |
| And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. | A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. | I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. |
| As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. | He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. |
| As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. | “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.” |
| I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah | I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. |
| I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. | I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! |
| But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. | Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. |
| But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. | But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. |
| For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield. | For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love. |
| For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. | The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. |
| But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. | But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. |
| Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. | You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. |
| If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. | Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. |
| As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. | Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. |
| God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. | The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. |
| Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. | Until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. |
| A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. | So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. |
| Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. | “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” |
| Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. | Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. |
| And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. | When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! |
| In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. | This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. |
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