| For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. | Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. |
| My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. | My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. |
| Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. | As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. |
| Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. | Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. |
| As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. | As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. |
| If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. | If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. |
| As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. | As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. |
| The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety. | A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. |
| Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. | And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. |
| “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” | He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” |
| The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” | And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” |
| The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. | God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. |
| And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. | And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. |
| But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. | But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. |
| Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. | Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. |
| You must not exploit a widow or an orphan. If you exploit them in any way and they cry out to me, then I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will blaze against you, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless. | You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. |
| Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears. For I am your guest— a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me. | Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers. |
| 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. | 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. |
| And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. | Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
| 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 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. | And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. |
| Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” | And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” |
| I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride with her jewels. | I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. |
| In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. | And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. |
Related topics
Jesus
Jesus looked at them...
Life
The LORD keeps you...
Heart
Guard your heart above...
God
For the LORD your...
Love
Love is patient and...
Evangelism
For the Lord gave...
Bible verse of the day
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”