| To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. | And ‘to love him with all your heart, and with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself,’ is worth more than any burnt offerings and sacrifices. |
| Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. | Train a child in the way he should go, and he will not deviate from it, even in old age. |
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| Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. | Bear with one another, and forgive one another if anyone has reason to be offended with another. You must forgive just as the Lord has forgiven you. |
| These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. | However, God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit explores everything, even the depths of God. |
| Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. | A word is not even on my tongue and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it. |
| Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! | Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. |
| If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible. | When someone sins and does any of the things that the Lord has forbidden, even if he does not realize he did it, he has still committed an offense and must bear his guilt. |
| ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ | For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ As even your own poets have said, ‘We are all his offspring.’ |
| Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. | Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with a joy that is indescribable and glorious. For you are achieving the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls. |
| Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. | Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly, as if you were doing it for the Lord and not for others, since you know that you will receive from the Lord an inheritance as your reward for you are serving the Lord Christ. |
| The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. | The Lord is righteous in all his ways and merciful in everything he does. |
| Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. | Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, the body of which he is the Savior. |
| But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. | But God is rich in his mercy, and because he had such great love for us, he brought us to life with Christ when we were already dead through sin—it is by grace that you have been saved. |
| May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. | May the Lord cause your love to increase and overflow for one another and for everyone else, just as our love does for you. |
| Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. | As servants of God, behave as free people, but do not use your freedom as a means to cover up wrongdoing. |
| I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass. | I, I alone, am the one who comforts you. Why then do you fear mortal men who must die, human beings who must perish like grass? |
| As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. | As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit descended upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. |
| “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” | Come now and let us discuss this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall become as white as wool. |
| If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. | If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. |
| This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ | This is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ |
| However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. | However, each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband. |
| For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. | Just as in Adam all die, so all will be brought to life in Christ. |
| Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. | Nor would someone light a lamp and then put it under a basket; rather, it is placed upon a lampstand so that it may afford light to all in the house. In the same way, your light must shine so that it can be seen by others; this will enable them to observe your good works and give praise to your Father in heaven. |
| I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. | I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch that does not bear fruit, and every branch that does he prunes to make it bear even more. |
| If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them. | If your brother should sin, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he wrongs you seven times a day, and comes back to you seven times to say, ‘I am sorry,’ you must forgive him. |
