| Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. | Let your love be sincere. Loathe what is evil and hold fast to what is good. |
| It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. | It is the Lord, your God, whom you are to follow. You must fear him and observe his commandments and obey what he tells you and serve him and hold fast to him. |
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| But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. | Take heed to follow the commandments and the laws that Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you: to love the Lord, your God, and to walk in his ways and to observe his commandments, holding fast to him and serving him with all your heart and all your soul. |
| 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 from the very beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh.’ And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. |
| Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. | The Lord God then formed a woman out of the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her before the man. The man said, “This one is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man.” This is why a man leaves his father and his mother and joins with a wife, and the two become one flesh. |
| “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘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.” | He replied, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh’? And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” |
| You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. | You have already been cleansed by the word I have spoken to you. |
| In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. | Indeed, under the Law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. |
| Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. | Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. You received without payment; give in the same way. |
| Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. | Wash yourselves and become clean; remove your evil deeds far from my sight. Cease to do evil. |
| Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. | Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word. |
| Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. | Have mercy on me, O God, in accord with your kindness; in your abundant compassion wipe away my offenses. Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. |
| For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. | Ever since the creation of the world the invisible attributes of God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly understood and perceived through the things he has made. Therefore, the conduct of these people is inexcusable. |
| How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! | How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from acts that lead to death so that we may worship the living God. |
| Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. | Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance toward maturity. We must not be forever laying the foundation: repentance for actions that lead to death, faith in God, instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. |
| And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. | This water prefigured Baptism, which now saves you. It does so not by the washing away of dirt from the body but by the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
| “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) | He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean. |
