| This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. | This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. |
| The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. | The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. |
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| If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. | If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. |
| But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. | But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. |
| In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.” | In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is!” |
| I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. | I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them. |
| “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. | “Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord. |
| ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.’ | O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. |
| Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. | Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. |
| My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. | That is why I can never stop praising you; I declare your glory all day long. |
| And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. | And every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. |
| If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. | All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. |
| “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. | “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” |
| ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. | Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. |
| For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! | I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live! |
| “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” | That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” |
| Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. | Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ |
| It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ | For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’” |
| But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. | But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. |
| Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” | Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” |
| He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. | He proclaimed his covenant—the Ten Commandments—which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets. |
| For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. | “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” |
| Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. | For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. |
| Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? | Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. |
| Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ | Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have threatened. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’ |
