| From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. | Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions. |
| Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord. | Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times. Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh. |
| Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. | Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. |
| Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment. | As newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, that with it you may grow. |
| Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. | Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. |
| But God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive! | Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul. |
| As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. | Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. |
| You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. | You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. |
| So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! | Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. |
| Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord.’ | Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you will go up to Yahweh’s house.”’ |
| Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. | Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you! Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. |
| It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. | So is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do. |
| 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!’ | Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ |
| 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, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. |
| A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. | A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. |
| The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. | Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes. |
| Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest. | That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar. |
| But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! | If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. |
| Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. | Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! |
| So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. | But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. |
| For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. | For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. |
| God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. | Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. |
| Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. | Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. |
| But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. | But I will sing of your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning. For you have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress. |
| People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. | Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts. |
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