| This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. | Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go. |
| He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” | He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” |
| For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. | Live as free people, yet not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. |
| And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. | Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. |
| God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. | God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. | And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. |
| You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. | “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. |
| Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. | Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know. |
| 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. |
| When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” | When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.” |
| So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. | So then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober. |
| Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.” | Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.” |
| Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. | Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward. |
| Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. | Yahweh himself is who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged. |
| Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good. | For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good. |
| But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently. | But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience. |
| We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. | Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up. |
| This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. | For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. |
| Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die. | Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish. |
| But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. |
| And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. | Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. |
| For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. | For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. |
| Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble. | Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble. |
| No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. | He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? |
| See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. | See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all. |
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