A cheerful heart is excellent medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. | A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. |
And the world with all its enticements is passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. | And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. |
|
However, whoever lives by the truth comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been done in God. | But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. |
Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts in accordance with them will be like a wise man who constructed his house on a rock foundation. | Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. |
Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. | Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. |
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. | Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. |
Does God give you the Spirit and work mighty deeds among you because you have kept the Law or because you believed what you have heard? | I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. |
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Your almsgiving must be done in secret. And your Father who sees everything that is done in secret will reward you. | But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. |
The one who leads a blameless life and does what is right, who speaks the truth from the heart and does not slander anyone, who does not harm a friend and does not scorn a neighbor. | Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. |
Be doers of the word and not just hearers who only deceive themselves. | But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. |
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. | But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. |
Whoever possesses the Son possesses life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not possess life. | Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. |
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases. | Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. |
A husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise a wife should fulfill her conjugal obligations to her husband. For a wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. | The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. |
In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it does not have works. | So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. |
A truthful witness does not lie, but a false witness lies incessantly. | An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies. |
If the Lord does not build the house, those who construct it labor in vain. If the Lord does not guard the city, those who keep watch over it do so in vain. | Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. |
For the word of the Lord is true, and he is faithful in everything he does. | For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. |
God is not human, that he should lie, or the son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act, does he promise and then not fulfill it? | God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? |
The Lord is righteous in all his ways and merciful in everything he does. | The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. |
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his very life? | And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? |
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. | I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. |
Just as water reflects one’s face, so does one human heart reflect another. | As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. |
And anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. | If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. |
And so does kindness, O Lord. You reward each person in accordance with his deeds. | Unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done. |