| A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. | A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. |
| The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. | And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. |
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| But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. | But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. |
| Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. | 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. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their 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 Father who is in heaven. | 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. |
| So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you 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 to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what 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 whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others. | 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. |
| 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. |
| “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.) | “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) |
| Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have 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 pleases him. | Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. |
| The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. | Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. |
| Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. | Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. |
| The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. | The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. |
| God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? | 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? |
| For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. | For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. |
| An honest witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies. | An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies. |
| Whoever does not take up their 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. |
| For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. | We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. |
| Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” | Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” |
| Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. | Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. |
| Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. | Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets. |
| Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. | Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. |
