Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. | Wash yourselves and become clean; remove your evil deeds far from my sight. Cease to do evil. |
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. | The heart is more deceitful than any other thing, and it is also perverse. Who can uncover its secrets? I, the Lord, search the heart and probe the mind to reward all according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve. |
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The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. | The Lord is righteous in all his ways and merciful in everything he does. |
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!” | And you will say on that day: Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. |
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. | Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name; proclaim his deeds among the peoples. |
But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. | However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago. |
Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’ | Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets of that time proclaimed. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Forsake your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they refused to listen or to pay attention to me, says the Lord. |
Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. | Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. |
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. | Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. |
I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart. | To do your will, O God, is my delight; your law is in my heart. |
So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. | Therefore, encourage one another and strengthen one another, as indeed you are doing. |
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. | Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. | 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. |
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. | Hence, I advise you to be guided by the Spirit, so that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. |
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. | For no one can be regarded as justified in the sight of God by keeping the Law. The Law brings only the consciousness of sin. |
But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. | Yet even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are thereby blessed. Have no fear of others, and refuse to be intimidated by them. |
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. | Let us never grow weary in doing what is right, for if we do not give up, we will reap our harvest in due time. |
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. | Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. |
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who among you is wise and understanding? Prove by your good life that your works are done with the humility that comes from wisdom. |
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. | He gave himself for us in order to deliver us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people as his own who are eager to do good. |
The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. | Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them the path to follow. |
Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. | Do the things that you have learned, received, and heard from me and that you saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. |
But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. | However, the one who looks intently at the perfect law of freedom and perseveres—not forgetting what he has heard but putting it into practice—will be blessed in everything he does. |
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. | 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. |
Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. | Let the wicked abandon their ways and those who are evil their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy upon them; and to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness. |