| Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. | Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. |
| 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 deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what 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 faithful in all 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!” | In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and 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 praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. |
| 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. | If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. |
| 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 earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares 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 each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. |
| Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. | Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. |
| I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart. | I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. |
| So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. | Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact 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 because of righteousness, 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. | 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. |
| So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. | So I say, walk by the Spirit, and 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. | Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our 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. | But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” |
| 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 not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. |
| Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. | Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. |
| 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 is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in 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. | Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is 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 his way. |
| 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. | Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And 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. | But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. |
| 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 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. |
| 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 forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. |
