| Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. | We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. |
| Unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done. | “And with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.” |
| Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. | Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. |
| Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” | Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” |
| Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. | Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. |
| Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. | For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. |
| 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.” |
| It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. | Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. |
| Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. | Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. |
| And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. | Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. |
| He will judge everyone according to what they have done. | God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” |
| But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. | But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. |
| So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. | I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. |
| Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. | No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. |
| Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. | And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
| Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! | Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. |
| Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. | For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. |
| We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. | Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. |
| Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. | Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. |
| “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.) | “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.) |
| For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. | Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. |
| In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. | This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. |
| Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. | Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. |
| God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. | In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. |
| Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. | Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. |
Bible verse of the day
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.Random Bible Verse
For the Lord grants wisdom!From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.Next verse!With image