| Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. | Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. |
| But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. | But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. |
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| The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. | The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. |
| But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. | But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. |
| Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he. | Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he. |
| So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. | It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. |
| He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. | He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. |
| Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. | Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. |
| The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. | The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. |
| A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. | A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. |
| I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father. | Yes, I came from the Father into the world, and now I will leave the world and return to the Father. |
| He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. | He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death. |
| She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. | And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. |
| The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. | “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. |
| Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. | In those days when you pray, I will listen. |
| Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. | Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. |
| He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” | And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” |
| Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. | Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. |
| Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. | We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. |
| For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. | For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
| Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. | Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. |
| But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” | “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.” |
| Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” | But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” |
| Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. | So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! |
| And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. | Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. |
