For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. | For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. |
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. | But godliness with contentment is great gain. |
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And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? | For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? |
Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money! | Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain. |
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? | For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? |
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. | So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. |
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. | Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding. |
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. | If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. |
Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor. | A man’s pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor. |
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! | He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. |
Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest. | Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice. |
Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. | Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow. |
Get wisdom; develop good judgment. Don’t forget my words or turn away from them. | Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth. |
Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last. | Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. |
If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. | If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. |
The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! | When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? |
Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life. | Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. |
Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. | Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man. |
They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them. | For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. |
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. | For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ. |
I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions. | I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. |
To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper. | He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good. |
I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. | I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing! |
I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. | That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. |
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” | But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land? While you kept it, didn’t it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn’t it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven’t lied to men, but to God.” |