| Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. | Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. |
| Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. | In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. |
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| Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. | Beloved, we are God’s children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. However, we do know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he really is. Everyone who has this hope in him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure. |
| And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. | And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. |
| God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. | For God would not be so unjust as to ignore your work and the love that you have shown for his name by the services you have rendered to the saints and still continue to render. |
| The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. | The Lord commanded us to observe all of these statutes and to fear the Lord, our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, even as we are today. |
| For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. | For you, O God, have put us to the test; you have purified us as silver is refined. |
| For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” | In it the righteousness of God is revealed, beginning in faith and established in faith. As it is written: “The one who is righteous will live through faith.” |
| Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. | Therefore, strive to be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. |
| In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. | In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
| And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ | The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ |
| Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. | Therefore, take care to live as intelligent people, and do not be like those who are senseless. Make the most of the present time, for this is a wicked age. |
| My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. | This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. |
| As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. | Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a woman’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, the Creator of all. |
| I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. | I rejoice in the Lord with all my heart; my soul exults in my God. For he has clothed me in garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of saving justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a garland or a bride bedecked with her jewels. |
| How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! | How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from acts that lead to death so that we may worship the living God. |
| Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. | Therefore, brethren, I implore you by the mercies of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God—a spiritual act of worship. |
| However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him. | For as it is written, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has the human heart imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” |
| He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ | He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” |
| Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. | Come to your senses and sin no more. For some of you have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. |
| As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. | But as for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and therefore you do not need anyone to teach you. This same anointing teaches you everything and is true and not false, so abide in him just as he taught you. |
| For no word from God will ever fail. | For nothing will be impossible for God. |
| I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. | I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and listened to my cry for mercy, because he has inclined his ear to me on the day when I called out to him. |
| For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. | Just as in Adam all die, so all will be brought to life in Christ. |
| As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. | Just as water reflects one’s face, so does one human heart reflect another. |
