From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. | Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! |
As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. | But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. |
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Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. | Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. |
First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. | Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me. |
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe. | In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. |
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, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? |
May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. | May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus. |
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 give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. |
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. | Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. |
Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval. | Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. |
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. | And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. |
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” | Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” |
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. | Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. |
The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.” | I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. |
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? | But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? |
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. | Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. |
For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. | For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. |
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. | Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. |
Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? | Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? |
For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. | For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. |
You must not exploit a widow or an orphan. If you exploit them in any way and they cry out to me, then I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will blaze against you, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless. | You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. |