| How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! | How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! |
| So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. | If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! |
|
| Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! | Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! |
| How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. | How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. |
| How much better to get wisdom than gold, and good judgment than silver! | How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! |
| And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath. | How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. |
| I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. | I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. |
| So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. | If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. |
| 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? | If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? |
| Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? | What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? |
| Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! | A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word! |
| How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. | How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. |
| How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! | How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” |
| So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. | Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. |
| Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” | Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” |
| Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. | 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! |
| Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? | Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? |
| How joyful are those who fear the Lord— all who follow his ways! | Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. |
| Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? | He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? |
| How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! | How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. |
| 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. | 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. |
| If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? | Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. |
| Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! | Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! |
| I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman. | I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. |
| Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. | Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. |
