| And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. | And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. |
| Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? | No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. |
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| Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. | You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. |
| This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. | This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. |
| Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. | Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises.” |
| And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. | Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” |
| Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. | Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. |
| And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. | Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” |
| Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. | Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” |
| But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. | This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ |
| The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. | The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. |
| Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. | In those days when you pray, I will listen. |
| I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. | 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. |
| If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. | If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. |
| Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. | But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me.” |
| Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. | God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. |
| I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. | I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. |
| A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. | Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions. |
| Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. | I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. |
| Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. | I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. |
| For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. | For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. |
| Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. | When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. |
| But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. | But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. |
| Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. | Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. |
| And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. | You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. |
