| He must become greater; I must become less. | He must increase; I must decrease. |
| As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? | When riches increase, so do those who are eager to accumulate them, and those who have accumulated them must remain content simply to feast their eyes on them. |
|
| For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. | For much wisdom can result in much sorrow, and those who increase their knowledge also increase their grief. |
| May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. | May the Lord cause your love to increase and overflow for one another and for everyone else, just as our love does for you. |
| Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. | The one who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. |
| Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. | Wealth hastily acquired will dwindle away, but when amassed little by little, it will increase. |
| Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. | Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops. |
| He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. | He gives strength to the weary and new vigor to those who are powerless. |
| Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. | One who is covetous will never be satisfied with money, nor will the lover of wealth be content with gain. This too is vanity. |
| 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? | What then shall we say? Should we persist in sin in order that grace may abound? Of course not! We have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? |
| If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. | Follow my statutes and keep my commandments and obey them. Then I will give you rain in its proper season and the yield of the land shall increase and the trees of the field shall bear their fruit. |
| God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” | God blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the seas and over the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.” |
| For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. | If you obey the command that I give you today, to love the Lord, your God, and to walk in his ways, and to observe his commandments, statutes, and decrees, then you will live and multiply, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. |
| Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. | Meanwhile, the Church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, building up strength and living in the fear of the Lord. Encouraged by the Holy Spirit, the Church grew in numbers. |
| We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. | Brethren, we must always give thanks to God for you, and it is only right that we do so. For your faith grows ever more, and the love that all of you have for one another continues to increase. |
