| Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. | Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. |
| I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was exalted with my tongue. | For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. |
| For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. | For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. |
| Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! | Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! |
| Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. | And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. |
| So you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have singled you out from the peoples to 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. |
| Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring out your righteousness as the light, And your judgment as the noonday. | 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. |
| Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. | And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. |
| Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry. | Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. |
| Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who watches over the souls of His godly ones; He saves them from the hand of the wicked. | You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked. |
| I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh. | I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh. |
| And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people.” | Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” |
| Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water That extends its roots by a stream, And does not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought, Nor cease to yield fruit. | But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. |
| And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his arms. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ | And he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’ |
| Yet I have been the Lord your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me. | I have been the Lord your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior. |
| For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. | For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. |
| Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the poor and needy. | Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. |
| The Lord is near to all who call on Him, To all who call on Him in truth. | The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. |
| Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. | 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. |
| Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil. | Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. |
| On the day of prosperity be happy, But on the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other So that a person will not discover anything that will come after him. | Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. |
| Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. | What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. |
| And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. | Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. |
| Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. | If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. |
| Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. | Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. |
Related topics
Evil
Do not be overcome...
Jesus
Looking at them, Jesus...
Life
The Lord will protect...
Temptation
No temptation has overtaken...
Righteousness
One who pursues righteousness...
Salvation
And there is salvation...