| For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! | For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. |
| Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come. | Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. |
|
| 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!’ | But I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you. |
| For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. | For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. |
| God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? | God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? |
| Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. | Observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go. |
| A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married. | If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. |
| In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. | In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. |
| Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. | Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. |
| But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. | But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. |
| 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. |
| But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. | But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. |
| Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do. | Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. |
| The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. | The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. |
| 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. | Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. |
| For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. | For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. |
| So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. | So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. |
| I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth. | I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. |
| But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together. | But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. |
| Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. | It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. |
| The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord. | He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. |
| “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” | We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life! |
| Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy. | Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. |
| He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. | He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. |
| But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval. | Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. |
