| Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor. | Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor. |
| We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. | In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. |
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| The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. | The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. |
| As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. | As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. |
| Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people! | A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. |
| The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won’t even get threatened. | A person’s riches may ransom their life, but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes. |
| Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. | For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. |
| You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. | Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. |
| The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety. | The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale. |
| Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words. | Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. |
| 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. |
| People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. | A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. |
| Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. | Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. |
| Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest. | What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar. |
| Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. | See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. |
| That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. | Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. |
| Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. | And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
| Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” | Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” |
| If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. |
| But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. | But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! |
| So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. | I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. |
| For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. | For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. |
| So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. | For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. |
| For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. | For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. |
| Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? | Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! |
