| Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. |
| What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance. | Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. |
| Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” | “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!” |
| We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. | The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps. |
| God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. | For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. |
| But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. | For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever. |
| But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. |
| Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” | Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” |
| And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. | And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. |
| Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. | As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. |
| Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. | Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. |
| Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. | Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior. |
| 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.” | He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” |
| A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls. | Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control. |
| Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! | Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. |
| He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. | He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. |
| So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” | For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” |
| Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. | Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. |
| Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. | The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. |
| And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. | And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. |
| So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. | So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God's rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. |
| Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything. | Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin. |
| Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. | He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. |
| Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. | Because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. |
| How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! | Therefore you are great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. |
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Bible verse of the day
Only a fool despises a parent’s discipline;whoever learns from correction is wise.