Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words. | Words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of fools consume them. |
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. | Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. |
To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper. | To get wisdom is to love oneself; to keep understanding is to prosper. |
The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. | The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. |
In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. | Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. |
“They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.” | They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. |
He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. | In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. |
Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. | Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. |
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? | For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? |
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. | But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. |
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. | Who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. |
They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them. | For they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. |
You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. | You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine. |
Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. | If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. |
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. | For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God. |
Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. | Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine. |
Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” | And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” |
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 strong city; in their imagination it is like a high wall. |
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. | Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. |
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. | His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. |
Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! | Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. |
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. |
For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. | Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. |
But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! | But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. |
Related topics
Life
The LORD keeps you...
Body
Don’t you realize that...
Salvation
There is salvation in...
Money
Don’t love money; be...
Holiness
Because we have these...
Wisdom
For the LORD grants...