| 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. | But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. |
| So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. | So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. |
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| 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. | Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. |
| 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. | But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. |
| Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. | Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. |
| Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. | All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. |
| Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.” | Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.” |
| 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. | It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God. |
| And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. | Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. |
| 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. | For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. |
| Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. | Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. |
| You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. | You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. |
| 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. | “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.” |
| “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!” | Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” |
| Words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of fools consume them. | Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. |
| 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. | Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. |
| 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. | If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. |
| And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. | And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. |
| Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. | Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. |
| For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. | For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. |
| So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. | And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? |
| For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? | What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? |
| The wealth of the rich is their strong city; in their imagination it is like a high wall. | The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale. |
| Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. | Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. |
| Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time. | Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time. |
