| Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad. | Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. |
| The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats. | The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won’t even get threatened. |
| Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. | Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. |
| Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright. | Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways. Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly. |
| For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. | No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. |
| Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint. | A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls. |
| Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. | Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. |
| Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work. | Unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done. |
| But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. | But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. |
| Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. | The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. |
| So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. | Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. |
| Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. | You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” |
| As knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine, according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. | For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. |
| Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. | All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. |
| If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him. | If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive. |
| His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. | The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. |
| We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. | You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. |
| For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. | Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. |
| If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. | If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. |
| For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have. | Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. |
| But he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked. | But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. |
| He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.” | John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” |
| He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. | God detests the prayers of a person who ignores the law. |
| Who “will pay back to everyone according to their works.” | He will judge everyone according to what they have done. |
| Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. | Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
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