| My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. | My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. |
| If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. | If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. |
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| For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. | For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. |
| Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. | And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. |
| I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. | I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. |
| Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham. | A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. |
| We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. | The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. |
| But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears. | In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. |
| Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. | Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) |
| But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. | But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. |
| The Lord’s home reaches up to the heavens, while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! | He builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name. |
| The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. | The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. |
| I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. | Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. |
| I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. | My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. |
| Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. | The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. |
| Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. | There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. |
| Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. | We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. |
| And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” | He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” |
| Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. | This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. |
| After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. | After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. |
| I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. | No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. |
| From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” | From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” |
| And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” | Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. |
| Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. | Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. |
| Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. | Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. |
