We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. | We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. |
For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens, and your truth to the skies. | For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. |
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Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—” Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. | 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. |
My salvation and my honor is with God. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. | My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. |
In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears. | 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. |
So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. | 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. |
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. | If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. |
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. | I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. |
Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. | 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. |
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. | 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. |
Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver. | 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. |
That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. | 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. |
Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit. | 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. |
The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them. | Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. |
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. | 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. |
For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also. | 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. |
Every day, in the temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and preaching Jesus, the Christ. | And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” |
It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth—Yahweh is his name. | 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! |
Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. | 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. |
Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. | 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. |
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation.” | And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” |
From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” | From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” |
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. | And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come. |
But I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. | 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. |
Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. | Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. |