Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. | Therefore, brethren, be diligent in providing a firm foundation for your call and election. If you do this, you will never stumble, and you will receive a glorious welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. |
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have. | As long as the goodwill is present, the gift will be acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. |
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Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. | Are you not aware that wrongdoers will never inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, extortioners, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. |
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. | However, the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, and considerate, full of mercy and good fruits, without any trace of partiality or hypocrisy. |
Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. | Remember this: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, and if you sow generously, you will reap generously as well. |
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear. | Rather, revere Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to offer an explanation to anyone who asks you to justify the hope that is in you. However, do so with gentleness and respect. |
For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. | However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago. |
For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. | The one who sows in his flesh will reap a harvest of corruption, but the one who sows in the Spirit will reap from the Spirit the reward of eternal life. |
Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come. | Therefore, you must also be prepared, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. |
For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing. | That is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, and they devote themselves to this service. |
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you. | O Lord, you are kind and forgiving, filled with kindness for all who cry to you. |
We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress. | But the Almighty we cannot find; he is unequaled in power and judgment, and in his righteousness he will not violate justice. |
Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. | Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A person will reap only what he sows. |
Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up. | Let us never grow weary in doing what is right, for if we do not give up, we will reap our harvest in due time. |
To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. | One who despairs should have the support of his friends even if he has forsaken the fear of the Almighty. |
“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” | Come now and let us discuss this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall become as white as wool. |
Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds! | Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. You are of far greater importance than birds. |
Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. | Because I delivered the poor who appealed for help and the orphan who had no one to protect him. The blessing of the wretched was given to me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. |
For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. | For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since his death has served to redeem the sins that were committed under the first covenant. |
See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they? | Gaze upon the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or store in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of far greater value than they? |
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. | The Lord God said, “Behold, man has become like one of us, for he has knowledge of that which is good and that which is evil. Now, we must prevent him from reaching out and taking the fruit of the tree of life lest he eat it and live forever.” The Lord God cast him out of the Garden of Eden; henceforth he was to labor tilling the soil from which he had come. |
He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.” | He replied, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said: ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh’? And so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” |
Who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error. Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting. | They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior. |
He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” He said to them, “Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry—he, and those who were with him? How he entered into God’s house at the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” | One day, as Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to pick some heads of grain as they walked along. The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why are your disciples doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread that only the priests were permitted to eat, and he shared it with his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” |