| Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. | Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. |
| There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. | For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. |
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| I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. | I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. |
| A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word! | Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! |
| If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. | If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. |
| Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. | So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. |
| Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. | Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. |
| Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. | Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. |
| You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. | You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. |
