| Because they exchanged the truth about 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 dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. | They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. |
| Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? | Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. |
| And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” | But the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” |
| Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. | Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. |
| Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” | Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” |
| The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. | The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. |
| Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. | Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. |
| Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. | This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! |
| As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. | So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. |
| Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. | Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. |
| If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. | If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? |
| Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? | Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? |
| Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. | Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. |
| One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. | The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. |
| But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” | That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” |
| But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. |
| So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. | So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. |
| Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. | Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. |
| Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. | Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. |
| But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. | But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. |
| And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. | After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. |
| And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. | And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. |
| For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. | So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. |
| So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” | Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” |
| Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work 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. |
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