| No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. | No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. |
| But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. | But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. |
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| For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. | For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. |
| Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. | For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. |
| But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. | But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. |
| It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. | Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. |
| Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. | Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. |
| You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. | For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. |
| Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you. | You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness. |
| How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! | Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. |
| But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. | But be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul. |
| And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? | And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. |
| Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. | Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. |
| Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. | Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. |
| The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. | But the Lord will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. |
| Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. | Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. |
| You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. | You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. |
| “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.” | “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.” |
| God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. | For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. |
| Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. | Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. |
| And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. | And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. |
| Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. | Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. |
| For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. | Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. |
