| For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. | For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. |
| The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. | The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. |
| I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? | I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman. |
| However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. | So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. |
| Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. | And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. |
| For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. | God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. |
| Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. | We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. |
| For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. | For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. |
| As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. | 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. |
| Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. | Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. |
| Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. | Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. |
| The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? | The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? |
| A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. | So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. |
| Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. | And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. |
| What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? | What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? |
| Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. | Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. |
| I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. | I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. |
| And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” | Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” |
| What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! | Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! |
| From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. | And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! |
| And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” | John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” |
| What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? | Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? |
| Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. | Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. |
| If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. | And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. |
| For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. | Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. |
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