So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. | And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. |
And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. | And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. |
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Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. |
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. | For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. |
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. | For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. |
God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. | And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. |
And do everything with love. | Let all your things be done with charity. |
Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. | In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. |
But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike. | Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. |
For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. | For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. |
Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. | Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. |
Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” | What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. |
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. | Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. |
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. | But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. |
I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? | I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass. |
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. | Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. |
They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them. | How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. |
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. | My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. |
If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! | If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. |
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. | But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. |
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. | For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. |
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. | Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. |
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! | Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. |
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. | But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. |
Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. | And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. |