| 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. | I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing. |
| Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly. | It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment. |
| Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God. | Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God. |
| I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. | I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. |
| The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. | The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” |
| I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. | That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. |
| But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. | But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. |
| But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth. | Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth. |
| And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. | Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. |
| And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. | This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. |
| For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. | Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation. |
| Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. | Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon. |
| Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent. | Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. When he shuts his lips, he is thought to be discerning. |
| Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. | Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. |
| You must not exploit a widow or an orphan. If you exploit them in any way and they cry out to me, then I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will blaze against you, and I will kill you with the sword. Then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless. | You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. |
| Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words. | The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips. |
| Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions. | A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion. |
| The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won’t even get threatened. | The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats. |
| 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. | “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh, “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?” |
| Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. | He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. |
| The wise are glad to be instructed, but babbling fools fall flat on their faces. | The wise in heart accept commandments, but a chattering fool will fall. |
| The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. | A man’s steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way. |
| Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. | Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. |
| Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. | Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. |
| People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness. | He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly. |
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