| But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. | But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. |
| Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. | This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. |
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| For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. | For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. |
| For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. | For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. |
| And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. | I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions. |
| We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. | You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. |
| I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me. | I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life. |
| He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. | A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls. |
| Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. | Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. |
| That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. | Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. |
| 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. | 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.” |
| For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. | For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. |
| God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. | God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. | Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. |
| Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. | So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. |
| I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. | I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. |
| Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. | But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. |
| For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. | For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. |
| Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. | Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. |
| When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? | The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! |
| When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. | When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. |
| It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. | The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. |
| Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. | Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he. |
| Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. | Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears. For I am your guest— a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me. |
| Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. | And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. |
