| This is what the Lord says to Israel: “Seek me and live.” | For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: If you seek me, you will survive. |
| Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ | Therefore say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: The fulfillment of my words will not be delayed any longer. What I have said will be done now. This is the word of the Lord God.” |
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| This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ | Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render fair judgments, and show kindness and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor. Do not plot evil in your heart against one another. |
| Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. | Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets of that time proclaimed. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Forsake your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they refused to listen or to pay attention to me, says the Lord. |
| Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord.’ | Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father: I have heard, I have seen your tears. I will heal you today, and the day after tomorrow you will go up to the temple of the Lord. |
| This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” | These are the words of the Lord of hosts: Stand at the crossroads and look around; ask for the ancient paths. When you are shown where the good way lies, walk along it and your souls will find rest. However, they said, “We will not take it.” |
| “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) | He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean. |
| For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” | For thus says the One who is high and exalted, who lives eternally and whose name is holy: I dwell in a high and holy place but I am with the contrite and the humble, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite. |
| Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. | Your kindness is a greater joy than life itself; thus my lips will speak your praise. I will bless you all my life; with uplifted hands I will call on your name. |
| In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. | In the same way, faith by itself is dead if it does not have works. |
| And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. | I will, thereby, display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord. |
| Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. | You shall observe my commandments and obey them. I am the Lord. |
| For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. | For the love of Christ urges us forward, once we conclude that one has died for all, and therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was raised to life. |
| So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. | While Peter was thus imprisoned, the Church prayed fervently to God for him. |
| And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. | Thus there are three things that endure: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. |
| “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” | Bring the tithes in full into the treasury so that there may be food in my house. Put me thus to the test, says the Lord of hosts, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down blessings upon you without measure. |
| This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. | And thus we can have confidence in him that if we ask anything that is in accordance with his will, he hears us. |
| Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. | Thus you could understand that the Lord, your God, was disciplining you, just like a father disciplines his son. |
| Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. | He cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And with these words he breathed his last. |
| But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. | But who am I, and what are your people, that we should be able to do this? All things belong to you, and everything that we have given you is from your hand. |
| I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. | I will establish my covenant with you: never again will all living creatures be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor will the earth be laid waste by a flood again. |
| The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. | Anyone who is victorious will be dressed like these in white robes, and I shall not blot his name from the book of life. Rather, I shall acknowledge it in the presence of my Father and his angels. |
| You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. | You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can be done to make it salty once again? It is no longer good for anything, and thus it is cast out and trampled underfoot. |
| You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. | When you look at the tassels, you will remember the commandments of the Lord and keep them. Thus you will not prostitute yourselves by following after the lusts in your own heart or your own eyes. |
| So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. | Therefore, whenever you give alms, do not trumpet your generosity, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets in order to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have already received their reward. |
