| Does it now appear to you that I am trying to gain the approval of human beings rather than the approval of God? Am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. | Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. |
| Let us examine and test our ways and return to the Lord. | Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. |
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| Examine me, O God, and know my heart; test me and understand my thoughts. See if I follow an evil way, and guide me on the way to eternity. | Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. |
| Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not demand the return of what is yours from the one who has taken it. | Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. |
| The heart is more deceitful than any other thing, and it is also perverse. Who can uncover its secrets? I, the Lord, search the heart and probe the mind to reward all according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve. | The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” |
| Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vanity, but humbly regard others as better than yourselves. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| Make sure that no one pays back evil for evil. Rather, always aim to achieve what is best for each other and for everyone. | Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. |
| For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. |
| For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find 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. | “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.” |
| For you know that the testing of your faith will develop perseverance. | Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. |
| Those of you who seek to be justified by the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from grace. | You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. |
| Beloved, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. | Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. |
| For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. |
| Do not wear yourself out in the pursuit of wealth, and cease even to think about it. | Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. |
| Whenever you fast, do not assume a gloomy expression like the hypocrites who contort their faces so that others may realize that they are fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. | When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. |
| Exhort slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction in every respect. They are not to talk back to them, nor are they to steal from them. Rather, they should show themselves to be completely trustworthy so that in every way they may add luster to the doctrine of God our Savior. | Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. |
| Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I made no attempt to conceal my guilt. I said, “I will confess my offenses to the Lord,” and you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah | Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. |
| All this has been done by God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation. | All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. |
| But Jesus has now received a ministry that is far superior, for he is the mediator of a far better covenant that has been established on better promises. | But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. |
| And so you should put to death everything in your nature that is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and greed (which is idolatry). | Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. |
| Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you previously, that no one who does such things will inherit the kingdom of God. | The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. |
