Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. | Then you will understand equity and justice as well as righteousness—every good path. |
Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means. | Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will persist in their evil ways. |
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Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall. | Let those who are wise understand these words, and let the prudent acknowledge them. For straight are the ways of the Lord; the upright walk in them, but sinners stumble. |
Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. | Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a woman’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, the Creator of all. |
The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand. | The explanation of your words gives light and imparts understanding to the simple. |
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. | Remember this, my beloved brethren: everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to anger. |
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. | If I have the gift of prophecy and the ability to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all the faith necessary to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. |
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! | Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways! |
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who among you is wise and understanding? Prove by your good life that your works are done with the humility that comes from wisdom. |
Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. | Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside, and he saw and believed. They still did not understand the Scripture indicating that he must rise from the dead. |
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. | I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love so that they may grow rich in their complete understanding as they come to the knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ. |
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. | I further pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, how rich and glorious is his inheritance in the saints. |
Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.” | Then Peter addressed them: “I now understand how true it is that God has no favorites, but that in every nation all those who fear God and do what is right are acceptable to him.” |
“Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) | 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. |
Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. | Keep in mind, therefore, that the Lord, your God, is God. He is a faithful God who keeps his covenant of mercy to the thousandth generation toward those who love him and observe his commandments. |
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 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. |
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. | Do not worry about anything, but present your needs to God in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. |
Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | Thus you could understand that the Lord, your God, was disciplining you, just like a father disciplines his son. |
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. | O Lord, you have examined me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I stand; you perceive my thoughts from a distance. |
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. | 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. |
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. | The Lord does not delay in keeping his promise, as some think in terms of delay, but he is patient with you. It is not his wish that any should perish but rather that all should be brought to repentance. |
So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. | I understand that man’s greatest happiness is to be glad and do well throughout his life. And when we eat and drink and find satisfaction in all our labors, this is a gift of God. |
Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight—something the law of Moses could never do. | You must understand, brethren, that it is through him that forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you. All those who believe are justified from all the things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses. |
Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. | He brought you low, allowing you to suffer from hunger. He then fed you with manna, something with which your fathers were not familiar, so that you might come to know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord. |