| But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. | These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. |
| And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. | This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. |
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| So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. | Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. |
| He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. | He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. |
| Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. | Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. |
| Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. | I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. |
| Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. | Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. |
| Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” | Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” |
| Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. | Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. |
| This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. | This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. |
| We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. | Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. |
| Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? | Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? |
| So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. | It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. |
| We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. | This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. |
| So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. | Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. |
| For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! | For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. |
| Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. | Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. |
| God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. | This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. |
| Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! | You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. |
| For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. | For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. |
| We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. | And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. |
| Until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. | Till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. |
| Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. | Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. |
| For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ | For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” |
| After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. | For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. |
