| 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. |
| How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! | How wonderful and delightful it is for brothers to live together in unity. |
| Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. | Therefore, take care to live as intelligent people, and do not be like those who are senseless. Make the most of the present time, for this is a wicked age. |
| What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? | What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his very life? |
| Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. | Your statutes are my everlasting heritage; they are the very joy of my heart. |
| The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. | Everyone who sins comes from the devil, for the devil has been a sinner from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very purpose: to destroy the work of the devil. |
| Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. | Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, and ardor is as relentless as the netherworld. Its flames are flashes of fire, an unending blaze. |
| The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. | The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. |
| But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. | Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth: it is better for you that I depart. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, whereas if I go, I will send him to you. |
| All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal. | Every word you utter is true, and all your righteous judgments are everlasting. |
| Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! | Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. |
| Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. | One who forgives a misdeed fosters friendship, but he who divulges it separates good friends. |
| You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. | You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, am holy. I have chosen you from among all people that you shall be mine. |
| But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles. | But I have had help from God to this very day, and I stand here and testify to both the lowly and the great. I assert nothing more than what the Prophets and Moses said would occur: that the Christ must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to the people and to the Gentiles. |
| 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. | Indeed, it is seldom that anyone will die for a just person, although perhaps for a good person someone might be willing to die. Thus, God proved his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. |
| What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? | What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his very life? Or what can he give in exchange for his life? |
| Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does 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.” |
| For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. | Indeed, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. |
| Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. | Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the world. |
| For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. | Our temporary light afflictions are preparing for us an incomparable weight of eternal glory. |
| In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. | In the same way, even the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs that cannot be put into words. |
| Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. | Let the wicked abandon their ways and those who are evil their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy upon them; and to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness. |
| See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. | See what love the Father has bestowed on us, enabling us to be called the children of God, and that is what we are. If the world does not recognize us, that is because it did not know him. |
| Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. | Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. During that time he ate nothing, and at the end of it he was famished. |
| I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. | I intend to prove the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. Thus, the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I will display my holiness in their sight. |
Bible verse of the day
“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.