For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. | 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. |
We love him, because he first loved us. | We love each other because he loved us first. |
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What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! | Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! |
Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God; so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. | Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. |
Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is. Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. | Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. |
For we walk by faith, not by sight. | For we live by believing and not by seeing. |
By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. | And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. |
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life. | For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. |
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end. | For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. |
Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up. | So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. |
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. | For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. |
Turn us again, Yahweh God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. | Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. |
Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming. | And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. |
Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.” | Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” |
This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. | And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. |
‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ | For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ |
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. | Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. |
Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us. | Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. |
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you. | O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. |
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. | And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. |
Knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. | For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. |
We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. | And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. |
For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. | For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! |
For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing. | Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. |
If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. | Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. |