Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. | The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. |
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. | But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. |
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If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. | If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. |
You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. | I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house. |
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. | For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. |
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. | For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. |
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? | So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. |
I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. | I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. |
And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. | By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. |
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. | And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. |
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” | Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” |