Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. | The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. |
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. | But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. |
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If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. | If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. |
I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. | How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house. |
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” | For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. |
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. | For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. |
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. | And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but 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 and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? |
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 perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. |
It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise. | By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. |
Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single 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 word 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. |
“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.” | Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” |