| What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? | What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? |
| Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path. | Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. |
| Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. | Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. |
| Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. | Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. |
| What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” | What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” |
| My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. | Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. |
| There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling. | There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. |
| The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. | Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. |
| He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) | “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) |
| But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house. | 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. |
| 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 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 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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.” | “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.” |
Bible verse of the day
O Lord, all my longing is known to you;my sighing is not hidden from you.