| Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. | So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. |
| But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. | But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. |
| Now go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, rather than sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. | Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” |
| When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at them? | The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! |
| What is desirable in a person is his kindness, And it is better to be a poor person than a liar. | Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest. |
| What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? | Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? |
| Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. | But be sure to fear the Lord and faithfully serve him. Think of all the wonderful things he has done for you. |
| And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. | And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. |
| What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” | Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” |
| Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. | Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. |
| And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. | Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. |
| For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me so that you may live.” | Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!” |
| Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. | Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! |
| To You, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter. | I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded. |
| For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. | Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. |
| Pay to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor. | Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. |
| And when they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time; for you are not the ones speaking, but it is the Holy Spirit. | But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. |
| When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! | When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. |
| Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker— A piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’? | What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’ |
| Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. | Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. |
| But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does. | But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. |
| See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek what is good for one another and for all people. | See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. |
| To whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory. | For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. |
| The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. | A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. |
| While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. | So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. |
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Bible verse of the day
Vindicate the weak and fatherless;Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.