| And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? | Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? |
| What is desired in a man is kindness, And a poor man is better than a liar. | What a person desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar. |
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| When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? | As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? |
| But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. | But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. |
| What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer 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? |
| What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had 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.” |
| And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. | Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. |
| Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. | See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. |
| 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 serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. |
| I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, And have now made known to me what we asked of You, For You have made known to us the king’s demand. | I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king. |
| Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. | And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. |
| Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. | What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. |
| Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. | As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. |
| But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. | But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ |
| But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. | But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. |
| But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. | Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. |
| Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’? | Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? |
| But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. | But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. |
| If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. | If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. |
| Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. | Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. |
| For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. | For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. |
| While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. | So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. |
| When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. | When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. |
| But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” | Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” |
| To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. | To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. |
