| Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. | Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. |
| And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ | I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ |
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| Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? | Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? |
| And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. | And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name. |
| Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. | Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. |
| But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” | Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” |
| And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” | They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” |
| I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? | I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. |
| I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass. | I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass. |
| See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that 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. |
| Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. | Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. |
| For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. | This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. |
| One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” | One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” |
| For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. |
| When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. | Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. |
| And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. | Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. |
| The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? | The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? |
| My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day. | My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. |
| But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. | But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. |
| Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. | Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. |
| He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” | “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” |
| And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. | And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. |
| So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. | Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. |
| In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? | In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? |
| “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” | “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” |
