And so does kindness, O Lord. You reward each person in accordance with his deeds. | Unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done. |
You are the light of the world. A city built upon a mountain cannot be hidden. | You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. |
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Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. | Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. |
This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another. | Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. |
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your gracious Spirit lead me along a level path. | Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. |
No trial has confronted you except what a person can stand. God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength. But together with the trial he will also provide a way out and the strength to bear it. | The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. |
Then he went on, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from within, and they defile a person.” | And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” |
You are truly my rock and my fortress; for the sake of your name, lead and guide me. | You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of your name, lead me out of this danger. |
He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean. | “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) |
Therefore, encourage one another and strengthen one another, as indeed you are doing. | So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. |
I am confident of this: that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. | And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. |
What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? | What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? |
Guide me in your truth and instruct me, for you are God, my Savior, and in you I hope all the day long. | Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. |
For sin is no longer to have any power over you, since you are not under the Law but under grace. | Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. |
Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved; you are the one whom I praise. | O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone! |
But the one who did not know those wishes, and who acted in such a manner as to deserve a beating, will be beaten less severely. Much will be demanded of a person to whom much has been given, and even more will be asked of a person to whom more has been entrusted. | But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. |
Two are better than one: they earn a far greater reward for their toil. | Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. |
Do you not realize that you are God’s temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? | Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? |
Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. | For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! |
Each person should give as much as he has decided in his heart, not with reluctance or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. | You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” |
“But you,” he said to them, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” | Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” |
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can be done to make it salty once again? It is no longer good for anything, and thus it is cast out and trampled underfoot. | You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. |
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. | Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. |
Anxiety in the human heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad. | Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. |
Before the mountains were brought forth or the earth and the world came into existence, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. | Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. |