| For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! | For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light. |
| Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. | Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding. |
| Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” | Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” |
| I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear? | I, I am he who comforts you; why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die, a human being who fades like grass? |
| You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. | Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. |
| And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! | If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. |
| 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. | Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. |
| A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. | And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. |
| Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. | Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. |
| This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” | For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” |
| Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. | 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. |
| The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. | The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. |
| But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. | Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. |
| The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. | A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. |
| But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. | But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. |
| Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. | Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. |
| This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! | So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! |
| A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. | The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it. |
| You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. | We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. |
| If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? | How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? |
| If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. |
| So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. | So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. |
| For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. | For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. |
| Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. | Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. |
| But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. | Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. |
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