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. | 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. |
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. | No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. |
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If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. | But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! |
So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. | And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. |
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. | Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. |
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. | The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” |
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. | God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. |
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. | What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. |
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. | But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! |
But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. | But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. |
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. | So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. |
If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. | If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. |
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. | Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. |
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. | So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. |
You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. | You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. |
As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. | But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. |
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. | You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. |
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. | May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. |
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. | 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. |
When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways. | When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. |
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. | So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. |
Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. | Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise. |
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. | The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. |
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit 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? |
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? | Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? |