| Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. | Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. |
| Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. | Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. |
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| Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. | Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. |
| So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. | Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. |
| So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. | Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. |
| But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. | But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. |
| But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. |
| Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. | Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. |
| Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. | Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. |
| So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. | Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. |
| Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me. | Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. |
| Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. | Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. |
| Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. | Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. |
| Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. | And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. |
| Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. | Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. |
| Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. | Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. |
| For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. | You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. |
| Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. | Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. |
| 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 any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. |
| Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. | Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. |
| Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. | For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. |
| When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. | You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. |
| God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. | For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. |
| Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you! | Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. |
