| And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. | And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. |
| And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. | May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. |
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| Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? | What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? |
| For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. | For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. |
| I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. | I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. |
| I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. | May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
| The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. | The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. |
| But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. | But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! |
| O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. | You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. |
| So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. | Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. |
| “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish. | Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. |
| Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. | We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. |
| Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. | Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. |
| Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. | Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. |
| Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. | Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. |
| So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. | Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. |
| Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. | Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. |
| But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. | But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. |
| And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? | 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? |
| Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. | Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. |
| What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? | What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? |
| What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? | What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? |
| Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. | Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. |
| So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. | Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. |
| Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good. | Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. |
