| 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. | Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. |
| Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! | He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. |
| For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. | For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. |
| Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. | Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. |
| Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. | He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. |
| For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. | For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. |
| But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. | And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. |
| Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. | Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. |
| You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. | Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. |
| So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. | Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. |
| And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. | And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. |
| You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. | Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. |
| 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. | Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. |
| God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. | Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. |
| No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. | For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. |
| “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.) | And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? |
| Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. | For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. |
| So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. | Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. |
| Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” | But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. |
| 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. | Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. |
| One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.” | Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. |
| I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me. | My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. |
| For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ | For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. |
| I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. | I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. |
| The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” | For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. |
Bible verse of the day
My child, pay attention to what I say.Listen carefully to my words.
Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart.