| Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a resolute spirit within me. | Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. |
| Wash yourselves and become clean; remove your evil deeds far from my sight. Cease to do evil. | Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. |
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| You have already been cleansed by the word I have spoken to you. | You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. |
| Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word. | Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. |
| He said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not into the heart but into the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” Thus, he pronounced all foods clean. | “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) |
| Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. You received without payment; give in the same way. | Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. |
| However, if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wrongdoing. | If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. |
| Have mercy on me, O God, in accord with your kindness; in your abundant compassion wipe away my offenses. Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. | Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. |
| Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you waverers. | Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. |
| Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from anything that can defile flesh or spirit, and thereby make our holiness perfect in the fear of God. | Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. |
| However, if we live in the light as he himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. | But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. |
| Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will persist in their evil ways. | Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. |
| How can a young man lead a spotless life? By living according to your word. | How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. |
| Indeed, under the Law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. | In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. |
| How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from acts that lead to death so that we may worship the living God. | How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! |
| This water prefigured Baptism, which now saves you. It does so not by the washing away of dirt from the body but by the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. | And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
| Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may show yourselves blameless and beyond reproach, children of God without spot in the midst of an evil and depraved generation, among which you shine like lights in the world as you hold fast tenaciously to the word of life. | Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. |
| He gave himself for us in order to deliver us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people as his own who are eager to do good. | Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. |
| He is the reflection of God’s glory and the perfect expression of his very being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Achieving purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. | The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. |
| Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance toward maturity. We must not be forever laying the foundation: repentance for actions that lead to death, faith in God, instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. | Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. |
