| I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. | Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. |
| But godliness with contentment is great gain. | But godliness with contentment is great gain. |
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| For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. | For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. |
| Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” | Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” |
| 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 know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. |
| That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. |
| The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. | A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings. |
| Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. | He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. |
| As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? | When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? |
| Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. | Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is with people who take advice. |
| Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. | Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. |
| The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. | Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom. |
