| For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. | For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. |
| The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. | By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. |
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| Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” | Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” |
| 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? |
| Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. | As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. |
| The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil. | For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. |
| By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. | His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. |
| “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” | “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” |
| But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are! | But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. |
| “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. |
| For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. | For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. |
| Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. | A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. |
| And the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives, as he has done to this day. | The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. |
| For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. | For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. |
| Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. | Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. |
| But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) | But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. |
| Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” | Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” |
| But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises. | But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. |
| And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! | May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands. |
| We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. | And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. |
| May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us. | May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. |
| Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt. | Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. |
| Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone. | May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. |
| And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. | This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. |
| But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. | These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. |
