| But godliness with contentment is great gain. | Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. |
| Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. | Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me. |
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| For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. | For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. |
| But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. | But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. |
| Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler! | Eloquent words are not fitting for a fool; even less are lies fitting for a ruler. |
| For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. | In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. |
| With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape. | With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous. |
| For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. | Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. |
| In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. | Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. |
| Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? | Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? |
| Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. | For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. |
| If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. | God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. |
| Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. | Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory. |
| Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children. | Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. |
| The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. | May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people. |
| If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. | So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. |
| 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. | 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. |
| “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” | “All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” |
| How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! | How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! |
| The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. | For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. |
| But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. | But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. |
| May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. | May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. |
| So that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. | Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other. |
| Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. | So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. |
| For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. | For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. |
