| Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. | Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. |
| Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good. | For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. |
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| Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them. | Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. |
| In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. | In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. |
| Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble. | Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. |
| There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. | Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. |
| Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. | Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. |
| And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. | May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. |
| Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. | By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. |
| But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! | But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. |
| I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. | Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. |
| Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. | Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. |
| Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. | Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. |
| Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” | Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” |
| This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. | For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. |
| Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. | Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. |
| Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. | And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. |
| For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. | For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. |
| Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. | Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. |
| For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” | For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” |
| And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law. | To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. |
| The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. | The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. |
| 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. | May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. |
| The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these. | The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. |
| Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. | Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. |
