Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. | So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! |
Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me. | Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil. |
|
So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. | So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. |
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. | When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. |
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. | The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. |
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. | Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people. |
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. | I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. |
Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another. | As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person. |
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. | Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. |
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. | A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. |
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. | Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. |
Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. | Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. |
It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice. | Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly. |
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. | You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” |
But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. | But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. |
Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart. | Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. |
And ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one's neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. | 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. |
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. | This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. |
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. | Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. |
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. | Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. |
If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse on you and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. | “Listen to me and make up your minds to honor my name,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning to heart.” |
All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart. | People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. |
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. | Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. |
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. | The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. |
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. | They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. |