Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. | Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. |
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. | He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. |
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The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. | The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. |
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. | 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. |
Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. | Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. |
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. | Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. |
But test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. | But test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. |
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. | See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. |
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. | For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. |
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. | Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. |
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. | As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. |
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. | O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. |
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? | No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. |
He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. | One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty. |
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” | Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” |
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces 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. |
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. | So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. |
Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. | He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. |
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. | Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. |
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. | You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. |
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. | But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! |
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. | Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. |
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. | All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. |
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. | And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. |
And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) | “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) |