| Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. | Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you. |
| Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. | Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. |
| 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. |
| Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him. | This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. |
| Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. | God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. |
| 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. | 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!) |
| Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. | Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. |
| But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. | But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life. |
| Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. | Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. |
| Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. | Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life. |
| If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. | So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. |
| But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. | But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. |
| For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. | For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. |
| However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. | But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. |
| Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. | For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love. |
| 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. |
| Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. | Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest. |
| For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. | And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
| And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. | Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. |
| I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. | I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh. |
| Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. | Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. |
| For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. | For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. |
| One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. | The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. |
| So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. | Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. |
| Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. | If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. |
Bible verse of the day
A fool spurns a parent’s discipline,but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.