| And rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. | Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn back to the Lord, your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and always prepared to relent from punishing. |
| I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. | I will instruct you and guide you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and keep my eyes upon you. |
| For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. | For it is in him that the entire fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and you share this fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and power. |
| 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. | Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, and ardor is as relentless as the netherworld. Its flames are flashes of fire, an unending blaze. |
| For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. | For we are not struggling against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, the powers, and the cosmic rulers of this present darkness, and against the spirits of evil in the heavens. |
| Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. | Hatred stirs up strife, but love overlooks all offenses. |
| And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. | And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. |
| And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” | Then he sat down, summoned the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he must become the last of all and the servant of all.” |
| And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. | He is the head of the body, that is, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in every way he should be supreme. |
| It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. | Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. |
| Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. | Behold, he is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will mourn him. So shall it be. Amen. |
| Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. | Above all, maintain the fervor of your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. |
| Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. | Dear children, you are from God and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. |
| He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” | While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud cast a shadow over them. Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” |
| In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. | When things are going well, be grateful for your blessings, and in times of adversity consider this: God has made both of them, so that we cannot predict with confidence what the future holds. |
| So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. | Hence, as sin’s reign resulted in death, so the grace of God also might reign through righteousness resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. | They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior. |
| Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. | One who forgives a misdeed fosters friendship, but he who divulges it separates good friends. |
| And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. | Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. During that time he ate nothing, and at the end of it he was famished. |
| I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. | I refrained from eating any choice food, abstaining from consuming meat or wine, and I did not anoint myself until those three weeks had passed. |
| 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; love is charitable. Love is not envious; it does not have an inflated opinion of itself; it is not filled with its own importance. Love is never rude; it does not seek its own advantage. It is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over setbacks. |
| And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ | In the netherworld, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham, far off, and Lazarus by his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ |
| But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. | But from you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, among the tiniest of the clans of Judah, from you will come forth for me one who is to be a ruler in Israel, one whose origins are from the distant past, from ancient times. |
| Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. | Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance toward maturity. We must not be forever laying the foundation: repentance for actions that lead to death, faith in God, instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. |
| For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. | For the carved images of the nations are powerless; they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest, fashioned with a knife by craftsmen and embellished with silver and gold. Then they are fastened with hammers and nails to prevent them from toppling. Like scarecrows in a cucumber field they are unable to speak, and they must be carried from place to place since they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they can do no harm, nor do they have any power to do good. |
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