| Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. | Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. |
| If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. | If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. |
|
| Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success. | Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. |
| And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. | In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. |
| But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” | While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” |
| For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” | For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” |
| Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. | Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. |
| Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. | Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. |
| If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. | If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. |
| It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. | So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. |
| Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions. | Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. |
| May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. | May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. |
| Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people. | Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. |
| Fools’ words get them into constant quarrels; they are asking for a beating. | The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. |
| With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous. | With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape. |
| Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. | Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. |
| Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty! | All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. |
| If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. |
| And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. | And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. |
| The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words. | The lips of the righteous know what finds favor, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. |
| Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” | Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” |
| Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. | Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. |
| Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. | It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. |
| Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” | Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” |
| When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. | When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. |
