| Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. | Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. |
| Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord. | Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. |
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| For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. | Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. |
| “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.” | “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” |
| Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. | Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. |
| The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. | The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” |
| Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. | Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. |
| Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. | Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. |
| You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. | You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. |
| Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. | Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. |
| For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. | For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. |
| Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! | Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. |
| Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. | When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. |
| Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. | Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. |
| I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah | Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. |
| Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. | All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. |
| Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. | Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. |
| But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. | But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. |
| But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. | 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. |
| And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. | You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. |
| Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. | The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. |
