| Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God! | Why are you so disheartened, O my soul? Why do you sigh within me? Place your hope in God; for I will once again praise him, my Savior and my God. |
| The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ | His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. Since you have been faithful in small matters, I will give you much greater responsibilities. Come and share your master’s joy.’ |
| All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed. | 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. |
| 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. | If we claim that we have fellowship with him while we continue to live in darkness, we are lying and do not live in the truth. |
| The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. | The Lord watches over the stranger and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he blocks the way of the wicked. |
| You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. | Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with a joy that is indescribable and glorious. For you are achieving the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls. |
| 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. | When the command is given, at the sound of the archangel’s voice and the call of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will descend from heaven, and those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise. Then those of us who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. |
| 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. | Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may show yourselves blameless and beyond reproach, children of God without spot in the midst of an evil and depraved generation, among which you shine like lights in the world as you hold fast tenaciously to the word of life. |
| We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. | With our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, ignoring its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. |
| And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. | Jesus said to him, “Go on your way! Your faith has made you well.” Immediately, he received his sight and followed him along the road. |
| We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. | Although we are human beings, we do not engage in battle according to human standards. |
| After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. | For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out. If we have food and clothing, let us be content with these. |
| This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. | This saying can be trusted: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him. |
| Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? | What then shall we say? Should we persist in sin in order that grace may abound? Of course not! We have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? |
| I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! | I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and listened to my cry for mercy, because he has inclined his ear to me on the day when I called out to him. |
| Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. | Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we can approach God with confidence and receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do whatever is pleasing to him. |
| We love each other because he loved us first. | Therefore, we love because he first loved us. |
| For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. | For we will become partners with Christ only if we maintain firmly until the end the confidence we originally had. |
| Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. | Beloved, we are God’s children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. However, we do know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he really is. Everyone who has this hope in him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure. |
| For we live by believing and not by seeing. | For we walk by faith, not by sight. |
| Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! | What then? Should we sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Of course not! |
| I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. | Where can I go to hide from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there. |
| And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. | This is how we can be certain that we abide in him and that he abides in us: he has given us a share in his Spirit. |
| For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. | For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more certain it is that, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. |
| Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. | Put on the armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the deceit of the devil. |
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Bible verse of the day
In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul.If you find it, you will have a bright future,
and your hopes will not be cut short.