| Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. | Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. |
| Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior. | 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. |
| Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other. | No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. |
| But those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. | 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. |
| So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. | Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. |
| So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. | And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? |
| If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. | If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. |
| How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath. | How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. |
| Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? | Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. |
| What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! | What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! |
| Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. | Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. |
| How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? | If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? |
| But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. | But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. |
| Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” | So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” |
| Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. | Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. |
| God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. | God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. |
| Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. | 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. |
| Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. | Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. |
| And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. | And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. |
| For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. | For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. |
| What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? | What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? |
| Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path. | Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. |
| Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. | Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. |
| Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. | Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. |
| What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” | What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” |
Bible verse of the day
All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.”