The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Therefore I, the prisoner united with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
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I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,
2 Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love,
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With all gentle and quiet behaviour, taking whatever comes, putting up with one another in love;
3 and making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom.
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Taking care to keep the harmony of the Spirit in the yoke of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope.
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There is one body and one Spirit, even as you have been marked out by God in the one hope of his purpose for you;
5 And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion,
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One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.
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One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
7 Each one of us, however, has been given grace to be measured by the Messiah's bounty.
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But to every one of us has grace been given in the measure of the giving of Christ.
8 This is why it says, "After he went up into the heights, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to mankind."
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For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men.
9 Now this phrase, "he went up," what can it mean if not that he first went down into the lower parts, that is, the earth?
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(Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth?
10 The one who went down is himself the one who also went up, far above all of heaven, in order to fill all things.
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He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.)
11 Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers.
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And he gave some as Apostles, and some, prophets; and some, preachers of the good news; and some to give care and teaching;
12 Their task is to equip God's people for the work of service that builds the body of the Messiah,
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For the training of the saints as servants in the church, for the building up of the body of Christ:
13 until we all arrive at the unity implied by trusting and knowing the Son of God, at full manhood, at the standard of maturity set by the Messiah's perfection.
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Till we all come to the harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to full growth, to the full measure of Christ:
14 We will then no longer be infants tossed about by the waves and blown along by every wind of teaching, at the mercy of people clever in devising ways to deceive.
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So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error;
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in every respect grow up into him who is the head, the Messiah.
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But saying true words in love, may come to full growth in him, who is the head, even Christ;
16 Under his control, the whole body is being fitted and held together by the support of every joint, with each part working to fulfill its function; this is how the body grows and builds itself up in love.
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Through whom all the body, being rightly formed and united together, by the full working of every part, is increased to the building up of itself in love.
17 Therefore I say this - indeed, in union with the Lord I insist on it: do not live any longer as the pagans live, with their sterile ways of thinking.
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This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit,
18 Their intelligence has been shrouded in darkness, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance in them, which in turn comes from resisting God's will.
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Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;
19 They have lost all feeling, so they have abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any kind of impurity and always greedy for more.
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Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire.
20 But this is not the lesson you learned from the Messiah!
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For this was not the teaching of Christ which was given to you;
21 If you really listened to him and were instructed about him, then you learned that since what is in Yeshua is truth,
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If in fact you gave ear to him, and were given teaching in him, even as what is true is made clear in Jesus:
22 then, so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires;
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That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit;
23 and you must let your spirits and minds keep being renewed,
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And be made new in the spirit of your mind,
24 and clothe yourselves with the new nature created to be godly, which expresses itself in the righteousness and holiness that flow from the truth.
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And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.
25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, let everyone speak truth with his neighbor, because we are intimately related to each other as parts of a body.
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And so, putting away false words, let everyone say what is true to his neighbour: for we are parts one of another.
26 Be angry, but don't sine - don't let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger;
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Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath;
27 otherwise you leave room for the Adversary.
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And do not give way to the Evil One.
28 The thief must stop stealing; instead, he should make an honest living by his own efforts. This way he will be able to share with those in need.
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Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need.
29 Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them.
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Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for giving necessary teaching, and for grace to those who give ear.
30 Don't cause grief to God's Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption.
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And do not give grief to the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were marked for the day of salvation.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness.
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Let all bitter, sharp and angry feeling, and noise, and evil words, be put away from you, with all unkind acts;
32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
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And be kind to one another, full of pity, having forgiveness for one another, even as God in Christ had forgiveness for you.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.