The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.
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What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2 You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
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You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3 And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
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And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
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You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
5 And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover."
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Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.
6 And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."
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And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.
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So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.
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Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
9 Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.
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Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
10 Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.
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Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
11 Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it.
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Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.
12 God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?
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God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
13 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today - at the latest, tomorrow - we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money."
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Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”
14 You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing.
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How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
15 Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."
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What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil.
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Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil.
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Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.