8 It is only by God acting [PRS] toward you in a way that you did not deserve that you have been saved {that he has saved you} as a result of your trusting in Christ. You did not save yourselves. His saving you was his gift to you. 9 He did not save any of you because of anything you yourselves did. Because you have done nothing to save yourselves, you cannot be proud of your efforts to save yourselves.

4 But God always acts very mercifully, and he loves us very much. 5 As a result, even when we were ◄spiritually dead/as unable to please God as a corpse [MET] is► because we were habitually sinning, he enabled us to receive spiritual/eternal life because of our relationship with Christ. Do not forget this: It is only because God has acted so kindly toward you, in a way that you did not deserve, that you are saved {that he saved you} from the guilt of your sin

23 All people have done evil, and all people have failed to accomplish the glorious goals that God set for them. 24 Our record of sins has been erased {God erased the record of our sins} by God acting kindly to forgive our sins, without our doing anything to earn it. Christ Jesus accomplished this by dying for us.

15 But the results of God’s erasing the record of our sins as a gift to us are not like the results of Adam’s sinning. The result of one man, Adam, sinning was that many/all people have died. But it is certain, however, that many people have abundantly experienced God’s acting kindly toward them in a way they did not deserve. It is also certain that they have experienced God’s erasing the record of their sins as the result of one man, Jesus Christ, acting kindly toward them/towards them in a way they did not deserve.

21 He did that in order that just like people everywhere inevitably sin, which results in their dying [MET, PRS], people everywhere might inevitably experience God’s acting kindly towards them in a way they do not deserve [MET, PRS] by erasing the record of their sins. The result is that people can live eternally because of what Jesus Christ our Lord did for them.

14 Do not let a desire to sin control you [PRS]. The laws that God gave Moses did not enable you to stop sinning. But now God controls you and kindly helps you not to sin.

15 I suppose that certain people might think about what I have just said and they might say [RHQ], "You say that the laws God gave Moses did not enable us to stop sinning, but that God is now treating us kindly in ways we do not deserve. ◄That seems to mean that God permits us to continue sinning./Does that mean that God permits us to continue sinning?► [RHQ]" My reply to that is no, we should certainly not continue sinning

9 God saved us and chose us to conduct our lives in a pure way. It was not our doing good deeds/actions that caused him to do this for us—something that we did not deserve. Instead, before ◄time began/he created the world► he purposed/planned to be kind to us as a result of what Christ Jesus would do for us.

11 The believers should behave in a good manner, since God did for us what we did not deserve, sending Jesus Christ to earth in order that he might save all people [PRS]. 12 God teaches/tells us [PRS] how to stop doing what he dislikes, and to stop desiring the things that ◄ungodly people/people who habitually do things that do not please God► desire [MTY]. He wants us to control our behavior and to do what is right and to do what pleases him while we live in this present age/time.

13 Therefore, prepare your minds [MET] as people fasten their belts around their waists to prepare to work. What I mean is that you should ◄discipline your minds/control what you think about►, and by doing that conduct your lives fully and confidently expecting to receive the good things that God will kindly do for you when Jesus Christ returns from heaven.

10 God is the one who kindly helps us in every situation, and he is the one who chose us to share his eternal glory/greatness in heaven because of our relationship with Christ. And after you have suffered for a while because of things that people do to harm you, he will remove your spiritual defects/imperfections, he will strengthen you spiritually [DOU], and he will support you emotionally.

8 Yahweh acts mercifully and kindly;

he does not quickly ◄get angry/punish us► when we sin;

he is always showing us that he faithfully loves us.

6 I am certain that you will be good to me

and act mercifully toward me

as long as I live;

and then, O Yahweh, I will live in your home in heaven forever.

17 Lord, our God, give us your blessings

and enable us to be successful;

yes, cause us to be successful in everything that we do [DOU]!

1 Yahweh, I have a lot of troubles/many difficulties, so I call out to you.

2 Yahweh, hear me,

while I call out to you [SYN] to be merciful to me!

24 ‘I desire that Yahweh will bless you

and protect you,

25 and that he will smile at you

and act kindly toward you,

26 and that he will be good to you [IDM]

and cause things to go well for you.’"

18 But Yahweh wants to be kind to you;

he desires to show you that he is merciful.

Do not forget that Yahweh is a God who acts justly;

he is pleased with those who patiently trust in him.

21 I pray that our Lord Jesus will continue to act kindly to all of you who are God’s people. ◄Amen!/May it be so!►

25 I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will ◄continue to work kindly in all your lives/kindly keep accomplishing what he desires within you►.

16 So, let us come boldly to Christ [MTY], who rules [MET] from heaven and does for us what we do not deserve, in order that we might experience his acting mercifully toward us, and in order that we might experience his helping us in a kind way whenever we need help.

24 But I do not care even if people kill me, if first I am able to finish the work [MET] that the Lord Jesus has told me to do. He appointed me to tell people the good message that God saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve.

16 God loved us people [MTY] in the world so much that he gave his only Son as a sacrifice for us, in order that everyone who believes in him would not be separated from God forever. Instead, they would have eternal life.

14 "Forgive the people who sin against you, because, if you forgive other people, God, your Father who is in heaven, will forgive your sins.

13 Those who refuse to confess/admit their sins will not prosper,

but God acts mercifully/kindly toward those who confess their sins and turn away from their sinful behavior.

1-3 The king and his officials and all the other people who had gathered in Jerusalem wanted to celebrate the Passover Festival. But they were not able to celebrate it at the usual time, because many of the priests had still not performed the rituals to purify themselves; therefore they were not allowed to do serve in the festival. Also, everyone had still not come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. So they decided to celebrate it one month later than usual. 4 The king and all the other people who had gathered thought that was a good plan. 5 So they decided to send messages to all the towns in Judah and in Israel, from Beersheba in the far south to Dan in the far north, including towns in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, to invite people to come to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Festival to honor Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli people worshiped/belonged to. Many of the people had not previously celebrated that festival, even though it had been written in the laws of Moses that they should do that.

6 Obeying what the king commanded, messengers went throughout Judah and Israel, taking messages that had been written by the king and his officials. This is what they wrote:

"You Israeli people, you who survived after being slaves of the kings of Assyria, return to Yahweh, the God whom our great ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped/belonged to, in order that he may return to you. Your fathers and brothers did not faithfully obey Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped. 7 Do not act like they did, because what they did caused other people to become disgusted with them. 8 Do not be stubborn as our ancestors were. Do what Yahweh desires. Come to Jerusalem to the temple, which he has set apart forever. Do what pleases Yahweh our God, in order that he will no longer be angry with you. 9 If you return to Yahweh, the people who have captured our brothers and sisters and our children will be kind to them, and allow them to return to this land. Do not forget that Yahweh our God is kind and merciful. If you return to him, he will no longer reject you."

10 The messengers went to all the towns in the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, and gave them this message, but most of the people there scorned them and ridiculed them. 11 But some of the people of the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. 12 Also in Judah God motivated the people to be united in wanting to do what Yahweh wanted them to do, which is what the king and his officials had told them to do in the message that they sent.

13 So a huge crowd of people gathered in Jerusalem in May, to celebrate the Festival of Eating Unleavened Bread. 14 They removed the altars of Baal in Jerusalem and took away the altars for burning incense to honor other gods, and burned them in Kidron Valley.

15 They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of that month. Some of the priests and the other descendants of Levi were ashamed because they had not performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to work for Yahweh. So they performed those rituals, and brought to the temple animals to be completely burned on the altar.

16 Then they stood at the places where Moses had written in his laws that they should stand. Then the descendants of Levi gave to the priests bowls containing blood of the animals that were being sacrificed, and the priests sprinkled the altar with some of the blood. 17 Many people in the crowd had not purified themselves, and therefore they were not able to kill the lambs and dedicate them to Yahweh. So it was necessary for the descendants of Levi to kill the lambs for them. 18 Although most of the people who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Issachar had not purified themselves, they ate the food of the Passover Festival anyway, ignoring the rules written by Moses. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying "Yahweh, you always do what is good; I pray that you will forgive everyone 19 who sincerely wants to honor you, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, even if they have not purified themselves by obeying the sacred laws that you gave to us." 20 And Yahweh heard what Hezekiah prayed; he forgave the people, and did not punish them.

21 The Israeli people who were there in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Eating Unleavened Bread for seven days. They rejoiced greatly as they celebrated, while the priests and other descendants of Levi sang to Yahweh every day, and played musical instruments to praise God.

22 Hezekiah thanked all the descendants of Levi for doing this work for Yahweh, and for very skillfully leading the people who were worshiping. For those seven days the people ate the Passover food and brought offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh and praised Yahweh, the God whom their ancestors belonged to/had worshiped.

23 Then the whole group decided to celebrate for seven more days, so they did: They celebrated joyfully for seven more days. 24 King Hezekiah provided 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep to be slaughtered for the people to eat during the festival, and the officials also gave them 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep and goats. Many priests consecrated themselves. 25 All the people of Judah rejoiced, including the priests and other descendants of Levi and all the people from Israel who had come, and including some from other countries who were living in Israel and some from other countries who were living in Judah. 26 Everyone in Jerusalem was very joyful, because nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the time when David’s son Solomon was the king of Israel. 27 The priests and the other descendants of Levi stood up to bless the people, and God heard them in heaven, the holy place where he lives.