23 All people have done evil, and all people have failed to accomplish the glorious goals that God set for them.

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.

20 It is not because people have done the things that God’s laws require that God will ◄erase the record of their sins/declare them no longer guilty for sin►, because no one has done those things completely. In fact, the result of our knowing God’s laws is that we know clearly that we have sinned (OR, are sinful).

23 What people receive for sinning is that they are eternally separated from God. That is like wages that people receive [MET]. But what God gives us is a gift. What he gives us is that we live eternally because of our relationship with (OR, because we are united to) Christ Jesus our Lord.

6 We have all become people who are not fit to worship you;

all of the good things that we have done are only like [SIM] filthy/blood-stained rags.

Because of our sins, we are like [SIM] leaves that dry up

and are blown away by the wind.

4 But everyone who continues sinning is refusing to obey God’s laws, because that is what sin is, refusing to obey God’s laws.

1 Because God has erased the record of our sins because we trust in what Christ has done for us, now God will not condemn and punish those/us who have a relationship with (OR, are united to) Christ Jesus. 2 God’s Spirit causes us to live in a new way [PRS] as a result of what Christ Jesus did for us. And he has set up a way by which he frees each of us from continually being forced to sin (OR, to obey our self-directed natures) and from being separated from God.

12 So, do not let the desire to sin [PRS] control your bodies [MET] with the result that you do the sinful things that you desire to do. Remember that your bodies will surely die, but your spirits will never die. 13 Do not let any of your body parts do wicked things, as you did [MET] when you were spiritually dead. Instead, present yourselves to God as people who are alive spiritually. Present all your body parts to God, to allow him to use them to do righteous things. 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 16 Slaves have to obey what their masters command [MET] them to do. ◄I want you to remember this./Do you not know this?► [RHQ] Similarly, if you present yourselves to someone in order to obey him, you will be the slaves [MET] of the person you obey. Similarly, if you have yielded yourselves to do the sinful things you desire, you are slaves of your sinful desires [PRS], and you will be eternally separated from God. If you have yielded yourselves to obey God, you are slaves of God and you need to live righteously. 17 You were once slaves to your sinful desires. But you began to sincerely obey the new teaching [MET] that you were taught {that people taught you}. I thank God for that. 18 I also thank God that you have been freed {that he has freed you} from being controlled by a desire to sin, and that you have become as though you were slaves [MET] to living righteously [MET].

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

14 We know that the laws that God gave Moses came from God’s Spirit. But as for me, I am influenced by my self-directed nature. It is as though I have been forced to become a slave of my desire to sin [MET]. 15 The things that I do, I often [HYP] do not understand. That is, sometimes [HYP] it is the good things that I want to do that I do not do. And sometimes [HYP] it is the evil things that I detest that I do. 16 Since I do the evil things that I do not want to do, I agree that the laws of God are good. 17 So, it is not that I do evil things because I wish to do them. Instead, what happens is that I do sinful things because the desire to sin causes me to do them. The desire to sin ◄is within/permeates► me [PRS].

34 Jesus replied, "Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you. All those who continue to sin are forced to obey their sinful desires [MET], just like a slave is forced to obey his master.

8 Those who say they never behave sinfully are deceiving themselves, and refusing to accept as true what God says about them. 9 But God will do what he says that he will do, and what he does is always right. So, if we confess to him that we have behaved sinfully, he will forgive us for our sins and ◄will free us from/remove► the guilt of all our sins. Because of that, we should confess to him that we have behaved sinfully.

9 But God will do what he says that he will do, and what he does is always right. So, if we confess to him that we have behaved sinfully, he will forgive us for our sins and ◄will free us from/remove► the guilt of all our sins. Because of that, we should confess to him that we have behaved sinfully.

6 If we claim to have a close relationship with God, but we conduct our lives in an impure manner, that is like living [MET] in evil darkness. We are lying. We are not conducting our lives according to God’s true message.

1 O God, be merciful to me,

because you love me faithfully;

because you are very merciful,

erase the record of the ways that I disobeyed you!

2 Make me pure from the wrong things that I have done;

make me clean from the guilt of my sin.

4 You, you only, are the one that I have really sinned against,

and you have seen the evil things that I have done.

When you say that I am guilty, you are right/correct,

and when you judge me, you justly say that I deserve to be punished.

5 I have been a sinner since the day that I was born;

truly, I have been like that since my mother conceived me.

6 What you desire is that I desire what is true

in order that you can teach me how to act wisely.

7 Purify me from the guilt of my sins, and after that happens, I will be clean in my inner being;

cleanse me, and then in my inner being I will be ◄whiter than snow/very clean►.

8 Allow/Cause me to be joyful [DOU] again;

you have ◄crushed my spirit/completely discouraged me► [MTY];

but now let me rejoice again.

9 Do not continue to look at the sins [IDM] that I have committed;

erase the record of the evil things that I have done.

5 Then/Finally I admitted/confessed my sins to you;

I stopped trying to hide them.

(Think about that!)

I said to myself,

"I will confess to Yahweh the wrong things that I have done."

And when I confessed them, you forgave me,

so now I ◄am no longer guilty/will no longer be punished► for my sins.

1 Those whom God has forgiven for rebelling against him,

whose stains [MET] of sin have been wiped away,

are truly blessed by God!

11 Yahweh, forgive me for all my sins, which are many,

in order that I may honor you [MTY].

6 Yahweh, do not forget how you have acted mercifully to me and have faithfully loved me;

that is the way that you have acted toward me from long ago.

7 Forgive me for all the sinful things I did and the ways that I rebelled against you when I was young;

I ask this because you faithfully love your people and do good things for them,

Yahweh, do not forget me!

12 But there is no one who can know all his errors [RHQ];

so Yahweh, forgive me for these things which I do that I do not realize are wrong.

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.

24 He himself endured physically the punishment for our sins when he died on the cross,

in order that we would stop sinning (OR, no longer respond to sinful desires) and start living righteous lives.

It is because he was wounded {they wounded him} that your souls have been saved [MET] from being sinful, as people’s bodies are healed from being sick.

21 She will give birth to a son. Since it is he who will cause that his people will be saved from the guilt of their having sinned, name the baby Jesus, which means ‘the Lord saves people’."

21 You must believe that even though Jesus never sinned, God punished him for all the sinful things that people do, just as if Jesus had done those sinful things himself. And because of our close relationship with Christ, God has erased the record of our sins/declared us no longer guilty for our sins.

28 Likewise, when Christ died, God offered him once to be a sacrifice, to punish him instead of the many people who had sinned. He will come to earth a second time, not in order to sacrifice himself again for those who have sinned, but in order to complete his saving those who expectantly wait for him.

8 But if anyone continues sinning, he is like the devil, because the devil has always been sinning. And the reason why God’s Son became a human being was to destroy what the devil has done.

18 We know that if a person has new life from God [MET], that person does not continue sinning. Instead, the ◄Son of/one who is also► God protects him so that Satan, the evil one, does not harm him spiritually.

5 Get rid of your evil practices/deeds [MET, MTY] as though they were enemies whom you were killing (OR, Stop doing evil things [MET, MTY], just as dead people do not do what is evil). Specifically, do not practice sexual immorality. Do not commit unnatural sexual acts. Do not desire to act like that, and do not desire to do anything that is evil. Do not desire to have more things than you need, because, if you do that, you are ◄worshipping material things instead of worshipping God/making material things to become your god►.

3 Do not commit any kind of immoral act [DOU], and do not desire more things than you need. Do not act in such a way that others could even ◄spread rumors/talk► about your acting in such ways, because it is not appropriate/fitting for God’s people to do such things.

11 Do not do the worthless deeds that the people ◄who are in spiritual darkness/who do not know God’s truth► [MET] do. Instead, let others know that those people’s deeds are worthless. 12 It is shameful for God’s people to even talk among themselves about those evil deeds that evil people do secretly and habitually.

26 If you get angry, do not sin as a result of getting angry. Before the end of the day [MTY], stop being angry;

1 My fellow believers, if you discover that a person among your congregation is sinning, those of you whom God’s Spirit is directing and empowering should gently correct that person. Furthermore, each of you who corrects another person should be very cautious in order that you might not sin like that when you are tempted {when something tempts you}.

1 My fellow believers, if you discover that a person among your congregation is sinning, those of you whom God’s Spirit is directing and empowering should gently correct that person. Furthermore, each of you who corrects another person should be very cautious in order that you might not sin like that when you are tempted {when something tempts you}. 2 When there are ones who have problems, you should help each other. By doing that, you will complete what Christ requires.

15 "If a fellow believer sins against you, go to him, and when you two are alone, reprove him for sinning against you. If that person listens to you and feels sorry that he has sinned against you, you will have restored your friendship with that person.

15 "If a fellow believer sins against you, go to him, and when you two are alone, reprove him for sinning against you. If that person listens to you and feels sorry that he has sinned against you, you will have restored your friendship with that person.

6 "If you cause someone who believes in me to sin, even if it is someone who is socially unimportant like this little child, God will severely punish you. If a heavy stone were fastened around your neck and you were thrown into the deep waters of the sea, people would consider that you had been severely punished. But God will punish you more severely than that if you cause someone to sin

3 ◄None of you should be concerned about someone else’s small faults [MET]!/Why should any of you be concerned about someone else’s small faults?► [MET, RHQ] That would be like noticing a speck in that person’s eye. But you should be concerned about your own big faults. They are like [MET] planks in your own eye, which you do not notice.

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.

16 So, because the Lord is able to heal the sick and to forgive sins, tell each other the sinful things that you have done, and pray for each other in order that you may be healed {that God may heal you} physically and spiritually. If righteous people pray and ask fervently for God to do something, God will certainly do it in a powerful way.

17 So if anyone knows the right thing that he should do, but he does not do it, he is sinning.

8 Come near spiritually to God, and as a result he will come near to you. You who are sinners, stop doing what is wrong, and do only what is good [SYN, MET]. You who cannot decide whether you will ◄commit yourselves to God/obey God completely►, stop thinking wrong thoughts, and think only pure thoughts [MTY].

4 Like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, you are being unfaithful to God and not obeying him any more [MET]. Those who are behaving as evil people do [MTY] (OR, Those who love the evil pleasures of this world) are hostile toward God. Perhaps you do not realize that [RHQ]. So those who decide to act as evil people do [MTY] become enemies of God.

10 We praise God, but with our same mouth we also ask for evil things to happen to others. My fellow believers, this should not be!

8 Most important of all, love each other earnestly/wholeheartedly, because if we love others [PRS], we will just ignore many of the sinful things that they do to us.

1 God is pleased with those who do not do what [MET] wicked people advise them to do,

and who do not imitate the behavior of [MET] sinful people,

and who do not join in with people who ◄ridicule/sneer at► God.

133 Guide me as you promised/said that you would do and help me not to fall/sin;

do not allow evil people to control what I do.

9 Honest people will be safe,

but others (OR, God) will find out those who are dishonest.

45 Similarly, good people will conduct their lives in a good way because they think a lot of good things, and evil people will live in an evil way because they think a lot of evil things. The basic principle is that people speak and act according to all that they think."

9 ◄You should keep in mind that wicked people will not become members of the group over whom God will rule./Do you not know that wicked people will not become members of the group over whom God will rule?► [RHQ] Do not be deceived {Do not deceive yourselves} by thinking wrongly about these matters. People who are sexually immoral, or who worship idols, or who ◄commit adultery/have sex with someone to whom they are not married►, or who happily allow others to commit homosexual acts with them, or who take the initiative in committing homosexual acts, 10 or who are thieves, or who desire and forcefully seize things that belong to others, or who are drunkards, or who slander others, or who are swindlers, will not enter the place where God rules.

4 Once more Pilate came outside and said to the crowd, "Look! I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I do not find that he has done anything for which we should punish him any more." 5 When Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Look at this wretched man!" 6 When the chief priests and Temple guards saw him, they shouted, "Command your soldiers to kill him by nailing him to a cross! Crucify him!" Pilate, knowing that they could not legally do it themselves, said to them, "You yourselves take him and nail him to a cross! As for me, I do not find that he has done anything for which we should punish him."

23 If you forgive people for their having sinned, God will already have forgiven them. If you do not forgive them, God has not forgiven them."

7 If you had done what was right (OR, if you do what is right) [RHQ], I would accept your offering. But if you do not do what is right, your desire to sin is ready to attack you like a wild animal that [PRS] crouches outside the doorway, ready to spring on its victim [MET]. Your desire to sin wants to control you, but you must ◄control/not obey► it."