Ephesians 4:17-32

Easy-to-Read Version

The Way You Should Live

¹⁷ I have something from the Lord to tell you. I warn you: Don’t continue living like those who don’t believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. ¹⁸ They have no understanding, and they know nothing because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. ¹⁹ They have lost their feeling of shame and use their lives to do what is morally wrong. More and more they want to do all kinds of evil. ²⁰ But that way of life is nothing like what you learned when you came to know Christ. ²¹ I know that you heard about him, and in him you were taught the truth. Yes, the truth is in Jesus. ²² You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. ²³ You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. ²⁴ Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him.

²⁵ So you must stop telling lies. “You must always speak the truth to each other,”^[a] because we all belong to each other in the same body. ²⁶ “When you are angry, don’t let that anger make you sin,”^[b] and don’t stay angry all day. ²⁷ Don’t give the devil a way to defeat you. ²⁸ Whoever has been stealing must stop it and start working. They must use their hands for doing something good. Then they will have something to share with those who are poor.

²⁹ When you talk, don’t say anything bad. But say the good things that people need—whatever will help them grow stronger. Then what you say will be a blessing to those who hear you. ³⁰ And don’t make the Holy Spirit sad. God gave you his Spirit as proof that you belong to him and that he will keep you safe until the day he makes you free. ³¹ Never be bitter, angry, or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. ³² Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ.