Add parallel Print Page Options

28 A troublemaker plants seeds of strife;
    gossip separates the best of friends.

Read full chapter

28 A perverse person stirs up conflict,(A)
    and a gossip separates close friends.(B)

Read full chapter

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,
    but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Read full chapter

Whoever would foster love covers over an offense,(A)
    but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.(B)

Read full chapter

14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

Read full chapter

14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition(A) in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.(B) 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven(C) but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.(D) 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition,(E) there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Read full chapter

29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.

Read full chapter

29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,(A)

Read full chapter

Rumors are dainty morsels
    that sink deep into one’s heart.

Read full chapter

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
    they go down to the inmost parts.(A)

Read full chapter

18 A hot-tempered person starts fights;
    a cool-tempered person stops them.

Read full chapter

18 A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict,(A)
    but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.(B)

Read full chapter

14 Their perverted hearts plot evil,
    and they constantly stir up trouble.

Read full chapter

14     who plots evil(A) with deceit in his heart—
    he always stirs up conflict.(B)

Read full chapter

Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

Read full chapter

If anyone teaches otherwise(A) and does not agree to the sound instruction(B) of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited(C) and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words(D) that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth(E) and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

Read full chapter

19 a false witness who pours out lies,
    a person who sows discord in a family.

Read full chapter

19         a false witness(A) who pours out lies(B)
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.(C)

Read full chapter

The Man and Woman Sin

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 3:8 Or Adam, and so throughout the chapter.

The Fall

Now the serpent(A) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?(B)

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,(C) but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”(D)

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.(E) “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,(F) knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable(G) for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,(H) who was with her, and he ate it.(I) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;(J) so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.(K)

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking(L) in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid(M) from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”(N)

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid(O) because I was naked;(P) so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?(Q) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?(R)

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me(S)—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,(T) and I ate.”

Read full chapter

20 For I am afraid that when I come I won’t like what I find, and you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior.

Read full chapter

20 For I am afraid that when I come(A) I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be.(B) I fear that there may be discord,(C) jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,(D) slander,(E) gossip,(F) arrogance(G) and disorder.(H)

Read full chapter

33 As the beating of cream yields butter
    and striking the nose causes bleeding,
    so stirring up anger causes quarrels.

Read full chapter

33 For as churning cream produces butter,
    and as twisting the nose produces blood,
    so stirring up anger produces strife.”

Read full chapter

20 Fire goes out without wood,
    and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.

21 A quarrelsome person starts fights
    as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.

22 Rumors are dainty morsels
    that sink deep into one’s heart.

Read full chapter

20 Without wood a fire goes out;
    without a gossip a quarrel dies down.(A)
21 As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
    so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.(B)
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
    they go down to the inmost parts.(C)

Read full chapter