Submission to Authorities (1 Peter 2:13–20)
1 UDB Every believer must obey the government officials. Remember that God is the only one who gives officials their authority. Furthermore, those officials that exist are ones who have been appointed by God. BSB BSB: Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which is from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God.
2 UDB So whoever resists the officials is resisting what God has established. Furthermore, those who resist officials will cause the officials to punish them. BSB BSB: Consequently, whoever resists authority is opposing what God has set in place, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 UDB I say this because rulers do not cause people who do good deeds to be afraid. Instead, they cause people who do evil to be afraid. So if any of you do good, they will praise you instead of punishing you. BSB BSB: For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and you will have his approval.
5 UDB So, it is necessary for you to obey the officials, not only because they will punish you if you disobey them, but also because you know within yourselves that you should be subject to them. BSB BSB: Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.
6 UDB It is for this reason that you also pay taxes, because the officials are ones who serve God as they continually do their work. BSB BSB: This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work.
7 UDB Give to all the officials what you are supposed to give to them. Pay taxes to those who require that you pay taxes. Pay duties on goods to those who require that you pay those duties. Respect those whom you ought to respect. Honor those whom you ought to honor. BSB BSB: Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Love Fulfills the Law (Leviticus 19:9–18)
8 UDB Pay all of your debts when you are supposed to pay them. The only thing that is like a debt that you should never stop paying is to love one another. Whoever loves others has fulfilled all that God requires in his law. BSB BSB: Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 UDB There are many things that God has commanded in his law, such as to not commit adultery, not murder anyone, not steal, and not desire anything that belongs to someone else. But we can sum up the meaning of all the law in this sentence: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." BSB BSB: The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 UDB If you love everyone around you, you will harm no one. So whoever loves others fulfills all that God's law requires. BSB BSB: Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The Day Is Near 11 UDB Do what I have just told you, especially since you know how important the time is in which we are now living. You know that it is time for you to be fully alert and active, like people who have awakened from sleeping, because the time when Christ will finally deliver us from this world's sin and sorrow is near. That time is closer now than when we first believed in Christ. BSB BSB: And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 UDB Our time to live in this world has almost ended. It is nearly time for the daylight to shine! So we must stop doing the wicked deeds that people do when they live in the darkness, and we must put on the armor of light that shines with the power of God and his gospel. BSB BSB: The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 UDB We must behave properly because we are living in the daytime, when God sees everything we do. We must not get drunk and do evil things with other people. We must live our lives without any kind of sexual immorality or wild, excessive sensuality. We must not quarrel. We must not be jealous of other people. BSB BSB: Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 UDB On the contrary, we should be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that others will see what he is like. You should stop wanting to do the things that your sinful human nature wants to do. BSB BSB: Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.