Isaiah 35:4-7

English Standard Version

⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart,
    “Be strong; fear not!
^(A)Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.”

⁵^(B)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
⁶^(C)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
^(D)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert;
⁷^(E)the burning sand shall become a pool,
    and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ^(F)jackals, where they lie down,
    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

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Psalm 146

English Standard Version

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

146 ^(A)Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
²I will praise the Lord ^(B)as long as I live;
^(C)I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³^(D)Put not your trust in princes,
^(E)in a son of man, in whom there is ^(F)no salvation.
⁴When ^(G)his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

⁵^(H)Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose ^(I)hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶^(J)who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
^(K)who keeps faith forever;
⁷    ^(L)who executes justice for the oppressed,
    ^(M)who gives food to the hungry.

^(N)The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸    ^(O)the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
^(P)The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    ^(Q)the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹^(R)The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    ^(S)he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but ^(T)the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰^(U)The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
^(V)Praise the Lord!

James 1:17-27

English Standard Version

¹⁷^(A)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from ^(B)the Father of lights, ^(C)with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.^[a] ¹⁸^(D)Of his own will he ^(E)brought us forth by the word of truth, ^(F)that we should be a kind of ^(G)firstfruits of his creatures.

Hearing and Doing the Word

¹⁹^(H)Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person ^(I)be quick to hear, ^(J)slow to speak, ^(K)slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore ^(L)put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with ^(M)meekness the implanted word, ^(N)which is able to save your souls.

²²But be ^(O)doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵But the one who looks into the perfect law, ^(P)the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, ^(Q)he will be blessed in his doing.

²⁶If anyone thinks he is religious ^(R)and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's ^(S)religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: ^(T)to visit ^(U)orphans and widows in their affliction, and ^(V)to keep oneself ^(W)unstained from the world.

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Footnotes

James 1:17 Some manuscripts variation due to a shadow of turning

Mark 7:31-37

English Standard Version

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

³¹^(A)Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to ^(B)the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the ^(C)Decapolis. ³²And they brought to him ^(D)a man who was deaf and ^(E)had a speech impediment, and they begged him to ^(F)lay his hand on him. ³³And ^(G)taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and ^(H)after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴And ^(I)looking up to heaven, ^(J)he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵^(K)And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶And ^(L)Jesus^[a] charged them to tell no one. But ^(M)the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷And they were ^(N)astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”