⁶⁵ So Solomon held the festival at that time and all Israel with him—a great assembly, people from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt—before the Lord our God, seven days.^{[a](A) 66} On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their tents joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness that the Lord had shown to his servant David and to his people Israel.

God Appears Again to Solomon

9 When Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,^{(B) 2} the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.^{(C) 3} The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea that you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.^{(D) 4} As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,^{(E) 5} then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor on the throne of Israel.’^(F)

⁶ “If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you but go and serve other gods and worship them,^{(G) 7} then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples.^{(H) 8} This house will become a heap of ruins;^[b] everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’^{(I) 9} Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the Lord brought this disaster upon them.’ ”

Faith without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?^{(A) 15} If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food^{(B) 16} and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith.^{(C) 19} You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.^{(D) 20} Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is worthless?^{[a] 21} Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?^{(E) 22} You see that faith was active along with his works, and by works faith was brought to completion.^{(F) 23} Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,”^[b] and he was called the friend of God.^{(G) 24} You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers^[c] and sent them out by another road?^{(H) 26} For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁶ While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the female servants of the high priest came by.^{(A) 67} When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.”^{(B) 68} But he denied it, saying, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt.^[a] Then the cock crowed.^{[b](C) 69} And the female servant, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” ⁷⁰ But again he denied it. Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and you talk like one.”^{[c](D) 71} But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” ⁷² At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.^(E)