⁵³ For in a very short time iniquity will be removed from the earth, and righteousness will reign over us.^{(A) 54} Sinners must not say that they have not sinned,^[a] for coals of fire will burn on the head of everyone who says, “I have not sinned before God and his glory.”^{(B) 55} The Lord^[b] certainly knows everything that people do; he knows their imaginations and their thoughts and their hearts.^{(C) 56} He said, “Let the earth be made,” and it was made, and “Let the heaven be made,” and it was made.^{(D) 57} At his word the stars were fixed in their places, and he knows the number of the stars.^{(E) 58} He searches the abyss and its treasures; he has measured the sea and its contents;^{(F) 59} he has confined the sea in the midst of the waters;^[c] and by his word he has suspended the earth over the water.^{(G) 60} He has spread out the heaven like a dome and made it secure upon the waters;^{(H) 61} he has put springs of water in the desert and pools on the tops of the mountains, so as to send rivers from the heights to water the earth.^{(I) 62} He formed humans and put a heart in the midst of each body and gave each person breath and life and understanding^{(J) 63} and the spirit^[d] of Almighty God,^[e] who surely made all things and searches out hidden things in hidden places. ⁶⁴ He knows your imaginations and what you think in your hearts! Woe to those who sin and want to hide their sins!^{(K) 65} The Lord will strictly examine all their works and will make a public spectacle of all of you. ⁶⁶ You shall be put to shame when your sins come out before others, and your own iniquities shall stand as your accusers on that day.^{(L) 67} What will you do? Or how will you hide your sins before the Lord and his glory?^(M)

Humility

Friendship with the World

4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet^[a] something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.^{(A) 4} Adulterers!^[b] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(B) 5} Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell^[c] in us desire envy?^{(C) 6} But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.^{(E) 8} Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.^{(F) 9} Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.^(G)

Warning against Judging Another

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.^{(H) 12} There is one lawgiver and judge^[d] who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?^(I)

Boasting about Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”^{(J) 14} Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(K) 15} Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”^{(L) 16} As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.^(M)

Some Sayings of Jesus

17 Jesus^[a] said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin^[b] are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come!^{(A) 2} It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.^{[c](B) 3} Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.^{(C) 4} And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”^(D)

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”^{(E) 6} The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a^[d] mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.^(F)

⁷ “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸ Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?^{(G) 9} Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”