¹¹ The Pharisee ^(A)stood and prayed thus with himself, ^(B)‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ ¹³ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; ^(C)for everyone who exalts himself will be ^[a]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁷ Because you say, ^(A)‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many ^(A)rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Cast Down but Unconquered

⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, ^(A)that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[a]corruption; ^(A)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[b]bondage.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brethren: ^(A)Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be ^(B)rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom ^(C)which He promised to those who love Him?