¹⁰ “I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.^{(A) 11} The Lord said to me, ‘Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.’

The Essence of the Law

¹² “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,^{(B) 13} and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. ¹⁴ Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it,^{(C) 15} yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.^{(D) 16} Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.^{(E) 17} For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe,^{(F) 18} who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.^{(G) 19} You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.^{(H) 20} You shall fear the Lord your God; him you shall serve; to him you shall hold fast; and by his name you shall swear.^{(I) 21} He is your praise; he is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.^{(J) 22} Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.^(K)

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.