Book of Common Prayer

¹³ Who among you is wise and knows about things? He should show what he knows by his good life. He will not be proud because he is wise.

¹⁴ Are you a person who is very jealous? In your hearts you want to be better than others? Then stop being proud of yourself. Do not say what is not true.

¹⁵ God did not give you wisdom like that. But it comes from this world. It comes from people. It comes from bad spirits.

¹⁶ If people are jealous of others, their lives are not right. They do every kind of wrong thing to get what they want. They confuse and upset people.

¹⁷ First of all, when God makes people wise, they are holy. They do not fight. They are gentle. They listen to what other people say. They are very kind and do many good things. They do not quarrel. They do not say what is not true.

¹⁸ People who do not quarrel have peace. When there is peace, there is a good life.

4 Why do you fight and quarrel? It is because your feelings are fighting inside of you. That is why you fight.

² You want something but you cannot get it. Then you kill. You want something very much and cannot get it. So you quarrel and fight. You do not get it because you do not ask God for it.

³ You ask for it, but you do not get it, because you ask in a wrong way. You want to use it for yourselves and not for others.

⁴ You people promised God you would be true to him, but you did not stay true! Do you not know that if you love the world you hate God? Anyone who wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵ The holy writings say, `God gave his Spirit to live in us. And that Spirit wants us for himself.' Do you think this means nothing?

⁶ But God helps you even more than that. That is why the holy writings say, `God fights against those who are proud, but he helps those who are not proud.'

⁷ So let God control you. Fight the devil and he will run away from you.

⁸ Come to God and he will come to you. You bad people, make your hands clean! You love what is good and what is wrong at the same time. Make your hearts clean.

⁹ Be sad about this, and cry. Turn your laughing into crying. Stop being happy. Be sad.

¹⁰ Do not be proud before the Lord. Then he will lift you up.

¹¹ My brothers, do not say wrong things about each other. A man who says wrong things about his brother or judges his brother is saying wrong things about God's law and he is judging God's law. If you judge the law, you are not obeying the law, but you are a judge.

¹² God made the law and he is the judge. And he is the one who can save you or kill you. Who are you that you should judge your neighbour?

¹¹ Jesus was going on the road to Jerusalem. He went between the countries of Samaria and Galilee.

¹² When he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy came to him. They stood far away.

¹³ And they called out, `Jesus, Master, help us!'

¹⁴ When Jesus saw them, he said to them, `Go and let the priests look at you.' While they were going, they were healed of the leprosy.

¹⁵ One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back. He praised God with a loud voice.

¹⁶ He bowed down in front of Jesus and thanked him. He was a man from the country of Samaria.

¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, `Were not ten people healed? Where are the other nine?

¹⁸ Is this stranger the only one who has come back to praise God?'

¹⁹ Then he said to the man, `Get up and go on your way. You were healed because you believed.'