Old/New Testament

Worshipers of False Gods

14 Then some leaders of Israel came and sat down in front of me. ² And the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ³ “Son of man, these men have taken false gods into their hearts. They have put in front of their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall. Should I let Myself be asked questions by them at all? ⁴ So speak to them and tell them, ‘The Lord God says, “Every man of Israel who has given his heart to false gods and lets them lead him into sin and then comes to the man of God, I the Lord will answer him, the answer that his many false gods should get, ⁵ that I may again have the hearts of the people of Israel who have left Me for their false gods.”’

⁶ “So tell the people of Israel, ‘The Lord God says, “Be sorry for your sins and turn away from your false gods. Turn your faces away from all your sinful ways. ⁷ If a man of Israel or a stranger living in Israel who turns away from Me and gives his heart to false gods, and worships them, and if he then comes to the man of God to get answers from Me, I the Lord will answer him Myself. ⁸ I will set My face against that man and make him something special to see and to speak against. I will cut him off from among My people. And you will know that I am the Lord. ⁹ But if the man who speaks in My name is given a false answer, it is I, the Lord, Who has caused him to speak. And I will put out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. ¹⁰ They will suffer the punishment of their sin. The man who asks the question and the man who speaks to him in My name will both be punished in the same way. ¹¹ This is so that the people of Israel may no longer turn away from Me, and no longer make themselves sinful with all their wrong-doing. They will be My people and I will be their God,”’ says the Lord God.”

Those Not Faithful Are Judged

¹² Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by not being faithful, I will put out My hand against it. I will destroy its store of bread, and send hunger against it, and take away both man and animal from it. ¹⁴ For even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in this country, they would save only their own lives by being right and good,” says the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I sent wild animals to pass through the land to kill its people and destroy it so that no one would go through it because of the wild animals, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the country would be laid waste. ¹⁷ If I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and animal from it,’ ¹⁸ even if these three men were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved. ¹⁹ Or if I send a disease against that country and show My anger by killing, to take away man and animal from it, ²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save their son or daughter. They would save only themselves by being right and good.

²¹ “For the Lord God says, ‘How much worse will it be when I send my four worst punishments against Jerusalem! I will send the sword, hunger, wild animals, and disease, to take away man and animal from it! ²² Yet there will be some people and their children left alive in it who will be brought out. When they come to you, see how sinful they are. Then you will know that all the trouble I brought upon Jerusalem was right. ²³ It will help you when you see how they act. Then you will know that there was a good reason for everything I did,’ says the Lord God.”

Jerusalem—a Vine of No Worth

15 Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch among the trees? ³ Can wood be taken from it to make anything? Or can men take a piece of wood from it on which to hang a pot? ⁴ If it has been put into the fire to burn, and the fire has burned up both of its ends, and the center of it is black from the fire, can it then be used for anything? ⁵ See, if it is not used for anything while it is whole, how much less can it ever be used for anything when the fire has burned it up and it has turned black! ⁶ So the Lord God says, ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees, which I have given to be burned in the fire, so will I give up the people of Jerusalem. ⁷ I will set My face against them. Even if they get away from the fire, the fire will yet destroy them. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. ⁸ I will lay waste the land, because they have not been faithful,’” says the Lord God.

The Rich and the Poor

2 My Christian brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of shining-greatness. Since your trust is in Him, do not look on one person as more important than another. ² What if a man comes into your church wearing a gold ring and good clothes? And at the same time a poor man comes wearing old clothes. ³ What if you show respect to the man in good clothes and say, “Come and sit in this good place”? But if you say to the poor man, “Stand up over there,” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ are you not thinking that one is more important than the other? This kind of thinking is sinful. ⁵ Listen, my dear Christian brothers, God has chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich in faith. The holy nation of heaven is theirs. That is what God promised to those who love Him. ⁶ You have not shown respect to the poor man. Is it not the rich men who make it hard for you and take you to court? ⁷ They speak against the name of Christ. And it was Christ Who called you. ⁸ You do well when you obey the Holy Writings which say, “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” ⁹ But if you look on one man as more important than another, you are sinning. And the Law says you are sinning.

Keep the Whole Law

¹⁰ If you obey all the Laws but one, you are as guilty as the one who has broken them all. ¹¹ The One Who said, “You must not do any sex sins,” also said, “You must not kill another person.” If you do no sex sins but kill someone, you are guilty of breaking the Law. ¹² Keep on talking and acting as people who will be told they are guilty or not by the Law that makes men free. ¹³ Anyone who shows no loving-kindness will have no loving-kindness shown to him when he is told he is guilty. But if you show loving-kindness, God will show loving-kindness to you when you are told you are guilty.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ My Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save you from the punishment of sin? ¹⁵ What if a Christian does not have clothes or food? ¹⁶ And one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help him? ¹⁷ A faith that does not do things is a dead faith.

¹⁸ Someone may say, “You have faith, and I do things. Prove to me you have faith when you are doing nothing. I will prove to you I have faith by doing things.” ¹⁹ You believe there is one God. That is good! But even the demons believe that, and because they do, they shake.

²⁰ You foolish man! Do I have to prove to you that faith without doing things is of no use? ²¹ Was not our early father Abraham right with God by what he did? He obeyed God and put his son Isaac on the altar to die. ²² You see his faith working by what he did and his faith was made perfect by what he did. ²³ It happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen. They say, “Abraham put his trust in God and he became right with God.” ^(A) He was called the friend of God. ²⁴ A man becomes right with God by what he does and not by faith only. ²⁵ The same was true with Rahab, the woman who sold the use of her body. She became right with God by what she did in helping the men who had been sent to look through the country and sent them away by another road. ²⁶ The body is dead when there is no spirit in it. It is the same with faith. Faith is dead when nothing is done.