Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
41 Lord, show me your love,
and save me as you have promised.
42 I have an answer for people who insult me,
because I trust what you say.
43 Never keep me from speaking your truth,
because I depend on your fair laws.
44 I will obey your teachings
forever and ever.
45 So I will live in freedom,
because I want to follow your orders.
46 I will discuss your rules with kings
and will not be ashamed.
47 I enjoy obeying your commands,
which I love.
48 I praise your commands, which I love,
and I think about your demands.
10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights just like the first time, and the Lord listened to me this time also. He did not want to destroy you. 11 The Lord said to me, “Go and lead the people so that they will go in and take the land I promised their ancestors.”
What the Lord Wants You to Do
12 Now, Israel, this is what the Lord your God wants you to do: Respect the Lord your God, and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being, 13 and obey the Lord’s commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good.
14 The Lord owns the world and everything in it—the heavens, even the highest heavens, are his. 15 But the Lord cared for and loved your ancestors, and he chose you, their descendants, over all the other nations, just as it is today. 16 Give yourselves completely to serving him, and do not be stubborn any longer. 17 The Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords. He is the great God, who is strong and wonderful. He does not take sides, and he will not be talked into doing evil. 18 He helps orphans and widows, and he loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes. 19 You also must love foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Respect the Lord your God and serve him. Be loyal to him and make your promises in his name. 21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, who has done great and wonderful things for you, which you have seen with your own eyes. 22 There were only seventy of your ancestors when they went down to Egypt, and now the Lord your God has made you as many as the stars in the sky.
Faith and Good Works
14 My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. 16 If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. 17 In the same way, faith by itself—that does nothing—is dead.
18 Someone might say, “You have faith, but I have deeds.” Show me your faith without doing anything, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too, and they tremble with fear.
20 You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing? 21 Abraham, our ancestor, was made right with God by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. 22 So you see that Abraham’s faith and the things he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. 23 This shows the full meaning of the Scripture that says: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”[a] And Abraham was called God’s friend.[b] 24 So you see that people are made right with God by what they do, not by faith only.
25 Another example is Rahab, a prostitute, who was made right with God by something she did. She welcomed the spies into her home and helped them escape by a different road.
26 Just as a person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead, so faith that does nothing is dead!
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.