Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
41 May Your loving-kindness also come to me, O Lord. May You save me as Your Word says. 42 Then I will have an answer for the one who puts me to shame, for I trust in Your Word. 43 Do not take the word of truth out of my mouth, for I hope in Your Law. 44 I will always obey Your Law, forever and ever. 45 I will walk as a free man, for I look for Your Law. 46 I will speak of Your Law in front of kings and will not be ashamed. 47 I will be glad in Your Law, which I love. 48 I will lift up my hands to Your Word, which I love, and I will think about Your Law.
10 “Once more I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time. And the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord did not destroy you. 11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Travel in front of the people, so they may go in and take the land which I promised to give their fathers.’
What God Wants
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? He wants you to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him. He wants you to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. 13 He wants you to keep all the Laws of the Lord which I am telling you today for your good. 14 See, heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord your God. 15 The Lord had joy in loving your fathers more than other nations, and you are still His chosen people to this day. 16 So then, from now on, obey the Lord. Do not be strong-willed any more. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great and powerful God and is to be honored with fear. He does not show favor, and cannot be bought with money. 18 He does what is right and fair for the child without parents and the woman whose husband has died. He shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. 19 So show your love for the stranger. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God. Work for Him, hold on to Him, and swear by His name. 21 He is your praise and He is your God. You have seen the great and powerful things He has done for you. 22 Your fathers went to Egypt, seventy people in all. And now the Lord your God has made you as many as the stars of heaven.
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.
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