Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Vav: Speak Before Kings
41 So let your mercies come to me, O Lord,
and let your salvation come according to your sayings.
42 Then I will give an answer to those who insult me,
because I trust in your words.
43 But do not tear away the word of truth from my mouth,
because I wait confidently for your judgments.
44 Then I will continually keep your law forever and ever.
45 Then I will walk around freely,
because I have sought your precepts.
46 Then I will speak of your testimonies before kings,
and I will not be put to shame.
47 For I delight in your commandments, which I love.
48 I lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love,
and I meditate on your statutes.
10 I had stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me again on this second occasion. The Lord agreed not to destroy you. 11 So the Lord said to me, “Set out and continue the journey at the head of the people, and they will enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give them with an oath to their fathers.”
12 So now, Israel, what is the Lord your God asking of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes that I am commanding you today for your own good.
14 Indeed, the heavens and the heaven of heavens,[a] the earth and everything that is on it—these belong to the Lord your God. 15 Still, the Lord attached himself to your fathers, loved them, and he chose their descendants after them (that’s you!) from all peoples, as it is today.
16 So cut away the tough shell of your sinful nature,[b] and do not be stubborn any longer.
17 The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, the mighty one and the awesome one, who does not show favoritism and does not take a bribe. 18 He carries out justice for the fatherless and widows. He loves the alien who dwells among you and gives him food and clothing. 19 So you are to love the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
20 Fear the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him, and take your oaths in his name.
21 He is your glory. He is your God, who performed for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.
22 When your fathers went down to Egypt, they numbered seventy people, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Faith Is Active
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but has no works? Such “faith” cannot save him, can it? 15 If a brother or sister needs clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but does not give them what their body needs, what good is it? 17 So also, such “faith,” if it is alone and has no works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder! 20 But do you want proof, you mindless person, that such “faith” without works is dead?[a] 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father shown to be righteous by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that his faith was working together with his works, and by his works his faith was shown to be complete. 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[b] He was also called God’s friend.[c] 24 You see[d] that a person is shown to be righteous by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way also, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute shown to be righteous by works when she welcomed the spies and sent them out another way? 26 For just as the body without breath[e] is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.