Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Vav.

Moses’ Face Shines

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face was shining [with a unique radiance] because he had been speaking with God. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him. ³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him; and he spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites approached him, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had said to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, ^[a]he would take off the veil until he came out. When he came out and he told the Israelites what he had been commanded [by God], ³⁵ the Israelites would see the face of Moses, how his skin shone [with a unique radiance]. So Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with God.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.] ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace [with my blessing], [keep] warm and feed yourselves,” but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do? ¹⁷ So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

¹⁸ But someone may say, “You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].” ¹⁹ You believe that ^[a]God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror—they have seen His wrath]!^{(A) 20} But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless? ²¹ Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]?^{(B) 22} You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience]. ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and this [faith] was credited to him [by God] as righteousness and as conformity to His will,” and he was called the friend of God.^{(C) 24} You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith]. ²⁵ In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works too, when she received the [Hebrew] ^[b]spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away [to escape] by a different route?^{(D) 26} For just as the [human] body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works [of obedience] is also dead.