How Great Are Your Works
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
1 fIt is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, gO Most High;
2 to declare your hsteadfast love in ithe morning,
and your hfaithfulness by inight,
3 to the music of jthe lute and jthe harp,
to the melody of jthe lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your kwork;
at lthe works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How mgreat are your works, O Lord!
Your nthoughts are very odeep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though pthe wicked sprout like grass
and all qevildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are ron high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be sscattered.
10 But you have exalted my thorn like that of uthe wild ox;
you have vpoured over me1 fresh oil.
11 My weyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12 xThe righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in ythe courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 zto declare that the Lord is upright;
The Sin of Partiality
1 My brothers,1 wshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, xthe Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” ywhile you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become zjudges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, ahas not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be brich in faith and heirs of cthe kingdom, dwhich he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you ehave dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who fdrag you ginto court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable hname by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, i“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you jshow partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point khas become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, l“Do not commit adultery,” also said, l“Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under mthe law of liberty. 13 For njudgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 qand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith rapart from your works, and I will show you my faith sby my works. 19 tYou believe that God is one; you do well. Even uthe demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 vWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that wfaith was active along with his works, and faith was completed xby his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, y“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a zfriend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also aRahab the prostitute justified by works bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
