James 2; Jeremiah 23; Jeremiah 24; Psalms 130

James 2

1 My brothers, hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favoritism.

2 For suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in.

3 If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes so that you say, "Sit here in a good place," and yet you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or, "Sit here on the floor by my footstool,"

4 haven't you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers: Didn't God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him?

6 Yet you dishonored that poor man. Don't the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

7 Don't they blaspheme the noble name that you bear?

8 If you really carry out the royal law prescribed in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself , you are doing well.

9 But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of [breaking it] all.

11 For He who said, Do not commit adultery , also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker.

12 Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom.

13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn't shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food,

16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it?

17 In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself.

18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.

19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe-and they shudder.

20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected.

23 So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness , and he was called God's friend.

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

25 And in the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route?

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Jeremiah 23

1 "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" [This is] the Lord's declaration.

2 "Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I will attend to you because of your evil acts"-the Lord's declaration.

3 "I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.

4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

5 "The days are coming"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"when I will raise up a righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.

6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is what He will be named: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

7 The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when it will no longer be said: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,

8 but: As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I had banished them. They will dwell once more in their own land."

9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord, because of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the curse, and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and their power is not rightly used

11 because both prophet and priest are ungodly, even in My house I have found their evil. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

12 Therefore, their way will be to them like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

13 Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14 Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to Me; Jerusalem's residents are like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.

16 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord's mouth.

17 They keep on saying to those who despise Me: The Lord has said: You will have peace. To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they have said, No harm will come to you."

18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?

19 Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the head of the wicked.

20 The Lord's anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it clearly.

21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran [with a message]. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

22 If they had really stood in My council, they would have enabled My people to hear My words and would have turned them back from their evil ways and their evil deeds.

23 "Am I a God who is only near"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"and not a God who is far away?

24 Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?"-the Lord's declaration. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?"-the Lord's declaration.

25 "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said: I had a dream! I had a dream!

26 How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?

27 Through their dreams that they tell one another, they make plans to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship.

28 The prophet who has [only] a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw [compared] to grain?"-the Lord's declaration.

29 "Is not My word like fire"-the Lord's declaration-"and like a sledgehammer that pulverizes rock?

30 Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets"-the Lord's declaration-"who steal My words from each other.

31 I am against the prophets"-the Lord's declaration-"who use their own tongues to deliver an oracle.

32 I am against those who prophesy false dreams"-the Lord's declaration-"telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people"-[this is] the Lord's declaration.

33 "Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you: What is the burden of the Lord? you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away"-[this is] the Lord's declaration.

34 "As for the prophet, priest, or people who say: The burden of the Lord, I will punish that man and his household.

35 This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: What has the Lord answered? or What has the Lord spoken?

36 But no longer refer to the burden of the Lord, for each man's word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts, our God

37 You must say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? and What has the Lord spoken?

38 But if you say: The burden of the Lord, then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, The burden of the Lord, and I specifically told you not to say, The burden of the Lord

39 I will surely forget you and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers.

40 I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation that will never be forgotten."

Jeremiah 24

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.

2 One basket [contained] very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible.

3 The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible."

4 The word of the Lord came to me:

5 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6 I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.

7 I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart.

8 "But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: in this way I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem-those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them an object of horror and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them.

10 I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors."

Psalms 130

1 Out of the depths I call to You, Lord!

2 Lord, listen to my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my cry for help.

3 Lord, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?

4 But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.

5 I wait for the Lord; I wait, and put my hope in His word.

6 I [wait] for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning- more than watchmen for the morning.

7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord. For there is faithful love with the Lord, and with Him is redemption in abundance.

8 And He will redeem Israel from all its sins.