Ezekiel 27:26–29:21; James 2; Psalm 132:1–4; Proverbs 28:25–28

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Ezekiel 27:26–29:21

26  Your rowers have brought you out

into the high seas.

pThe east wind has wrecked you

in the heart of the seas.

27  Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,

your mariners and qyour pilots,

ryour caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,

and all your men of war who are in you,

with all your crew

that is in your midst,

sink into the heart of the seas

son the day of your fall.

28  At the sound of the cry of your pilots

tthe countryside shakes,

29  and down from their ships

ucome all who handle the oar.

The mariners and all the pilots of the sea

stand on the land

30  uand shout aloud over you

and cry out bitterly.

vThey cast dust on their heads

wand wallow in ashes;

31  they xmake themselves bald for you

and put sackcloth on their waist,

and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,

with bitter mourning.

32  In their wailing they yraise a lamentation for you

and lament over you:

zWho is like Tyre,

like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?

33  When your wares came from the seas,

ayou satisfied many peoples;

with your abundant wealth and merchandise

ayou enriched the kings of the earth.

34  Now byou are wrecked by the seas,

in the depths of the waters;

your merchandise and all your crew in your midst

have sunk with you.

35  cAll the inhabitants of the coastlands

are appalled at you,

and dthe hair of their kings bristles with horror;

their faces are convulsed.

36  eThe merchants among the peoples fhiss at you;

gyou have come to a dreadful end

and shall be no more forever.

Prophecy Against the Prince of Tyre

The word of the Lord came to me: hSon of man, say to ithe prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God:

jBecause your heart is proud,

and kyou have said, I am a god,

I sit in the seat of the gods,

in the heart of the seas,

yet lyou are but a man, and no god,

mthough you make your heart like the heart of a god

nyou are indeed wiser othan pDaniel;

no secret is hidden from you;

by your wisdom and your understanding

qyou have made wealth for yourself,

and have gathered gold and silver

into your treasuries;

by your great wisdom in your trade

you have increased your wealth,

and jyour heart has become proud in your wealth

therefore thus says the Lord God:

rBecause you make your heart

like the heart of a god,

therefore, behold, I will bring sforeigners upon you,

the most ruthless of the nations;

and they shall draw their swords against tthe beauty of your wisdom

and defile tyour splendor.

uThey shall thrust you down into the pit,

vand you shall die the death of the slain

in the heart of the seas.

wWill you still say, I am a god,

in the presence of those who kill you,

though lyou are but a man, and no god,

in the hands of those who slay you?

10  xYou shall die the death of the uncircumcised

by the hand of foreigners;

yfor I have spoken, declares the Lord God.

A Lament over the King of Tyre

11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me: 12 zSon of man, araise a lamentation over bthe king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God:

You were the signet of perfection,1

cfull of wisdom and dperfect in beauty.

13  You were in eEden, the garden of God;

fevery precious stone was your covering,

gsardius, topaz, and diamond,

beryl, onyx, and jasper,

sapphire,2 femerald, and carbuncle;

and crafted in gold were your settings

and your engravings.3

iOn the day that you were created

they were prepared.

14  You were an anointed jguardian cherub.

I placed you;4 you were on kthe holy mountain of God;

in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.

15  You were blameless in your ways

lfrom the day you were created,

till unrighteousness was found in you.

16  In the abundance of myour trade

you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned;

so I cast you as a profane thing from kthe mountain of God,

and I destroyed you,5 jO guardian cherub,

from the midst of the stones of fire.

17  nYour heart was proud because of oyour beauty;

you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground;

I exposed you before kings,

to feast their eyes on you.

18  By the multitude of your iniquities,

in the unrighteousness of your trade

you profaned your sanctuaries;

so pI brought fire out from your midst;

it consumed you,

and I turned you to ashes on the earth

qin the sight of all who saw you.

19  All who know you among the peoples

are appalled at you;

ryou have come to a dreadful end

and shall be no more forever.

Prophecy Against Sidon

20 The word of the Lord came to me: 21 sSon of man, tset your face toward uSidon, and tprophesy against her 22 and say, Thus says the Lord God:

Behold, vI am against you, O Sidon,

and wI will manifest my glory in your midst.

And xthey shall know that I am the Lord

ywhen I execute judgments in her

and zmanifest my holiness in her;

23  for I will send apestilence into her,

and blood into her streets;

and the slain shall fall in her midst,

by the sword that is against her on every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

24 And for the house of Israel bthere shall be no more a brier to prick or ca thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors dwho have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.

Israel Gathered in Security

25 Thus says the Lord God: eWhen I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and zmanifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, fthen they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 gAnd they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, hwhen I execute judgments upon all their neighbors dwho have treated them with contempt. xThen they will know that I am the Lord their God.

Prophecy Against Egypt

iIn the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: jSon of man, kset your face against lPharaoh king of Egypt, mand prophesy against him and nagainst all Egypt; speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God:

oBehold, I am against you,

Pharaoh king of Egypt,

pthe great dragon that lies

in the midst of his streams,

qthat says, My Nile is my own;

I made it for myself.

I will rput hooks in your jaws,

and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales;

and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams,

with all the fish of your streams

that stick to your scales.

sAnd I will cast you out into the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your streams;

you shall fall ton the open field,

and unot be brought together or gathered.

To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens

sI give you as food.

Then all the inhabitants of Egypt vshall know that I am the Lord.

Because you6 have been wa staff of reed to the house of Israel, xwhen they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: yBehold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast, and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. vThen they will know that I am the Lord.

zBecause you8 said, The Nile is mine, and I made it, 10 therefore, zbehold, I am against you and aagainst your streams, and aI will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, bfrom Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. 11 cNo foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. 12 dAnd I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. eI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.

13 For thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years fI will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and gI will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to hthe land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. 15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, iand never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. 16 And it shall never again be jthe reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid. kThen they will know that I am the Lord God.

17 lIn the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 18 mSon of man, nNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: oBehold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; pand he shall carry off its wealth9 qand despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 rI have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.

21 On that day sI will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and tI will open your lips among them. uThen they will know that I am the Lord.


James 2

The Sin of Partiality

My brothers,1 wshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, xthe Lord of glory. 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, 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, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become zjudges with evil thoughts? 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? But you ehave dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who fdrag you ginto court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable hname by which you were called?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, iYou shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. 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, lDo not commit adultery, also said, lDo 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 believeand 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, yAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousnessand 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.


Psalm 132:1–4

The Lord Has Chosen Zion

A Song of mAscents.

Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,

all ythe hardships he endured,

how he swore to the Lord

and zvowed to athe Mighty One of Jacob,

I will not enter my house

or get into my bed,

I will not bgive sleep to my eyes

or slumber to my eyelids,


Proverbs 28:25–28

25  A greedy man sstirs up strife,

but the one who trusts in the Lord will tbe enriched.

26  Whoever utrusts in his own mind is a fool,

but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

27  Whoever vgives to the poor will not want,

but he who whides his eyes will get many a curse.

28  When xthe wicked rise, ypeople hide themselves,

but when they perish, the righteous increase.