Wisdom from Above
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter ljealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, mdo not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the nwisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, odemonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be pdisorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of qmercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a rharvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who smake peace.
Warning Against Worldliness
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are at twar within you?2 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, ubecause you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask vwrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You wadulterous people!3 xDo you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the yspirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, z“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. aResist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 bDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you cdouble-minded. 9 dBe wretched and mourn and weep. eLet your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 fHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
The Lord’s Concern for His Holy Name
16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they sdefiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her tmenstrual impurity. 18 So I upoured out my wrath upon them for the vblood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. wIn accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But xwhen they came to the nations, wherever they came, they yprofaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
I Will Put My Spirit Within You
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: zIt is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but afor the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will bvindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness cbefore their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and dgather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your euncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 fAnd I will ggive you a new heart, and a hnew spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And iI will put my Spirit jwithin you, and cause you to kwalk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.1 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay lno famine upon you. 30 I will make the mfruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will nloathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. oBe ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
