How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song?
1 By the waters of lBabylon,
mthere we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows1 there
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?
5 If I nforget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my otongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
7 pRemember, O Lord, against the Edomites
qthe day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who rrepays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and sdashes them against the rock!
Give Thanks to the Lord
Of David.
1 tI give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down utoward your holy temple
and vgive thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.1
3 wOn the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.2
4 xAll the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is yhigh, he regards the lowly,
zbut the haughty he knows from afar.
7 aThough I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will bfulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not cforsake the work of your hands.
1 I will take my stand at my lwatchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith
2 And the Lord answered me:
m“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still nthe vision awaits its oappointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
pIf it seems slow, wait for it;
qit will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
5 “Moreover, swine2 is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.3
His greed is as wide as tSheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
Woe to the Chaldeans
6 Shall not all these utake up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
for how long?—
and loads himself with pledges!”
7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
8 vBecause you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
wfor the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to xset his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
10 You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11 For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
12 “Woe to him who ybuilds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that zpeoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14 For athe earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
The Sin of Partiality
1 My brothers,1 tshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the uLord 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,” while 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 judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, vhas not God chosen wthose who are poor in the world to be xrich in faith and yheirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who zblaspheme the honorable aname by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the broyal law according to the Scripture, c“You shall dlove your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the ewhole law but ffails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, g“Do not commit adultery,” also said, h“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 the ilaw of liberty. 13 jFor judgment is kwithout 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 lfaith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 mIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and 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 nfaith 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 apart from your works, and I will show you my faith oby my works. 19 You believe that pGod is one; you do well. Even the qdemons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not rAbraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that sfaith was active along with his works, and tfaith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, u“Abraham believed God, and it was vcounted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a wfriend of God. 24 You see that a person is xjustified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also yRahab the prostitute justified by works zwhen 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.
