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Psalm 33

1  Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, ♦︎
   for it is good for the just to sing praises.
2  Praise the Lord with the lyre; ♦︎
   on the ten-stringed harp sing his praise.
3  Sing for him a new song; ♦︎
   play skilfully, with shouts of praise.
4  For the word of the Lord is true ♦︎
   and all his works are sure.
5  He loves righteousness and justice; ♦︎
   the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
6  By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ♦︎
   and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7  He gathers up the waters of the sea as in a waterskin ♦︎
   and lays up the deep in his treasury.
8  Let all the earth fear the Lord; ♦︎
   stand in awe of him, all who dwell in the world.
9  For he spoke, and it was done; ♦︎
   he commanded, and it stood fast.
10  The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; ♦︎
   he frustrates the designs of the peoples.
11  But the counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever ♦︎
   and the designs of his heart from generation to generation.
12  Happy the nation whose God is the Lord ♦︎
   and the people he has chosen for his own.
13  The Lord looks down from heaven ♦︎
   and beholds all the children of earth.
14  From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze ♦︎
   on all who dwell on the earth.
15  He fashions all the hearts of them ♦︎
   and understands all their works.
16  No king is saved by the might of his host; ♦︎
   no warrior delivered by his great strength.
17  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; ♦︎
   for all its strength it cannot save.
18  Behold, the eye of the Lord
      is upon those who fear him, ♦︎
   on those who wait in hope for his steadfast love,
19  To deliver their soul from death ♦︎
   and to feed them in time of famine.
20  Our soul waits longingly for the Lord; ♦︎
   he is our help and our shield.
21  Indeed, our heart rejoices in him; ♦︎
   in his holy name have we put our trust.
22  Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, ♦︎
   as we have set our hope on you.

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, ³where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, ‘Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; ⁵and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?’

6 Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

9 And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; ¹²and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Faith without Works Is Dead

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,^* if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. ²³Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? ²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.