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¹⁷The words of the wise:

Incline your ear and hear my words,
and apply your mind to my teaching;
¹⁸for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
¹⁹So that your trust may be in the Lord,
I have made them known to you today—yes, to you.
²⁰Have I not written for you thirty sayings
of admonition and knowledge,
²¹to show you what is right and true,
so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you? ²²Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
²³for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.
²⁴Make no friends with those given to anger,
and do not associate with hotheads,
²⁵or you may learn their ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
²⁶Do not be one of those who give pledges,
who become surety for debts.
²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay,
why should your bed be taken from under you?
²⁸Do not remove the ancient landmark
that your ancestors set up.
²⁹Do you see those who are skillful in their work?
They will serve kings;
they will not serve common people.

2My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? ²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

¹⁴What 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.