Bible Browser

Psalm 82

1  God has taken his stand in the council of heaven; ♦︎
   in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:
2  ‘How long will you judge unjustly ♦︎
   and show such favour to the wicked?
3  ‘You were to judge the weak and the orphan; ♦︎
   defend the right of the humble and needy;
4  ‘Rescue the weak and the poor; ♦︎
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5  ‘They have no knowledge or wisdom;
      they walk on still in darkness: ♦︎
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6  ‘Therefore I say that though you are gods ♦︎
   and all of you children of the Most High,
7  ‘Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals ♦︎
   and fall like one of their princes.’
8  Arise, O God and judge the earth, ♦︎
   for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.

Amos

1The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years^* before the earthquake.

Judgement on Israel’s Neighbours

²And he said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
   and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds wither,
   and the top of Carmel dries up.

³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they have threshed Gilead
   with threshing-sledges of iron.
⁴ So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
⁵ I will break the gate-bars of Damascus,
   and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds the sceptre from Beth-eden;
   and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,

says the Lord.

⁶ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they carried into exile entire communities,
   to hand them over to Edom.
⁷ So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
   fire that shall devour its strongholds.
⁸ I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
   and the one who holds the sceptre from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
   and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,

says the Lord God.

⁹ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Tyre,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they delivered entire communities over to Edom,
   and did not remember the covenant of kinship.
¹⁰ So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,
   fire that shall devour its strongholds.

¹¹ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Edom,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because he pursued his brother with the sword
   and cast off all pity;
he maintained his anger perpetually,^*
   and kept his wrath^* for ever.
¹² So I will send a fire on Teman,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.

¹³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
   in order to enlarge their territory.
¹⁴ So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah,
   fire that shall devour its strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
   with a storm on the day of the whirlwind;
¹⁵ then their king shall go into exile,
   he and his officials together,

says the Lord.

2Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Moab,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because he burned to lime
   the bones of the king of Edom.
² So I will send a fire on Moab,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
   amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
³ I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
   and will kill all its officials with him,

says the Lord.

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.