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129  Your testimonies are wonderful; ♦︎
   therefore my soul keeps them.
130  The opening of your word gives light; ♦︎
   it gives understanding to the simple.
131  I open my mouth and draw in my breath, ♦︎
   as I long for your commandments.
132  Turn to me and be gracious to me, ♦︎
   as is your way with those who love your name.
133  Order my steps by your word, ♦︎
   and let no wickedness have dominion over me.
134  Redeem me from earthly oppressors ♦︎
   so that I may keep your commandments.
135  Show the light of your countenance upon your servant ♦︎
   and teach me your statutes.
136  My eyes run down with streams of water, ♦︎
   because the wicked do not keep your law.
137  Righteous are you, O Lord, ♦︎
   and true are your judgements.
138  You have ordered your decrees in righteousness ♦︎
   and in great faithfulness.
139  My indignation destroys me, ♦︎
   because my adversaries forget your word.
140  Your word has been tried to the uttermost ♦︎
   and so your servant loves it.
141  I am small and of no reputation, ♦︎
   yet do I not forget your commandments.
142  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness ♦︎
   and your law is the truth.
143  Trouble and heaviness have taken hold upon me, ♦︎
   yet my delight is in your commandments.
144  The righteousness of your testimonies is everlasting; ♦︎
   O grant me understanding and I shall live.

God’s Reply to the Prophet’s Complaint

2I will stand at my watch-post,
   and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
   and what he^* will answer concerning my complaint.
² Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
   make it plain on tablets,
   so that a runner may read it.
³ For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
   it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
   it will surely come, it will not delay.
⁴ Look at the proud!
   Their spirit is not right in them,
   but the righteous live by their faith.^*
9 ‘Alas for you who get evil gain for your houses,
   setting your 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 The very stones will cry out from the wall,
   and the plaster^* will respond from the woodwork.

¹² ‘Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed,
   and found a city on iniquity!’
¹³ Is it not from the Lord of hosts
   that peoples labour only to feed the flames,
   and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴ But the earth will be filled
   with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
   as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵ ‘Alas for you who make your neighbours drink,
   pouring out your wrath^* until they are drunk,
   in order to gaze on their nakedness!’
¹⁶ You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.
   Drink, you yourself, and stagger!^*
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
   will come around to you,
   and shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷ For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;
   the destruction of the animals will terrify you—^*
because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth,
   to cities and all who live in them.

¹⁸ What use is an idol
   once its maker has shaped it—
   a cast image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in what has been made,
   though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!
¹⁹ Alas for you who say to the wood, ‘Wake up!’
   to silent stone, ‘Rouse yourself!’
   Can it teach?
See, it is plated with gold and silver,
   and there is no breath in it at all.

²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple;
   let all the earth keep silence before him!

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.