Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

²He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.

³Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.

⁴And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

⁶As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”;

⁷who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear,

⁸though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

⁹And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

¹⁰called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”

¹¹of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

¹⁴But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

¹Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

²of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

³And this we will do if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

⁶if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

⁷For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;

⁸but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

⁹But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

¹⁰For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

¹¹And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,

¹²that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

¹⁴saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”

¹⁵And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

¹⁶For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

¹⁷Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,

¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

¹⁹This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

²⁰where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

¹For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

²to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,”

³without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.

⁴Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.

⁵And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham;

⁶but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

⁷Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.

⁸Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

⁹Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak,

¹⁰for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

¹¹Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?

¹²For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

¹³For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.

¹⁴For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.

¹⁵And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest

¹⁶who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.

¹⁷For He testifies: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness,

¹⁹for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

²⁰And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath

²¹(for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The LORD has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’ ”),

²²by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.

²³Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing.

²⁴But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.

²⁵Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

²⁷who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

¹Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

²a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

³For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.

⁴For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;

⁵who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

⁶But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

⁸Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

⁹not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

¹¹None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

¹³In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

¹Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.

²For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary;

³and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,

⁴which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

⁵and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

⁶Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.

⁷But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;

⁸the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.

⁹It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—

¹⁰concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

¹¹But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

¹²Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,

¹⁴how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

¹⁶For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

¹⁷For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

¹⁹For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”

²¹Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

²²And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

²³Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

²⁴For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

²⁵not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—

²⁶He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

²⁷And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

²⁸so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

¹For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

²For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

³But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

⁴For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

⁵Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.

⁶In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.

⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”

⁸Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law),

⁹then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

¹⁰By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

¹²But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,

¹³from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”

¹⁷then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

¹⁸Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

²¹and having a High Priest over the house of God,

²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

²⁴And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

²⁵not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

²⁶For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

²⁷but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

²⁸Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.”

³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:

³³partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;

³⁴for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

³⁵Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

³⁶For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

³⁷“For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

³⁸Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

²For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

³By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

⁴By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

⁵By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

⁶But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

⁷By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

⁹By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

¹⁰for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹¹By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

¹²Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

¹⁴For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

¹⁵And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

¹⁶But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

¹⁸of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

¹⁹concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

²³By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

²⁵choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

²⁶esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

²⁷By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

²⁹By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

³¹By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

³²And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:

³³who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

³⁴quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

³⁵Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

³⁶Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

³⁷They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—

³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,

⁴⁰God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

¹Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

²looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

⁴You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

⁵And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

⁶For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”

⁷If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

⁸But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

⁹Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

¹⁰For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

¹¹Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

¹²Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,

¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

¹⁴Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

¹⁵looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

¹⁶lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

¹⁸For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,

¹⁹and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

²⁰(For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.”

²¹And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

²²But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

²³to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

²⁴to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

²⁶whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”

²⁷Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

²⁹For our God is a consuming fire.

¹Let brotherly love continue.

²Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

³Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.

⁴Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

⁵Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁶So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

⁷Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

⁹Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.

¹²Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

¹³Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

¹⁴For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

¹⁵Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

¹⁶But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

¹⁷Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

¹⁸Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.

¹⁹But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

²⁰Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

²¹make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.

²³Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly.

²⁴Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.

²⁵Grace be with you all. Amen.

¹James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

²My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

³knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

⁴But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

⁶But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,

¹⁰but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.

¹¹For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

¹²Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

¹⁵Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

¹⁸Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

¹⁹So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

²⁰for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

²¹Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

²⁵But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

¹My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

²For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

³and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”

⁴have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

⁷Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

⁹but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

¹²So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

¹³For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

¹⁷Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

¹⁹You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

²⁰But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

²²Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

²³And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.

²⁴You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

¹My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

²For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

³Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

⁴Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

⁵Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

⁸But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

¹¹Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?

¹²Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

¹⁵This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.

¹⁶For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

¹⁸Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

¹Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

²You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

⁴Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

⁶But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

⁸Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

¹¹Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

¹²There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

¹⁴whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

¹⁶But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.