Day 55 of 90

Jas 5:1–20

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

3 Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5 You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He does not resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

9 Do not grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

11 Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no," "no;" so that you do not fall under judgment.

13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

19 My brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,

20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.

1 Pet 1:1–2:25

1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1:4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,

1:5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1:6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,

1:7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ-

1:8 whom not having seen you love; in whom, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory-

1:9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,

1:11 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.

1:12 To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be sober and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ-

1:14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

1:15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

1:16 because it is written, "You shall be holy; for I am holy."

1:17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:

1:18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,

1:19 but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ;

1:20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of times for your sake,

1:21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.

1:22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from a pure heart fervently:

1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding Word of God.

1:24 For, "All flesh is like grass, and all it's glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

1:25 but the word of the Lord endures forever." This is the word of Good News which was preached to you.

2:1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

2:2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,

2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

2:4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

2:5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2:6 Because it is contained in Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed."

2:7 For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who do not believe, "The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,"

2:8 and, "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

2:10 who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

2:11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

2:12 having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.

2:13 Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme;

2:14 or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

2:15 For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

2:16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

2:17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

2:18 Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.

2:19 For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.

2:20 For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.

2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,

2:22 who did not sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth."

2:23 Who, when he was cursed, did not curse back. When he suffered, did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;

2:24 who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by his stripes you were healed.

2:25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.