Psalm 65 and James 3:13-4:12

PSALM 65

¹   Praise is due to you, 
          O God, in Zion; 
     and to you shall vows be performed, 
²        O you who answer prayer! 
     To you all flesh shall come. 
³   When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
          you forgive our transgressions. 
⁴   Happy are those whom you choose and bring near 
          to live in your courts. 
     We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, 
          your holy temple.

⁵   By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, 
          O God of our salvation; 
     you are the hope of all the ends of the earth 
          and of the farthest seas. 
⁶   By your strength you established the mountains; 
          you are girded with might. 
⁷   You silence the roaring of the seas, 
          the roaring of their waves, 
          the tumult of the peoples. 
⁸   Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; 
          you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

⁹   You visit the earth and water it, 
          you greatly enrich it; 
     the river of God is full of water; 
          you provide the people with grain, 
          for so you have prepared it. 
¹⁰  You water its furrows abundantly, 
          settling its ridges, 
     softening it with showers, 
          and blessing its growth. 
¹¹  You crown the year with your bounty; 
          your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 
¹²  The pastures of the wilderness overflow, 
          the hills gird themselves with joy, 
¹³  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, 
          the valleys deck themselves with grain, 
          they shout and sing together for joy.

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JAMES 3:13-4:12

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

 

¹Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ²You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? ⁶But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."⁷Submit yourselves therefore 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 into mourning and your joy into dejection.¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

 

¹¹Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against 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 and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?