35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember
the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you
need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will
receive all that he has promised.
37 “For in just a little while,
the Coming One will come and not delay.
38 And my righteous ones will live by faith.
But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
39 But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own
destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.
Numbers 13:25-33 and 14:1-9
25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to
Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in
the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community
what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken
from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the
land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a
land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it
produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their
towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the
descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The
Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and
along the Jordan Valley.”
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses.
“Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly
31 But the other men who had explored the land with him
disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than
we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among
the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will
devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw
were huge. 33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of
Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they
14 1 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they
cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest
against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even
here in the wilderness!” they complained. 3 “Why is the Lord taking
us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our
little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us
to return to Egypt?” 4 Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s
choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the
whole community of Israel. 6 Two of the men who had explored
the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore
their clothing. 7 They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we
traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! 8 And if the
Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and
give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Do not
rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the
land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection,
but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
1 Send your grain across the seas,
and in time, profits will flow back to you.
2 But divide your investments among many places,
for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.
3 When clouds are heavy, the rains come down.
Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
4 Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
5 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the
mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you
cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.
6 Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for
you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have
faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save
anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food
or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay
warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food
or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good
deeds, it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others
have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if
you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good
