Goodspeed(i)
1 My brothers, do you try to combine faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with acts of partiality?
2 For if a finely dressed man with a gold ring comes into a meeting, and a poor man in shabby clothes comes in also,
3 and you pay attention to the man in the fine clothes and say to him, "Sit here; this is a good place!" and say to the poor man, "Stand up, or sit on the floor at my feet,"
4 have you not wavered and shown that your judgments are guided by base motives?
5 Listen, my dear brothers. Has not God chosen the world's poor to be rich in faith, and to possess the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?
6 But you humiliate the poor. Are not the rich your oppressors? Is it not they who drag you into court?
7 Is it not they who slander the noble name you bear?
8 If you really obey the supreme law where the Scripture says, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right,
9 but if you show partiality, you are committing a sin, and stand convicted before the Law as lawbreakers.
10 For anyone who obeys the whole of the Law but makes one single slip is guilty of breaking it all.
11 For he who said, "You must not commit adultery," said also, "You must not commit murder." Now if you abstain from adultery, but commit murder, you are still a violator of the Law.
12 You must talk and act like men who expect to be judged by the law that treats men as free.
13 For the merciless will be mercilessly judged; but mercy will triumph over judgment.