Now when John ¹  heard in prison about the deeds Christ ²  had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: ³ 

Jesus replied, ¹  “I performed one miracle ²  and you are all amazed. ³ 

If I do not perform ¹  the deeds ²  of my Father, do not believe me.

Where, then, is boasting? ¹  It is excluded! By what principle? ²  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!

Tell them to do good, ¹  to be rich in good deeds, to be generous givers, sharing with others. ² 

So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

But would you like evidence, ¹  you empty fellow, ²  that faith without works is useless? ³ 

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

And to the one who conquers ¹  and who continues in ²  my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations ³  –

“The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you ¹  in everything you undertake ²  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. ³ 

Hear ¹  the sound of those who divide the sheep ²  among the watering places; there they tell of ³  the Lord’s victorious deeds, the victorious deeds of his warriors ⁴  in Israel. Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a psalm of Asaph; a song. We give thanks to you, O God! We give thanks! You reveal your presence; ³  people tell about your amazing deeds.

Here is ¹  another ²  enigma ³  that occurs on earth: Sometimes there are righteous people who get what the wicked deserve, ⁴  and sometimes there are wicked people who get what the righteous deserve. ⁵  I said, “This also is an enigma.”

For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ¹  he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ²  to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task. ³ 

The Lord says to the people of Judah, ¹  “What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? ²  Many of you have done wicked things. ³  Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings ⁴  that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them? ⁵ 

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

“‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment ¹  is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! ²  I will judge you ³  according to your conduct ⁴  and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

“Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

They ¹  sang the song of Moses the servant ²  of God and the song of the Lamb: ³  “Great and astounding are your deeds, Lord God, the All-Powerful! ⁴  Just ⁵  and true are your ways, King over the nations! ⁶