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1 My Achim b'Moshiach, you do not with your acts of maso panim (favoritism) hold to the* emunah of the glorious Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.† 2 For if there enter into your Beit HaKnesset (House of Assembly, shul, synagogue, shtibel) a man with gold rings on his fingers in expensive bekeshe (kaftan) and shtreimel, and there enters also an underpriviledged nebach, a kabtzen (poor person) in shmattes (rags), 3 and you pay special attention to the takif [influential man] wearing the bekeshe and shtreimel and say, “You sit here in the seat of kibbud” (respect, honor), and to the kabtzen (pauper) you say, “You stand there.” Or “You sit at my feet,” 4 did you not among yourselves differentiate with prejudice and became shofetim (judges) with machshavot re'sha (evil thoughts)? 5 Hinei! My beloved Achim b'Moshiach, did not Der Oybershter make the Aniyim of the Olam Hazeh in fact Bechirim of Hashem to be rich in emunah and also yoreshim of the Malchut Hashem, which Adoshem gave as a havtachah (promise) to those with Ahavas Hashem?‡ 6 But you dishonored the ish evyon (poor man, pauper). Do not the oishirim (rich ones) oppress you and they drag you into the Batei Din (Bet Din courts)? 7 Do they not commit Chillul Hashem gidduf (blasphemy) against the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiachʼs Shem Tov that has been named upon you?
8 If indeed you are shomer regarding the Dat HaMalkhut (Royal Decree), as it is written in the Kitvei Hakodesh, V'AHAVTAH L'REI'ACHA KAMOCHA§(And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself) you do well. 9 But if you show maso panim (favoritism), you are chote'im (sinners) committing averos (transgressions) against the Torah.* 10 For whoever is shomer over kol haTorah but stumbles in one mitzvah, such is condemned as ashem (guilty) of averoh (transgression) of kol mitzvot. 11 For the One having said, LO TINAF (You shall not commit adultery) said also LO TIRTZACH (You shall not murder). Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a Poshei'a al mitzvot HaTorah (Transgressor of the Torah).† 12 So let your devarim (words) be and so let your ma'asim (deeds) be as those who are about to come under the judgment of the Torah HaCherut.‡ 13 For the Din (Judgment) will be without rachamim (mercy) to the one not having shown rachamim. Rachamim wins the nitzachon (victory) over HaDin.
14 What is the revach (gain, profit), my Achim b'Moshiach, if anyone claims to have emunah but does not have ma'asim (deeds)? Surely not such “emunah” is able to bring him to Yeshu'at Eloheinu? 15 If an Ach b'Moshiach or an Achot b'Moshiach is dressed in shmattes (tatters) and lacking “lechem chukeinu”§(our daily bread), 16 and anyone of you says to them, “Go in shalom! Be warmed and fed!” but you do not give to them the physical necessities, what is the revach (profit)? 17 So also Emunah, if alongside it there is not in its company Ma'asim, is by itself niftar (deceased, dead).
18 But someone will say, “You have emunah and I have ma'asim.” You make known to me the Hisgalus haSod (the revelation of the mystery) of your emunah without your ma'asim, and I'll show you, Chaver, from my ma'asim, the Emunah. 19 So you're impressed with yourselves that with your emunah you can recite the kri'at Shema, nu? O you do so well… why, even the shedim have your da'as and emunah! But they shudder!* 20 Are you willing to have da'as, O hollow man, that “Emunah”† unharnessed to Ma'asim, stands idle? 21 Avraham Avinu, was he not YITZDAK IM HASHEM (justified with G-d) by his ma'asim when he performed the akedah (binding) and offered up Yitzchak Bno (Isaac his son) upon the mizbe'ach?‡ 22 Hinei! While Avraham Avinuʼs Emunah was working, working right alongside was Avraham Avinuʼs Ma'asim, and by Ma'asim the emunah was made shleimah! 23 And the Kitvei Hakodesh was fulfilled, Avraham Avinu V'HE'EMIN B'HASHEM V'YACHSHEVEHA LO TZEDAKAH§(believed Hashem and it was accounted to him for righteousness). He was even called “Ohev Hashem”*(“Friend of G-d”). 24 You see that from Ma'asim† a man is YITZDAK IM HASHEM and not from‡ “Emunah” alone.§ 25 And likewise also Rachav the Zonah — was she not made YITZDAK IM HASHEM from Ma'asim, having received the messengers and having sent them out a different way? 26 For just as the guf (body) without the neshamah is niftar (deceased, dead), so also is Emunah without Ma'asim.
* 2:1 orthodox Jewish † 2:1 Dt 1:17; Lv 19:15; Prov 24:23 ‡ 2:5 Job 34:19 § 2:8 Lv 19:18 * 2:9 Dt 1:17 † 2:11 Ex 20:13,14; Dt 5:17,18 ‡ 2:12 1:25 § 2:15 Mt 6:11 * 2:19 Dt 6:4 † 2:20 of dead orthodoxy ‡ 2:21 Gn 22:9,12 § 2:23 Gn 15:6 * 2:23 Gn 15:6; Isa 41:8; 2Chr 20:7 † 2:24 of Emunah ‡ 2:24 sterilely unpartnered § 2:24 i.e., mere intellectual assent