The Two Foundations

²⁴ “Therefore,^(A) everyone who hears these words^(B) of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

⁴⁷ I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them:^(A)

²⁸ He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God^(A) and keep it.”^(B)

²² But^(A) be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face^[a] in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.^(B)