1 From James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora, greetings.
2 My brothers, consider it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience,
4 and let patience have a perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, not lacking anything.
5 But if anyone among you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God who gives generously to all, and not begrudgingly, and it will be given to him.
6 And let him ask in faith, not doubting in any way, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about.
7 For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8 A man in two minds is unstable in all his ways.
9 And let a lowly brother boast in his high position,
10 but a rich one in his low position, because he will pass away like a herbaceous flower.
11 For the sun rises with burning heat, and dries up the vegetation and its flower withers, and the comeliness of its appearance is lost. In this way the rich man will also fade in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures a trial, because if he is approved he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no-one who is being tempted say, “I am being tempted by God.” For God is incapable of being tempted by things that are wrong, and he does not tempt anyone,
14 but everyone is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire, and is enticed,
15 then when desire has conceived, it bears sin, and sin, when it has been brought to full maturity, engenders death.
16 Do not go astray, my beloved brothers.
17 Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change.
18 Having willed it, he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruit of his creatures.
19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
20 for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.
21 On account of which, set aside all sordidness and remains of wickedness, and accept with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your lives.
22 And become doers of the word and not just hearers, deluding yourselves.
23 For if a person is a hearer of the word but not a doer, he is like a man who takes note in a mirror of the face he is endowed with,
24 for he takes note of himself and goes off, and immediately forgets what kind of a person he is.
25 But he who surveys the completed law of freedom, and stands his ground, such a person is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of work; blessed he will be when he does it.
26 If any man among you considers himself to be religious but cannot bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, his religious observance is in vain.
27 Pure and undefiled religious observance with God and the father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself untainted by the world.
1 My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
2 For if a man with golden rings on his fingers in magnificent clothing goes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothes also goes in,
3 and you look favourably on the one wearing magnificent clothing, and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or “Sit here under my footstool,”
4 then do you not make a distinction in your minds and have you not become judges with evil reasonings?
5 My beloved brothers, listen. Has not God chosen the poor of the world, rich in faith, and heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
6 But you despised the poor man. Do not the rich exercise power over you, and do they not drag you to the law courts?
7 Do they not blaspheme the good name which is called on over you.
8 If however you keep the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you do well.
9 But if you show partiality, you commit a sin, being convicted under the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at one point becomes culpable of everything.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” And if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you become culpable of breaking the law.
12 Speak this way, and act this way, as people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom.
13 For judgment on him who does not show mercy is merciless. Mercy overrides judgment.
14 My brothers, what is the benefit if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith really save him?
15 And if a brother or sister is unclothed, and lacks daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go off in peace, warm yourselves and feed yourselves,” but you do not give them provisions for the body, what is the benefit?
17 So is faith too. If it does not have works, it is in itself dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith by your works, and I will show you by my works my faith.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. But the demons also believe that, yet they shudder.
20 Now are you willing to know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Abraham our father – was he not justified by works when he had offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that faith was at work with his works, and by his works his faith was made complete.
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 So then, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 And likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works too, lodging the messengers and sending them away by a different route?
26 For as the body without breath is dead, so is faith without works dead.
1 My brothers, do not become teachers in large numbers, knowing that as teachers we will receive a more severe judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many respects. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, capable of bridling his whole body too.
3 Look, we place bits in horses' mouths, so that they obey us, and we steer the whole of their body.
4 And look at how ships, which are so large, and are driven by strong winds, are steered by a very small rudder, wherever the helmsman's spur of the moment wishes.
5 So also the tongue is a small member, but it boasts greatly. See how great a forest a little fire sets alight!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of injustice. In this way the tongue is appointed among our members as the one that defiles the whole body and sets the cycle of nature alight, and is set alight by Gehenna.
7 For every kind of wild animal and bird, and reptile and marine creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
8 but no-one among men can tame the tongue. It is uncheckable wickedness, full of deadly venom.
9 With it we bless the God and father, yet with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.
10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way.
11 Does a source from the same opening ever gush with fresh and bitter water?
12 My brothers, can a fig tree possibly produce olives, or a vine figs? In this way no source can produce salt and fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works by his good behaviour with the meekness of wisdom.
14 And if you have bitter jealousy and strife in your heart, do not affront or belie the truth.
15 That kind of wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
16 For where there is jealousy and strife, there there is disorder and every kind of base deed.
17 But wisdom from above is, in the first instance, pure, then peaceful, equitable, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not unpretentious.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
1 Where do battles and fights among you come from? Is it not from this: from your pleasures that war in your members?
2 You have desires, but you don't obtain them. You kill and covet, but you cannot attain them. You fight and wage war, but you do not obtain them, because you do not ask.
3 You ask, but you do not receive, because you ask wrongly – that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility to God? So whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself up as an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the scripture speaks vacuously? The spirit which dwells in us yearns with proneness to envy.
6 But he gives a greater grace. That is why he says, “God opposes the arrogant but gives grace to the lowly.”
7 So be subject to God and oppose the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Approach God, and he will approach you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and sanctify your hearts, you who are in two minds.
9 Suffer hardship and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be changed into mourning, and your joy to gloom.
10 Be humbled before the Lord and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak ill of each other, brothers. He who speaks ill of a brother and judges his brother, speaks ill of the law and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy. But who are you who judge another?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us go to this city and spend one year there and trade and make a profit,”
14 you who do not understand what “tomorrow” means. What kind of a life do you have, then? For it will be a vapour which makes an appearance for a short time, but then in turn it vanishes.
15 You say that instead of saying, “If the Lord wills, let us live and also do this or that.”
16 But at present you boast in your pretensions. Every such boast is wrong.
17 So to him who knows how to do good but does not do it, to him it is a sin.
1 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your hardships which come upon you.
2 Your riches have rotted and your clothes have become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their tarnish will be a testimony to you and it will consume your flesh as fire does. You treasured this up in the latter days.
4 Look, the wages of the workers who harvested your farms, wages which have been withheld by you, shout out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5 You have lived extravagantly on the earth and have behaved wantonly; you have fed your hearts as in the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered the innocent; he does not resist you.
7 So be longsuffering, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Look, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the land, being longsuffering for it until he receives the early and late rain.
8 So you too be longsuffering, make your hearts resolute, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.
9 Brothers, do not criticize each other, in order that you should not be judged. Look, the judge is standing at the doors.
10 Take as an example of ill-plight and longsuffering, my brothers, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 Look, we deem blessed those who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and look at the Lord's result: that he is of great pity and is compassionate.
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by the earth, or any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you do not fall into hypocrisy.
13 Is anyone among you suffering affliction? Let him pray. Is anyone of good cheer? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you ill? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with olive oil in the name of the Lord,
15 and the faithful prayer will save him who is ailing, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
16 Confess your transgressions to each other, and pray for each other that you may be healed. The entreaty of a righteous person, once empowered, is very effective.
17 Elijah was a man of feelings like ours, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and heaven gave rain and the land sprouted its fruit.
19 Brothers, if anyone among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back,
20 let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.