1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 My brothers, consider it all joy when you find yourself surrounded by various trials.
3 Know this that the testing of your faith works patience.
4 Let patience have its full, complete work, so that you may be mature and complete (lacking nothing).
5 If any of you lack wisdom, then ask God, who gives to all profusely and doesn't scold, and it will be given to him.
6 But one must ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 Do not let that person think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.
9 And let the brother of humble circumstances rejoice in that he is exalted, Jas 1:10 but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass, he will perish.
10
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with its burning heat, and it withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away.
12 Blessed [is] the man who patiently endures temptation, for when he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt anyone.
14 Everyone is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and when sin is finished, it brings forth death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.
17 Every good act of giving and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variation, neither shadow from turning.
18 By his own will he gave birth to us by the Word of Truth, so that we should be a type of first fruits among his created things.
19 So too my beloved brothers, all must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
20 because the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore get rid of all moral filthiness and all types of wickedness; receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 Be doers of the word, not just hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror.
24 He looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But whoever looks at the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, is not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed for his action.
26 If anyone among you seems to be religious and does not control his tongue, he deceives his own heart. This man's religion [is] useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God, even the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself spotless from the world.
1 My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
2 For if a man with a gold ring and expensive clothes comes into your assembly, and then a poor man with dirty clothes comes in also.
3 And you favor him who wears the impressive clothing and say to him, "Sit over in this place of honor," but you say to the poor, "Stand over there," or "Sit here under my feet."
4 Are you not prejudiced in yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you, you despise the poor. Don't rich men oppress you and drag you into the court system?
7 Don't they curse that beautiful name you are named after?
8 If, however, you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as yourself." You do well.
9 But if you are partial, you commit sin and are convicted by that law as being lawbreakers.
10 For whosoever will keep the whole law and yet fail in one [point] is guilty of all.
11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill." Now if you do not commit adultery, yet you kill, you have become a violator of the law.
12 So speak and act as those who will be judged under the law of liberty.
13 For he will judge without mercy those who have shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices over judgment.
14 What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith and not works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister becomes naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you say to them, "Leave in peace, may you be warm and filled [with food]," yet you do not give them those things which they need for the body. What good [is it]?
17 And so if faith does not have works, it is dead in and of itself.
18 Yes, someone may say, "You have faith, and I have works. You show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
19 You believe that there is one God, you do well; the devils also believe and tremble.
20 But will you understand, you senseless man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Wasn't Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered Isaac, his son, on the altar?
22 See how faith worked together with his works, and [how] faith was made complete by works?
23 The Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness," and he was called the Friend of God.
24 You see then how a person is justified by works and not by faith only.
25 In the same way, wasn't Rahab, the harlot, justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent [them] out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
1 My brothers, not many of you should become teachers, because we know that we will receive the greater condemnation.
2 For all of us often trip up in many ways. If anyone doesn't slip up in speech, he [is] a matured man also [able] to control the whole body.
3 Observe, we put bits in the horses' mouth, so they may obey us and turn around their whole body.
4 Also look at the ships, which though so huge and driven by fierce winds, yet are steered with a very small rudder, wherever the pilot wishes,
5 and so the tongue is a little thing, but brags about things. Behold, how great forest fire a little fire kindles!
6 The tongue [is such] a fire, a world of evil, so the tongue is among the members of our body, in that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the revolving wheel of our existence. It is inflamed by hell.
7 For every animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is tamed or has been tamed by mankind,
8 but the tongue can no one tame. [It is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless God, even the Father, and with the same we curse men, who are made according to God's likeness.
10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things must not be so.
11 Does a spring bubble up at the same place sweet and bitter [water]?
12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries or a vine figs? So no fountain can yield both salt and fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By good behavior let him show his works with humility and wisdom.
14 If you have bitter envying and rivalry in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This [kind of] wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, sensual, [and] devilish.
16 For where selfish ambition and selfish ambition exist, there [is] instability and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy.
18 Moreover, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.
1 Where do fights and quarrels among you [come] from? [Don't they come] from your sensual desires that at war in your bodies.
2 You set your heart on something and do not get [it], so you commit murder. You zealously desire but cannot obtain it, so you quarrel and fight. You do not get things, because you do not ask.
3 You ask, and do not receive, because you ask with wicked motives, in order to squander it on your sensual pleasures.
4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God?
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says for no reason, "The spirit that lives in us lusts because of envy?"
6 But He gives greater grace. That's why he says, "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."
7 Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, sinners, and purify [your] hearts, double minded.
9 Be in agony, moan, and wail. Let you laughter turn into sobbing and [your] joy into heartbreak.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 Do not badmouth one another, brothers. He, who badmouths and condemns his brother, condemns the law, but if you condemn the law, you are not a doer, but its judge.
12 There is only one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy. So who are you to condemn another?
13 Come on, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, stay there a year, buy and sell, and make money."
14 On the contrary, you don't even know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is just a puff of smoke that appears for a moment then disappears.
15 For you should say, "If the Lord wants us to, then we will live and do this or that."
16 But now you rejoice in your self-confidence; all such rejoicing is evil.
17 So then, the one, who knows what is right and does not do it, is guilty of sin.
1 Now come, you rich people, wail and howl for the miseries that will happen [to you].
2 Your riches are rotted and your clothes are moth eaten.
3 Your gold and silver is corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have amassed riches for these final days.
4 Look! The pay of the workers who harvested your fields, from which you took a cut for yourself, calls out, and the workers' pleas for help has entered the ears of the Lord of Heavenly Armies.
5 You have lived a soft life on this earth and [a life given to] pleasure. You have fattened your hearts as for the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned [and] killed the righteous; he does not resist you.
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the Lord comes. Look how the farmer waits for the valuable yield from the land and waits for a long time for the early and later rains.
8 Likewise you be patient and steady your hearts, for the Lord's coming draws near.
9 Do not complain about one another, brothers, lest you be condemned. Look! The judge stands at the door.
10 My brothers, let the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord be your example of suffering affliction and of patience.
11 Look, we consider them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the Lord's conclusion, because the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brothers, do not take an oath, not by heaven, nor by the earth, or anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes and your "No" be no, lest you fall into hypocrisy.
13 Is any among you experiencing troubles? You must pray. Is any happy? Then sing praise.
14 Is any among you sick? Then summon the congregation's elders, and let them pray for them, anointing them with oil in the Lord's name.
15 The prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, they will be forgiven.
16 Confess [your] sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
17 Elijah was a man with emotions just like us, he earnestly prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the ground for three years and six months.
18 Then he prayed again, and the sky yielded rain, and the ground produced its crops.
19 Brothers, if any of you wanders from the truth, and someone brings him back again,
20 let him understand that whoever brings the sinner back again from the deceiving path he was on will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.