The Letter from James
1:1James, a servant of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which
are in the Dispersion: Greetings. 1:2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 1:3knowing that the testing of your faith
produces endurance. 1:4Let endurance have its perfect work, that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking
in nothing. 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask of God, who gives to all liberally and
without reproach; and it will be given to
him. 1:6But let him ask in faith, without any
doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
1:7For let that man not think that he will
receive anything from the Lord. 1:8He is a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways.
1:9But let the brother in humble circumstances
glory in his high position; 1:10and the rich, in
that he is made humble, because like the
flower in the grass, he will pass away.
1:11For the sun arises with the scorching
wind, and withers the grass, and the flower
in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance
perishes. So also will the rich man fade
away in his pursuits.
1:12Blessed is the man who endures temptation,
for when he has been approved, he will receive
the crown of life, which the Lord promised
to those who love him. 1:13Let no man say
when he is tempted, "I am tempted by
God," for God can't be tempted by evil,
and he himself tempts no one. 1:14But each one is
tempted, when he is drawn away by his own
lust, and enticed. 1:15Then the lust, when it has conceived,
bears sin; and the sin, when it is full
grown, brings forth death. 1:16Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.
1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father
of lights, with whom can be no variation,
nor turning shadow. 1:18Of his own will
he brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits
of his creatures.
1:19So, then, my beloved brothers, let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and
slow to anger; 1:20for the anger of man doesn't produce
the righteousness of God. 1:21Therefore, putting
away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness,
receive with humility the implanted word,
which is able to save your
souls. 1:22But be doers of the word, and not only
hearers, deluding your own selves. 1:23For if anyone is
a hearer of the word and not a doer, he
is like a man beholding his natural face
in a mirror; 1:24for he sees himself, and goes away, and
immediately forgets what kind of man he
was. 1:25But he who looks into the perfect law,
the law of freedom, and continues, not being
a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work,
this man will be blessed in what he does.
1:26If anyone among you thinks himself to
be religious while he doesn't bridle his
tongue, but deceives his heart, this man's
religion is worthless. 1:27Pure religion and
undefiled before our God and Father is this:
to visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep oneself unstained
by the world.
2:1My brothers, don't hold the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
2:2For if a man with
a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into
your assembly, and a poor man in filthy
clothing also comes in; 2:3and you pay special
attention to him who wears the fine clothing,
and say, "Sit here in a good place;"
and you tell the poor man, "Stand there,"
or "Sit by my footstool;" 2:4haven't you shown
partiality among yourselves, and become
judges with evil thoughts? 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn't God
choose those who are poor in this world
to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom
which he promised to those who love him?
2:6But you have dishonored the poor man.
Don't the rich oppress you, and personally
drag you before the courts? 2:7Don't they blaspheme the honorable name
by which you are called? 2:8However, if you fulfill the royal law,
according to the Scripture, "You shall
love your neighbor as yourself," you
do well. 2:9But if you show partiality, you commit
sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10For whoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet stumble in one point, he has become
guilty of all. 2:11For he who said, "Do not commit
adultery," said also, "Do not
commit murder." Now if you do not commit
adultery, but murder, you have become a
transgressor of the law. 2:12So speak, and so do, as men who are to
be judged by a law of freedom. 2:13For judgment is
without mercy to him who has shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14What good is it, my brothers, if a man
says he has faith, but has no works? Can
faith save him? 2:15And if a brother or sister is naked and
in lack of daily food, 2:16and one of you
tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed
and filled;" and yet you didn't give
them the things the body needs, what good
is it? 2:17Even so faith, if it has no works, is
dead in itself. 2:18Yes, a man will say, "You have faith,
and I have works." Show me your faith
from your works, and I by my works will
show you my faith.
2:19You believe that God is one. You do well.
The demons also believe, and shudder. 2:20But do you want
to know, vain man, that faith apart from
works is dead? 2:21Wasn't Abraham our father justified by
works, in that he offered up Isaac his son
on the altar? 2:22You see that faith worked with his works,
and by works faith was perfected; 2:23and the Scripture
was fulfilled which says, "Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him
as righteousness;" and he was called
the friend of God. 2:24You see then that by works, a man is
justified, and not only by faith. 2:25In like manner
wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified
by works, in that she received the messengers,
and sent them out another way? 2:26For as the body apart from the spirit
is dead, even so faith apart from works
is dead.
3:1Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers,
knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
3:2For in many things we all stumble. If
anyone doesn't stumble in word, the same
is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole
body also. 3:3Indeed, we put bits into the horses' mouths
so that they may obey us, and we guide their
whole body. 3:4Behold, the ships also, though they are
so big and are driven by fierce winds, are
yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever
the pilot desires. 3:5So the tongue is
also a little member, and boasts great things.
See how a small fire can spread to a large
forest! 3:6And the tongue is
a fire. The world of iniquity among our
members is the tongue, which defiles the
whole body, and sets on fire the course
of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
3:7For every kind of
animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing
in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed
by mankind. 3:8But nobody can tame the tongue. It is
a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9With it we bless
our God and Father, and with it we curse
men, who are made in the image of God. 3:10Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing
and cursing. My brothers, these things ought
not to be so. 3:11Does a spring send out from the same
opening fresh and bitter water? 3:12Can a fig tree,
my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs?
Thus no spring yields both salt water and
fresh water.
3:13Who is wise and understanding among you?
Let him show by his good conduct that his
deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
3:14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish
ambition in your heart, don't boast and
don't lie against the truth. 3:15This wisdom is not that which comes down
from above, but is earthly, sensual, and
demonic. 3:16For where jealousy and selfish ambition
are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
3:17But the wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy. 3:18Now the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace by those
who make peace.
4:1Where do wars and fightings among you
come from? Don't they come from your pleasures
that war in your members? 4:2You lust, and don't have. You kill, covet,
and can't obtain. You fight and make war.
You don't have, because you don't ask. 4:3You ask, and don't receive, because you
ask with wrong motives, so that you may
spend it for your pleasures. 4:4You adulterers and adulteresses, don't
you know that friendship with the world
is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants
to be a friend of the world makes himself
an enemy of God. 4:5Or do you think that the Scripture says
in vain, "The Spirit who lives in us
yearns jealously"? 4:6But he gives more grace. Therefore it
says, "God resists the proud, but gives
grace to the humble." 4:7Be subject therefore to God. But resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. 4:8Draw near to God,
and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts,
you double-minded. 4:9Lament, mourn, and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning,
and your joy to gloom. 4:10Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and he will exalt you.
4:11Don't speak against one another, brothers.
He who speaks against a brother and judges
his brother, speaks against the law and
judges the law. But if you judge the law,
you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
4:12Only one is the
lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.
But who are you to judge another?
4:13Come now, you who say, "Today or
tomorrow let's go into this city, and spend
a year there, trade, and make a profit."
4:14Whereas you don't
know what your life will be like tomorrow.
For what is your life? For you are a vapor,
that appears for a little time, and then
vanishes away. 4:15For you ought to say, "If the Lord
wills, we will both live, and do this or
that." 4:16But now you glory in your boasting. All
such boasting is evil. 4:17To him therefore
who knows to do good, and doesn't do it,
to him it is sin.
5:1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for
your miseries that are coming on you. 5:2Your riches are
corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
5:3Your gold and your
silver are corroded, and their corrosion
will be for a testimony against you, and
will eat your flesh like fire. You have
laid up your treasure in the last days.
5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who
mowed your fields, which you have kept back
by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those
who reaped have entered into the ears of
the Lord of Hosts. 5:5You have lived delicately on the earth,
and taken your pleasure. You have nourished
your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 5:6You have condemned, you have murdered
the righteous one. He doesn't resist you.
5:7Be patient therefore, brothers, until
the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer
waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient over it, until it receives
the early and late rain. 5:8You also be patient. Establish your hearts,
for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
5:9Don't grumble, brothers, against one another,
so that you won't be judged. Behold, the
judge stands at the door. 5:10Take, brothers, for an example of suffering
and of patience, the prophets who spoke
in the name of the Lord. 5:11Behold, we call them blessed who endured.
You have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how
the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
5:12But above all things, my brothers, don't
swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth,
nor by any other oath; but let your "yes"
be "yes," and your "no,"
"no;" so that you don't fall into
hypocrisy.
5:13Is any among you suffering? Let him pray.
Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 5:14Is any among you
sick? Let him call for the elders of the
assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord, 5:15and the prayer of faith will heal him
who is sick, and the Lord will raise him
up. If he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven. 5:16Confess your offenses to one another,
and pray one for another, that you may be
healed. The effective, earnest prayer of
a righteous man is powerfully effective.
5:17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
and he prayed earnestly that it might not
rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for
three years and six months. 5:18He prayed again,
and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought
forth its fruit.
5:19Brothers, if any among you wanders from
the truth, and someone turns him back, 5:20let him know that
he who turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save a soul from death, and
will cover a multitude of sins.
Notes:
[1] back
to 1:2 The word for "brothers"
here and where context allows may also be
correctly translated "brothers and
sisters" or "siblings."
[2] back
to 1:21 or, preserve your life.
[3] back to 3:6 Gehenna is a name that describes a burning Hell with
rotting bodies and unclean things in it
[4] back
to 5:12 TR reads "under judgment"
instead of "into hypocrisy"
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