
The Letter from James

   {1:1} James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the
twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings. {1:2} Count it
all joy, my [1>]brothers[<1], when you fall into various temptations,
{1:3} knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. {1:4}
Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing. {1:5} But 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. {1:6} But 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. {1:7} For let that man not think that he will receive
anything from the Lord. {1:8} He is a double-minded man, unstable in
all his ways.

   {1:9} But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high
position; {1:10} and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like
the flower in the grass, he will pass away. {1:11} For 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.

   {1:12} Blessed 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. {1:13} Let 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. {1:14} But each one is tempted, when he is
drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. {1:15} Then the lust, when it
has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings
forth death. {1:16} Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. {1:17}
Every 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. {1:18} Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

   {1:19} So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to
hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; {1:20} for the anger of man
doesn't produce the righteousness of God. {1:21} Therefore, putting
away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with
humility the implanted word, which is able to [2>]save your souls[<2].
{1:22} But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your
own selves. {1:23} For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a
doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; {1:24}
for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind
of man he was. {1:25} But he who looks into the perfect 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.

   {1:26} If 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. {1:27} Pure 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.

   {2:1} My brothers, don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of
glory with partiality. {2:2} For if a man with a gold ring, in fine
clothing, comes into your [3>]synagogue[<3], and a poor man in filthy
clothing also comes in; {2:3} and 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"; {2:4}
haven't you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with
evil thoughts? {2:5} Listen, 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? {2:6} But you have
dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you, and personally
drag you before the courts? {2:7} Don't they blaspheme the honorable
name by which you are called? {2:8} However, if you fulfill the royal
law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself,"[4] you do well. {2:9} But if you show partiality, you commit
sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. {2:10} For whoever
keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become
guilty of all. {2:11} For he who said, "Do not commit adultery,"[5]
also said, "Do not commit murder."[6] Now if you do not commit
adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. {2:12}
So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
{2:13} For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.

   {2:14} What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but
has no works? Can faith save him? {2:15} And if a brother or sister is
naked and in lack of daily food, {2:16} and 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? {2:17} Even so faith, if it has
no works, is dead in itself. {2:18} Yes, a man will say, "You have
faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my
works will show you my faith.

   {2:19} You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also
believe, and shudder. {2:20} But do you want to know, vain man, that
faith apart from works is dead? {2:21} Wasn't Abraham our father
justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
{2:22} You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was
perfected; {2:23} and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness";[7] and he
was called the friend of God. {2:24} You see then that by works, a man
is justified, and not only by faith. {2:25} In the same way, wasn't
Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the
messengers, and sent them out another way? {2:26} For as the body apart
from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

   {3:1} Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we
will receive heavier judgment. {3:2} For 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. {3:3} Indeed, we put bits into the horses'
mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body. {3:4}
Behold, 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. {3:5} So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great
things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! {3:6} And
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 [8>]Gehenna.[<8] {3:7} For every kind of
animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has
been tamed by mankind. {3:8} But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a
restless evil, full of deadly poison. {3:9} With it we bless our God
and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
{3:10} Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My
brothers, these things ought not to be so. {3:11} Does a spring send
out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? {3:12} Can a fig
tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields
both salt water and fresh water.

   {3:13} Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his
good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom. {3:14}
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart,
don't boast and don't lie against the truth. {3:15} This wisdom is not
that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.
{3:16} For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion
and every evil deed. {3:17} But the wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy. {3:18} Now the fruit of
righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

   {4:1} Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they
come from your pleasures that war in your members? {4:2} You 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. {4:3} You ask, and don't
receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it
for your pleasures. {4:4} You 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. {4:5} Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit
who lives in us yearns jealously"? {4:6} But he gives more grace.
Therefore it says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the
humble."[9] {4:7} Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil,
and he will flee from you. {4:8} Draw near to God, and he will draw
near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts,
you double-minded. {4:9} Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be
turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. {4:10} Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

   {4:11} Don'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. {4:12} Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save
and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

   {4:13} Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow let's go into this
city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit." {4:14} Whereas
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. {4:15} For you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will
both live, and do this or that." {4:16} But now you glory in your
boasting. All such boasting is evil. {4:17} To him therefore who knows
to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

   {5:1} Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are
coming on you. {5:2} Your riches are corrupted and your garments are
moth-eaten. {5:3} Your 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. {5:4}
Behold, 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 [10>]Armies[<10]. {5:5} You have
lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have
nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. {5:6} You have
condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn't resist you.

   {5:7} Be 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. {5:8} You
also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is
at hand.

   {5:9} Don't grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you
won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. {5:10} Take,
brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who
spoke in the name of the Lord. {5:11} Behold, 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.
{5:12} But 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 [11>]into
hypocrisy.[<11]

   {5:13} Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful?
Let him sing praises. {5:14} Is 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, {5:15} and 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. {5:16} Confess your offenses to
one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The
insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. {5:17}
Elijah 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. {5:18} He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the
earth brought forth its fruit.

   {5:19} Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and
someone turns him back, {5:20} let 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.





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Footnotes:
[1] {1:2} The word for "brothers" here and where context allows may
also be correctly translated "brothers and sisters" or "siblings."

[2] {1:21} or, preserve your life.

[3] {2:2} or, meeting

[4] {2:8} Leviticus 19:18

[5] {2:11} Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18

[6] {2:11} Exodus 10:13; Deuteronomy 5:17

[7] {2:23} Genesis 15:6

[8] {3:6} or, Hell

[9] {4:6} Proverbs 3:34

[10] {5:4} Greek: Sabaoth (for Hebrew: Tze'va'ot)

[11] {5:12} TR reads "under judgment" instead of "into hypocrisy"

