James, chapter 1
1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the
twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greeting.
2: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials,
3: for you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness.
4: And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all
men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.
6: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts
is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7: For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man,
8: unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.
9: Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,
10: and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of
the grass he will pass away.
11: For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the
grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man
fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12: Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood
the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to
those who love him.
13: Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by
God"; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no
one;
14: but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by
his own desire.
15: Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin
when it is full-grown brings forth death.
16: Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17: Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or
shadow due to change.
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.
19: Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to
hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
20: for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.
21: Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of
wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able
to save your souls.
22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves.
23: For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is
like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror;
24: for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets
what he was like.
25: But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty,
and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he
shall be blessed in his doing.
26: If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his
tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain.
27: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father
is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep
oneself unstained from the world.
James, chapter 2
1: My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2: For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into
your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3: and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing
and say, "Have a seat here, please," while you say to the poor
man, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet,"
4: have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become
judges with evil thoughts?
5: Listen, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen those who are
poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he
has promised to those who love him?
6: But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who
oppress you, is it not they who drag you into court?
7: Is it not they who blaspheme that honorable name which was
invoked over you?
8: If you really fulfil the royal law, according to the
scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do
well.
9: But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted
by the law as transgressors.
10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has
become guilty of all of it.
11: For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said
also, "Do not kill." If you do not commit adultery but do
kill, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12: So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the
law of liberty.
13: For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy;
yet mercy triumphs over judgment.
14: What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith
but has not works? Can his faith save him?
15: If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,
16: and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and
filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what
does it profit?
17: So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
18: But some one will say, "You have faith and I have
works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works
will show you my faith.
19: You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons
believe -- and shudder.
20: Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart
from works is barren?
21: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he
offered his son Isaac upon the altar?
22: You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith
was completed by works,
23: and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he
was called the friend of God.
24: You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith
alone.
25: And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified
by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart
from works is dead.
James, chapter 3
1: Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know
that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.
2: For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no
mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole
body also.
3: If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey
us, we guide their whole bodies.
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4:
Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by
strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will
of the pilot directs.
5: So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
6: And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world
among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of
nature, and set on fire by hell.
7: For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature,
can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind,
8: but no human being can tame the tongue -- a restless evil,
full of deadly poison.
9: With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse
men, who are made in the likeness of God.
10: From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren,
this ought not to be so.
11: Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water
and brackish?
12: Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a grapevine
figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
13: Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let
him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
14: But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your
hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
15: This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is
earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
16: For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be
disorder and every vile practice.
17: But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without
uncertainty or insincerity.
18: And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those
who make peace.
James, chapter 4
1: What causes wars, and what causes fighting's among you? Is it
not your passions that are at war in your members?
2: You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and
cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you
do not ask.
3: You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend
it on your passions.
4: Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the
world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God.
5: Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says,
"He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in
us"?
6: But he gives more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes
the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
7: Submit yourselves therefore 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, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.
9: Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to dejection.
10: Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
11: Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that
speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against
the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer
of the law but a judge.
12: There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and
to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?
13: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go
into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get
gain";
14: whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life?
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
15: Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall
live and we shall do this or that."
16: As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is
evil.
17: Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him
it is sin.
James, chapter 5
1: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are
coming upon you.
2: Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3: Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be
evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up
treasure for the last days.
4: Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which
you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have
reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5: You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you
have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6: You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does
not resist you.
7: Be patient, therefore, brethren, 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 the late rain.
8: You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of
the Lord is at hand.
9: Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may
not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the doors.
10: As an example of suffering and patience, brethren, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11: Behold, we call those happy who were steadfast. You have
heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the
Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12: But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or
by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be
no, that you may not fall under condemnation.
13: Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any
cheerful? Let him sing praise.
14: Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the
church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name
of the Lord;
15: and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord
will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16: Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great
power in its effects.
17: Eli'jah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed
fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it
did not rain on the earth.
18: Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
brought forth its fruit.
19: My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and
some one brings him back,
20: let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error
of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins.
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