Greeting

¹aJames, a servant1 of God and bof the Lord Jesus Christ,

To cthe twelve tribes in dthe Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

²eCount it all joy, my brothers,2 when you meet trials fof various kinds, ³for you know that gthe testing of your faith hproduces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be iperfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵jIf any of you lacks wisdom, klet him ask God, lwho gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶But mlet him ask in faith, nwith no doubting, for the one who doubts is like oa wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸phe is a double-minded man, qunstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰and rthe rich in his humiliation, because slike a flower of the grass3 he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and twithers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹²uBlessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive vthe crown of life, wwhich God has promised to those who love him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire xwhen it has conceived gives birth to sin, and ysin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷zEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from athe Father of lights, bwith whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.4 ¹⁸cOf his own will he dbrought us forth by the word of truth, ethat we should be a kind of ffirstfruits of his creatures.

Hearing and Doing the Word

¹⁹gKnow this, my beloved brothers: let every person hbe quick to hear, islow to speak, jslow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore kput away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with lmeekness the implanted word, mwhich is able to save your souls.

²²But be ndoers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵But the one who looks into the perfect law, othe law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, phe will be blessed in his doing.

²⁶If anyone thinks he is religious qand does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's rreligion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: sto visit torphans and widows in their affliction, and uto keep oneself vunstained from the world.

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The Sin of Partiality

¹My brothers,1 wshow no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, xthe Lord of glory. ²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” ywhile you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become zjudges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, ahas not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be brich in faith and heirs of cthe kingdom, dwhich he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you ehave dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who fdrag you ginto court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable hname by which you were called?

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, i“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you jshow partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point khas become guilty of all of it. ¹¹For he who said, l“Do not commit adultery,” also said, l“Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under mthe law of liberty. ¹³For njudgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶qand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? ¹⁷So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith rapart from your works, and I will show you my faith sby my works. ¹⁹tYou believe that God is one; you do well. Even uthe demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹vWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that wfaith was active along with his works, and faith was completed xby his works; ²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, y“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a zfriend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵And in the same way was not also aRahab the prostitute justified by works bwhen she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

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Taming the Tongue

¹cNot many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ²For dwe all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ehe is a perfect man, fable also to bridle his whole body. ³If we put gbits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet hit boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶And ithe tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, jstaining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,1 and set on fire by hell.2 ⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, kfull of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people lwho are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,3 these things ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? mBy his good conduct let him show his works nin the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter ojealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵This is not pthe wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, qdemonic. ¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷But rthe wisdom from above is first pure, then speaceable, gentle, open to reason, tfull of mercy and good fruits, uimpartial and vsincere. ¹⁸And wa harvest of righteousness xis sown in peace by those who make peace.

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Warning Against Worldliness

¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions1 are yat war within you?2 ²You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask zwrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴aYou adulterous people!3 Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? bTherefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit cthat he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶But dhe gives more grace. Therefore it says, e“God opposes the proud but dgives grace to the humble.” ⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. fResist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸gDraw near to God, and he will draw near to you. hCleanse your hands, you sinners, and ipurify your hearts, jyou double-minded. ⁹kBe wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰lHumble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹mDo not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or njudges 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. ¹²There is only oone lawgiver and pjudge, he who is able to save and qto destroy. But rwho are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³Come now, you who say, s“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For tyou are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead you ought to say, u“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance. vAll such boasting is evil. ¹⁷wSo whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

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Warning to the Rich

¹Come now, xyou rich, weep and howl for the ymiseries that are coming upon you. ²zYour riches have rotted and zyour garments are moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. aYou have laid up treasure bin the last days. ⁴Behold, cthe wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and dthe cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ethe Lord of hosts. ⁵fYou have lived on the earth in luxury and gin self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ha day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and imurdered jthe righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives kthe early and the late rains. ⁸You also, be patient. lEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord mis at hand. ⁹Do not grumble against one another, brothers, nso that you may not be judged; behold, othe Judge is standing pat the door. ¹⁰As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take qthe prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of rthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen sthe purpose of the Lord, how tthe Lord is compassionate and merciful.

¹²But above all, my brothers, udo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

The Prayer of Faith

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him vsing praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, wanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And xif he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore, yconfess your sins to one another and pray for one another, zthat you may be healed. aThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.2 ¹⁷Elijah was a man bwith a nature like ours, and che prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for dthree years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸eThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers, fif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone gbrings him back, ²⁰let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering hwill save his soul from death and iwill cover a multitude of sins.

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