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.