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.
2 Count
it all joy,
my brothers,
when you fall into
various temptations,
3 knowing
that the testing
of your faith
produces endurance.
4 Let
endurance have its
perfect work, that
you may be
perfect and
complete, lacking
in nothing.
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.
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.
7 For
that man shouldn’t
think that he
will receive
anything from the
Lord.
8 He
is a double-minded
man, unstable in
all his ways.
9 Let
the brother in
humble circumstances
glory in his
high position;
10 and
the rich, in
that he is
made humble,
because like
the flower in the
grass, he will
pass away.
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
the rich man
will also fade
away in his
pursuits.
12 Blessed
is a person
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.
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.
14 But
each one is
tempted when he
is drawn away by
his own lust
and enticed.
15 Then
the lust, when
it has conceived,
bears sin. The sin, when
it is full grown, produces
death.
16 Don’t be
deceived, my beloved brothers.
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.
18 Of
his own will he
gave birth to us
by the word
of truth, that we
should be a
kind of
first fruits of
his creatures.
19 So,
then, my beloved brothers,
let every man
be swift to hear,
slow to speak,
and slow to
anger;
20 for
the anger of
man doesn’t produce the
righteousness of
God.
21 Therefore,
putting away all
filthiness and overflowing
of wickedness,
receive with
humility the
implanted word,
which is able
to save your
souls.
22 But
be doers of
the word, and
not only hearers, deluding
your own selves.
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;
24 for
he sees himself,
and goes away, and
immediately forgets
what kind of
man he was.
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.
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.
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.