1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. |
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, |
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. |
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. |
5 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, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. |
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; |
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. |
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, |
10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. |
11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. |
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord 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 by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. |
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. |
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it 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 gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. |
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. |
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; |
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. |
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow 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 anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; |
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. |
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. |
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. |
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. |