James, 1

1. From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion.

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

2. My brothers, consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you,

2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3. for you well know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and

3. Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4. perseverance must complete its work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in any way.

4. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

5. Any of you who lacks wisdom must ask God, who gives to all generously and without scolding; it will be given.

5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6. But the prayer must be made with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea by the buffeting of the wind.

6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7. That sort of person, in two minds,

7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8. inconsistent in every activity, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

8. A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.

9. It is right that the brother in humble circumstances should glory in being lifted up,

9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

10. and the rich in being brought low. For the rich will last no longer than the wild flower;

10. But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

11. the scorching sun comes up, and the grass withers, its flower falls, its beauty is lost. It is the same with the rich: in the middle of a busy life, the rich will wither.

11. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12. Blessed is anyone who perseveres when trials come. Such a person is of proven worth and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

12. Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13. Never, when you are being put to the test, say, 'God is tempting me'; God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test .

13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14. Everyone is put to the test by being attracted and seduced by that person's own wrong desire.

14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death.

15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16. Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers:

16. Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17. all that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow caused by change.

17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

18. By his own choice he gave birth to us by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all his creation.

18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

19. Remember this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to human anger;

19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20. God's saving justice is never served by human anger;

20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

21. so do away with all impurities and remnants of evil. Humbly welcome the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.

21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22. But you must do what the Word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.

22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23. Anyone who listens to the Word and takes no action is like someone who looks at his own features in a mirror and,

23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24. once he has seen what he looks like, goes off and immediately forgets it.

24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25. But anyone who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it -- not listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice -- will be blessed in every undertaking.

25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth [therein], he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26. Nobody who fails to keep a tight rein on the tongue can claim to be religious; this is mere self-deception; that person's religion is worthless.

26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion [is] vain.

27. Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows in their hardships, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.

27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.