| 1/1James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion,
Greeting. 1/2Consider it maximum joy, my
brothers, when you get involved in all sorts of trials, well aware that the
testing of your faith brings steadfastness. But let steadfastness have full
play, so that you may be completed and rounded out with no defects whatever.
1/5If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask God, who gives to everyone without reserve and without faultfinding, and
it will be granted him. But he should ask in faith with never a doubt; for
one who doubts resembles a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the
wind. Let not that man imagine he will receive anything from the Lord;
double-minded man he is, unsteady in all his ways.
1/9Let the lowly brother, however, be proud
of his high position, and the wealthy of his humble place, because he shall
fade out like a grass-blossom. The sun rises with its glowing heat and
withers the herb; its flower drops off and its lovely appearance is ruined.
So shall the wealthy waste away in his pursuits.
1/12Blessed is the man who stands up under
trial; for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life
that is promised to those who love Him. Let no one who is tempted say, “I
am tempted of God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, while He tempts no
one. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his
own lusts. Then, when the passion has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and
the sin, when it reaches maturity, produces death.
1/16Be not mislead, my dear brothers. Every
beneficent gift and every perfect present is from above; it descends from
the Father of lights, with whom no variation occurs nor shadow cast by
turning. Voluntarily He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we
might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
1/19Get this, my dear brothers: Let everyone
be quick to listen, slow to talk, slow to get angry; for man’s anger does
not promote God’s righteousness. So, get rid of everything vile and the
outgrowth of evil, and in a gentle heart have the word implanted that
contains the power to save your souls. But become doers of the word, and
not deluders of yourselves by merely listening; for whoever hears the
message without acting upon it, is similar to the man who observes his own
face in a mirror; he takes a look at himself and goes off, then promptly
forgets how he looks. But whoever looks seriously into the perfect law of
liberty and is faithful to it, who is not a forgetful listener but an active
worker, that person will be blest in his practice.
1/26Whoever supposes he is religious without
bridling his own tongue, but instead deluding his own heart, that person’s
religion is useless. Pure and unsoiled religion in agreement with God the
Father is this: To look after orphans and widows in their trouble and to
keep personally free from the smut of the world.
2/1My brothers, do not combine faith in Jesus
Christ our glorious Lord with partiality. For should there enter into your
meeting a gold-ringed man in splendid clothes, and there enters also a poor
man shabbily clad, and you pay attention to the one well dressed and say,
“Have a good seat here!” and to the poor one you say, “You stand there” or,
“Sit down on the floor by my feet,” are you not discriminating among your
own and become judges with evil deliberations?
2/5Listen, my dear brothers! Has not God
chosen the poor in the world to be wealthy in faith, and to be heirs of the
kingdom He has promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the
poor. Do not the rich domineer you and personally drag you into the
courts? Do they not slander the noble name by which you are distinguished?
If you really observe the royal law according to the Scripture, “You must
love your neighbor as yourself,” you behave beautifully. But if you show
partiality, then you are practicing sin;’ you stand convicted by the Law as
culprits.
2/10For whoever observes the whole Law, but
slips in one point, becomes guilty in every respect. For He who said, “Do
not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not kill.” So, in case you commit no
adultery, but you kill, you have become a breaker of the Law. Speak and act
in such a way as befits people who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
For the judgment is merciless to those who have practiced no mercy, whereas
mercy triumphs over judgment.
2/14What is the use, my brothers, for anyone
to say he has faith, if he fails to act on it? His faith cannot save him,
can it? If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks the day’s
nourishment, but one of you says to them, “Go away in peace; get warmed and
get fed,” without supplying them with their bodily needs, what is the use?
Exactly so the faith that issues in no works is in itself dead.
2/18Someone, however, may say, “You have
faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without its practices and I
will show you my faith through the practices. Do you believe there is one
God? Very well; the demons believe, too, and they shudder. But do you want
to know, O unproductive man, how faith without works is delinquent? Was not
our father Abraham made righteous due to his works when he offered up his
son Isaac on the altar? You see how his faith cooperated with his works and
how faith reached its supreme expression through his works. So the
Scripture came true that says, “Abraham believed in God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness and he was called God’s friend.”
2/24You see that a person is pronounced
righteous due to his works and not on account of faith alone. Similarly,
too, was not Rahab, the inn-keeper, accounted righteous due to her works,
when she entertained the messengers and sent them off by a different road?
For just as the body is dead without the spirit, so faith also is dead
without works.
3/1Not many of you should become teachers, my
brothers, for you know we are assuming the more accountability; because we
all make many a slip. Whoever makes no skip of the tongue is certainly a
perfect man, able as well to control his entire body. When we put the bits
into horses’ mouths to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
Notice the ships, too, big as they are and driven by violent winds, how they
are steered by a small rudder wherever the helmsman’s whim determines. Just
so the tongue is a small organ and can talk big.
3/5(b)Think how great a forest an ever so
small spark sets on fire. The tongue also is a fire, a world of
wickedness. Among the members of our body the tongue is situated where she
taints the whole body and sets on fire the whole machinery of existence,
while it is kindled by Gehenna.
3/7Every kind of animals, of birds, of
reptiles and of sea-creatures is tamed and has been tamed by human genius,
but no human being is able to take the tongue—this undisciplined mischief so
full of deadly poison. We praise the Lord and Father with it; we also curse
men with it who were made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth
blessing and cursing proceed.
3/10(b)This is not right, my brothers; it
must not be that way. The spring does not well up sweet and bitter water
from the same cleft, does it? Nor is it possible, is it, my brothers, for a
fig tree to bear olives, or for a vine to bear figs? Neither can salt
produce fresh water.
3/13Who among you is wise and understanding?
Let him show by his good behavior that his actions are carried on with
unobtrusive wisdom. But if you cherish bitter jealousy and rivalry in your
heart, do not pride yourselves in it and play false to the truth. Such
wisdom does not come down from above; instead it is earthly, animalistic,
demonic; for where jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and
everything base.
3/17But the wisdom from above is first of all
pure, then peaceable, courteous, congenial, full of mercy and good fruits,
impartial and unpretentious. And the harvest, which righteousness yields to
the peace-makers, comes from a sowing in peace.
4/1Where do conflicts and fightings among you
originate? Do they not spring from your passions that are at war in your
organs? You covet and you do not acquire; you murder and you quarrel and
you cannot get hold; you fight and you battle and you do not possess.
Because you do not pray. You ask and you do not receive, because you ask
wrongly; you want to spend it on your indulgences.
4/4Do you not realize, you apostates, that
the friendship of this world means enmity toward God? So, whoever
determines to be a friend of the world takes his stand as God’s enemy. Or
do you suppose the Scripture speaks to no purpose? The Spirit, which took
up His abode in us, yearns jealously over us. But He affords the more
grace, for it says, “God opposes the haughty, but He grants grace to the
humble-minded.”
4/7So, then, submit yourselves to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will
draw near you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
of divided interests. Feel your misery and grieve and cry. Let your
laughing be turned to sorrow and your enjoyment to dejection. Take a low
position before the Lord and He will set you high.
4/11Do not malign one another, brothers. One
who maligns or criticizes his brother, criticizes the Law but if you
criticize the Law you are not its practicer but its critic. There is one
Lawgiver and Judge—He who has power to save and to destroy. But who are you
to be judging your neighbor?
4/13Come on, you who say, “Today or tomorrow
we will go into this or that city and spend a year there to transact
business and to make money,” when you have no idea about tomorrow. What is
your life? A vapor you are, that appears for a little while and
disappears. Instead of your saying, “If the Lord wills and we live we shall
do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your presumptions; all of
which boasting is wicked. So, then, to the person who knows enough to do
right and fails to do it, to him it is sin.
5/1Come on, you wealthy, weep with loud
wailings about the miseries that are coming upon you. Your hoarded wealth
is ruined and your clothes have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver are
covered with rust and their rust will be evidence against you. As fire that
you have stored up against the last Days, it will consume your flesh.
5/4See, the pay of the workmen that mowed
your fields, which you have held out on them, is crying mightily, and the
outcries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You
have been living a soft life in the land; you have given yourselves up to
pleasures; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You
have condemned, you have murdered the upright without his resisting you.
5/7So, endure patiently, brothers, until the
Coming of the Lord. Note how the farmer awaits the precious produce of the
soil, keeping patient about it until it gets the early and the late rains.
So you keep waiting patiently; fortify your hearts, for the Coming of the
Lord is near.
5/9Do not complain against one another,
brothers, so you may not come under judgment. See, the Judge has stationed
Himself at the doors. Take, brothers, for your example of ill treatment
that was patiently endured, the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name, whom
we call blessed for their way of enduring. You have learned of Job’s
patience and have noticed what conclusion the Lord effected; because the
Lord is deeply sympathetic and merciful.
5/12Above all, my brothers, do not swear,
either by heaven or by the earth or any other oath; but let your yes be yes,
and your no, no; so you may incur no judgment.
5/13Is any of you suffering trouble? Let him
pray. Is anyone feeling cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone of you
ill? Let him call in the elders of the church and let them pray over him
and in the name of the Lord anoint him with olive-oil. The prayer of faith
will restore the sick one and the Lord will raise him up. And in case he
has committed sin, it will be removed from him.
5/16So, confess your sins to each other and
pray for one another, that you may be cured. The earnest prayer of a
righteous person has great force. Elijah was a man of similar weakness with
us and he prayed an earnest prayer that it should not rain; then there fell
no rain on the ground for three years and six months. Again he prayed
earnestly and heaven gave rain, and the soil yielded its produce.
5/19My brothers, in case one of you strays
from the truth and someone brings him back, let him be assured that he who
turns a sinner back from the wandering of his way does save his soul from
death and covers up a great number of sins. |
1/1James, a servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting.
1/2My brethren, count it
all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
1/5If 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. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that waivereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the
wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing
of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
1/9Let the brother of low
degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made
low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 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.
1/12Blessed 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. 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: but every man is tempted, when he
is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
1/16Do not err, my beloved
brethren. 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. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we
should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
1/19Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart
all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 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: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 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.
1/26If any man among you
seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own
heart, this man’s religion is vain. 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.
2/1My brethren, have not
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect
of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in
godly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye
have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit
thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit
here under my footstool: are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are
become judges of evil thoughts?
2/5Hearken, my beloved
brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and
heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye
have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before
the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye
are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to
persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
2/10For whosoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now
if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill thou are become a transgressor
of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law
of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath sheweth no
mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
2/14What doth it
profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can
faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily
food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and
filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to
the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works,
is dead, being alone.
2/18Yea, a man may say,
Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and
I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one
God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou
know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our
father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith
made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the
Friend of God.
2/24Ye see then how that
by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not
Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers,
and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
3/1My brethren, be not many
masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in
many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put
bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their
whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great,
and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very
small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is
a little member, and boasteth great things.
3/5(b)Behold, how great a
matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of
hell.
3/7For every kind of
beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed,
and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is
an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the
Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of
God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
3/10(b)My brethren, these
things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place
sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive
berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt
water and fresh.
3/13Who is a wise
man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthy,
sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is
confusion and every evil work.
3/17But the wisdom that is
from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that
make peace.
4/1From whence come wars
and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your
lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire
to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye
ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume
it upon your lusts.
4/4Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us
lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
4/7Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw night
to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning,
and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and he shall lift you up.
4/11Speak not evil one of
another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth
his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou
judge the law thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one
lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest
another?
4/13Go to now, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for
a little time, and then vanish away. For that ye ought to say, If
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in
your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
5/1Go to now, ye
rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and
silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and
shall eat your flesh as if were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for
the last days.
5/4Behold, the hire of the
laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the
ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and
been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye
have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist
you.
5/7Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he
receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your
hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
5/9Grudge not one against
another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before
the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of
the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold,
we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender
mercy.
5/12But above all things,
my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by
any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye
fall into condemnation.
5/13Is any among you
afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick
among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of
faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
5/16Confess your
faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man
subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might
not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and
six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
brought forth her fruit.
5/19Brethren, if any of you do err from the
truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the
sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins. |
