
The General Epistle of James

   {1:1} James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the
twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. {1:2} Count it all
joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; {1:3} Knowing
that the proving of your faith worketh patience. {1:4} And let patience
have [its] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in
nothing. {1:5} But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God,
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
him. {1:6} But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that
doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
{1:7} For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord; {1:8} a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. {1:9} But let
the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: {1:10} and the
rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he
shall pass away. {1:11} For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind,
and 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 goings. {1:12} Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for
when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which
[the Lord] promised to them that love him. {1:13} Let no man say when
he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with
evil, and he himself tempteth no man: {1:14} but each man is tempted,
when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. {1:15} Then the
lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is
fullgrown, bringeth forth death. {1:16} Be not deceived, my beloved
brethren. {1:17} Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation,
neither shadow that is cast by turning. {1:18} Of his own will he
brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of
firstfruits of his creatures. {1:19} Ye know [this], my beloved
brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath: {1:20} for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
God. {1:21} Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of
wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to
save your souls. {1:22} But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deluding your own selves. {1:23} For if any one is a hearer of
the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural
face in a mirror: {1:24} for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. {1:25} But he that
looketh into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and [so]
continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh,
this man shall be blessed in his doing. {1:26} If any man thinketh
himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth
his heart, this man's religion is vain. {1:27} Pure religion and
undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from
the world.



   {2:1} My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the
Lord] of glory, with respect of persons. {2:2} For if there come into
your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come
in also a poor man in vile clothing; {2:3} and ye have regard to him
that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place;
and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my
footstool; {2:4} Do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, and
become judges with evil thoughts? {2:5} Hearken, my beloved brethren;
did not God choose them that are poor as to the world [to be] rich in
faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love
him? {2:6} But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress
you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? {2:7} Do not
they blaspheme the honorable name by which ye are called? {2:8} Howbeit
if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: {2:9} but if ye have respect of
persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
{2:10} For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one
[point], he is become guilty of all. {2:11} For he that said, Do not
commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou dost not commit
adultery, but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
{2:12} So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of
liberty. {2:13} For judgment [is] without mercy to him that hath showed
no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment. {2:14} What doth it profit,
my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that
faith save him? {2:15} If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of
daily food, {2:16} and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be ye
warmed and filled; and yet ye give them not the things needful to the
body; what doth it profit? {2:17} Even so faith, if it have not works,
is dead in itself. {2:18} Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I
have works: show me thy faith apart from [thy] works, and I by my works
will show thee [my] faith. {2:19} Thou believest that God is one; thou
doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder. {2:20} But wilt thou
know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? {2:21} Was not
Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his
son upon the altar? {2:22} Thou seest that faith wrought with his
works, and by works was faith made perfect; {2:23} and the scripture
was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was
reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of
God. {2:24} Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by
faith. {2:25} And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot
justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them
out another way? {2:26} For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,
even so faith apart from works is dead.



   {3:1} Be not many [of you] teachers, my brethren, knowing that we
shall receive heavier judgment. {3:2} For in many things we all
stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able
to bridle the whole body also. {3:3} Now if we put the horses' bridles
into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body
also. {3:4} Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are
driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder,
whither the impulse of the steersman willeth. {3:5} So the tongue also
is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is
kindled by how small a fire! {3:6} And the tongue is a fire: the world
of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole
body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by
hell. {3:7} For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and
things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind. {3:8} But
the tongue can no man tame; [it is] a restless evil, [it is] full of
deadly poison. {3:9} Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and
therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: {3:10}
out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren,
these things ought not so to be. {3:11} Doth the fountain send forth
from the same opening sweet [water] and bitter? {3:12} Can a fig tree,
my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt water
yield sweet. {3:13} Who is wise and understanding among you? let him
show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. {3:14} But if ye
have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not
against the truth. {3:15} This wisdom is not [a wisdom] that cometh
down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. {3:16} For where
jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.
{3:17} But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
variance, without hypocrisy. {3:18} And the fruit of righteousness is
sown in peace for them that make peace.





   {4:1} Whence [come] wars and whence [come] fightings among you?
[come they] not hence, [even] of your pleasures that war in your
members? {4:2} Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot
obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. {4:3} Ye
ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend [it] in
your pleasures. {4:4} Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend
of the world maketh himself an enemy of God. {4:5} Or think ye that the
scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in
us long unto envying? {4:6} But he giveth more grace. Wherefore [the
scripture] saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the
humble. {4:7} Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. {4:8} Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to
you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye
doubleminded. {4:9} Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your
laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. {4:10}
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you.
{4:11} Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh
against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law,
and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer
of the law, but a judge. {4:12} One [only] is the lawgiver and judge,
[even] he who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou that
judgest thy neighbor? {4:13} Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow
we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get
gain: {4:14} whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is
your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and
then vanisheth away. {4:15} For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will,
we shall both live, and do this or that. {4:16} But now ye glory in
your vauntings: all such glorying is evil. {4:17} To him therefore that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.





   {5:1} Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are
coming upon you. {5:2} Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are
moth-eaten. {5:3} Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust
shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire.
Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. {5:4} Behold, the hire
of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into
the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. {5:5} Ye have lived delicately on the
earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day
of slaughter. {5:6} Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous
[one]; he doth not resist you. {5:7} Be patient therefore, brethren,
until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the
precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive
the early and latter rain. {5:8} Be ye also patient; establish your
hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. {5:9} Murmur not,
brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge
standeth before the doors. {5:10} Take, brethren, for an example of
suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the
Lord. {5:11} Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard
of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the
Lord is full of pity, and merciful. {5:12} But above all things, my
brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by
any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye
fall not under judgment. {5:13} Is any among you suffering? Let him
pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. {5:14} Is any among you
sick? 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: {5:15} and the
prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise
him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. {5:16}
Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth
much in its working. {5:17} Elijah was a man of like passions with us,
and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on
the earth for three years and six months. {5:18} And he prayed again;
and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. {5:19}
My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him;
{5:20} let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of
his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of
sins.




