The General Epistle Of James
1
Greeting
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Testing of Your Faith
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith develops endurance. 4 But let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother rejoice in his exaltation, 10 but the rich man in his humiliation, because like a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For the sun arose with burning heat and withered the grass, and its flower fell off, and its beautiful appearance perished. So the rich man also shall fade away in his pursuits.
Loving God Under Trials
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; because when he is approved, he shall 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 by his own lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. 15 Then lust, when it conceives, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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 Exercising His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 So then, my beloved brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore laying aside all filthiness and abundance of evil, in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because 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 observed himself and has gone away, and immediately forgot what he looked like. 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 man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceiving his heart, the religion of this man is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.