1 James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its complete work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 And if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But ask in faith, doubting nothing; for he who doubts is like the wave of the sea, which is carried by the wind and cast from one place to another.
7 Let no one therefore think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double-minded man is fickle in all his ways.
9 Let the brother who is of lowly condition glory in his exaltation;
10 but he who is rich, in his humiliation; for he will pass away like the flower of the grass.
11 For when the sun rises with scorching heat, the grass withers, its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes; so also the rich man will wither in all his undertakings.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
13 When anyone is tempted, let him not say that he is tempted by God; because God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each one is tempted when he is drawn and seduced by his own lust.
15 Then lust, after she has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, being consummated, gives birth to death.
16 My beloved brothers, do not err.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning.
18 He, of his will, caused us to be born through the word of truth, that we might be the firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Therefore, my beloved brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
20 because the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore, putting away all filth and abundance of malice, 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 but not a doer of it, he is like a man who considers his natural face in a mirror.
24 For he considers himself, and goes away, and then forgets what he was like.
25 But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, that of liberty, and perseveres in it, not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, he will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious among you and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is in vain.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: To visit orphans and widows in their tribulations, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
1 My brothers, may your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ be without partiality.
2 For if a man with a gold ring and splendid clothing enters your congregation, and a poor man with ragged clothing also enters,
3 and you look with favor on the one wearing the splendid clothing and say to him, Sit here in a good place; and you say to the poor man: Stand there, or sit here under my stool;
4 Do you not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 My beloved brothers, listen: Has not God chosen the poor of this world, that they may be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you, and aren’t they the same ones who drag you to court?
7 Do they not blaspheme the good name that was called upon you?
8 If you truly fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well;
9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law, but offends in one point, is guilty of all.
11 For he who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, hath also said, Thou shalt not kill. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but kill, you have already become a transgressor of the law.
12 Thus speak, and thus do, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment without mercy will be done to him who shows no mercy; and mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 My brothers, what good will it do if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him?
15 And if a brother or sister is naked, and needs daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things that are necessary for the body, do you? what does it benefit?
17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.
18 But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble.
20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 Do you not see that faith worked together with his works, and that faith was made perfect by works?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see, therefore, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
25 Likewise also Rahab the harlot, was she not justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them another way?
26 For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.
1 My brothers, do not many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive greater condemnation.
2 Because we all offend many times. If anyone does not offend in word, he is a perfect man, also capable of restraining the whole body.
3 Behold, we put bridles in the horses’ mouths so that they obey us, and thus direct their entire body.
4 Look also at the ships; Although so large, and carried by impetuous winds, they are governed with a very small rudder by wherever the one who governs them wants.
5 So the tongue is a small member, but it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest a small fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of evil. The tongue is placed between our members, and defiles the whole body, and inflames the wheel of creation, and itself is inflamed by hell.
7 For every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by human nature;
8 But no man can tame the tongue, which is an evil that cannot be restrained, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless God the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.
10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be like this.
11 Does any fountain pour out sweet and bitter water through the same opening?
12 My brothers, can the fig tree produce olives, or the vine figs? Likewise no source can give salty and fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by good conduct his works in wise meekness.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and contention in your heart, do not boast or lie against the truth;
15 because this wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, animal, diabolical.
16 For where there is jealousy and contention, there is disturbance and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, kind, kind, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to those who make peace.
1 Where do wars and disputes among you come from? Is it not your passions, which war in your members?
2 You covet, and have not; you kill and burn with envy, and you cannot achieve; You fight and fight, but you do not have what you want, because you do not ask.
3 You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your pleasures.
4 Oh adulterous souls! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity against God? Anyone, therefore, who wants to be a friend of the world, constitutes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain: The Spirit whom he has made to dwell in us jealously longs for us?
6 But he gives greater grace. This is why he says: God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God; Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Sinners, clean your hands; and you who are double-minded, purify your hearts.
9 Grieve, and lament, and weep. May your laughter turn to tears, and your joy to sadness.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Brethren, do not murmur against one another. He who murmurs against his brother and judges his brother, murmurs against the law and judges the law; But if you judge the law, you are not a maker of the law, but a judge.
12 There is only one giver of the law, who can save and lose; But you, who are you that you should judge another?
13 Let’s go now! those who say: Today and tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and we will be there a year, and we will trade, and we will earn;
14 when you do not know what will be tomorrow. Because what is your life? It is certainly a mist that appears for a little while, and then disappears.
15 Instead of which you should say: If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
16 But now you boast in your pride. All such boasting is bad;
17 And to him who knows how to do good, and does not do it, it is a sin.
1 Come on now, rich people! Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come.
2 Your riches are rotten, and your clothes are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are rusty; and its mold will testify against you, and will completely devour your flesh like fire. You have accumulated treasures for the last days.
4 Behold, the wages of the workers who have harvested your lands cry out, which through deceit has not been paid to them by you; and the cries of those who had reaped have entered the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been dissolute; you have made your hearts fat as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and killed the righteous, and he does not resist you.
7 Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently until he receives the early and late rain.
8 Be patient, too, and establish your hearts; because the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Brethren, do not complain against each other, lest you be condemned; behold, the judge stands before the door.
10 My brothers, take as an example of affliction and patience the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 Behold, we count those who suffer blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very merciful and compassionate.
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no be no, so that you do not fall into condemnation.
13 Is anyone among you afflicted? Pray. Is anyone happy? Sing praises.
14 Is anyone sick among you? Call the elders of the church, and pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective prayer of the righteous can do much.
17 Elijah was a man subject to passions similar to ours, and he prayed fervently that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
18 And again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among you has strayed from the truth, and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever brings the sinner back from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
