James
Book of James
James 1
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion, greeting.
2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into diversified temptations,
3 knowing that the proof of your faith works out patience.
4 But let patience have a perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting in nothing.
5 But if any one of you is wanting in wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all liberally and upbraids not, 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 by the wind and tossed.
7 Let that man surely not think that he shall receive anything from the Lord —
8 a man of two minds, unsteady in all his ways.
9 But let the brother that is of low degree glory in his exaltation,
10 and the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of grass shall he pass away.
11 For the sun rises with the, burning wind and withers the grass, and its flower falls away, and the beauty of its appearance perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.
12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, because having become approved he shall receive the crown of life, which he has promised to those that love him.
13 Let no one, when tempted, say: I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evils, and himself tempts no one.
14 But every one is tempted by his own desire, being drawn away and seduced:
15 then desire, having conceived, brings forth sin, and sin, having been perfected, brings forth death.
16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow cast by turning.
18 Having willed it, he begot us with the word of truth, in order that we should be a firstfruit of his creatures.
19 You know, my beloved brethren; but let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore, having put away all filthiness and overflowing of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word that is able to save your souls.
22 But become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he beholds himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he that looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues, he not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, shall be blessed in his doing.
26 If any one seems to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man‘s religion is vain.
27 Religion pure, and undefiled with God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, to keep himself unspotted from the world.
James 2
1 My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with respect of persons.
2 For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring on his finger, in splendid raiment, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,
3 and you look upon him that wears the splendid raiment, and say: Sit thou here honorably; and say to the poor man: Stand there, or sit under my footstool,
4 do you not then make distinctions among yourselves, and have you not become judges having evil thoughts?
5 Hear, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen the poor in the world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those that love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich act as lords over you, and do not they themselves drag you to the judgmentseats?
7 Do not they themselves blaspheme that honorable name that has been called upon you?
8 If, however, you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well:
9 but if you have respect for persons, you work sin, being convinced by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall have kept the whole law, but shall have offended in one, has become guilty of all.
11 For he that said: Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also: Thou shalt not kill: now, if thou commit no adultery, but if thou kill, thou hast become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those, that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For the judgment is merciless to him that has shown no mercy: mercy glories over judgment.
14 What is the profit, my brethren, if any one say that he has faith, but has not works? Can his faith save him?
15 But if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food,
16 and any one of you say to them: Depart in peace, be warmed and be filled, but give them not the things needful for the body, what is the profit?
17 So also faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
18 But some one will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without the works, and I will show thee my faith by the works.
19 Dost thou believe that God is one? thou doest well: the demons also believe and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is idle?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 Thou seest that faith worked with his works, and by the works the faith was made perfect;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says: And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 But in like manner also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them forth by a different way?
26 For as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James 3
1 Become not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall revive greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we all offend: if any one offends not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body.
3 But if we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we also turn about their whole body:
4 behold, also, the ships, though they are so great, and are driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned about by a very small rudder, to whatever point the will of the pilot may direct.
5 So also the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter how small a fire, the tongue, kindles.
6 A fire, the world of unrighteousness, the tongue is set among our members, which also defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell.
7 For every nature of wild beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and things in the sea is tamed, and has been tamed by human nature,
8 but the tongue no one of men is able to tame: a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made according to the likeness of God:
10 out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not so to be.
11 Does a fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?
12 Can a fig-tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine, figs? Neither can salt water produce sweet.
13 Who is wise and intelligent among you? Let him show out of a good behavior his works in meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal.
16 For where envy and strife are, there is tumult and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be persuaded, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.
18 But the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace.
James 4
1 Whence wars and whence fightings among you? Are they not hence, from your lusts that war in your members?
2 You desire, and have not; you murder and envy, and cannot obtain: you fight and war. You have not because you ask not:
3 you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you, adulterers and adulteresses, may spend it on your lusts.
4 Know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity to God? Whoever, then, intends to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Think you that the Scripture speaks to no purpose? Against envy the Spirit that has taken up its abode in us has jealous desires,
6 but gives greater grace. Wherefore it says: God sets himself against the proud, but gives grace to the lowly.
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. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
9 Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sadness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother, or judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law; but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 The lawgiver and the judge is one, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou, that judgest thy neighbor?
13 Come now you that say: Today and to-morrow we will go to such a city, and spend there one year, and trade‘ and make gain,
14 you that know not what will be to-morrow; for what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little while and then disappears:
15 instead of which you should say: If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that.
16 But now you glory in your boastings: all such glorying is evil.
17 To him, then, that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.
James 5
1 Come now you that are rich, weep, howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments have become motheaten;
3 your gold and silver is eaten with rust, and the rust of them will be a testimony to you, and will eat your flesh as fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers that have reaped your fields, which has remained unpaid by you, cries; and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton: you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You condemned, you killed the Just One: he does not resist you.
7 Be patient, therefore, brethren till the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it till he receive the early and latter rain:
8 be you also patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws near.
9 Complain not, brethren, one against another, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
10 Take, brethren, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering evil and of patience.
11 Behold, we call those happy that endure: you have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and no be no, that you fall not under condemnation.
13 Does any one among you suffer evil? Let him pray: is any one cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone 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.
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be restored to health: the prayer of a righteous man, being energetic, avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with passions like ourselves, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months;
18 and again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its fruit.
19 Brethren, if any one among you go astray from the truth, and one turn him back,
20 let him know that he that turns a sinner back from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death, and cover a multitude of sins.