James 1

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends words of love to the twelve tribes of the Jews living in all parts of the earth.

1James, the servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

2Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort;

2My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations:

3Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope;

3Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience

4But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.

4And patience hath a perfect work: that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.

5But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.

5But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men abundantly and upbraideth not. And it shall be given him.

6Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind.

6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind.

7Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;

7Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8For there is a division in his mind, and he is uncertain in all his ways.

8A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways.

9But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up;

9But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation:

10But the man of wealth, that he is made low; because like the flower of the grass he will come to his end.

10And the rich, in his being low: because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.

11For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.

11For the sun rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12There is a blessing on the man who undergoes testing; because, if he has God's approval, he will be given the crown of life, which the Lord has said he will give to those who have love for him.

12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for, when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him.

13Let no man say when he is tested, I am tested by God; for it is not possible for God to be tested by evil, and he himself puts no man to such a test:

13Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils: and he tempteth no man.

14But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire.

14But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured.

15Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.

15Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.

16Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers.

16Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren.

17Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.

17Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration.

18Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made.

18For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature.

19You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;

19You know, my dearest brethren. And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak and slow to anger.

20For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

20For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God.

21For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.

21Wherefore, casting away all uncleanness and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.

22But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass;

23For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.

24For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like.

24For he beheld himself and went his way and presently forgot what manner of man he was.

25But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts.

25But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work: this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.

26And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

27The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.

27Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.