James 1-3

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.

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

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

⁴But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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:

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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;

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

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.

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.

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.

James 2

¹My brothers, if you have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, do not take a man's position into account.

²For if a man comes into your Synagogue in fair clothing and with a gold ring, and a poor man comes in with dirty clothing,

³And you do honour to the man in fair clothing and say, Come here and take this good place; and you say to the poor man, Take up your position there, or be seated at my feet;

⁴Is there not a division in your minds? have you not become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him?

⁶But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?

⁷Do they not say evil of the holy name which was given to you?

⁸But if you keep the greatest law of all, as it is given in the holy Writings, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself, you do well:

⁹But if you take a man's position into account, you do evil, and are judged as evil-doers by the law.

¹⁰For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all.

¹¹For he who said, Do not be untrue in married life, is the same who said, Put no man to death. Now if you are not untrue in married life, but you put a man to death, the law is broken.

¹²Let your words and your acts be those of men who are to be judged by the law which makes free.

¹³For the man who has had no mercy will be judged without mercy, but mercy takes pride in overcoming judging.

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers, for a man to say that he has faith, if he does nothing? will such a faith give him salvation?

¹⁵If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food,

¹⁶And one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warm and full of food; but you do not give them the things of which their bodies have need, what profit is there in this?

¹⁷Even so faith without works is dead.

¹⁸But a man may say, You have faith and I have works; let me see your faith without your works, and I will make my faith clear to you by my works.

¹⁹You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.

²⁰Do you not see, O foolish man, that faith without works is of no use?

²¹Was not the righteousness of Abraham our father judged by his works, when he made an offering of Isaac his son on the altar?

²²You see that his faith was helping his works and was made complete by them;

²³And the holy Writings were put into effect which said, And Abraham had faith in God and it was put to his account as righteousness; and he was named the friend of God.

²⁴You see that a man's righteousness is judged by his works and not by his faith only.

²⁵And in the same way, was not the righteousness of Rahab, the loose woman, judged by her works, when she took into her house those who were sent and let them go out by another way?

²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead even so faith without works is dead.

James 3

¹Do not all be teachers, my brothers, because we teachers will be judged more hardly than others.

²For we all go wrong in a number of things. If a man never makes a slip in his talk, then he is a complete man and able to keep all his body in control.

³Now if we put bits of iron into horses' mouths so that they may be guided by us, we have complete control of their bodies.

⁴And again ships, though they are so great and are moved by violent winds, are turned by a very small guiding-blade, at the impulse of the man who is using it.

⁵Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire!

⁶And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.

⁷For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority;

⁸But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.

⁹With it we give praise to our Lord and Father; and with it we put a curse on men who are made in God's image.

¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not right for these things to be so.

¹¹Does the fountain send from the same outlet sweet and bitter water?

¹²Is a fig-tree able to give us olives, my brothers, or do we get figs from a vine, or sweet water from the salt sea?

¹³Who has wisdom and good sense among you? let him make his works clear by a life of gentle wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true.

¹⁵This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One.

¹⁶For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing.

¹⁷But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace for those who make peace.