JAMES
1 James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes – those in the Dispersion – greetings!
2 My brothers, consider it all joy whenever you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the scrutinizing of your faith produces endurance. 4 So let endurance complete its work so that you all may be mature and whole, lacking nothing. 5 But if any of you is lacking wisdom he needs to humbly ask for it from God, the one who gives to everyone genuinely and without rebuke, and it will be given to him. 6 Nonetheless he needs to ask in faith, not doubting, because the one who doubts is like the surf on the ocean being driven by the wind and blown around. 7 Indeed, that man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord 8 – a man with divided loyalties is unsettled in all of his ways. 9 Still, the lowly brother needs to boast in his loftiness, 10 but the rich in his lowliness, because he will pass away like a flower in the pasture. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and dries up the pasture such that its flower falls off and its beautiful appearance is ruined. In the same way the one rich in his means will fade away.
12 Blessed is a man who endures testing, because he will receive the crown of life promised to those who love him. 13 No one being tempted ought to say, “I am being tempted by God,” because God is not tempted by evils, and he himself tempts no one. 14 Instead, each one is tempted when by his own lust he is seduced and dragged away. 15 Then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, upon being fully matured, breeds death. 16 Don’t be led astray, my dearly loved brothers! 17 All good giving, and every perfected gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variation or ‘orbital shadow’. 18 He purposefully gave us birth through the word of truth so that we would be, in a sense, the first fruits of all he created.
19 Really get this, my dear brothers!
Yes, let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger… 20 for man’s anger doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore put aside all filthiness and overflowing wickedness – in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls – 22 instead be doers of the word and not just hearers. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this person is like a man who studies his natural face in a mirror. 24 You see, he studies himself then off he goes and immediately forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who investigates the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues there does not become a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts – this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious whilst not keeping a tight rein on his tongue but deluding his heart, his religion is empty. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their suffering, keeping oneself from the world, unstained.
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13 Come on now, those saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this particular city and spend a year there and we will trade and get richer,” 14 who don’t know what tomorrow brings. What is your life? It is a mist that appears briefly and then vanishes. 15 Instead you should be saying, “If the Lord wills then we will live and we will do this and that.” 16 As it is, though, you revel in your own arrogance. All of this type of boasting is destructive. 17 Therefore anyone who sees good to be done but doesn’t do it, that is sin for him.
5 Come on now, you fat-cats, and lament, wailing over the calamities coming upon you! 2 Your riches have rotted and your clothes have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have been made toxic, and this poison shall be a witness to you and will eat your flesh just like the fire you've stored up for the last days. 4 Listen! The wages of the workers who have reaped your land, which you have fraudulently kept back, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of Warriors! 5 You live in luxury on the land, and for pleasure. You fatten your hearts as in a day of butchery. 6 You condemn, you murder the righteous who don’t resist you.
7 Be patient, therefore brothers, until the Lord comes. Take note: the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the land, being patient that it may receive the early and late rains. 8 So you also must be patient. Fortify your hearts strongly because the coming of the Lord is close. 9 Don’t whinge about each other, brothers, so that you won’t be condemned. Look! The judge is standing right at the door! 10 Take as an example of suffering under trials, my brothers, and of patience through them, the prophets who speak the name of the Lord. 11 See! We consider those who endure blessed. You hear of the endurance of Job, and have understood the Lord’s conclusion of things, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12 Before all this, though my brothers, don’t swear – neither by heaven nor the earth nor any other oath. Instead let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ be ‘no’ so that you mightn’t fall into judgement.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him be praying! Is anyone happy? Let him be playing music! 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Then the vow of faith will restore the faltering one and the Lord will get him back on track, and for any sins he may have done he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your failings to each other and yearn for each other’s healing. The prayer of a righteous person works powerfully. 17 Elijah was a man with desires just like us and he prayed intensely that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t rain for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the land sprouted her fruit.
19 Brothers, if anyone among you is ever led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that the one who turns back a sinner out of his straying path will be rescuing a soul out of death and will be covering many sins.
2 My brothers, consider it all joy whenever you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the scrutinizing of your faith produces endurance. 4 So let endurance complete its work so that you all may be mature and whole, lacking nothing. 5 But if any of you is lacking wisdom he needs to humbly ask for it from God, the one who gives to everyone genuinely and without rebuke, and it will be given to him. 6 Nonetheless he needs to ask in faith, not doubting, because the one who doubts is like the surf on the ocean being driven by the wind and blown around. 7 Indeed, that man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord 8 – a man with divided loyalties is unsettled in all of his ways. 9 Still, the lowly brother needs to boast in his loftiness, 10 but the rich in his lowliness, because he will pass away like a flower in the pasture. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and dries up the pasture such that its flower falls off and its beautiful appearance is ruined. In the same way the one rich in his means will fade away.
12 Blessed is a man who endures testing, because he will receive the crown of life promised to those who love him. 13 No one being tempted ought to say, “I am being tempted by God,” because God is not tempted by evils, and he himself tempts no one. 14 Instead, each one is tempted when by his own lust he is seduced and dragged away. 15 Then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, upon being fully matured, breeds death. 16 Don’t be led astray, my dearly loved brothers! 17 All good giving, and every perfected gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variation or ‘orbital shadow’. 18 He purposefully gave us birth through the word of truth so that we would be, in a sense, the first fruits of all he created.
19 Really get this, my dear brothers!
Yes, let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger… 20 for man’s anger doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore put aside all filthiness and overflowing wickedness – in meekness receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls – 22 instead be doers of the word and not just hearers. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this person is like a man who studies his natural face in a mirror. 24 You see, he studies himself then off he goes and immediately forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who investigates the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues there does not become a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts – this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious whilst not keeping a tight rein on his tongue but deluding his heart, his religion is empty. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their suffering, keeping oneself from the world, unstained.
...
4
...
13 Come on now, those saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this particular city and spend a year there and we will trade and get richer,” 14 who don’t know what tomorrow brings. What is your life? It is a mist that appears briefly and then vanishes. 15 Instead you should be saying, “If the Lord wills then we will live and we will do this and that.” 16 As it is, though, you revel in your own arrogance. All of this type of boasting is destructive. 17 Therefore anyone who sees good to be done but doesn’t do it, that is sin for him.
5 Come on now, you fat-cats, and lament, wailing over the calamities coming upon you! 2 Your riches have rotted and your clothes have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have been made toxic, and this poison shall be a witness to you and will eat your flesh just like the fire you've stored up for the last days. 4 Listen! The wages of the workers who have reaped your land, which you have fraudulently kept back, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of Warriors! 5 You live in luxury on the land, and for pleasure. You fatten your hearts as in a day of butchery. 6 You condemn, you murder the righteous who don’t resist you.
7 Be patient, therefore brothers, until the Lord comes. Take note: the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the land, being patient that it may receive the early and late rains. 8 So you also must be patient. Fortify your hearts strongly because the coming of the Lord is close. 9 Don’t whinge about each other, brothers, so that you won’t be condemned. Look! The judge is standing right at the door! 10 Take as an example of suffering under trials, my brothers, and of patience through them, the prophets who speak the name of the Lord. 11 See! We consider those who endure blessed. You hear of the endurance of Job, and have understood the Lord’s conclusion of things, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12 Before all this, though my brothers, don’t swear – neither by heaven nor the earth nor any other oath. Instead let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ be ‘no’ so that you mightn’t fall into judgement.
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him be praying! Is anyone happy? Let him be playing music! 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Then the vow of faith will restore the faltering one and the Lord will get him back on track, and for any sins he may have done he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your failings to each other and yearn for each other’s healing. The prayer of a righteous person works powerfully. 17 Elijah was a man with desires just like us and he prayed intensely that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t rain for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the land sprouted her fruit.
19 Brothers, if anyone among you is ever led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that the one who turns back a sinner out of his straying path will be rescuing a soul out of death and will be covering many sins.