(James 1:1) [Epistle of JACOB] — Jacob, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
(James 1:2) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
(James 1:3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
(James 1:4) But let patience have its perfecting work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
(James 1:5) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
(James 1:6) But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
(James 1:7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
(James 1:8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
(James 1:9) Let the lowly brother rejoice in his exaltation,
(James 1:10) but the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of the field he will pass away.
(James 1:11) For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. Thus the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
(James 1:12) Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
(James 1:13) Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
(James 1:14) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed.
(James 1:15) Then, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
(James 1:16) Do not be led astray, my beloved brethren.
(James 1:17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no change or shadow of turning.
(James 1:18) Of His own purpose He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
(James 1:19) So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
(James 1:20) for the wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.
(James 1:21) Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which has the power to save your souls.
(James 1:22) But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(James 1:23) For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
(James 1:24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets of what sort he was.
(James 1:25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in his deeds.
(James 1:26) If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but beguiles his own heart, this one’s religion is vain.
(James 1:27) Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
(James 2:1) My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
(James 2:2) For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
(James 2:3) and you have regard for the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor man, You stand there, or, Sit here at my footstool,
(James 2:4) have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
(James 2:5) Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
(James 2:6) But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you to the judgment seats?
(James 2:7) Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
(James 2:8) But if you fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well;
(James 2:9) but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the Law as transgressors.
(James 2:10) For whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
(James 2:11) For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law.
(James 2:12) So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
(James 2:13) For judgment will be without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Indeed, mercy rejoices over judgment.
(James 2:14) What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Is faith able to save him?
(James 2:15) If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
(James 2:16) and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
(James 2:17) Thus also faith, if it does not have works, being alone, is dead.
(James 2:18) 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 from my works.
(James 2:19) You believe that God is One. You do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder.
(James 2:20) But are you willing to understand, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
(James 2:21) Was not Abraham our father justified from works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
(James 2:22) Do you see how faith was working together with his works, and from works faith was made complete?
(James 2:23) And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called, Friend of God.
(James 2:24) You see then that a man is justified from works, and not by faith only.
(James 2:25) Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified from works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
(James 2:26) For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead also.
(James 3:1) My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
(James 3:2) For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a flawless man, able also to bridle the whole body.
(James 3:3) Behold, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
(James 3:4) Behold also the ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the helmsman desires.
(James 3:5) Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. Behold, how large a forest a little fire kindles.
(James 3:6) And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. Thus the tongue is set among our members, defiling the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by Gehenna.
(James 3:7) For every kind of beast and bird, and of creeping thing and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
(James 3:8) But no man is able to tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.
(James 3:9) With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the image of God.
(James 3:10) Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, it is not fitting that these things be this way.
(James 3:11) Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
(James 3:12) Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
(James 3:13) Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works out of good conduct, in the meekness of wisdom.
(James 3:14) But if you have bitter envy and contention in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
(James 3:15) This wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
(James 3:16) For where envy and contention exist, there is confusion and every evil deed.
(James 3:17) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, fair, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
(James 3:18) Moreover the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
(James 4:1) Where do wars and fightings come from among you? Do they not come from your lusts that war in your members?
(James 4:2) You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
(James 4:3) You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your lusts.
(James 4:4) Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore purposes to be a friend of the world is shown to be opposing God.
(James 4:5) Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The Spirit who dwells in us yearns to envy?
(James 4:6) But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
(James 4:7) Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
(James 4:8) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
(James 4:9) Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to shame.
(James 4:10) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
(James 4:11) Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge.
(James 4:12) There is one Lawgiver, who has the power to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
(James 4:13) Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit;
(James 4:14) whereas you do not know what will be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
(James 4:15) Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.
(James 4:16) But now you boast in your presumptions. All such boasting is evil.
(James 4:17) Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
(James 5:1) Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your calamities that are coming upon you.
(James 5:2) Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
(James 5:3) Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
(James 5:4) Indeed the wages of the laborers who reaped your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
(James 5:5) You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
(James 5:6) You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
(James 5:7) Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
(James 5:8) You also be patient. Make your hearts firm, for the coming of the Lord draws near.
(James 5:9) Do not grumble against one another, brethren, that you not be condemned. Behold, the Judge stands at the door.
(James 5:10) My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering affliction and endurance.
(James 5:11) Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the endurance of Job and seen the outcome brought about by the Lord; that the Lord is very kind and merciful.
(James 5:12) But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your Yes, be Yes, and your No, No, so that you do not fall under condemnation.
(James 5:13) Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
(James 5:14) 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.
(James 5:15) And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he may have committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
(James 5:16) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is mighty.
(James 5:17) Elijah was a man with feelings like ours, and he prayed to God that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
(James 5:18) And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth sprouted its fruit.
(James 5:19) Brethren, if anyone among you goes astray from the truth, and someone turns him back,
(James 5:20) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and conceal a multitude of sins.
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