1:1 | From James,* a slave* of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad.* Greetings! |
1:2 | My brothers and sisters,* consider it nothing but joy* when you fall into all sorts of trials, |
1:3 | because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. |
1:4 | And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. |
1:5 | But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. |
1:6 | But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. |
1:7 | For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, |
1:8 | since he is a double-minded individual,* unstable in all his ways. |
1:9 | Now the believer* of humble means* should take pride* in his high position.* |
1:10 | But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.* |
1:11 | For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever.* So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. |
1:12 | Happy is the one* who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God* promised to those who love him. |
1:13 | Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil,* and he himself tempts no one. |
1:14 | But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. |
1:15 | Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. |
1:16 | Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.* |
1:17 | All generous giving and every perfect gift* is from above, coming down* from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.* |
1:18 | By his sovereign plan he gave us birth* through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. |
1:19 | Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters!* Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. |
1:20 | For human* anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.* |
1:21 | So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly* welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. |
1:22 | But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. |
1:23 | For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone* who gazes at his own face* in a mirror. |
1:24 | For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets* what sort of person he was. |
1:25 | But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there,* and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he* will be blessed in what he does.* |
1:26 | If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. |
1:27 | Pure and undefiled religion before* God the Father* is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world. |