James

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,—Unto the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion Wishes joy.

2 All joy account it, my brethren, whensoever ye fall in with manifold temptations,—

3 Taking note that the proving of your faith worketh out endurance;

4 But let your endurance have mature work, That ye may be mature and complete In nothing coming short.

5 But if any of you is coming short of wisdom Let him be asking of God Who giveth unto all freely and upbraideth not, And it shall be given him;

6 But let him be asking in faith, nothing doubting, For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea wind-driven and storm-tossed,—

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord—

8 A two-souled man unstable in all his ways.

9 But boasting be the lowly brother in his uplifting;

10 Whereas the rich in his being brought low,—Because as a flower of grass he will pass away;

11 For the sun hath sprung up with it scorching heat, And hath withered the grass And the flower thereof hath fallen out And the beauty of the face thereof hath perished,—So also the rich in his goings shall languish.

12 Happy the man who endureth temptation! Because becoming approved he shall receive the crown of life—Which he hath promised unto them that love him.

13 Let no one while tempted be saying—From God am I tempted,—For God cannot be tempted by things evil, And himself tempteth no one;

14 But each one is tempted when by his own coveting he is drawn out and enticed,

15 Then the coveting having conceived giveth birth to sin, And the sin when full-grown bringeth forth death.

16 Be not deceived, my brethren beloved:—

17 Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above Coming down from the Father of lights—With whom is no alternation Nor shadow cast by turning:

18 Because he was so minded he hath brought us forth with a word of truth, To the end we should be a sort of firstfruit of his creatures.

19 Ye know, my brethren beloved,—But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For man’s anger worketh not God’s righteousness.

21 Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflow of baseness In meekness welcome ye the word fitted for inward growth which is able to save your souls:

22 Become ye doers of the word and not hearers only—Reasoning yourselves astray;

23 Because if any is a word-hearer and not a doer The same is like unto a man observing his natural face in a mirror,—

24 For he observed himself and is gone away, and straightway it hath escaped him,—What manner of man he was!

25 But he that hath obtained a nearer view into the perfect law of liberty And hath taken up his abode by it, Becoming—not a forgetful hearer but a work doer The same happy in his doing shall be.

26 If any thinketh he is observant of religion, Not curbing his own tongue But deceiving his own heart This one’s religious observance is vain:

27 Religious observance pure and undefiled with our God and Father is this—To be visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, Unspotted to keep himself from the world.