The Letter of James

James 1

James to the 12 Tribes of Israel

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, be cheerful.

Faith Strengthened by Trials

2 My brothers and sisters, count it all joy when you fall into various testings and trials;

3 Knowing that the testing and proving of your faith produces cheerful endurance.

4 But let cheerful endurance have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let them ask God, who gives generously to everyone, and without criticism, and it will be given to them.

6 But let them ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

7 That person shouldn't even imagine that they will receive anything from the Lord:

8 Being a double-minded man, unstable in all their ways.

The Poor and the Rich

9 But let the lowly brother or sister boast in their elevation:

10 But the rich in their lowliness, because like a flower of the field they will pass away.

11 For as soon as the sun has risen with its burning heat, it withers the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. So too the rich will also fade away in their pursuits.

All Good Comes from God

12 Blessed and happy is the man who endures testing and temptation: for when they have been tested and proven, they will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no one say when they are tested, "God is testing me"; because God isn't tested or tempted by evil things, neither does he himself test or tempt anyone.

14 But each person is tempted and tested when they are drawn away and enticed by their own desires.

15 Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Don't be lead astray, my beloved brothers and sisters.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 By his own will he gave birth to us through the Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak

19 So then, my beloved brothers and sisters, let every person be quick to listen intently, slow to speak, slow to become angry:

20 For the anger of man doesn't produce or achieve the righteousness of God.

Be Doers, Not Hearers Only

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and excessive badness, and in humility receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But become doers of the Word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves .

23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, they're like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;

24 For having fully seen himself, he goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues in it, this one not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in whatever they do.

26 But if anyone among you thinks they are religious, and doesn't bridle their own tongue, they're deceiving their own heart; this one's religion is empty and pointless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to go and see orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unsoiled and unstained from the world. [Literally, pressure.]

James 2

Show No Favor in Human Status

1 My brothers and sisters, don't hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality or favoritism.

2 For if a man with gold rings in radiant clothing should come into your congregation, and a poor person in dirty clothes should also come in;

3 And you having looked upon the one wearing the radiant clothing, say to him, "You sit here in a good place," but tell the poor person, "You stand there," or, "Sit here by my footstool":

4 Haven't you made a seperation among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen intently, my beloved brothers and sisters: hasn't God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor. Don't the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

7 Don't they blaspheme the beautiful name by which you are called?

8 If you indeed fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You are to love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;

9 But if you favor an individual, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of it all.

11 Because he who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't commit murder." Now if you don't commit adultery, but you commit murder, you become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak, and so act, as those who will be judged by the law of freedom.

13 For judgment will be without compassion to the one who has shown no compassion. Showing compassion triumphs over judgment. [Literally, done.]

Living Faith Results in Works

14 My brothers and sisters, what does it profit, if someone says they have faith but do not have works? Can faith save them?

15 If a brother or sister is naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one among you tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," but you don't give them the things which are needful for the body, what does it profit?

17 So too faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, is dead.

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."

19 You believe that there is one God. You do well; but even the demons believe, and tremble.

20 But do you want to know, O empty person, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made complete?

23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "But Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness." And he was called, "God's friend."

24 You see then that a person is justified from works, and not from faith alone.

25 Likewise wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified from her works, when she received the messengers, and sent them out by another way?

26 For just as the body apart from the spirit, is dead; so also faith apart from works, is dead.

James 3

The Power of the Tongue

1 My brothers and sisters, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive a greater judgment.

2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, they're a blameless person, able also to bridle the whole body.

3 Behold, we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us, and we direct their whole body.

4 Behold, also ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are turned by a very small rudder, wherever the one who steers wants to go.

5 Even so the tongue is a little part of the body, yet it boasts great things. Behold, a little flame ignites a great forest!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness: so too the tongue is placed among our members, as that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by Gehenna.

7 For every species of animals, and of birds, both of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human species.

8 But the tongue of humans, no one can tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we praise God, even the Father; and with it we curse people, who were created according to God's likeness.

10 Out of the same mouth proceeds praising and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be so.

11 Does a spring gush forth sweet and bitter water from the same opening?

12 My brothers and sisters, a fig tree isn't able to produce olives, or a grapevine figs? So too no spring yields both salt water and sweet water.

Wisdom from Above and from the Earth

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show by good conduct that their works are done in the humility of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't come down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

16 For where smoldering jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield, full of compassion and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 But the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James 4

Pride Is the Source of Conflict

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasures which war in your members?

2 You desire, yet do not have. You murder and covet, yet cannot obtain. You fight and war. But you do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world, makes themself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says, for no reason, "The Spirit who dwells in us jealously yearns for us”?

6 But God gives greater gracious favor, for this reason he says, "God opposes the proud, but gives gracious favor to the humble."

Draw Near to God in Humility

7 Therefore submit yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Realize your own miserable state, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

11 Brothers and sisters, do not speak against one another. Whoever speaks against their brother or sister, and judges their brother or sister, 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.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and completely destroy: Who are you to judge another?

God Controls the Future

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city, and spend one year there, and buy and sell, and make a profit;"

14 You who do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It's a vapor which appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

15 Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is hurtful and evil.

17 Therefore, to one who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to them it is sin. [Literally, beautiful. Note: doing good, is beautiful to God.]

James 5

Misuse of Riches

1 Come now, you rich, weep, howling over your miseries which are coming upon you.

2 Your wealth has become rotten, and your clothing has become moth-eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a testamony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the final days.

4 Behold, the wages of the workers who harvested your fields, which  you have kept back by fraud, are crying out against you! And the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

5 You have lived on the earth in self-indulgence and self-gratification; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned, you murdered, the just; who were not opposing you.

Wait for the Lord in Patience.

7 Therefore brothers and sisters, be patient, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits patiently for the precious fruit of the earth, until it receives the early and latter rain. [Literally, be long-spirited.]

8 You also must be patient: establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws near.

9 Brothers and sisters, don't grumble against one another, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing before the doors.

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of suffering hardship and of patience, consider the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

11 Behold, we call those who endure, blessed and happy. You've heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end intended by the LORD; that the Lord is extremely compassionate and full of tender compassion.

12 But my brothers and sisters, above all else: do not swear an oath; neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor any other kind of oath. But let your "Yes," be "Yes!" and your "No," "No!" lest you fall into hypocrisy.

The Powerful Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among undergoing hardships? Let them pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let them sing psalms.

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call for the elders of the congregation, and let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord: [Literally, weak.]

15 And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and if they have committed sins, they will be forgiven. [Literally, exhausted.]

16 Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.

17 Elijah was human, with a nature like ours; yet with fervent prayer he prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

19 Brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders away from the truth, and someone brings them back;

20 Let them know, that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of their way, will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.