Bible: The New Testament: The General Letter of James

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

²Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various temptations; ³knowing that the proving of your faith works patience. ⁴But let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

⁵But if any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, and upbraids not, and it will be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord; ⁸a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the brother of low degree glory in that he is exalted; ¹⁰but the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rose with the burning heat, and withered the grass, and its flower fell off, and the grace of its fashion perished; so also will the rich man fade away in his ways.

¹²Happy is the man that endures temptation; because, when he is approved, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to those who love him.

¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God can not be tempted with evil, and himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each one is tempted, when by his own lust he is drawn away and enticed. ¹⁵Then lust, having conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, when completed, brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, with whom there is no variableness, or shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of his own will he begot us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; ²⁰for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.

²¹Wherefore, putting off all filthiness and excess of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴For he beheld himself, and has gone away; and immediately he forgot what manner of man he was. ²⁵But he who looked into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and remained thereby, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of work, this man shall be happy in his doing.

²⁶If any one thinks that he is religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

²⁷Religion, pure and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: To visit the orphans and widows in their affliction; to keep himself unspotted from the world.

II.

My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of glory, with respect of persons. ²For if there have come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in gay clothing, and there have come in also a poor man in mean clothing; ³and ye have respect to him that wears the gay clothing, and say: Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor man: Stand thou there, or, Sit under my footstool; ⁴were ye not partial in yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵Hearken, my beloved brethren. Did not God choose the poor as to this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶But ye dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and do not they drag you before the judgment-seats? ⁷Do not they blaspheme the worthy name by which ye are called?

⁸If indeed ye fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. ⁹But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹For he who said: Do not commit adultery, said also: Do not kill. Now if thou commit not adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For the judgment shall be without mercy, to him that showed no mercy. Mercy glories over judgment.

¹⁴What does it profit, my brethren, if any one say that he has faith, and have not works? Can the faith save him? ¹⁵But if a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you say to them: Depart in peace, be warmed, and be filled, but ye give them not the things needful for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷So also faith, if it has not works, is dead in itself. ¹⁸But some will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without the works, and I will show thee the faith by my works. ¹⁹Thou believest that God is one. Thou doest well; the demons also believe, and tremble. ²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? ²²Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made complete. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled which says: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness; and he was called, Friend of God.

²⁴Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. ²⁵And in like manner, was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she received the messengers, and sent them out by another way? ²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

III.

My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive greater condemnation. ²For in many things we all offend. If any one offends not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body.

³Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, we turn about also their whole body. ⁴Behold also the ships, though they are so great, and driven by fierce winds, are turned about by a very small helm, whithersoever the steersman may desire. ⁵So also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶And the tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity! The tongue among our members is that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of life, and is set on fire by hell. ⁷For every nature of beasts and birds, of reptiles and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed, by the nature of man. ⁸But the tongue no man can tame; a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹Therewith we bless the Lord and Father; and therewith we curse men, who have been made after the likeness of God. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. ¹¹Does the fountain, out of the same opening, send forth the sweet and the bitter? ¹²Can a fig-tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh.

¹³Who is wise and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show, out of his good deportment, his works in meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not glory, and lie against the truth. ¹⁵This wisdom is not one that comes down from above, but earthly, sensual, devilish. ¹⁶For where there is emulation and strife, there is confusion and every evil work. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, forbearing, easily persuaded, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, by those who work peace.

IV.

From whence are wars, and from whence are fightings among you? Are they not from hence, from your lusts that war in your members? ²Ye desire, and have not; ye kill, and envy, and can not obtain; ye fight and war. Ye have not, because ye ask not; ³ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

⁴Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore desires to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Do ye think that the Scripture says in vain, the spirit he made to dwell in us has jealous longings? ⁶But he gives the more grace. Wherefore he says:

God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.

⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. ⁹Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness. ¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak against one another, brethren. He that speaks against his brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. ¹²One is the lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest thy neighbor?

¹³Come now, ye that say: To-day and to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend one year there, and buy and sell, and get gain; ¹⁴(whereas ye know not what belongs to the morrow; for what is your life? for ye are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away;) ¹⁵instead of saying: If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that. ¹⁶But now ye glory in your boastings. All such glorying is evil. ¹⁷Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.

Come now, ye rich, weep, wailing for your miseries that are coming upon you. ²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are become moth-eaten. ³Your gold and silver is rusted; and the rust of them will be a witness against you, and will eat your flesh as fire. Ye heaped up treasure, in the last days.

⁴Behold, the hire of the laborers who reaped your fields, which is fraudulently kept back by you, cries out; and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ⁵Ye have been luxurious on the earth, and lived in pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter. ⁶Ye have condemned, ye have killed the just; he does not resist you.

⁷Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, till it shall have received the early and latter rain. ⁸Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord draws nigh. ⁹Murmur not against one another, brethren, that ye be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the door. ¹⁰Take, my brethren, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, for an example of affliction, and of patience. ¹¹Behold, we count those happy who endure. Ye heard of the patience of Job, and saw the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

¹²But above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under condemnation.

¹³Is any afflicted among you, let him pray. Is any cheerful, let him sing praise. ¹⁴Is any sick among you, 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. ¹⁵And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and even if he have committed sins, it will be forgiven him.

¹⁶Confess therefore your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man avails much. ¹⁷Elijah was a man of like nature with us; and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. ¹⁸And again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

¹⁹Brethren, if any one among you be led astray from the truth, and one convert him; ²⁰let him know, that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will hide a multitude of sins.