James (The General Epistle of )

James, a slave of God and of [the] Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, greeting:

My brothers count [it] all joy when you fall into various trials,

knowing that the proving of your faith works patience.

But let patience have its perfective work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, [who] gives to all freely and with no reproach, and it will be given to Him.

But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For the [one] who doubts is like a wave of [the] sea, being driven by wind and being tossed;

for do not let that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

[he is] a double-souled man, not dependable in all his ways.

But let [the] lowly brother rejoice in his lifting up;

and the rich one [rejoice] in his humiliation, because he will pass away like the flower of the grass.

For the sun rose with the hot wind and dried up the grass, and its flower fell out, and the beauty of its appearance perished; so also the rich one will fade away in his ways.

Blessed [is] the man who endures temptation, because having been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to the ones loving Him.

Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one.

But each one is tempted by his own lusts, having been drawn out and having been seduced [by them].

Then being conceived, lust brings forth sin. And sin being fully formed brings forth death.

Do not go astray, my beloved brothers,

Having purposed, He brought us forth by [the] word of truth, for us to be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.

So that, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

For [the] wrath of man does not work out [the] righteousness of God.

On account of this, having put aside all filthiness and overflowing of evil, in meekness receive the implanted Word being able to save your souls.

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

Because if anyone [is] a hearer of [the] Word, and not a doer, this one is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror;

for he studied himself, and has gone away, and immediately [he] forgot of what kind he was.

But the [one] looking into the perfect law of liberty, and continuing [in it], this one not having become a forgetful hearer, but a doer of [the] work, this one will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks to be religious among you, [yet] not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this one's religion [is] vain.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and [the] Father [is] this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.