CHAPTER 1
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God—Resist temptation—Be ye doers of the word—How to recognize pure religion.
1 JAMES, a aservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are bscattered abroad, greeting.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into adivers• btemptations;
3 Knowing this, that the atrying• of your faith worketh bpatience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be aperfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 aIf• any of you lack bwisdom, let him ask of God, that cgiveth to all men liberally, and dupbraideth• not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him aask in bfaith, nothing cwavering•. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A adouble• minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of alow• degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the agrass• he shall pass away.
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the agrace• of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the brich• man fade away in his ways.
12 aBlessed• is the man that bendureth• temptation: for when he is ctried, he shall receive the dcrown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be atempted with bevil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is atempted, when he is drawn away of his own blust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth asin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17 Every agood• bgift• and every perfect cgift• is from above, and dcometh• down from the Father of elights•, with whom is no fvariableness, neither shadow of turning.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to aspeak•, bslow to cwrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all afilthiness and bsuperfluity• of naughtiness, and receive with cmeekness the dengrafted• word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye adoers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a ahearer• of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a bglass•:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect alaw of bliberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his atongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is bvain•.
27 Pure areligion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To bvisit• the cfatherless• and dwidows in their eaffliction, and to keep himself funspotted• from gthe• hworld.
CHAPTER 2
God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith—Salvation gained by keeping the whole law—Faith without works is dead.
1 MY brethren, ahave• not the faith of our bLord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a apoor man in bvile• raiment;
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the agay• clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
4 aAre• ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the apoor• of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men aoppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy aname by the which ye are called?
8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt alove thy bneighbour as thyself, ye do well:
9 But if ye have arespect• to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the awhole• law, and yet boffend• in one point, he is cguilty of all.
11 For he that said, Do not commit aadultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of aliberty.
13 For he shall have ajudgment• without bmercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 aWhat• doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath bfaith•, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or asister be naked, and destitute of daily bfood,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye agive• them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so afaith•, if it hath not bworks, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my afaith by my bworks•.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the adevils• also bbelieve•, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that afaith without bworks• is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father ajustified• by works, when he had boffered• Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by aworks was faith made bperfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham abelieved• God, and it was imputed unto him for brighteousness: and he was called the cFriend• of God.
24 Ye see then how that by aworks• a man is bjustified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not aRahab• the harlot bjustified• by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the aspirit is bdead, so faith without cworks is dead also.
CHAPTER 3
By governing the tongue we gain perfection—Heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, and full of mercy.
1 MY brethren, abe• not many bmasters•, knowing that we shall creceive• the greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we aoffend• all. If any man boffend not in cword•, the same is a dperfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the agovernor• listeth.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and aboasteth great things. Behold, how great a bmatter• a little fire kindleth!
6 And the atongue• is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8 But the atongue can no man tame; it is an bunruly• evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith acurse we men, which are made after the bsimilitude of God.
10 Out of the same amouth• proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11 Doth a afountain• send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good aconversation• his works with bmeekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and astrife in your hearts, bglory• not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where aenvying and bstrife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the awisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and beasy• to be intreated, full of cmercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without dhypocrisy•.
18 And the fruit of arighteousness is sown in bpeace of them that make cpeace.
CHAPTER 4
Wars are born of lusts—The friends of the world are the enemies of God—Sin is failure to walk in the light we have received.
1 FROM whence come awars and bfightings among you? come they not hence, even of your clusts• that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye aask, and receive not, because ye bask• camiss•, that ye may dconsume• it upon your elusts.
4 Ye aadulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the bworld is cenmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the denemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to aenvy?
6 But he giveth more agrace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the bproud, but giveth grace unto the chumble.
7 aSubmit yourselves therefore to God. bResist the cdevil, and he will flee from you.
8 aDraw bnigh• to God, and he will draw nigh to you. cCleanse your hands, ye sinners; and dpurify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 aBe• afflicted, and mourn, and bweep•: let your laughter be turned to cmourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 aHumble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 aSpeak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the blaw, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that ajudgest• another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to amorrow• we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a avapour•, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your aboastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that aknoweth• to do good, and bdoeth it not, to him it is csin.
CHAPTER 5
Misery awaits the wanton rich—Await the Lord’s coming with patience—The elders are to anoint and heal the sick.
1 GO to now, ye rich men, aweep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your ariches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your agold• and silver is bcankered•; and the crust• of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the ahire of the blabourers• who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived ain• pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also apatient; bstablish• your hearts: for the ccoming• of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 aGrudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an aexample of bsuffering• affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them ahappy which bendure. Ye have heard of the patience of cJob•, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very dpitiful, and of tender emercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, aswear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other boath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you aafflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any asick among you? let him call for the belders of the church; and let them cpray over him, danointing• him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the aprayer• of bfaith• shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be cforgiven• him.
16 aConfess your faults one to another, and bpray one for another, that ye may be healed. cThe• effectual dfervent• eprayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like apassions• as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it brained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which aconverteth• the sinner from the error of his way shall bsave• a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.