James 1

1James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations.

3knowing that the trial of your faith produces endurance.

4But let endurance have its complete work, so that you may be mature and whole, lacking nothing.

5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all and does not reproach, and it will be given him.

6But let him ask in faith without doubting, for the doubter is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7For that man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

8A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9But let the humble brother glory in his exaltation.

10But the rich, in his low estate, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11For the sun arises with the scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes; so also the rich will fade away in his ways.

12Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because after becoming approved he will receive the crown of life, which he promised to those who love him.

13Let no one say while being tempted, "By God I am tempted," for God cannot be tempted by evil, but he himself tempts no one.

14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire and enticed.

15Then lust, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when finished, produces death.

16Do not be led astray, my beloved brothers.

17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or turning shadow.

18According to his will he gave us birth through the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

19You know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

20For man's anger does not produce God's righteousness.

21Therefore, having put off all filth and the overflow of evil, receive with meekness the implanted word, which can save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only who deceive yourselves.

23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

24for he considers himself and goes away, and immediately forgets what sort of man he was.

25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and remains there—not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of work—will be blessed in his doing.

26If anyone considers himself religious but does not bridle his tongue—instead deceiving his heart—this person's religion is vain.

27Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself spotless from the world.