JAMES
James 1
1 James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Yahshua the Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:
greeting.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,
3 Knowing [this]: that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 Now let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God That giveth to all liberally
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed;
7 Therefore let not that person think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted;
10 But the rich, in that he is made
low, because as the flower of the grass 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 grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich one fade away in his ways.
12 Blessed [is] the one that endureth temptation, for when he is approved he
shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love
Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any person:
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed;
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from
the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, 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 Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every one be swift to hear, slow to
speak, [and] slow to wrath,
20 For the wrath of a man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive
with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls,
22 And be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own
selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what
kind [of man] he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth [therein],
being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of work, this one shall be blessed in
his deed.
26 If any one seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth
his own heart, this one's religion [is] vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before the God and Father is this: To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction [and] to keep himself unspotted from
the world.
1 My brethren, have not the faith
of our Lord Yahshua the 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 poor [man] in vile raiment,
3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay 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 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil
thoughts?
5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich
in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them that love Him?
6 But ye despise the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and draw you before
the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, "Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself", ye do well;
9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin and are convinced of the
law as transgressors.
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one [point], he is
guilty of all.
11 For He That said, "Do not commit adultery," 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 liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy; and
mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
14 What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though one say he hath faith and have
not works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled;
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body:
what [doth it] profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, anyone may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. [I say,] Shew me thy faith
without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also
believe and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain one, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made
perfect?
23 Therefore the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, "Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a person is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had
received the messengers and had sent [them] out another way?
26 For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the
greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we offend all. If any one offend not in word, the same
[is] a perfect man, 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 governor listeth.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how
great a matter a little fire kindleth;
6 And the tongue [is] a fire. [As] 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 tongue can no one tame: [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we people, which
are made after the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not so to be.
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet [water] and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, or a vine [bear] figs? So
[can] no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13 Who [is] wise and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of
good behaviour his works, with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie
not against the truth:
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but [is] earthly, sensual, devilish;
16 For where envying and strife [is], there [is] confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy;
18 Moreover, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
1 From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [Come they] not hence from your lusts 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 ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon
your lusts.
4 Ye adulterous people, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, "The spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy"?
6 But He giveth more grace, therefore He saith, "God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble."
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye]
sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning
and [your] joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his]
brother and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law 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 judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow 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 vapour, 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 boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth [it] not, to him it is
sin.
1 Go to now, [ye] rich ones, weep
and howl for your miseries that shall come upon [you].
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust 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 hire of the labourers who 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 lived in 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; 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 patient; stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh.
9 Grudge 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 as an
example of suffering affliction and of patience;
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye heard of the patience of Job
and saw the result of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender
mercy.
12 But 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, lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is 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,
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him
up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess [your] faults one to another and pray one for another, that ye may
be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three
years and six months.
18 Then 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 converteth the sinner from the error of his way
shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.