James 1
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James 1
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| James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. | James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends words of love to the twelve tribes of the Jews living in all parts of the earth. |
| Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; | Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort; |
| Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. | Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope; |
| And let patience have [its] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. | But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing. |
| But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. | But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him. |
| But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. | Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind. |
| For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; | Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord; |
| a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. | For there is a division in his mind, and he is uncertain in all his ways. |
| But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: | But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up; |
| and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. | But the man of wealth, that he is made low; because like the flower of the grass he will come to his end. |
| For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass: and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings. | For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways. |
| Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] promised to them that love him. | There is a blessing on the man who undergoes testing; because, if he has God's approval, he will be given the crown of life, which the Lord has said he will give to those who have love for him. |
| Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: | Let no man say when he is tested, I am tested by God; for it is not possible for God to be tested by evil, and he himself puts no man to such a test: |
| but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. | But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire. |
| Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death. | Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death. |
| Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. | Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers. |
| Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. | Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning. |
| Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. | Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made. |
| Ye know [this], my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: | You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry; |
| for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. | For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man. |
| Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. | For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation. |
| But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. | But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. |
| For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: | Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass; |
| for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. | For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like. |
| But he that looketh into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and [so] continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing. | But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts. |
| If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain. | If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value. |
| Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world. | The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world. |
