Translation:James

For other English-language translations of this work, see James (Bible).

Chapter 1

¹ James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve scattered tribes, greetings.

Overcoming temptation

² Consider it joy, brothers, when you face various temptations, ³ knowing that tests of faith create endurance. ⁴ Overcome and do good works so that you may be mature, whole and lacking in nothing.

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom ask for it from God who gives freely without criticism and he will give it to you. ⁶ He should ask in faith without wavering for doubters are like the waves of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷ No one should presume that he'll receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ [He's] a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

⁹ The poor brother should rejoice in his [position] being raised up ¹⁰ because the rich will be brought down like wildflowers which pass away. ¹¹ The heat of the sun burns the wildflowers, they dry up and their beauty perishes just as the rich man's life withers away.

¹² Happy is the man who overcomes temptation because he will be rewarded the crown of life, which the Lord promised those who love him. ¹³ No one facing temptation should say, "God is tempting me," for God is not tempted by evil nor does he tempt others. ¹⁴ Everyone is tempted by the lure and trap of their own desires. ¹⁵ Our desires conceive and give birth to sin which grows and gives birth to death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift comes from above -- from the Father of light who is without change or shadows of turning. ¹⁸ He birthed us with the true word, according to his will, as the first-born of his creatures.

Don't just listen: do the word

¹⁹ Dear brothers, understand this: be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. ²⁰ God's righteousness does not work through human anger.

²¹ So put aside all filthiness and wickedness and, in humility, allow the word which can save your souls to be grafted within you.

²² Become doers of the word and not just hearers who deceive themselves. ²³ Those who hear the word without doing it are like a person who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and walks away, immediately forgetting what he looked like. ²⁵ Those who examine the perfect law of freedom and continue to do it will be happy in their deeds, unlike those who just listen and forget.

²⁶ If any of you thinks they are devout but do not control their tongue, they have a deceitful heart and their religion is just vanity. ²⁷ This is the pure and undefiled religion from God the father: take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and keep oneself unsullied by the world.

Chapter 2

Don't show favoritism

¹ My brothers, faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ is not prejudiced. ² Suppose a well-dressed man wearing fine jewelry comes to your gathering and then a shabbily-dressed man comes. ³ If you look on the one wearing beautiful clothes and say, "Take the honored seat," but to the poor man you say, "Stand over there or sit on the floor." ⁴ are you not making distinctions based on evil judgments?

⁵ Listen my dear brothers, did not God choose the world's poor to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom which God promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you dishonor the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into court ⁷ and don't they besmirch your good name?

⁸ You will do well to fulfill the supreme law, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ⁹ You sin when you show partiality, convicted by the law as transgressors.

The law of liberty

¹⁰ Even if someone keeps the whole law but fails on one point, they are guilty of it all. ¹¹ If someone says, "You may not commit adultery" or "You may not murder;" and if you don't commit adultery but you do commit murder, you are still a law breaker, ¹² so speak and act as one judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ The judgment will be merciless to those who don't show kindness. Kindness triumphs over judgment.

Not just faith, also works

¹⁴ What the use, brothers, if you claim to have faith but you don't do good works? Can that kind of faith save you? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is destitute, lacking clothes or food, ¹⁶ and you just say to them, "Go in peace, be warm and filled," but you don't meet their physical needs, what good is that?

¹⁷ Faith apart from works is dead. ¹⁸ Some might say, "You have faith but I have works." Show me your faith without works and with my works I'll show you my faith. ¹⁹ You do well by believing in the one true God but even the demons believe and tremble.

²⁰ Do you want to know, shallow man, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Our father Abraham was declared righteous by his works, having offered Isaac on the altar. ²² So, you see, faith was active in his works and, through works, his faith was made complete. ²³ The scriptures were fulfilled, "Abraham believed God and was credited as righteous" and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴ Understand that a man is declared righteous through works, not just faith.

²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute declared righteous because of her works, having hosted the messengers and then ushering them out another way? ²⁶ Just as the body is dead without the spirit so also faith is dead without works.

Chapter 3

The power of words

¹ Not many should be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we receive stricter judgment. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is non-offensive in their speech is perfect because they are able to bridle their whole body. ³ When we put a bit in a horse's mouth to make it obey, we guide its whole body. ⁴ Great ships are driven by strong winds but are steered by a very small rudder wherever the helmsman desires.

⁵ Likewise, the tongue, being a small part of the body, boasts of big things. Behold what a great forest a small fire can set ablaze. ⁶ The tongue is like a fire in a world of evil. It sits within us, defiling our whole body, setting ablaze our destiny with the fires of hell. ⁷ Every species has been tamed by the human species: beast and birds; creeping things and things in the sea. ⁸ But no one can tame the tongue--it is an uncontrollable venomous evil.

⁹ We can bless our God and Father with it or we can curse those made in the image of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth comes blessings and curses. But it need not be this way, my brothers. ¹¹ Does both sweet and bitter water come from the same well? ¹² Can a fig tree produce olives? Do figs come from a vine? Can salt make water sweet?

Good behavior and peacemaking

¹³ Is anyone among you wise and intelligent? Let him show it through good behavior, doing humble and wise works. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealously and selfish ambition in your heart, don't be boastful or untruthful. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom from above but instead is earthly, primal and demonic. ¹⁶ Where there is jealously and rivalry there is anarchy and every kind of evil.

¹⁷ Above all, heavenly wisdom is pure but also peace-loving, gentle, cooperative, full of kindness and good fruit, pure hearted and un-hypocritical. ¹⁸ Peacemakers harvest the fruit of righteousness in peace.

Chapter 4

¹ Where does your fighting and conflict come from? Doesn't it come from the lusts that war within you? ² You crave but have not; you kill and desire but don't acquire; you murder and you covet but obtain, all because you don't ask. ³ When you do ask, you don't receive because you ask wrongly -- so that you might spend it on your own pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Whoever chooses to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God.

⁵ Do you think that for no reason the scriptures say, "God jealously desires the spirit that lives within us." ⁶ But he gives a greater grace. Therefore it says: God sets himself against the arrogant but gives grace to the humble." ⁷ Submit to God, stand against the devil and he will flee from you.

Become close with God

⁸ Become close with God with God will become close with you. Cleanse your hands, sinners! Purify your hearts, double-minded! ⁹ Lament, grieve and weep. Let your laughter turn to mourning, changing from joy to dismay. ¹⁰ Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Don't speak evil about each other, brothers, for he who speaks evil or judges another, speaks against and judges the law. If you judge the law, you aren't a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only one law giver who is able to save and to destroy. So who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³ Come now, you who say, "Today and tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a city, and we'll stay there a year doing business and making profit." ¹⁴ You do not even know about tomorrow, let alone the rest of your life. You are a mist that appears for a moment and then vanishes. ¹⁵ You should say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." ¹⁶ Instead, you revel in your arrogance but such bragging is evil.

¹⁷ Anyone who knows to do good, but is fails to do it, this is sin for him.

Chapter 5

The folly of wealth

¹ Come now you rich! Weep and howl over the miseries that will come to you. ² Your riches are rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are rusting. That decay will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. In the last days you chose to store up treasure. ⁴ Behold, the pay you withheld from the workers who mowed your field cries out. The cries of your harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of armies. ⁵ You lived in earthly luxury and indulgence. You fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. ⁶ You condemned and murdered the righteous man, even though he did not resist you.

Be Patient

⁷ Be patient, brothers, until the Lord comes. Behold the farmer patiently awaits the precious fruit of the earth brought by the late rains. ⁸ Likewise you should be patient and strong of heart because the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹ Do not grumble about each other, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Behold the judge is standing at the door.

¹⁰ The prophets who spoke in name of the Lord are an example of patiently suffering evil. ¹¹ Behold, blessed are those who patiently endure. You've heard of the patience of Job and you have witnessed he results of the Lords's compassion and concern.

¹² Above, all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or earth. Make no oaths; let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not be under judgment.

Prayer and Confession

¹³ Are any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing praises. ¹⁴ Is anyone sick? Let him call the church elders to pray over and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ A prayer of faith will restore the afflicted one and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, this shall be forgiven.

¹⁶ Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed. The prayers of a righteous man are very powerful. ¹⁷ Elijah was human like us but when he prayed for no rain, it did not rain for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again and the heavens rained and the earth yielded fruit. ¹⁹ Brothers, if any of you goes astray from the truth and someone steers him right ²⁰ know that whoever stopped a sinner from the straying of his way will have saved a soul from death and covered many sins.