1:1James,
a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which
are of the Dispersion, greeting. 1:2Count
it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; 1:3Knowing
that the proving of your faith worketh patience.
1:4And
let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
lacking in nothing. 1:5But
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. 1:6But
let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the
surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. 1:7For
let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; 1:8a
doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways. 1:9But
let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: 1:10and
the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he
shall pass away. 1:11For
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. 1:12Blessed
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. 1:13Let
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: 1:14but
each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
1:15Then
the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is
fullgrown, bringeth forth death. 1:16Be
not deceived, my beloved brethren. 1:17Every
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. 1:18Of
his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be
a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 1:19Ye
know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath: 1:20for
the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 1:21Wherefore
putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with
meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 1:22But
be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
1:23For
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: 1:24for
he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was.
1:25But
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. 1:26If
any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue
but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain. 1:27Pure
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.