Modern Literal Version
[James 1]
1:1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, those who are in the dispersion. Hail to you*!
1:2 My brethren, deem* it with all joy, whenever you* fall into various temptations, 1:3 knowing that the proving of your* faith {Or: belief; and throughout the N.T.} is working out endurance. 1:4 But let endurance have its completed work, in order that you* may be completed and whole, deficient in nothing.
1:5 But if anyone of you* is deficient of wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all liberally and does not reproach any, and it will be given to him. 1:6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing in himself. For* he who is doubting himself has resembled a wave of the sea being blown by the wind and tossed around. 1:7 For* do not let that man assume that he will be receiving anything from the Lord– 1:8 an indecisive man is restless in all his ways.
1:9 But let the humble brother boast in his elevation, 1:10 but the rich brother in his humbleness, because like the flower of the grass, he will be passing away. 1:11 For* the sun rose together with the burning heat, and dried up the grass, and its flower fell and the beauty of its face perished. So will the rich man also fade away in his pursuits.
1:12 The fortunate man who is enduring temptation, because, when he became approved, he will be receiving the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love* him. 1:13 Let no one say while he is tempted, I am tempted from God, for* God is not temptable from evils, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each person is tempted, while he is pulled away and is enticed by his own lust. 1:15 Thereafter after this lust has conceived, it bears sin, and sin, having been matured, gives-birth to death. 1:16 Do* not be misled, my beloved brethren!
1:17 Every good act of giving, and every complete gift, is from above, descending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or a shadow of turning. 1:18 Having willed it, he gave-birth to us with the word of truth, *that* we might be a certain first-fruit of his created things.
1:19 So-then my beloved brethren, let every man be quick in order to hear, be slow in order to speak, and slow to wrath. 1:20 For* the wrath of man is not working out the righteousness of God. 1:21 Hence, placing away from yourselves all filthiness and the abundance of malice, accept* the implanted word in meekness, which is able to save your* souls.
1:22 But become* doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. 1:23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one has resembled a man considering his face (which was his from birth) in a mirror. 1:24 For* he considered himself, and has gone away and immediately forgot what sort of man he was. 1:25 But he who has peered into the completed law, the law of freedom, and has remained in it, this one, having not become a forgetful hearer, but a doer of work, this one will be fortunate in his doing* {Or: action; practice}. {1Co 13:10}
1:26 If anyone among you* thinks himself to be outwardly religious, though he does not bridle his tongue but deceiving his heart; this one's religion is futile.
{Many try to use the other meaning of this Greek word: 'oversee' for 'visit'. The 'orphans' can be the 'fatherless'. See the section 'Greek History During New Testament Times.'}
1:27 A clean and undefiled religion with our God and Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unstained from the world.
2:1 My brethren, do* not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in various favoritisms. 2:2 For* if a man should enter into your* congregation with a gold ring, in bright apparel and if a poor person in filthy apparel also should enter, 2:3 you* might look upon the one who is wearing the bright apparel and might say to him, You, sit here; good; and you* might say to the poor person, You, stand there or sit here under my footstool. 2:4 And have you* not made distinction among yourselves and then became judges from evil reasonings?
2:5 Listen*, my beloved brethren. Did God not choose the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love* him? 2:6 But you* dishonored the poor. Are the rich not oppressing you*? And are they themselves not dragging you* into the courts? 2:7 Are they not blaspheming the good name, the one which was surnamed upon you*? {Act 11:26} 2:8 Nevertheless, if you* complete the royal law, according to the Scripture, 'You will love* your neighbor like yourself,' you* are doing* well. {Lev 19:18} 2:9 But if you* are showing-favoritism, you* are working sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For* whoever will be keeping the whole law and yet will trip in one point, he has become liable to all of it. 2:11 For* he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' {Exo 20:13-14, Deu 5:17-18} But if you will not commit adultery, but yet you will commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 2:12 Speak* so and practice* so, as one who is about to be judged by the law of freedom. 2:13 For* the judgment is merciless to the one who did not practice mercy; mercy wins over judgment.
2:14 My brethren, what is the profit, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Is that faith able to save him? 2:15 But if a brother or sister is* naked and may be deficient of daily nourishment, 2:16 and anyone out of you* may say to them, Proceed* away in peace. Be* warmed and be* fully-fed, but do* not give to them the body's requirements; what is the profit? 2:17 So also your faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.
2:18 But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith away from your works. I will also show you my faith from my works. 2:19 You believe that God is one; you are doing* well. The demons also believe and they are shuddering. 2:20 But O vain man, are you willing to know that faith is dead without works?
2:21 Was not Abraham our father made righteous from works, having offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? 2:22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works and his faith was completed from his works? 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God and it was counted to him *for righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God. {Gen 15:6} 2:24 Now-then, are you* seeing that a man is made righteous from works and not from faith only?
2:25 Now likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also made righteous from works, after she accepted the messengers and had put them out a different way? {Jos 2:1, 6:17, 23} 2:26 For* just-like the body without a spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.
3:1 My brethren, do* not let many of you* become teachers, knowing that we will be receiving a greater judgment. 3:2 For* we all trip in many things. If anyone does not trip in speech, this one is a mature man, is also able to bridle the whole body. 3:3 Behold we put the bridles into the mouths of the horses *that* they should be obedient to us, and we direct their whole body. 3:4 Behold also the ships, though being so-great and are driven by harsh winds, yet they are directed by a little rudder, wherever the impulse of the steersman is planning.
3:5 So the tongue is also a little member and boasts of magnificent things. Behold, how-vast a forest it lights up with such a small fire! 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, the world of unrighteousness. Thus the tongue is designated among our members as what stains the whole body and ignites the birth cycle {i.e. the cycle of life} and is ignited by hell. 3:7 For* every nature of beasts and birds, of reptiles and sea-creatures, is tamed and has been tamed by human nature. 3:8 But no one from mankind is able to tame the tongue; it is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 We are giving-thanks to God and the Father with* it and we are cursing men with* it, those who have become according to the likeness of God. 3:10 A thanks and a curse comes out of the same mouth. My brethren, these things do not need to become so! 3:11 The spring is not gushing sweet and bitter water from the same hole in the ground, is it? 3:12 My brethren, a fig tree is not able to produce olives or a vine produce figs, are they? Thus no spring is able to produce both salty and sweet water.
3:13 Who is wise and knowledgeable among you*? Let him show out of his good conduct his works in meekness of wisdom. 3:14 But if you* have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your* heart, do* not boast and lie* against the truth. 3:15 This wisdom is not a wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, physical, demonic. 3:16 For* where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is unrest and every evil matter. 3:17 But the wisdom which is from above is indeed first pure, thereafter is peaceful, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and non-pretended. 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who are making* peace.
4:1 From where are the wars and quarrels among you* coming from? Is it not from here, from your* own sensual-delights which are warring in your* members? 4:2 You* lust and do not have; you* murder and are jealous and are not able to obtain; you* quarrel and make war; you* do not have, because you* do not ask for yourself. 4:3 You* ask and do not receive, because you* ask evilly, in order that you* may spend it in your* sensual-delights.
4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses, do you* not know that the friendship of the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wills to be a friend of the world is designated as an enemy of God. 4:5 Or are you* thinking that the Scripture speaks with emptiness? Does the Spirit who dwelt in us long to envy? 4:6 But he is giving greater grace. Hence the Scripture says, 'God resists the haughty, but gives grace to the humble.' {Prov 3:34}
4:7 Therefore, be* subject to God and stand* against the devil, and he will be fleeing away from you*. 4:8 Draw* near to God and he will be drawing near to you*. Cleanse* your* hands sinners and purify* your* hearts you* indecisive! 4:9 Be* miserable and mourn* and weep*. Let your* laughter be turned to mourning and your* joy be turned to gloom. 4:10 Humble* yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will be exalting you*.
4:11 Brethren do* not speak against one another. He who is speaking against a brother and is judging his brother, is speaking against the law and is judging the law. Now if you are judging the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 4:12 There is the one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judges the other?
4:13 Proceed on now, you* who are saying, Today and the next-day, we should travel into this city and should spend one year there and be a merchant and make* a gain. 4:14 You* do not know what the next-day will bring, for* what is your* life? For* it will be a vapor, which appears for a small time but also thereafter disappears. 4:15 Instead of that, you* should say, If the Lord wills, and we should also live, then we might do* this or that. 4:16 But now you* boast in your* various self-importances. All such boasting is evil. 4:17 Therefore knowing to do* good and not doing* it, to him, it is sin.
5:1 Proceed on now you rich, weep*, howling in your* miseries, in those which are coming upon you*. 5:2 Your* riches have rotted and your* garments have become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your* gold and silver have been tarnished, and their tarnish will be *for a testimony against you* and will be eating your* flesh like fire. You* have stored up treasure in your* last days. 5:4 Behold, the wages of the workers who mowed your* farmlands, the wages which have been defrauded from {i.e. by} you*, are crying out against you* and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5:5 You* caroused upon the land and were self-indulgent; you* nourished your* hearts as in a day of slaughter. 5:6 You* sentenced others, you* murdered the righteous; there is no resisting evil in you*.
5:7 Therefore brethren, have* patience until the presence of the Lord. Behold, the farmer is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, having patience over it, until it should receive the morning and evening rainfall. 5:8 You* also, have* patience; establish* your* hearts, because the presence of the Lord has drawn near. 5:9 Brethren, do* not groan against one another, in order that you* may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors.
5:10 My brethren, take* as an example of suffering evil treatment and of patience the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 5:11 Behold, we esteem those fortunate who are enduring. You* heard of the endurance of Job and saw the end of the Lord, behold* that he is very affectionate and compassionate. {Job 1:21-22, 42:1-17}
5:12 My brethren, but before all things, do* not swear, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your* yes be yes and your* no be no; in order that you* may not fall into hypocrisy.
5:13 Is anyone among you* suffering evil treatment? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing-praise. 5:14 Is anyone among you* sick? Let him invite the elders of the congregation*, and let* them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord. 5:15 And the vow of the faith will save the one who is weary and the Lord will lift him up, even if he has practiced sins, it will be forgiven him.
5:16 Therefore confess* your* trespasses to one another, and pray* on behalf of one another, *that you* may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man prevails; much in its working. 5:17 Elijah was a man of like-feelings to us and he prayed with much prayer that it might not rain, and it did not rain upon the land for three years and six months. 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rainfall and the land sprouted her fruit. {1Ki 17:1, 18:41}
5:19 Brethren, if anyone among you* are misled from the truth and someone should return him to it; 5:20 let him know, that he who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will be saving a soul from death and will be hiding a multitude of sins.
{NOTES: You should read the 'Definitions' Section and other non-bible sections.}
{{ Introduction to 1 Peter 64-65 AD
Peter shows us the blessings of Christianity, Christian suffering and service, our relationships in the congregation and world, Christian attributes and how to grow in them, what to expect from false teachers, and the second coming of Christ. Many times, it is back and forth, commands 'do this' and 'don't do this' or 'be this' and 'do not be this.' This is a letter of hope in the midst of suffering persecution from the Jews, and the Roman government under Nero and the intended readers are primarily Gentile Christians. It was written from Babylon. This letter, like much of the teaching of the congregations at that time, was very much concerned with the second coming of Christ. The believers needed to be assured they were right in Christ and no other.}}
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Modern Literal Version Preface & Appendix , copyright 1999, 2014 by G. Allen Walker for the MLV New Testament Committee.
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