Modern Literal Version
[James 2]




     2:1 My brethren, do* not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in variousfavoritisms. 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 thecourts? 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 alsoyour 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.





Modern Literal Version Preface & Appendix , copyright 1987, 1999, 2013 by G. Allen Walker for the MLV New Testament Committee.
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