James Chapters

Endure Trials Patiently

1 | ¹James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ sends greetings to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.

•  ²Consider yourselves fortunate, my brothers and sisters, when you meet with every kind of trial, ³for you know that the testing of your faith makes you steadfast. ⁴Let your steadfastness become perfect with deeds, that you may be perfect and blameless, without any defect.

⁵If you lack wisdom, ask God, who gives to all easily and unconditionally. ⁶But ask with faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave driven and tossed on the sea by the wind. ⁷Such a person should not expect anything from the Lord since the doubter has two minds, ⁸and his conduct will always be insecure.

⁹Let the believer who is poor boast of being uplifted, ¹⁰ and let the rich one boast of being humbled, because he will pass away like the flower of the field. ¹¹The sun rises, and its heat dries the grass; the flower withers, and its beauty vanishes. So, too, will the rich person fade away even amid his pursuits.

¹²Happy are those who patiently endure trials because afterward, they will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him. ¹³No one, when tempted, should say, “This temptation comes from God.” God is never tempted, and he can never tempt anyone. ¹⁴Instead, we are lured and enticed by our own evil desires. ¹⁵Once this desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

•  ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change or shadow of a change. ¹⁸By his own will, he gave us life through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of offering to him among his creatures.

¹⁹My beloved, be quick to hear but slow to speak and slow to anger, ²⁰ for human anger does not fulfill the justice of God. ²¹So get rid of any filth, reject the prevailing evil, and welcome the word that has been planted in you and has the power to save you.

²²Be doers of the word, and not just hearers, lest you deceive yourselves. ²³The hearer, who does not become a doer, is like that one who looked at himself in the mirror; ²⁴he looked and promptly forgot what he was like. ²⁵But those who fix their gaze on the perfect law of freedom and hold onto it, not listening and then forgetting, but acting on it, will find blessing in their deeds.

²⁶Those who think they are religious but do not restrain their tongue deceive themselves, and their religion is in vain. ²⁷In the sight of God our Father, pure and blameless religion lies in helping orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world’s corruption.

Treat the Rich and the Poor Equally

2 | •  ¹My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons. ²Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags, ³if you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, “Come and sit in the best seat,” while, to the poor one you say, “Stay standing, or else sit down at my feet,” ⁴have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged using a double standard?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him? ⁶Yet, you despise them! Is it not the rich who are against you and drag you to court? ⁷Do they not insult the holy name of Christ by which you are called?

⁸If you keep the kingdom's law, according to Scripture: Love your neighbor as yourself, you do well; ⁹but if you make distinctions between persons, you break the law and are condemned by the same law. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one aspect is guilty of breaking it all. ¹¹For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not kill.” If, then, you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have broken the law. ¹²Therefore, speak and behave like people who will be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³There will be justice without mercy for those who have not shown mercy, whereas mercy has nothing to fear of judgment.

Faith Is Shown in Action

•  ¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. ¹⁵If a brother or sister needs clothes or food, ¹⁶and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? ¹⁷So it is for faith without deeds: it is totally dead.

¹⁸Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith, and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions, and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.” ¹⁹Do you believe there is one God? Well enough, but do not forget that the demons also believe and tremble with fear!

²⁰You foolish one, do you have to be convinced that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Think of our father Abraham. Was he not justified by offering his son Isaac on the altar? ²²So you see, his faith was active, along with his deeds, and became perfect by what he did. ²³The word of Scripture was thus fulfilled, Abraham believed in God, so he was considered a righteous person, and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴So you see, a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵Likewise, we read of Rahab, the prostitute, who was acknowledged and saved because she welcomed the spies and showed them another way to leave.

²⁶So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith without deeds is also dead.

Sins of the Tongue

3 | ¹My brothers and sisters, don’t all be teachers! You know that, as teachers, we will be judged most strictly; ²in fact, we make mistakes like everybody else. A person who commits no offense in speech is perfect and capable of ruling the whole self. ³We put a bit into the horse’s mouth to master it, controlling its whole body. ⁴The same is true of ships: however big they are, driven by strong winds, they are guided by a tiny rudder. ⁵Similarly, the tongue is a tiny part of the body but can do great things.

A small flame is enough to set a huge forest on fire. ⁶The tongue is a similar fire, a whole world of evil. It infects the whole being and sets fire to our world with the very fire of hell. ⁷Wild animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures of every kind have been ruled by the human species. ⁸Nobody, however, can control the tongue; it is an untiring whip full of deadly poison. ⁹We use it to bless God our Father and also to curse those made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰From the same mouth come both blessing and curse.

Brothers and sisters, this should not be the case. ¹¹Can both fresh and saltwater gush from the same source? ¹²Can a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine give figs? Neither can the sea give fresh water.

True Wisdom

•  ¹³If you consider yourself wise and learned, show it by your good life, and let your actions, in all humility, be an example for others. ¹⁴But if your heart is full of bitter jealousy and ambition, do not try to show off; that would be covering up the truth; ¹⁵this kind of wisdom does not come from above but from the world, and it is earthly and devilish. ¹⁶Wherever jealousy and ambition exist, you will also find discord and all that is evil. ¹⁷Instead, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peace-loving. Persons with this wisdom show understanding and listen to advice; they are full of compassion and good works; they are impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow peace reap a harvest of justice.

Wicked Ambitions

4 | •  ¹What causes these fights and quarrels among you? Is it not your cravings that make war within your own selves? ²When you long for something you cannot have, you kill for it, and when you do not get what you desire, you quarrel and fight. The fact is, you do not have what you want because you do not pray for it. ³You pray for something and do not get it because you pray with the wrong motive of indulging your pleasures. ⁴You adulterers! Don’t you know that making friends with the world makes you enemies of God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.

⁵Can you not see the point of the saying in Scripture: “The longing of the spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing?” ⁶But God has something better to give, and Scripture also says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives his favor to the humble.” ⁷Give in, then, to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubters. ⁹Recognize your distress, be miserable, and weep. Turn your laughter into tears and your joy into sadness. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will raise you up.

¹¹Brothers and sisters, do not criticize one another. Anyone who speaks against or condemns another speaks against the law and condemns the law. If, however, you condemn the law, you are no longer an observer of it but a judge of it. ¹²There is only one lawgiver and one judge who has the power to save or condemn. So you, who are you, to judge your neighbor?

¹³Listen now, you who speak like this, “Today or tomorrow, we will go off to this city and spend a year there; we will do business and make money.” ¹⁴You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? No more than a mist, which appears momentarily and then disappears. ¹⁵Instead, you should say, “God willing, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But no! You boast of your plans: this brazen pride is wicked. ¹⁷Anyone who knows what is good and does not do it sins.

The Misfortunes of the Rich

5 | •  ¹So, now, for what concerns the rich, cry and weep for the misfortunes coming upon you. ²Your riches are rotting, and the moths eat up your clothes. ³Your silver and gold have rusted, and their rust grows into a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire for having piled up riches in these last days.

⁴You deceived the workers who harvested your fields, but now, their wages cry out to the heavens. The reapers’ complaints have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You lived in luxury and pleasure in this world, thus fattening yourselves for the day of slaughter. ⁶You have easily condemned and killed the innocent since they offered no resistance.

Look Forward to the Lord’s Coming

⁷Be patient, then, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. See how the sower waits for the precious fruits of the earth, looking forward patiently to the autumn and spring rains. ⁸You, also, be patient and do not lose heart because the Lord’s coming is near.

⁹Beloved, do not fight among yourselves, and you will not be judged. See, the judge is already at the door. ¹⁰Take for yourselves, as an example of patience, the suffering of the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. ¹¹See how those who were patient are called blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job and know how the Lord dealt with him in the end. For the Lord is merciful and shows compassion.

¹²Above all, my beloved, do not swear by heaven or earth or make a habit of swearing. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, lest you become liable to judgment.

The Sick

•  ¹³Are any among you discouraged? They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. ¹⁴If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up, and he will be forgiven if he has committed any sins.

•  ¹⁶There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. ¹⁸Then he prayed again: the sky yielded rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the truth and another person brings him back to it, ²⁰be sure that he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way will save his soul from death and win forgiveness for many sins.