The Bible

James Chapter 1

¹[From] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus AnointedOne, to the twelve tribes who are scattered [abroad], greetings.

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you-all fall into all kinds of testing, ³knowing that the proving of your faith produces endurance. ⁴Let endurance have its perfect work, that you-all may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵But whoever of you-all lacks wisdom, ask it of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given. ⁶But ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person shouldn't think that they will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in their high position; ¹⁰and the rich, in humiliation, because like the flower of the grass, they will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich will also fade away in their pursuits.

¹²Happier is the man who endures testing, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who selflessly-love him.

¹³Let no one say when tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when lured away by their own lust and enticed. ¹⁵Then the lust, when it has conceived, gives birth to shortcoming, and the shortcoming, when full grown, produces death. ¹⁶Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor shifting shadow. ¹⁸Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹So, then, my dear brothers, let every person be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. ²¹So, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴for he sees himself, and goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵But the one who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, will be happier in what they do.

²⁶If anyone among you-all thinks themselves to be religious but doesn't control their tongue and deceives their heart, their religion is worthless. ²⁷This is pure, undefiled religion before our God and Father: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James Chapter 2

¹My brothers, don't hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus AnointedOne with partiality. ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor one in filthy clothing also comes in, ³and you-all pay special attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "Sit here in a good place;" and you tell the poor one, "Stand there," or "Sit by my footstool" ⁴haven't you-all shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my dear brothers. Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who selflessly-love him? ⁶But you-all have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you-all and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you-all are called?

⁸However, if you-all fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "Selflessly-love your neighbor as yourself," you-all do well. ⁹But if you-all show partiality, you-all fall short, being convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, they have become guilty of it all. ¹¹For The One who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have [still] become a lawbreaker of the law. ¹²So speak and do as those who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone says they have faith, but have no actions? Can [that kind of] faith save them? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, ¹⁶and one of you-all tells them, "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled.", but didn't give them the things that the body needs, what good is that? ¹⁷Even so faith, if it has no actions, is dead in itself. ¹⁸Sure, someone will say, "You have faith, and I have actions." Show me your faith without actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions.

¹⁹You believe [the Shema] that "God is one". You do well. The demons also believe. And shudder! ²⁰But do you want to know, vain human, that faith apart from actions is dead? ²¹Wasn't Abraham our father justified by actions, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that faith worked with his actions, and by actions faith was perfected. ²³So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You-all then see that a person is justified by actions, and not by faith alone. ²⁵In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by actions when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from actions is dead.

James Chapter 3

¹Don't let many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. ²For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn't stumble in what they say is a perfect man, able to control the whole body as well. ³Indeed, we put bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body. ⁴Look at ships as well, [even] though they are big and driven by fierce winds, are guided by a tiny rudder, wherever the steersman wants. ⁵Similarly, the tongue is a small body-part. However, it boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! ⁶And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of iniquity among our body-parts and defiles the whole body. It sets on fire the course of life, and is [itself] set on fire by Gehenna. ⁷For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; ⁸but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we praise ForeverOne our Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the image of God. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. [Oh] my brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? So no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you-all? Let them show by their good conduct that their actions are done in gentleness of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you-all have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵This wisdom is not what comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. ¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed. ¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James Chapter 4

¹Where do wars and fightings come from among you-all? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your body-parts? ²You-all lust, and don't have. you-all murder and covet, and can't obtain. you-all fight and make war. You-all don't have, because you-all don't ask. ³You-all ask, and don't receive, because you-all ask with wrong motives, so that you-all may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴You-all adulteresses, don't you-all know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes themselves an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you-all think that the Scripture in vain says, "The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously"? ⁶But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." ⁷So be subject to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you-all. ⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you-all. Cleanse your hands, you-all shortcomers. Purify your hearts, you-all double-minded. ⁹Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of ForeverOne, and he will exalt you-all.

¹¹Don't slander one another, brothers. The one who slanders a brother and judges their brother, slanders the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹²There's only one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you-all who say, "Today or tomorrow let's go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit." ¹⁴You-all don't even know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then disappears. ¹⁵For you-all ought to say, "If it's ForeverOne's will, we will both live, and do this or that." ¹⁶But now you-all glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷So to the one who knows to do good but doesn't do it, to them it is a shortcoming.

James Chapter 5

¹Come now, you-all rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you-all. ²Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be as a testimony against you-all and will eat your flesh like fire. You-all have laid up your treasure in the last days. ⁴Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you-all have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of ForeverOne of Armies. ⁵You-all have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You-all have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶You-all have condemned and murdered the righteous; who don't resist you-all.

⁷So be patient brothers until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late [rains]. ⁸You-all also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws near.

⁹Don't grumble, brothers, against one another, so you-all won't be judged. Look! The judge stands at the door. ¹⁰As an example of suffering and perseverance, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of ForeverOne. ¹¹See, we call them happy who endured. You-all have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen ForeverOne in the outcome, and how ForeverOne is full of compassion and mercy.

¹²But above all things, my brothers, don't swear-an-oath. Not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your "yes" be "yes", and your "no", "no", so that you-all don't fall into hypocrisy.

¹³Is anyone among you-all suffering? Let them pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let them sing praises. ¹⁴Is anyone among you-all sick? Let them call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord, ¹⁵and the prayer of faith will heal the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise them up. If they have fallen short, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶So confess your shortcomings to one another and pray for one another, that you-all may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human with a nature like ours, and prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹Brothers, if anyone among you-all wanders from the truth and someone turns them back, ²⁰let them know that whoever turns a shortcomer from the error of their way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of shortcomings.