Translation in British English
1:1 James, a servant of both God and the Lord Jesus Christ, extends greetings to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad.
1:2 My dear brethren, consider yourselves fortunate when faced with a variety of trials;
1:3 recognizing that the testing of your faith fosters endurance.
1:4 Allow endurance to fully develop, so that you may be complete and lacking in nothing.
1:5 Should any of you be deficient in wisdom, seek it from God, who generously bestows upon all without reproach, and it shall be granted.
1:6 However, ask with unwavering faith, for the one who doubts resembles a sea wave, blown and tossed by the wind.
1:7 Such a person must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
1:8 A man of two minds is unstable in all his ways.
1:9 Let the lowly brother take pride in his elevation:
1:10 whereas the wealthy should take pride in their humbling, for like a wildflower, they will fade away.
1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So too will the wealthy fade in their pursuits.
1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, for once tested, they will receive the crown of life, promised by the Lord to those who love Him.
1:13 When tempted, no one should claim, “God is tempting me.” For God is impervious to evil and tempts no one.
1:14 Each person is tempted when lured and enticed by their own desire.
1:15 Then, desire when conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, brings forth death.
1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
1:17 Every good and perfect gift descends from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
1:18 By His own choice, He gave us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
1:19 Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
1:20 for human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.
1:21 Consequently, rid yourselves of all moral filth and excess of wickedness, and humbly accept the implanted word, which can save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not merely listeners, deceiving yourselves.
1:23 For if anyone is a listener of the word and not a doer, they are like a person observing their natural face in a mirror;
1:24 they observe themselves, go away, and immediately forget what they were like.
1:25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, not being a forgetful listener but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what they do.
1:26 If anyone thinks they are religious but does not bridle their tongue, they deceive their heart, and their religion is worthless.
1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
2:1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
2:2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothes enters your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in;
2:3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,”;
2:4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren, has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into court?
2:7 Do they not blaspheme the noble name by which you are called?
2:8 If you fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well;
2:9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
2:11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
2:13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brethren, if someone says they have faith but do not have works? Can such faith save them?
2:15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
2:20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
2:25 In the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive stricter judgment.
3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what they say, they are a perfect person, able also to bridle the whole body.
3:3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
3:4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
3:5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
3:7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
3:8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
3:12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By their good conduct let them show their works in the meekness of wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
3:15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
3:18 And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
4:1 What causes quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not your passions that are at war within you?
4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
4:4 You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
4:5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
4:9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
4:11 Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
4:12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
4:16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
5:2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
5:3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5:5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
5:7 Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
5:8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
5:11 Indeed we call those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let them pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let them sing praise.
5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
5:19 My brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
5:20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
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