Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Verse 1
1. James, a slave of God and of Sovereign Jesus Christ,[1] to the twelve tribes[2] that are in the Dispersion:[3] Greetings.
Chapter 1 Verse 2
2. Count it all joy,[4] my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials,
Chapter 1 Verse 3
3. knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance;
Chapter 1 Verse 4
4. but let that endurance have a complete work,[5] so that you may be perfect and complete, falling short in nothing.
Chapter 1 Verse 5
5. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from the giving God,[6] who gives to all liberally and does not reproach, and it will be given to him.
Chapter 1 Verse 6
6. However, let him ask in faith, with no doubting, because he who doubts is like a sea wave driven and tossed by the wind—
Chapter 1 Verse 7
7. such a man should not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
Chapter 1 Verse 8
8. being a double-minded man,[7] unstable in all his ways.
Chapter 1 Verse 9
9. Now the lowly brother should glory in his high position,[8]
Chapter 1 Verse 10
10. but the rich brother in his humiliation,[9] because he will pass away like a flower of wild grass.[10]
Chapter 1 Verse 11
11. For the sun rises with its burning heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls off and the beauty of its face perishes. Just so the rich man will be withered in his undertakings.[11]
Chapter 1 Verse 12
12. A man who endures testing is blessed, because upon becoming approved[12] he will receive the crown of the life that the Lord[13] has promised to those loving Him.[14]
Chapter 1 Verse 13
13. Let no one, upon being tempted,[15] say, “I am being tempted by God,” because God is untemptable by evil, so He Himself does not tempt anyone.
Chapter 1 Verse 14
14. But each one is tempted by his own craving, being taken in tow and enticed.
Chapter 1 Verse 15
15. Then the craving, upon conceiving, gives birth to sin, and the sin, upon completion, delivers death.
Chapter 1 Verse 16
16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers:
Chapter 1 Verse 17
17. every good giving and every perfect gift is from Above,[16] coming down from the Father of the lights,[17] with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Chapter 1 Verse 18
18. Having willed it, He brought us forth by a word of truth,[18] so that we might be a sort of firstfruits of His products.[19]
Chapter 1 Verse 19
19. So then,[20] my beloved brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
Chapter 1 Verse 20
20. because a man’s anger does not achieve God’s righteousness.[21]
Chapter 1 Verse 21
21. Therefore, laying aside all filthiness and overflow of evil,[22] receive with meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls.[23]
Chapter 1 Verse 22
22. Further, become word doers and not just hearers, deceiving yourselves.
Chapter 1 Verse 23
23. Because if anyone is a law[24] hearer and not a doer, the same is like a man observing his physical face in a mirror;
Chapter 1 Verse 24
24. for he observes himself, then goes away and promptly forgets what he is like.
Chapter 1 Verse 25
25. But he who looks carefully into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it,[25] he—not being a forgetful hearer but a work doer—he will be blessed in what he does.[26]
Chapter 1 Verse 26
26. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his heart, his religion is useless.[27]
Chapter 1 Verse 27
27. Pure and undefiled religion before God and Father[28] is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity;[29] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.[30]
Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Verse 1
1. My brothers, stop holding the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory, with partiality![1]
Chapter 2 Verse 2
2. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothes, should enter your synagogue,[2] and a poor man in filthy rags should also enter,
Chapter 2 Verse 3
3. and you pay special attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit in this special seat,” but to the poor one you say, “You stand there,” or “Sit here at my footstool,”
Chapter 2 Verse 4
4. have you not been separated among yourselves and become judges with malignant thoughts?[3]
Chapter 2 Verse 5
5. Listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those loving Him?
Chapter 2 Verse 6
6. But you dishonored the poor one. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts?
Chapter 2 Verse 7
7. Do they not blaspheme the noble name that was called upon you?
Chapter 2 Verse 8
8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,[4] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;
Chapter 2 Verse 9
9. but if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.
Chapter 2 Verse 10
10. For whoever will keep the whole law, yet stumble in one point, has become guilty of all.
Chapter 2 Verse 11
11. Because He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.[5]
Chapter 2 Verse 12
12. Speak and act as being those who are about to be judged by a law of liberty
Chapter 2 Verse 13
13. (the judgment will be without mercy to the one not showing mercy).[6] That law exalts mercy[7] over judgment.
Chapter 2 Verse 14
14. What is the advantage, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?
Chapter 2 Verse 15
15. If a brother or sister is actually naked, and is destitute of the daily food,
Chapter 2 Verse 16
16. and someone among you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you (pl) do not give them the things needed for the body, what is the benefit?
Chapter 2 Verse 17
17. Thus also that faith, if it does not have works, is dead, being by itself.
Chapter 2 Verse 18
18. (But someone will say: “You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith by[8] your works[9] and I, by my works will show you my faith [what he believes].”[10]
Chapter 2 Verse 19
19. You believe that God is one.[11] You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder!)
Chapter 2 Verse 20
20. But you need to know, you foolish fellow,[12] that faith without works is dead![13]
Chapter 2 Verse 21
21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Chapter 2 Verse 22
22. You can see that faith was acting together with his works, and the faith was made complete by the works.
Chapter 2 Verse 23
23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “So Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[14] And he was called ‘friend of God’.
Chapter 2 Verse 24
24. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Chapter 2 Verse 25
25. Similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different way?
Chapter 2 Verse 26
26. For just as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.[15]
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Verse 1
1. My brothers, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we[1] shall receive a stricter judgment.
Chapter 3 Verse 2
2. Because we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, being able to bridle the whole body as well.
Chapter 3 Verse 3
3. Consider, we put bits in horses’ mouths for them to obey us, and we guide their whole body.
Chapter 3 Verse 4
4. Consider also the ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the pilot may desire.
Chapter 3 Verse 5
5. So also the tongue is a small member and boasts great things. Just look at how great a forest a little fire can kindle!
Chapter 3 Verse 6
6. And the tongue is a fire! The organization of wickedness,[2] that is how the tongue is placed among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire the course of life, itself being set on fire by hell.[3]
Chapter 3 Verse 7
7. Every kind of animal and bird, reptile and sea creature, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race,
Chapter 3 Verse 8
8. but no one among men is able to tame the tongue—an uncontrollable[4] evil, full of deadly poison.[5]
Chapter 3 Verse 9
9. With it we bless God[6] and Father,[7] and with it we curse the people who have been made in God’s likeness.
Chapter 3 Verse 10
10. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and curses. My brothers, these things should not be that way.
Chapter 3 Verse 11
11. A spring does not send out sweet and bitter water from the same opening, does it?
Chapter 3 Verse 12
12. Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grape vine figs? Thus no spring yields salt water and sweet.[8]
Chapter 3 Verse 13
13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him exhibit his works in the meekness of wisdom, by his good way of life.
Chapter 3 Verse 14
14. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth—
Chapter 3 Verse 15
15. such ‘wisdom’ is not coming down from Above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.[9]
Chapter 3 Verse 16
16. Because where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is unruliness and every foul practice.[10]
Chapter 3 Verse 17
17. In contrast, the wisdom from Above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Chapter 3 Verse 18
18. Now the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those making peace.[11]
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Verse 1
1. Where do the wars and disputes among you come from? Is it not precisely from your pleasures, the ones at war in your members?
Chapter 4 Verse 2
2. You crave and do not have; you murder[1] and covet and are not able to obtain; you fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.
Chapter 4 Verse 3
3. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may lavish it on your pleasures.
Chapter 4 Verse 4
4. Adulterers and[2] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever may want to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.[3]
Chapter 4 Verse 5
5. Or do you suppose that the Scripture says in vain that the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?[4]
Chapter 4 Verse 6
6. But He gives greater grace; therefore He says: “God resists proud ones, but gives grace to humble ones.”[5]
Chapter 4 Verse 7
7. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil[6] and he will flee from you.
Chapter 4 Verse 8
8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.[7] Sinners, cleanse your hands! Double-minded, purify your hearts![8]
Chapter 4 Verse 9
9. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into dejection.[9]
Chapter 4 Verse 10
10. Humble yourself before the Lord and He will exalt you.[10]
Chapter 4 Verse 11
11. Brothers, do not speak evil of one another. Because the one speaking against a brother and judging his brother speaks against a law and judges a law. So if you judge a law you are not a law-doer but a judge.
Chapter 4 Verse 12
12. The Lawgiver and Judge[11] is One, the one who is able to save and to destroy. So who are you (sg) to be judging someone who is different?[12]
Chapter 4 Verse 13
13. Come now, you who say, “Today and tomorrow let us travel to that certain city, spend a year there, do business and make a profit;”
Chapter 4 Verse 14
14. whereas you do not know anything about the morrow. For what is our life?[13] It is even a vapor that appears for a little time but then vanishes away.
Chapter 4 Verse 15
15. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Chapter 4 Verse 16
16. But now you boast in your arrogant pretensions. All such boasting is malignant.[14]
Chapter 4 Verse 17
17. Therefore, to the one knowing to do good and not doing it, to him it is sin.[15]
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Verse 1
1. Come now, you rich, howl as you weep over your distresses that are coming upon you!
Chapter 5 Verse 2
2. Your wealth has decayed and your clothes have become moth-eaten.
Chapter 5 Verse 3
3. Your gold and silver are corroded,[1] and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire—you stored it up for the last days.[2]
Chapter 5 Verse 4
4. Look, the wages of the workers who cut your fields, that were unjustly held back by you, cry out, and the loud cries of the reapers have entered the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
Chapter 5 Verse 5
5. You have lived on the earth in self-indulgence and luxury, you fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.[3]
Chapter 5 Verse 6
6. You condemned, you murdered the righteous—he offers you no resistance.[4]
Chapter 5 Verse 7
7. Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Consider, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and late rain.
Chapter 5 Verse 8
8. You also be patient. Keep your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord has approached.
Chapter 5 Verse 9
9. Do not groan against one another, brothers, lest you be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at your doors!
Chapter 5 Verse 10
10. Brothers, take as an example the patient bearing of hardship and the steadfastness of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.[5]
Chapter 5 Verse 11
11. Indeed we count as blessed those who endure—you have heard of the perseverance of Job and have seen the final outcome given by the Lord, that He is very compassionate and merciful.[6]
Chapter 5 Verse 12
12. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or any other oath. Let your “Yes” be “Yes”, and your “No”, “No”, lest you fall into pretense.[7]
Chapter 5 Verse 13
13. Is anyone among you suffering hardship? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
Chapter 5 Verse 14
14. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the congregation, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Chapter 5 Verse 15
15. And the prayer of faith will deliver the one who is sick,[8] and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sin, it will be forgiven him.[9]
Chapter 5 Verse 16
16. Confess your transgressions to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.[10] The prayer of a righteous one, being operative, is very powerful.[11]
Chapter 5 Verse 17
17. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
Chapter 5 Verse 18
18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.
Chapter 5 Verse 19
19. Brothers, if anyone among you should wander away from the truth, and someone should turn him back,
Chapter 5 Verse 20
20. let him know that the one who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will deliver a soul from death[12] and will remove from sight a multitude of sins.[13]