James 1

1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: greetings. [a]

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various testings, [d] 3 knowing that the proving of your faith works out endurance. [e] 4 And let endurance have a complete work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.

5 And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all simply and without reproaching, and it will be given to him. [f] 6 But let him ask in faith, wavering in nothing; for the one who wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. [g] † 7 That person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord — 8 a double-souled man, unsettled in all his ways. [h]

9 And let the lowly brother boast in his height, 10 and the rich in his lowliness, because like a flower of grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rose with the burning heat and dried up the grass, and its flower fell, and the beauty of its face was destroyed. So also the rich man will wither away in his goings. [i]

12 Blessed is the man who endures testing, because, having become approved, he will receive the crown of life, which he promised to those who love him. [j] 13 Let no one being tested say, “I am being tested by God.” For God is untried by evils, and he himself tests no one. [k] 14 But each is tested by his own desire, dragged out and baited; [l] 15 then desire, having conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has been brought to its full growth, brings forth death. [m] 16 Do not be led astray, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good giving and every complete gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. [n] 18 By his own will he brought us forth by a word of truth, for us to be a kind of firstfruit of his creatures. [o]

21 Therefore, putting away all filth and the overflow of badness, receive in gentleness the implanted word that is able to save your souls. [q] 22 And become doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man looking at the face of his birth in a mirror: [r] 24 for he looked at himself and has gone away, and immediately forgot what sort of man he was. 25 But the one who stooped to look into the complete law, the law of freedom, and remained beside it — not becoming a hearer who forgets but a doer of work — this one will be blessed in his doing. [s]

26 If anyone thinks he is religious while not bridling his tongue but deceiving his heart, this one’s religion is futile. [t] 27 Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. †