James 1

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad: Greetings.

2My brothers and sisters, think of it as complete joy when you run into trials of every kind,

3for you know that when your faith is tested, it produces endurance.

4Let endurance carry its work through to the end, so that you may be fully mature and whole, with nothing missing.

5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let that person ask God for it. He gives to everyone freely and without scolding, and wisdom will be given to them.

6But the asking must be done in faith, with no wavering, because someone who wavers resembles a sea wave pushed and blown about by the wind.

7For that person must not suppose they will receive anything from the Lord.

8Such a person is of two minds, unsteady in all their ways.

9The brother or sister in humble circumstances should take pride in being lifted up,

10and the wealthy should take pride in being humbled, since like a flower of the field they will pass away.

11For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries out the grass; its flower drops off, and its lovely appearance is lost. In the same way the rich too will wither away in the midst of their pursuits.

12Blessed is anyone who stands firm under trial, for once proven genuine, that person will receive the crown of life, which God promised to those who love him.

13No one under temptation should claim, “I am being tempted by God.” For God is beyond the reach of temptation by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

14Rather, each person is tempted by their own desire, which drags them off and lures them.

15Then desire conceives and bears sin, and sin, once it reaches maturity, brings forth death.

16Do not be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.

17Every good thing given and every perfect gift comes from above, descending from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation, no shadow cast by turning.

18Because he willed it, he brought us to birth by the message of truth, so that we might be a sort of firstfruits among the things he made.

19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: every person must be ready to listen, in no hurry to speak, and slow to anger,

20for a person’s anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

21So strip off every kind of filth and the overflow of evil, and in a gentle spirit welcome the word rooted in you, the word that can save your souls.

22But be people who act on the word. If you only hear it, you deceive yourselves.

23For if anyone hears the word but does not carry it out, that person resembles a man who studies in a mirror the face he was born with.

24He takes a look at himself and walks off, and right away he has forgotten how he looked.

25But the one who gazes into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and stays with it, becoming not a forgetful hearer but one who does the work, will be blessed in the doing.

26If anyone imagines they are religious while failing to rein in their tongue, they are fooling their own heart, and their religion is futile.

27Pure and spotless religion in the eyes of God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their hardship and to keep oneself untainted by the world.