1 James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: greeting.
2 Greet it as pure joy, my brothers, when you come across any sort of trial,
3 sure that the sterling temper of your faith produces endurance;
4 only, let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.
5 Whoever of you is defective in wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will be his.
6 Only, let him ask in faith, with never a doubt; for the doubtful man is like surge of the sea whirled and swayed by the wind;
7 that man need not imagine he will get anything from God,
8 double-minded creature that he is, wavering at every turn.
9 Let a brother of low position exult when he is raised;
10 but let one who is rich exult in being lowered; for the rich will pass away like the flower of the grass ??11 up comes the sun with the scorching wind and withers the grass, its flower drops off, and the splendour of it is ruined: so shall the rich fade away amid their pursuits.
12 Blessed is he who endures under trial; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the crown of life which is promised to all who love Him.
13 Let no one who is tried by temptation say, 'My temptation comes from God'; God is incapable of being tempted by evil and he tempts no one.
14 Everyone is tempted as he is beguiled and allured by his own desire;
15 then Desire conceives and breeds Sin, while Sin matures and gives birth to Death.
16 Make no mistake about this, my beloved brothers:
17 all we are given is good, and all our endowments are faultless, descending from above, from the Father of the heavenly lights, who knows no change of rising and setting, who casts no shadow on the earth.
18 It was his own will that we should be born by the Word of the truth, to be a kind of firstfruits among his creatures.
19 Be sure of that, my beloved brothers. Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to talk, slow to be angry ??20 for human anger does not promote divine righteousness;
21 so clear away all the foul rank growth of malice, and make a soil of modesty for the Word which roots itself inwardly with power to save your souls.
22 Act on the Word, instead of merely listening to it and deluding yourselves.
23 For whoever listens and does nothing, is like a man who glances at his natural face in a mirror;
24 he glances at himself, goes off, and at once forgets what he was like.
25 Whereas he who gazes into the faultless law of freedom and remains in that position, proving himself to be no forgetful listener but an active agent, he will be blessed in his activity.