But the person [who must live] in humble circumstances should be happy over being lifted up [spiritually by God].

The person who perseveres under trials is blessed, because when he has been approved by God, he will receive the crown of [never ending] life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

Listen, my dearly loved brothers; did not God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be wealthy in faith and to inherit the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

However, you are doing well if you fulfill [i.e., obey] the royal law found in the Scriptures [Lev. 19:18], "You should love your neighbor the same way that you love yourself."

For we all make mistakes in many areas [of life]. If anyone does not make a mistake in what he says, he is a perfect person, capable of keeping a tight rein on his whole life also.

And the tongue is [like] a fire [i.e., like that spark]. [For] the tongue, as a part of the body, is [like] the world of evil. It corrupts the entire life [of a person] and inflames the course of nature itself [i.e., it affects a person throughout his whole earthly existence], and is ignited by hell itself [i.e., the evil produced by the fiery tongue has hell as its source and destiny].

Or, do you think that the Scripture says [this] for nothing? [Note: No specific passage is here cited, but the idea occurs in several Old Testament passages]. "The Holy Spirit, whom God has made to live in us, longs jealously [for us to be faithful to God]."

[For actually] you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. What is your life? For you are [like] a mist that appears briefly and then vanishes.

Instead, you should be saying, "If it is what the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that."