If any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to everyone, and does not reproach one with it afterward, and he will give it to him.

But he must ask with faith, and without any doubt, for the man who doubts is like the billowing sea, driven and blown about by the wind.

If you really obey the supreme law where the Scripture says, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself," you are doing right,

but if you show partiality, you are committing a sin, and stand convicted before the Law as lawbreakers.

You must talk and act like men who expect to be judged by the law that treats men as free.

and so the Scripture came true that says, "Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as uprightness, and he was called God's friend."

Just as the body without the spirit is dead, faith is dead without good deeds.

For we all make many mistakes. Anyone who never makes a mistake in what he says has a character that is fully developed and is able to control his whole body as well.

Even ships, great as they are, and driven by strong winds, are steered with a very small rudder wherever the pilot pleases.

You crave things, and cannot have them, and so you commit murder. You covet things, and cannot get them, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not have things because you do not ask for them.

You ask and fail to get them because you ask with wrong motives, to spend them on your pleasures.

But he gives all the greater blessing. As the Scripture says, "God opposes haughty persons, but he blesses humble-minded ones."

But, as it is, you pride yourselves on your pretensions. All such pride is wrong.

As an example, brothers, of ill-treatment patiently endured, take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord.