James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn't God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.

Don't speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?

Whereas you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.