James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes that are scattered over the world.

Consider the various tryals that surround you, my brethren, as matter of great joy; knowing this,

Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.

And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord;

because he is double-minded and undecided in all that he does [i.e., he cannot make up his mind and follow through about anything].

But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up;

and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass [so that] its flower [blossoms] fall off, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. In the same way, the wealthy person will fade away as he goes about his business [affairs].

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.

Let no man under temptation, say, it is God that tempts him; for as he is incapable of moral evil, he can't influence any one thereto.

But each man is tempted by his own lusts that allure and entice him.

When that desire becomes pregnant, it gives birth to sin; and when that sin grows up, it gives birth to death.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

for a man's anger does not produce the uprightness that God requires.

wherefore having put aside all filthiness and superabundance of evil, in meekness be receiving the engrafted word, that is able to save your souls;

And see that ye be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves with sophistry.

For if any hear the word, and do it not, he is like unto a man that beholdeth his bodily face in a glass.

But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and'so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.

But if any one seems to be religious, bridling not his own tongue, but deceiving his own heart, the religion of that man is vain.

A religious worship that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the Father is this: To look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep one's own self unstained by the world.

and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool;

do ye not make a partial difference within yourselves, and become judges that reason wickedly?

Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?

Yet you dishonored that poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

Do they not blaspheme the good name that was called upon you?

If, agreeably to the scriptures, you observe that royal law, "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self," you do well.

But, if you worship rank, you commit a sin, and stand convicted by that same law of being offenders against it.

for he that violates but one precept of the whole law, is as obnoxious to punishment, as if he had broke thro' all the rest.

For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty.

For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment.

What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? can that faith save him?

Can that faith save him? If a brother or a sister be naked,

and one of you says to him, "Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have aplenty," without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do?

Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder.

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?

Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect;

And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and this [faith] was credited to him [by God] as righteousness and as conformity to His will,” and he was called the friend of God.

Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.

And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.

for we are all liable to frequent mistakes. he that does not give too great a loose to his tongue, is an accomplish'd person and fit to moderate the whole church.

Now if we put the horses bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also.

And look at ships! They are so big that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the helmsman directs.

And, the tongue, is a fire, - as , the world of unrighteousness, the tongue, becometh fixed among our members, that which defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the wheel of our natural life, and is set on fire, by gehenna!

no man can tame the tongue, restless evil that it is, full of deadly poison.

By that we give praises to God the father: and that pronounces curses even against men, who are form'd after the divine resemblance.

Out of the same mouth goes forth blessing and cursing. It is not right, my brethren, that these things should be thus.

can a fig-tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine figs? no more can the sea yield water that is fresh.

Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him show by his noble living that his good deeds are done in humility, which wisdom prompts.

But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, do not be boasting of that, and be false to the truth.

This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.

Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members?

You are jealous and covet [what others have] and your lust goes unfulfilled; so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain [the object of your envy]; so you fight and battle. You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.

Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.

Or think ye that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?

But he gives more grace. So that the Writings say, God is against the men of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low before him.

Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people].

Speak not one against another, brethren. He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save and to destroy: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbor?

Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:

whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that.

But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.

To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

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

and your gold and silver by rust: that rust shall convict you: that rust shall corrode your flesh like a caustic, which you have treasur'd up against the last days.

Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors.

Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment.

and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.

Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working.

Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months.

let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.