James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greeting to the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad.

because you know that the testing of your faith is working out endurance.

But let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, not lacking in anything.

Such a man need not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,

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

Because he willed, he gave us birth through the word of truth, so that we should be a kind of first-fruits among his creatures.

Are they not blaspheming that glorious Name by which you are called?

My brothers, what good is it if any one says that he has faith, if he has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, find warmth and food for yourselves," but at the same time you do not give the necessaries of the body, what good would that do them?

You believe that God is one? You do well; even the demons believe, and they shudder.

But do you want to be convinced, O foolish man, that faith apart from deeds is barren?

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

You see, then, that it is by his deeds a man is justified, and not simply by his faith.

In like manner was not Rahab, the harlot, justified by her deeds, in the fact that she received the messengers and sent them forth by another way?

Do not become many teachers, my brothers, because you know well that we teachers shall be judged by a severer standard than others.

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

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

Such wisdom is not that which is descending from on high, but is earthly, sensual, demonlike.

Where do the conflicts and quarrels that go on among you come from? Do they not come from your passions which are always making war among your bodily members?

You adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity to God? Whoever, then, desires to be a friend of the world, makes himself and enemy of God.

Or do you suppose that it is in vain that the Scripture says, "The spirit which has its home in us yearns over us unto jealousy?"

You ought instead to say, "If the Lord wills it, we shall live and do this or that."

Remember we count those that were stedfast happy. You have heard of the stedfastness of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord with him, seen how the Lord is full of tenderness.

So confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. For the fervent prayer of a righteous man is mighty in its working.

let him know that he who brings a sinner back from the error of his ways, saves his soul from death, and hides a multitude of sins.