Consider it [an occasion for] much joy, my brothers, when you experience various trials,

because you [should] know that when your faith is tested, it produces perseverance.

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.

No one should say when he is tempted, "God is tempting me," because God cannot be tempted by evil and He does not tempt anyone.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own evil desire.

Then, when the evil desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it produces [spiritual] death.

Was not our forefather Abraham made right with God by deeds [of obedience] when he offered his son Isaac [as a sacrifice] on the Altar?

And in the same way, was not the prostitute Rahab made right with God by [her] deeds when she welcomed [and protected] the messengers, and [then] sent them away by a different road?

For when jealousy and rivalry exist, there is [also] disorder and every [kind of] evil practice.

[When] you do ask, you do not receive it, because you ask from wrong motives, [just] so you can satisfy your own pleasures.

Do not slander one another, brothers, [for] the person who speaks against his brother, or judges him, is [guilty of] speaking against the law [of God]. But when you judge the law, you are not obeying it but acting as its judge.