For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

Let your words and your acts be those of men who are to be judged by the law which makes free.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.]

If a brother or sister is without [adequate] clothing and lacks [enough] food for each day,

and one from amongst you say to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled; but give not to them the needful things for the body, what is the profit?

it will be said, "you have a speculative faith, but mine is practical. where is your faith, if no effects appear? as for me, my actions will vouch for my faith.

You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.

Was not our forefather Abraham made upright for his good deeds, for offering his son Isaac on the altar?

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

you see then, that a man is accounted just for his actions, and not for his bare faith.

Was not even Rahab the prostitute made upright for her good deeds, in entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Not many [of you] should become teachers [serving in an official teaching capacity], my brothers and sisters, for you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly].

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

lo, the bits we put into the mouths of the horses for their obeying us, and their whole body we turn about;

Look at ships too; for all their size and speed under stiff winds, they are turned by a tiny rudder wherever the mind of the steersman chooses.

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not right for these things to be so.

Is it possible, my brethren, for, a fig-tree, to produce, olives, or, a vine, figs? Neither can, salt, water yield, sweet.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

But the wisdom from above is first pure [morally and spiritually undefiled], then peace-loving [courteous, considerate], gentle, reasonable [and willing to listen], full of compassion and good fruits. It is unwavering, without [self-righteous] hypocrisy [and self-serving guile].

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

What causes wars and contentions among you? Is it not the cravings which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?

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].

You ask [God for something] and do not receive it, because you ask with wrong motives [out of selfishness or with an unrighteous agenda], so that [when you get what you want] you may spend it on your [hedonistic] desires.

Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy?

No; the gift that God gives is for a nobler end; and that is why it is said--'God is opposed to the haughty, but gives help to the humble.'

For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you.

Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom.

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.

How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth:

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

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

So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

For your riches lie rotting, and your clothing has become moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Look! The wages that you have [fraudulently] withheld from the laborers who have mowed your fields are crying out [against you for vengeance]; and the cries of the harvesters have come to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

You have lived luxuriously on the land and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Do not complain against one another, brothers, so that you will not [have to] be judged [and condemned for it]. Look, the Judge [i.e., Christ] is standing at the door! [See verse 8].

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

Notice that we consider those who endured [suffering with patience] to be blessed [by God]. You people have heard of Job's patience and have seen what the Lord finally did [for him]. The Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Above all things, my Brothers, never take an oath, either by heaven, or by earth, or by anything else. With you let 'Yes' suffice for yes, and 'No' for no, so that you may escape condemnation.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

And by the prayer of faith the man who is ill will be made well, and he will be lifted up by the Lord, and for any sin which he has done he will have forgiveness.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

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.

Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and [for] sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is to be praised for being so merciful as to have given us a new birth, which provides for us a hope of never ending life through the means of Jesus Christ's return from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

who are kept guarded by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Though you have never seen him, yet you love him; though you do not even now see him, yet you believe in him, and exalt with a triumphant happiness too great for words,

For so you have the true end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Regarding this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace [of God] that was intended for you, searched carefully and inquired [about this future way of salvation],

investigating for what [person] or which time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating [when he] testified beforehand to the sufferings with reference to Christ and the glories after these [things],

It was revealed to them that their services [their prophecies regarding grace] were not [meant] for themselves and their time, but for you, in these things [the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ] which have now been told to you by those who preached the gospel to you by the [power of the] Holy Spirit [who was] sent from heaven. Into these things even the angels long to look.

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

but according to the Holy One, who called you [i.e., God], you people also should become holy [i.e., separated for God's service] in all your conduct,

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

for the sake of you who through him trust in God, who raised him from the dead and showed him honor; and so your faith and hope rest on God.

Since by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves for a sincere love of the believers, [see that you] love one another from the heart [always unselfishly seeking the best for one another],

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Free yourselves, therefore, from all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of any kind,

as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation;

If ye have tasted for yourselves that, gracious, is the Lord, -

For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God;

You [believers], like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house for a holy and dedicated priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

For this is contained in Scripture:“Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen stone, a precious (honored) Cornerstone,
And he who believes in Him [whoever adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him] will never be disappointed [in his expectations].”

For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner;

and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

But ye are a elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.

Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the soul.

You should live such good lives before [unconverted] Gentiles, so that even though they accuse you of being evildoers, by seeing your good deeds, they will [be led to] honor God [for you] on the day He visits us again [i.e., to bring judgment].

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

[For] He neither sinned nor used deceitful words.

He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the tree,
so that, having died to sins,
we might live for righteousness;
you have been healed by His wounds.

For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.