Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for [it] from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

Do not be deceived, my dear brothers.

for human anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

But be doers of the message and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,

because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone staring at {his own face} in a mirror,

But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues [to do it], not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed {in what he does}.

If anyone thinks he is religious, [although he] does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion [is] worthless.

My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.

have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world [to be] rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts?

Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name {of the one to whom you belong}?

For the one who said "Do not commit adultery" also said "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

For judgment [is] merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

What [is] the benefit, my brothers, if someone says [that he] has faith but does not have works? That faith [is] not able to save him, [is it]?

and one of you should say to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and {eat well}," but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what [is] the benefit?

Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works [when he] offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works [when she] welcomed the messengers and sent [them] out by a different route?

Not many should become teachers, my brothers, [because you] know that we will receive a greater judgment.

For we all stumble [in] many [ways]. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he [is] a perfect individual, able to hold in check his whole body also.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these [things] ought not to be so!

A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter [water, does it]?

A fig tree is not able, my brothers, to produce olives, or a grapevine figs. Neither can a saltwater spring produce fresh water.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but [is] earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

From where [are] conflicts and from where [are] quarrels among you? [Is it] not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members?

You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend [it] on your pleasures.

Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes [himself] an enemy of God.

Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge [of the law].

you who do not know {what will happen tomorrow}, {what your life will be like}. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears.

Therefore, to the one who knows to do good and does not do [it], to him it is sin.

You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous [person]; he does not resist you.

Brothers, do not complain against one another, in order that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors!

Now above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, in order that you may not fall under judgment.

Elijah was a human being with the same nature as us, and {he prayed fervently} for [it] not to rain, and it did not rain on the land [for] three years and six months.