1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greetings.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you{+} fall into manifold trials;

3 Knowing that the proving of your{+} faith works patience.

4 And let patience have [its] perfect work, that you{+} may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

5 But if any of you{+} lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not upbraid; and it will be given him.

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

7 For do not let that man think that he will receive anything of the Lord;

8 a man who leads a double life, unstable in all his ways.

9 But let the brother who is lowly glory in his high [position];

10 and the rich, in his low [position]: because as the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass: and its flower falls, and the grace of its fashion perishes: so also will the rich man fade away in his ventures.

12 Blessed is the man who endures trial; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God can't be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man:

14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own desire, and enticed.

15 Then the desire, when it has conceived, bears sin: and the sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights [of heaven]; with whom there is neither shift in position, nor shadow that is cast by turning.

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

19 You{+} know [this], my beloved brothers. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20 for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.

21 Therefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your{+} souls.

22 But be{+} doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your{+} own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror:

24 for he looks at himself, and goes away, and right away forgets what manner of man he was.

25 But he who looks into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and stays [with it], not being a hearer that forgets but a doer that works, this man will be blessed in his doing.

26 If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he doesn't bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is useless.

27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.