1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: greetings.
2My brothers and sisters, count it all joy when you fall into many kinds of temptations.
3You know that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4But let patience finish its work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all and does not scold; and it will be given to him.
6But let him ask in faith, with no wavering. For the one who wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about.
7That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9Let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted high.
10But let the rich man be glad that he is made low. For he will pass away like the flower of the grass.
11As soon as the sun rises with burning heat, it dries up the grass. Its flower falls, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So also the rich man will fade away in his ways.
12Blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he has been tested, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God." For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he tempts no one.
14But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desire.
15Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
16Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no change, and no shadow of turning.
18Of his own will he became our father through the word of truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of the things he made.
19So then, my dear brothers and sisters, let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
20For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21So put away all filthiness and the overflow of wickedness. Receive with meekness the word planted in you, which is able to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23For 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.
24He looks at himself, and goes away, and at once forgets what kind of man he was.
25But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and keeps on in it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone among you seems to be religious, but does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart, and this man's religion is worthless.
27Pure religion, with no stain, before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.