Montgomery - James - 1

1:1  James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greeting to the twelve tribes that are scattered abroad.

1:2  My brothers, when you are beset by various temptations, count it all joy,

1:3  because you know that the testing of your faith is working out endurance.

1:4  But let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, not lacking in anything.

1:5  If any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him ask it from the God who gives to all men freely and without upbraiding; and it will be given to him.

1:6  But let him ask in faith, without wavering; for he who wavers is like a surge of the sea, wind-driven and tossed.

1:7  Such a man need not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,

1:8  double-minded as he is, unstable at every turn.

1:9  Let a brother in humble circumstances glory in his exaltation;

1:10  but a rich brother, in his humiliation; because like the flower of the grass the rich man will pass away.

1:11  For as the sun comes up with a burning heat, it withers the grass, and its flowers fall, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes; so also shall the rich man fade away amid his pursuits.

1:12  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

1:13  When he is being tempted, let no one say, "It is God who tempts me," for God cannot be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man.

1:14  But each man is tempted by his own lusts that allure and entice him.

1:15  Then lust conceives and gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is mature, brings forth death.

1:16  Do not be deceived, my brothers!

1:17  Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, and is ever coming down to us from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of eclipse.

1:18  Because he willed, he gave us birth through the word of truth, so that we should be a kind of first-fruits among his creatures.

1:19  Mark this well, my dear brothers. Let every man be swift in hearing, slow in speaking, slow in growing angry;

1:20  for a man’s anger does not further the righteous purpose of God.

1:21  So strip off all filthiness and superfluity of wickedness, and in meekness receive the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.

1:22  And become doers of the Word, and not merely hearers, deceiving yourselves.

1:23  Because if any one is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

1:24  for after he has looked carefully at himself, he goes away, and at once forgets what he is like.

1:25  But the man who looks closely into the perfect law - the law of liberty - and continues looking, this man will be blessed in his deed because he is not a hearer who forgets, but a doer who does.

1:26  If a man thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own religion,

1:27  and undefiled before our God and Father, to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and ever to keep himself unspotted from the world.