ACV - James

Chapter 1

1:1  James, a bondman of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, greeting.

1:2  Consider it all joy, my brothers, when ye encounter various trials,

1:3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

1:4  And let perseverance have a perfect work, so that ye may be perfect and complete, falling short in nothing.

1:5  And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God who gives to all generously and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.

1:6  But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by wind and tossed about.

1:7  For that man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord,

1:8  a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

1:9  Now let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

1:10  but the rich in his lowliness, because as a flower of grass he will pass away.

1:11  For the sun rose up with the burning heat, and withered the grass. And the flower of it fell, and the beauty of its appearance perished. So also the rich man will fade away among his pursuits.

1:12  Blessed is a man who endures temptation, because, having become approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God is without temptation of evils, and he himself tempts no man.

1:14  But each man is tempted by his own lust, being drawn away and enticed.

1:15  Then the lust having conceived, it gives birth to sin, and after being complete the sin brings forth death.

1:16  Be not led astray, my beloved brothers.

1:17  Every good gift and every perfect endowment is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning.

1:18  Having deliberated, he begot us by the word of truth for us to be a certain first fruit of his creatures.

1:19  Therefore, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.

1:20  For the wrath of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

1:21  Therefore having put off all filthiness and profusion of evil, receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

1:22  But become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

1:23  Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this resembles a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

1:24  For he observes himself, and goes away, and straightaway forgets what kind of man he was.

1:25  But he who stooped to look into the perfect law, the one of liberty, and who remained, this man, who did not become a forgetful hearer but a doer of work, this man will be blessed in his doing.

1:26  If any man among you seems to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is futile.

1:27  Pure religion and undefiled from God and the Father is this, to go help the orphaned and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Chapter 2

2:1  My brothers, ye should not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, in favoritism.

2:2  For if a man with a gold ring in bright clothing comes into your synagogue, and also a poor man in dirty clothing comes in,

2:3  and ye have regard for the man wearing the bright clothing, and say to him, Sit thou here well, and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit here below my footstool,

2:4  then are ye not partial among yourselves, and become judges from evil thoughts?

2:5  Listen, my beloved brothers, did not God choose the poor of the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him?

2:6  But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich exploit you, and they themselves drag you into courts?

2:7  Do they not blaspheme the good name that was called upon you?

2:8  If ye indeed fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

2:9  But if ye respect personages, ye work sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law, and stumbles on one, he has become guilty of all.

2:11  For he who said thou shall not commit adultery, also said thou shall not murder. Now if thou will not commit adultery, but murder, thou have become a transgressor of law.

2:12  So speak ye, and so do ye, as men who are to be judged by a law of liberty.

2:13  For the judgment is merciless to him who did no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

2:14  What is the benefit, my brothers, if some man should say to have faith, but has no works? Can the faith save him?

2:15  And if a brother or sister may be unclothed, and may be destitute of daily food,

2:16  and some man of you would say to them, Go in peace, be ye warmed and fed, but ye would not give them the things necessary for the body, what is the benefit?

2:17  So also faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself.

2:18  But some man will say, Thou have faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith from thy works, and I will show thee from my works my faith.

2:19  Thou believe that there is one God, thou do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.

2:20  But do thou want to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

2:21  Was not Abraham our father made righteous from works, having offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?

2:22  Thou see that faith was working with his works, and from the works, faith was fully perfected.

2:23  And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

2:24  Ye see therefore that from works a man is made righteous, and not from faith only.

2:25  And likewise also was not Rahab the harlot made righteous from works, having received the agents, and having sent them out another way?

2:26  For as the body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without the works is dead.

Chapter 3

3:1  Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive greater judgment.

3:2  For we all stumble in many things. If any man does not stumble in word, this is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

3:3  Behold we put bits into the mouths of horses for them to obey us, and we guide about their whole body.

3:4  Behold also the ships, being so great and driven by fierce winds, are guided about by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the man who steers determines.

3:5  So also the tongue is a little body-part, and boasts greatly. Behold a little fire, how much wood it kindles.

3:6  And the tongue is a fire, the world of unrighteousness. Thus, the tongue is made to lead among our body-parts, defiling the whole body, and setting the cycle of nature on fire, and being set on fire by hell.

3:7  For every species, both of beasts and of birds, both of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human species.

3:8  But no man is able to tame the tongue of men, an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

3:9  By it we bless the God and Father, and by it we curse men, who were made according to a likeness of God.

3:10  Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and curse. My brothers, these things ought not to happen this way.

3:11  Does the spring pour out from the same opening the sweet and the bitter?

3:12  A fig tree, my brothers, cannot make olives, or a grapevine figs. In the same way, no one spring makes water salty and sweet.

3:13  Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show from his good behavior his works in meekness of wisdom.

3:14  But if ye have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast, and do not lie against the truth.

3:15  This wisdom is not descending from above, but is earthly, world-soul, demonic.

3:16  For where envy and selfish ambition are, there is instability and every evil deed.

3:17  But the wisdom from above is indeed first pure, then peaceful, gentle, easily entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and non-hypocritical.

3:18  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to those who make peace.

Chapter 4

4:1  From where are wars and fightings among you? Is it not from here: from your pleasures warring in your body-parts?

4:2  Ye desire and do not have, so ye murder. And ye envy and cannot obtain, so ye fight and make war. Ye do not have, because ye do not ask.

4:3  Ye ask, and do not receive, because ye ask wrongly, so that ye may spend on your pleasures.

4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is hatred of God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

4:5  Or think ye that the scripture says vainly, The Spirit that he caused to dwell in us yearns with jealousy?

4:6  But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the arrogant, but gives grace to the lowly.

4:7  Be subordinate therefore to God, but resist the devil and he will flee from you.

4:8  Approach God and he will approach you. Cleanse the hands, ye sinners, and purify the hearts, ye double-minded.

4:9  Be ye sorrowful, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into a downcast look.

4:10  Be ye made lower in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

4:11  Speak not against each other, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against law and judges law. But if thou judge law, thou are not a doer of law, but a judge.

4:12  There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy, but thou, who are thou who judge the other man?

4:13  Go now, men who say, Today and tomorrow we will go into this city, and will operate one year there, and will engage in trade and will get gain-

4:14  men who know not of the morrow. For what is your life? For it will be a vapor that appears for a little while, and then also vanishes away-

4:15  in place of your saying, If the Lord should will, then we will live and do this or that.

4:16  But now ye boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

4:17  He therefore who knows to do good, and is not doing it, to him it is sin.

Chapter 5

5:1  Go now, ye rich, weep, howling for your miseries that are approaching.

5:2  Your wealth has decayed, and your garments have become moth-eaten.

5:3  Your gold and your silver have cankered, and their corrosion will be testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. Ye have hoarded in the last days.

5:4  Behold the wage of the workmen who reaped your fields. The man who was defrauded by you cries out. And the outcries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5:5  Ye have lived in luxury on the earth, and were self-indulgent. Ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

5:6  Ye have condemned, ye have murdered the righteous man. He is not hostile to you.

5:7  Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it, until it receives the early and latter rain.

5:8  Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord has approached.

5:9  Do not grumble, brothers, against each other, so that ye not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors.

5:10  Take an example, my brothers, of evil-suffering and longsuffering, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

5:11  Behold, we regard those who endured, blessed. Ye have heard of the fortitude of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord, that he is very compassionate and merciful.

5:12  But above all things, my brothers, swear not. Neither by the heaven, nor the earth, nor any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and the no, no, so that ye may not fall into hypocrisy.

5:13  Is any man among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise.

5:14  Is any man weak among you? Let him summon the elders of the congregation, and let them pray near him, having anointed him with olive oil in the name of the Lord.

5:15  And the prayer of faith will rescue him who is depressed, and the Lord will rouse him. And if he should be a man who has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

5:16  Confess ye the trespasses to each other, and pray for each other so that ye may be healed. A working supplication of a righteous man is very powerful.

5:17  Elijah was a man of the same nature as we. And by prayer, he asked for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

5:18  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

5:19  Brothers, if any man among you may be led astray from the truth, and some man converts him,

5:20  let him know that he who converts a sinful man from his wandering way, will save a soul from death, and will hide a multitude of sins.