AFV2020 - James

Chapter 1

1:1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, which are in the dispersion: Greetings!

1:2  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you are beset by various trials,

1:3  Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

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

1:5  However, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to everyone freely and does not reproach the one who asks; and it shall be given to him.

1:6  But let him ask in faith, not doubting at all because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed to and fro.

1:7  Do not let that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.

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

1:9  But let the brother who is in humble circumstances rejoice in his elevation,

1:10  And let the one who is rich rejoice in his humble condition because, as the flower of the field, he himself will pass away;

1:11  For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries up the grass, and its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way also shall the rich man wither in his pursuits.

1:12  Blessed is the man who endures trials because, after he has been proved, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

1:13  Do not let anyone who is tempted say, "I am being tempted by God" because God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one with evil.

1:14  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and is enticed by his own lust.

1:15  And after lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is completely finished, brings forth death.

1:16  Do not deceive yourselves, my beloved brethren.

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

1:18  According to His own will, He begat us by the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all His created beings.

1:19  For this reason, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger

1:20  Because man's wrath does not work out God's righteousness.

1:21  Therefore, having rid yourselves of all filthiness and all the abounding of wickedness around you, then in meekness accept for yourselves the implanted Word, which is able to save your lives.

1:22  Then be doers of the Word, and not only hearers, deceiving your own selves

1:23  Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, this one is like a man considering his natural face in a mirror

1:24  Who, after looking at himself, went away and immediately forgot what he was like.

1:25  But the one who has looked into the perfect law of freedom, and has continued in it, this one himself has not become a forgetful hearer, but is a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his actions.

1:26  If anyone among you considers himself to be religious, and does not control his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is vain.

1:27  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Chapter 2

2:1  My brethren, do not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2:2  Now then, if a man comes into your synagogue wearing gold rings and dressed in splendid apparel, and there comes in also a poor man in lowly apparel,

2:3  And you give preference to the one who is wearing the splendid apparel, and say to him, "Seat yourself here in the best place"; and you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or, "Sit here under my footstool";

2:4  Then have you not passed judgment among yourselves, and have made yourselves judges with evil opinions?

2:5  My beloved brethren, listen. Did not God Himself choose the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?

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

2:7  Do they not blaspheme the worthy name by which you are called?

2:8  If you are truly keeping the Royal Law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

2:9  But if you have respect of persons, you are practicing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors;

2:10  For if anyone keeps the whole law, but sins in one aspect, he becomes guilty of all.

2:11  For He Who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

2:12  In this manner speak and in this manner behave: as those who are about to be judged by the law of freedom.

2:13  For the one who has dealt without mercy will be judged without mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment.

2:14  My brethren, what good does it do, if anyone says that he has faith, and does not have works? Is faith able to save him?

2:15  Now then, if there be a brother or sister who is naked and destitute of daily food,

2:16  And one of you says to them, "Go in peace; be warmed and be filled," and does not give to them the things necessary for the body, what good is it?

2:17  In the same way also, faith, if it does not have works, is dead, by itself.

2:18  But someone is going to say, "You have faith, and I have works." My answer is: You prove your faith to me through your works, and I will prove my faith to you through my works.

2:19  Do you believe that God is one? You do well to believe this. Even the demons believe—and tremble in fear.

2:20  But are you willing to understand, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

2:21  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his own son, upon the altar?

2:22  Do you not see that faith was working together with his works, and by works his faith was perfected?

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

2:24  You see, then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

2:25  Now, in the same manner also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when, after receiving the messengers, she sent them out a different way?

2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, in the same way also, faith without works is dead.

Chapter 3

3:1  My brethren, do not many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive more severe judgment;

3:2  Because we frequently offend, every one of us. If anyone does not offend in what he says, this one is a perfect man and is able also to hold in check the whole body.

3:3  Remember, we put bits into horses' mouths in order that they may obey us, and we direct their entire bodies.

3:4  Consider also that ships, being so large, and being driven by strong winds, are turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the one who is steering may decide.

3:5  In the same way also, the tongue is a little member, but it boasts great things. See how large a forest is set ablaze by a little fire;

3:6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. So has the tongue been set among our members—the one member that defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of life, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

3:7  Now then, every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

3:8  But the tongue no human being is able to tame; it is an unrestrainable evil, full of death-dealing poison.

3:9  With it we bless God the Father, and with it we ourselves curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

3:10  From the same mouth comes out blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so!

3:11  Does a fountain pour out of the same opening sweet water and bitter water?

3:12  My brethren, can a fig tree produce olives, or a vine produce figs? In the same way, no fountain can produce salt water and fresh water.

3:13  Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him demonstrate his works through good conduct in the meekness of wisdom.

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

3:15  This wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, sensual and demonic;

3:16  Because where bitter envying and selfish ambition are, there is dissension and every evil thing.

3:17  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy.

3:18  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Chapter 4

4:1  What is the cause of quarrels and fightings among you? Is it not mainly from your own lusts that are warring within your members?

4:2  You lust, and have not; you kill, and are jealous, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel, but still you do not have, because you do not ask.

4:3  Then you ask, and you do not receive, because you ask with evil motives, that you may consume it on your own lusts.

4:4  You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever desires to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

4:5  Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, "The spirit that dwells in us lusts with envy"?

4:6  But He gives greater grace. This is the reason it says, "God sets Himself against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble."

4:7  Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

4:8  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded!

4:9  Be grieved and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into grieving, and your joy into mourning.

4:10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

4:11  Brethren, do not talk against one another. The one who talks against a brother, and judges his brother, is speaking against the law, and is judging the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law; rather, you are a judge.

4:12  But there is only one Lawgiver, Who has power to save and to destroy. Who are you that you presume to judge another?

4:13  Now listen, those of you who say, "Today and tomorrow we will go into such a city, and we will spend a year, and we will conduct business and make a profit."

4:14  You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while, and then disappears.

4:15  Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live, and we will do this or that."

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

4:17  Therefore, if anyone knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Chapter 5

5:1  Come now, you rich men, weep! Howl over the miseries that are coming upon you!

5:2  Your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten.

5:3  Your gold and your silver have been eaten away, and their corrosion will be a testimony against you, and will consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth for the last days.

5:4  Listen! The wages of the workmen who harvested your fields, which have been withheld by you, are crying out; and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5:5  You have lived in luxury upon the earth, and you have lived in selfgratification; you have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter.

5:6  You have condemned and you have killed the righteous, and he does not resist you.

5:7  Therefore, brethren, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Consider the husbandman who waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it, until it has received the former and latter rains.

5:8  You also be patient. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

5:9  Do not complain against one another, brethren, so that you may not be condemned. Behold, the Judge stands at the door.

5:10  My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of endurance in afflictions and of steadfastness.

5:11  Remember, we call those blessed who endure. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the end result of serving the Lord: that the Lord is very compassionate and full of tender mercies.

5:12  But above all things, my brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and let your no be no, so that you do not fall into hypocrisy.

5:13  Is anyone suffering hardship among you? Let him pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing praise.

5:14  Is anyone sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick one, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

5:16  Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man prevails much, being effective.

5:17  Elijah was a man of emotions like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain upon the earth for three years and six months.

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

5:19  Brethren, if anyone among you strays from the Truth, and someone brings him back,

5:20  Let him know that he who brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.