Rotherham - James

Chapter 1

1:1  James, a servant, of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,—unto the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion, Wishes joy.

1:2  All Joy, account it, my brethren, whensoever ye fall in with, manifold, temptations,—

1:3  Taking note, that, the proving of your faith, worketh out endurance;

1:4  But let, your endurance, have, mature work, that ye may be mature and complete, in nothing, coming short.

1:5  But, if any of you is sinning short of wisdom, let him be asking of God, Who giveth unto all freely and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him;

1:6  But let him be asking in faith, nothing, doubting, for, he that doubteth, is like a wave of the sea, wind-driven and storm-tossed,—

1:7  For let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord—

1:8  A two-souled man, unstable in all his ways.

1:9  But boasting be the lowly brother in his uplifting;

1:10  Whereas the rich, in his being brought low,—because, as a flower of grass, he will pass away;

1:11  For the sun hath sprung up, with it scorching heat, and hath withered the grass, and, the flower thereof, hath fallen out, and, the beauty of the face thereof, hath perished,—so, also the rich, in his goings, shall languish.

1:12  Happy the man who endureth temptation! Because, becoming approved, he shall receive the crown of life—which he hath promised unto them that love him.

1:13  Let, no one, while tempted, be saying—From God, am I tempted,—for, God, cannot be tempted by things evil, and, himself, tempteth no one;

1:14  But, each one, is tempted, when, by his own coveting, he is drawn out and enticed,

1:15  Then, the coveting, having conceived, giveth birth to sin, and, the sin, when full-grown, bringeth forth death.

1:16  Be not deceived, my brethren beloved:—

1:17  Every good giving, and every perfect gift, is, from above, coming down from the Father of lights—with whom is no alternation, nor shadow cast, by turning:

1:18  Because he was so minded, he hath brought us forth with a word of truth, to the end we should be a sort of firstfruit of his creatures

1:19  Ye know, my brethren beloved,—but let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

1:20  For, man’s anger, worketh not, God’s righteousness.

1:21  Wherefore, putting away all filthiness and overflow of baseness, in meekness, welcome ye the word fitted for inward growth, which is able to save your souls:

1:22  Become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only—reasoning yourselves astray;

1:23  Because, if any is, a word-hearer, and not a doer, the same, is like unto a man observing his natural face in a mirror,—

1:24  For he observed himself, and is gone away, and, straightway, it hath escaped him,—what manner of man, he was!

1:25  But, he that hath obtained a nearer view into the perfect law of liberty, and hath taken up his abode by it, becoming—not a forgetful hearer, but a work doer, the same, happy in his doing, shall be.

1:26  If any thinketh he is observant of religion, not curbing his own tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this one’s, religious observance is, vain:

1:27  Religious observance, pure and undefiled with our God and Father, is, this—to be visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, unspotted, to keep, himself, from the world.

Chapter 2

2:1  My brethren, do not, with respect for persons, be holding the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of glory.

2:2  For, if there enter into your synagogue a man wearing gold rings in gay clothing, and there enter a destitute man also, in soiled clothing,—

2:3  And ye eye him that hath on the gay clothing, and say, Thou, be sitting here, pleasantly,—and, unto the destitute man, say—Thou, stand, or sit there under my footstool,

2:4  Would ye not have been led to make distinctions among yourselves, and have become judges with wicked reasonings?

2:5  Hearken! my brethren beloved:—Hath not, God, chosen the destitute in the world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

2:6  Whereas, ye, have dishonoured the destitute man! Do not, the rich, oppress you? and, themselves, drag you into courts of justice?

2:7  Do not, they, defame the noble name which hath been invoked upon you?

2:8  If ye are, indeed, fulfilling, a royal law, according to the scripture—Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, nobly, are ye doing;

2:9  But, if ye are shewing respect of persons, sin, are ye working, being convicted by the law as transgressors!

2:10  For, a man who shall keep, the whole law, but shall stumble in one thing, hath become, for all things, liable,—

2:11  For, he that hath said—Do not commit adultery, hath also said—Do not commit murder,—now, if thou dost not commit adultery, but dost commit murder, thou hast become a transgressor of law.

2:12  So, be speaking, and, so, doing, as they who, through means of a law of freedom, are about to be judged;

2:13  For, the judgment, [will be] without mercy, unto him that hath shewed no mercy: Mercy, boasteth, over judgment.

2:14  What profit, my brethren,—if one should be saying he hath, faith, but hath not, works; can his faith save him?

2:15  If, a brother or sister, should be naked, and coming short of the daily food,

2:16  And one from among you should say unto them—Withdraw in peace, be getting warmed and fed, but should not give them the things needful for the body, What the profit?

2:17  So, also, faith, if it have not works, is dead, by itself.

2:18  But one will say,—Thou, hast faith, and, I, have works, show me thy faith apart from thy works, and, I, unto thee, will shew, by my works, my faith.

2:19  Thou believest that God is, one: thou doest, well—Even the demons believe, and shudder!

2:20  But art thou willing to learn, O empty man! that, faith, apart from works, is, idle?

2:21  Abraham our father, was it not, by works, he was declared righteous—when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

2:22  Thou seest that, his faith, had been working together with his works, and by his works did his faith become full-grown,—

2:23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith—And Abraham believed God, And it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and, God’s friend, was he called:

2:24  Ye see that—by works, a man is declared righteous, and not by faith alone.

2:25  And, in like manner also, Rahab the harlot, Was it not, by works, she was declared righteous, when she gave welcome unto the messengers, and, by another way, urged them forth?

2:26  Just as, the body, apart from spirit, is dead, so, our faith also, apart from works, is dead.

Chapter 3

3:1  Not, many teachers, become ye, my brethren, knowing that, a severer sentence, shall ye receive;

3:2  For, oft, are we stumbling, one and all: If anyone, in word, doth not stumble, the same, is a mature man, able to curb even the whole body.

3:3  Now, if, the horses bits, into their mouths, we thrust, to the end they may be yielding to us, their whole body also, do we turn about.

3:4  Lo! the ships also, large as they are, and, by rough winds, driven along, are turned about by a very small helm, whithersoever the impulse of the steersman inclineth.

3:5  So, also, the tongue, is, a little member, and yet, of great things, maketh boast. Lo! how small a fire, kindleth, how great a forest;

3:6  And, the tongue, is a fire,—[as], the world of unrighteousness, the tongue, becometh fixed among our members, that which defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the wheel of our natural life, and is set on fire, by gehenna!

3:7  For, every nature—both of wild beasts and of birds, both of reptiles and of things in the sea, is to be tamed, and hath been tamed, by the human nature;

3:8  But, the tongue, none of mankind can, tame,—A restless mischief! Full of deadly poison

3:9  Therewith, are we blessing our Lord and Father, and, therewith, we are cursing the men who, after the likeness of God, have been brought into being!

3:10  Out of the same mouth, come forth blessing and cursing! Not meet, my brethren, for, these things, thus, to be coming to pass!

3:11  Doth, the fountain, out of the same opening, teem forth the sweet and the bitter?

3:12  Is it possible, my brethren, for, a fig-tree, to produce, olives, or, a vine, figs? Neither can, salt, water yield, sweet.

3:13  Who is wise and well-instructed among you? Let him show, out of his comely behaviour, his works, in meekness of wisdom.

3:14  But, if, bitter jealousy, ye have, and rivalry, in your hearts; be not boasting and showing yourselves false against the truth!

3:15  This wisdom is not one, from above, coming down, but is earthly, born of the soul, demoniacal!

3:16  For, where jealousy and rivalry are, there, are anarchy and every ignoble deed.

3:17  But, the wisdom from above, is—first pure, then peaceable, reasonable, easy to be entreated, fraught with mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.

3:18  And, in harvest of righteousness, with peace, is sown by them that make peace.

Chapter 4

4:1  Whence wars and whence fightings among you? are they not from hence—due to your pleasures which are taking the field in your members?

4:2  Ye covet—and have not, ye commit murder, and are jealous—and cannot obtain,—ye fight and war. Ye have not—because ye do not really ask,

4:3  Ye ask and receive not, because that, basely, ye ask, in order that, in your pleasures, ye may spend [it] .

4:4  Adulteresses! Know ye not that, the friendship of the world, is, enmity to God? Whosoever, therefore, is minded to be, a friend, of the world, an enemy of God, doth constitute himself.

4:5  Or think ye that, in vain, the scripture speaketh? Is it, for envying, that the spirit which hath taken an abode within us doth crave?

4:6  Howbeit he giveth, greater, favour. Wherefore it saith—God, against the haughty, arrayeth himself, Whereas, unto the lowly, he giveth favour.

4:7  Range yourselves, therefore, under God, but withstand the adversary, and he will flee from you:

4:8  Draw near unto God, and he will draw near unto you. Cleanse hands, sinners! Chasten hearts, double souls!

4:9  Be miserable and lament and weep, let, your laughter, into lamentation, be turned, and, your joy, into dejection;

4:10  Be made low in presence of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

4:11  Be not speaking one against another, brethren! He that speaketh against a brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against law, and judgeth law; Now, if, upon law, thou art passing judgment, thou art not a doer of law, but a judge!

4:12  One, is Lawgiver and Judge—He who hath power to save and to destroy; but who art, thou, that judgest thy neighbour?

4:13  Come now! ye that say—Today or To-morrow, we will journey unto this city here, and will spend there a year, and will trade and get gain,—

4:14  Men who are not versed in the morrow—of what sort your life [will be] ; for ye are, a vapour—for a little, appearing, then, just disappearing!

4:15  Instead of your saying—If, the Lord, be pleased, we shall both, live and do this or that;

4:16  Whereas, now, are ye boasting in your pretensions:—All boasting like this, is, wicked,

4:17  To him, therefore, who knoweth how to be doing, a right thing, and is not doing it, it is, sin, unto him.

Chapter 5

5:1  Come now! ye wealthy! Weep ye, howling, for your hardships which are coming upon you:

5:2  Your wealth, hath rotted, and, your garments, have become, moth-eaten,—

5:3  Your gold and silver, have rusted away, and, their rust, shall be, witness against you, and shall eat your flesh, as fire! Ye have laid up treasure in days of extremity:—

5:4  Lo, the wage of the workers who have out down your fields—that which hath been kept back, by you, is crying out; and, the outcries of them who reaped, into the ears of the Lord of hosts, have entered:

5:5  Ye have luxuriated upon the land, and run riot, ye have pampered your hearts in a day of slaughter;

5:6  Ye sentenced—ye murdered the Righteous one! Is he not arraying himself against you?

5:7  Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the Presence of the Lord:—Lo! the husbandman, awaiteth the precious fruit of the earth, having patience for it, until it receive the early and the latter rain:

5:8  Be, ye also, patient, Stablish your hearts, because, the Presence of the Lord, hath drawn near.

5:9  Be not sighing, brethren, one against another, lest ye be judged,—Lo! the Judge, before the doors, is standing.

5:10  An example, take ye, brethren, of distress and patience,—the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord.

5:11  Lo! we pronounce them happy who have endured;—Of the endurance of Job, ye have heard, and, the end of the Lord, have ye seen,—that, of much tender affection, is the Lord, and full of compassion,

5:12  But, before all things, my brethren, do not swear,—either by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your Yea be yea, and your Nay nay,—lest, under judgment, ye fall.

5:13  In distress, is any among you? Let him pray; Cheerful, is any? Let him strike the strings;

5:14  Sick, is any among you? Let him call unto him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name [of the Lord];—

5:15  And, the prayer of faith, shall save the exhausted one, and the Lord will raise him up, and, if he have committed, sins, it shall be forgiven him.

5:16  Be openly confessing, therefore, one to another, your sins, and be praying in each other’s behalf,—that ye may be healed. Much availeth, the supplication of a righteous man, when it is energised:

5:17  Elijah, was, a man, affected like us; and he earnestly prayed that there might be no moisture, and there was no moisture on the land, for three years and six months,—

5:18  And, again, he prayed, and, the heaven, gave, rain, and, the land, shot up her fruit.

5:19  My brethren! If one among you be led to err from the truth, and one turn him back,

5:20  Be ye taking note—that, he that turneth back a sinner out of the error of his way—will save his soul out of death, and hide a multitude of sins.