The General Letter of James in the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Holy Bible (© Copyright 2011 Abbott ePublishing. All Rights Reserved.)

1:1 James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes which are scattered here and there.
1:2 My brothers, count it very joyful when you fall into diverse temptations,
1:3 Because you know the trying of your faith brings patience,
1:4 And let patience have her perfect work, so you may be perfect and sound, lacking nothing.
1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all men indifferently (and does not throw it back in their faces) and it will be given to him.
1:6 But let him ask in faith, and not doubt or waver. Because he who doubts is like the waves of the sea, tossed by the wind and carried with violence.
1:7 Neither let that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
1:8 A wavering-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
1:10 And the rich, in that he is made low, because just like the flower of the grass, he will vanish.
1:11 The sun rises with heat and the grass withers and its flower falls away and the beauty of its nature dies. So, too, will the rich man dies with his abundance.
1:12 Happy is the man who endures temptation, because when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, because God does not tempt into evil, neither does he tempt any man,
1:14 But every man is tempted, drawn away and enticed by his own lust.
1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings out death.
1:16 Do not err, my dear brothers.
1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither is he changed to darkness.
1:18 Of his own will, he gave birth to us with the word of life, so we would the first fruits of his creatures.
1:19 So, dear brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
1:20 For the anger of man does not work that which is righteousness in front of God.
1:21 So, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of maliciousness, and receive with meekness the word that is grafted into you, which is able to save your souls.
1:22 And see that you are doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves with sophistry.
1:23 Because if anyone hears the word and does not do it, he is like a man who sees his face in a mirror,
1:24 As soon as he has looked at himself, he goes away and forgets immediately what his face looked like.
1:25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it (if he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work) this man will be happy in his deed.
1:26 If any man among you seems religious and does not refrain from his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
1:27 Pure and undefiled religion in front of God and the Father is this: To visit the friendless and widows in their adversity, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
2:1 Brothers, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
2:2 If a man with a gold ring and nice clothing comes into your group, and there also comes in a poor man in vile clothes,
2:3 And you give respect to him who wears the good clothing, and say to him, Sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand over there, or sit here under my footstool,
2:4 Are you not partial in yourselves, and have judged by evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my dearly loved brothers. Has not God chosen the poor of this world, who are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have despised the poor. Are not rich those who oppress you, and those who drag you in front of judges?
2:7 Do they not speak evil of that good name after which you are named?
2:8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, which says, You will love your neighbor as yourself, you do well,
2:9 But if you regard one person more than another, you commit sin, and are condemned by the law as transgressors.
2:10 Whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, he is guilty of all.
2:11 For he who said, You will not commit adultery, said also, You will not kill. Though you do not commit adultery, yet if you kill, you are a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak, and do, as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
2:13 For there will be merciless judgment to him who shows no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.
2:14 What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, and he has no deeds? Can faith save him?
2:15 If a brother or sister is naked, and destitute of daily food,
2:16 And one of you says to them, Leave in peace, May God send you warmth and food, but you do not give them those things that are needed by the body, what help is that?
2:17 Even so, faith, if it has no deeds, is dead, in itself.
2:18 Yes, and a man may say, You have faith, and I have deeds, show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
2:19 Do you believe that there is one God? You do well. The demons also believe, and tremble.
2:20 Will you understand, Oh, you vain man, that faith without deeds is dead?
2:21 Was not our father Abraham justified through works, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
2:22 You see how faith worked with his deeds, and through the deeds, the faith was made perfect?
2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
2:24 You see then how that by deeds a man is justified, and not only by faith.
2:25 In also the same way, was not Rahab the harlot justified through works when she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?
2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
3:1 My brothers, every man should not be a master, remembering that we will receive the greater condemnation.
3:2 Because in many things we all sin. If any man does not sin in word, that is a perfect man, and is able to tame the whole body.
3:3 Look, we put bits into the horses' mouths, so they will obey us, and we turn around their whole body.
3:4 Also, look at the boats, which, even though they are large, and are driven by fierce winds, are they turned around with a very small helm, wherever the governor wishes.
3:5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  Look how great a thing a little fire kindles!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of wickedness. So is the tongue among our body parts, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire all that we have from nature and is itself set on fire, even from hell.
3:7 All kinds of beasts, and birds, and snakes, and things in the sea, are made meek and tamed by mankind,
3:8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it, we bless God the Father; and with it we curse men, which are made in the image of God.
3:10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be.
3:11 Does a fountain send out at one place sweet and bitter waters?
3:12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries? Or a vine, figs? (3:13) So no fountain can give both saltwater and fresh, too.
If any man is wise and ended with learning among you, let him show the works of his good conversation with meekness that is coupled with wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not rejoice, nor be liars against the truth.
3:15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly and sensual and devilish.
3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and all kinds of evil works.
3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, and without hypocrisy.
3:18 Yes, and the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who maintain peace.
4:1 From where comes warring and fighting among you? Come they not from this: your lust, which reigns within your members?
4:2 You lust, and do not have. You envy, and have indignation and cannot obtain. You fight and war and do not have, because you do not ask.
4:3 You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.
4:4 You adulterers and women who break matrimony, do you not know that friendship of the world is enmity towards God? Whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
4:5 Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in you lusts even contrary to envy?
4:6 But he gives more grace.
4:7 Submit yourselves to God and 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 wavering-minded.
4:9 Suffer afflictions. Sorrow and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.
4:10 Throw yourselves down in front of the Lord and he will lift you up.
4:11 Do not speak evil about one another brothers. He who speaks evil about his brother and he who judges his brother speak evil about the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not an observer of the law, but a judge.
4:12 There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge one another?
4:13 Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow, let us go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and profit,
4:14 And you cannot tell what will happen tomorrow. Because what is your life? It is a vapor, which appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
4:15 For that you ought to say, If the Lord wishes, we will live, and let us do this or that.
4:16 But now you rejoice in your boasting. All such rejoicing is evil.
4:17 Therefore to him who knows how to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.
5:1 Come now, you rich men. Weep and howl about your wretchedness, which will come on you.
5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.
5:3 Your gold and silver is corroded, and the rust of them will be a witness to you, and will eat your flesh like it was fire. You have heaped treasure together in your last days.
5:4 Look, the hire of the laborers who have harvested your fields (who are by you kept back by fraud) cries, and the cries of those who have harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
5:5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and in wantonness. You have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
5:6 You have condemned and killed the just, and he has not resisted you.
5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, for the coming of the Lord.  Look, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.
5:8 Therefore, you also be patient, and settle your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws near.
5:9 Do not grudge against one another, brothers, in case you are damned. Look: The judge stands in front of the door.
5:10 Take, my brothers, the Prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering adversity and of long patience.
5:11 Look, we consider those who endure to be happy. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have known what end the Lord made. Because the Lord is filled with pity and mercy.
5:12 But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath. Let your yes be yes, and your no, no, in case you fall into hypocrisy.
5:13 If any of you are evilly troubled, let him pray. If any of you are merry, let him sing psalms.
5:14 If any are defeated among you, let him call for the Elders of the congregation and let them pray over him, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
5:16 Make known your faults to one another, and pray for one another, so you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man avails much if it is fervent.
5:17 Elijah was a mortal man just as we are, and he prayed in his prayer that it would not 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 her fruit.
5:19 Brothers, if any of you err from the truth, and another converts him,
5:20 Let him know, that he who converted the sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will hide a vast number of sins.