James 1-5

21st Century King James Version

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,

³ knowing this: that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.

⁶ But let him ask in faith, never wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

⁸ A doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways.

⁹ Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

¹⁰ but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

¹¹ For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat than it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

¹² Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to those who love Him.

¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.

¹⁴ But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.

¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

¹⁶ Do not err, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

¹⁸ Of His own will, He begot us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

¹⁹ Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

²⁰ for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

²¹ Therefore lay apart all filthiness and the superfluity of wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.

²² But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³ For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴ for he beholdeth himself, and then goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

²⁶ If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

²⁷ Pure religion, undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

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

² For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,

³ and ye have respect for him that weareth the grand clothing and say unto him, “Sit thou here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “Stand thou there,” or, “Sit here under my footstool,”

⁴ are ye not then partial in yourselves and have become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Hearken, my beloved brethren: Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He hath promised to those who love Him?

⁶ But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and drag you before the judgment seats?

⁷ Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?

⁸ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” ye do well.

⁹ But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰ For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend on one point, he is guilty of all.

¹¹ For He that said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

¹² So speak ye, and so do, as those who shall be judged by the law of liberty.

¹³ For he shall have judgment without mercy, who hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

¹⁴ What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith save him?

¹⁵ If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,

¹⁶ and one of you say unto them, “Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled,” without giving them those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?

¹⁷ Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

¹⁸ Yea, a man may say, “Thou hast faith, and I have works.” Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

¹⁹ Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well. The devils also believe — and tremble.

²⁰ But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

²² Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.

²⁴ Ye see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way?

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

3 My brethren, let not many be masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

² For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body.

³ Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

⁴ Behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the helmsman pleases.

⁵ Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a wood a little fire kindleth!

⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire from hell.

⁷ For every kind of beast and bird and serpent and thing in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed, by mankind.

⁸ But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ Therewith we bless God, even the Father, and therewith we curse men, who are made in the similitude of God.

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

¹¹ Doth a fountain send forth from the same place sweet water and bitter?

¹² Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, or a vine figs? So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

¹³ Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show his works out of good conduct and with the meekness of wisdom.

¹⁴ But if ye have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

¹⁵ Such wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

¹⁶ For where envy and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

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

4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? Do they not come even from your lusts that war in your members?

² Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

³ Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

⁴ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

⁵ Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy”?

⁶ But He giveth more grace; therefore He saith, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸ Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.

⁹ Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

¹¹ Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

¹² There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?

¹³ Come now, ye that say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain”;

¹⁴ whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

¹⁵ Instead ye ought to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.”

¹⁶ But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil.

¹⁷ Therefore to him that knoweth how to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

5 Come now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

² Your riches are corrupted and your garments motheaten.

³ Your gold and silver are cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

⁴ Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped your fields, which you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

⁵ Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

⁶ Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you.

⁷ Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

⁸ Be ye also patient; make firm your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

⁹ Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!

¹⁰ My brethren, take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering affliction and of patience.

¹¹ Behold, we count them happy who endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy.

¹² But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “Yea” be yea, and your “Nay” be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.

¹³ Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.

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

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

¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months.

¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.

¹⁹ Brethren, if any of you err from the truth and one convert him,

²⁰ let him know that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.