James 2:5-4:17

English Standard Version

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, ^(A)has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be ^(B)rich in faith and heirs of ^(C)the kingdom, ^(D)which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you ^(E)have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who ^(F)drag you ^(G)into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable ^(H)name by which you were called?

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ^(I)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you ^(J)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point ^(K)has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, ^(L)“Do not commit adultery,” also said, ^(M)“Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under ^(N)the law of liberty. ¹³ For ^(O)judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith ^(P)but does not have works? Can that faith save him? ^15 (Q)If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ^16 (R)and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good^[a] is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith ^(S)apart from your works, and I will show you my faith ^(T)by my works. ^19 (U)You believe that God is one; you do well. Even ^(V)the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ^21 (W)Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that ^(X)faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed ^(Y)by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ^(Z)“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a ^(AA)friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also ^(AB)Rahab the prostitute justified by works ^(AC)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Taming the Tongue

3 ^(AD)Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ² For ^(AE)we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, ^(AF)he is a perfect man, ^(AG)able also to bridle his whole body. ³ If we put ^(AH)bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet ^(AI)it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And ^(AJ)the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, ^(AK)staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,^[b] and set on fire by hell.^{[c] 7} For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, ^(AL)full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people ^(AM)who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,^[d] these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? ^(AN)By his good conduct let him show his works ^(AO)in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter ^(AP)jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not ^(AQ)the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, ^(AR)demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But ^(AS)the wisdom from above is first pure, then ^(AT)peaceable, gentle, open to reason, ^(AU)full of mercy and good fruits, ^(AV)impartial and ^(AW)sincere. ¹⁸ And ^(AX)a harvest of righteousness ^(AY)is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[e] are ^(AZ)at war within you?^{[f] 2} You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask ^(BA)wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4 (BB)You adulterous people!^[g] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(BC)Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit ^(BD)that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But ^(BE)he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ^(BF)“God opposes the proud but ^(BG)gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. ^(BH)Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8 (BI)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ^(BJ)Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and ^(BK)purify your hearts, ^(BL)you double-minded. ^9 (BM)Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (BN)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

^11 (BO)Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[h] The one who speaks against a brother or ^(BP)judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is only ^(BQ)one lawgiver and ^(BR)judge, he who is able to save and ^(BS)to destroy. But ^(BT)who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, ^(BU)“Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^(BV)you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^(BW)“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. ^(BX)All such boasting is evil. ^17 (BY)So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.