1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you experience various trials,
3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6But he must ask in faith without doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed about.
7That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9The lowly brother should rejoice in being exalted,
10and the rich man should rejoice in being made low, because he will pass away like a flower of grass.
11For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance is lost. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
12Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13No one should say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God is not tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.
15And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death.
16Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18Of his own will he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19So then, my beloved brothers, everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
20For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and rampant wickedness, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror.
24For he looks at himself and goes away, and then immediately forgets what he looks like.
25But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone among you considers himself to be religious but does not bridle his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
27Pure and undefiled religion before God our Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.