1 Scroll 28 Epistle of James.
Jacobus[James], a servant of GOD and of Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the dispersion, greeting.
2 My brethren, deem it all joy when ye may fall into diverse temptations.
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and whole, lacking in nothing.
5 But if anyone of you is lacked of wisdom, let him asking from God, who giving to all liberally,
and reproaching not; and it shall be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing.
For he who doubting has been like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and being tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9
Let the humble brother boast in that he is exalted:
10 but the rich, in his humiliation: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and its flower falls,
and the beauty of its appearance perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12
Blessed is the man that endures temptation: because when becoming approved, he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord has promised to them that loving Him!
13 Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted by God: for God is not tempted with evil things, and He tempts no one:
14 but every man is tempted, when he being drawn away by his own lust, and being enticed.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and the sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
16
Be not deceived; my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He has begotten us with the word of truth, for us to be a kind of first-fruit 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 works not the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore having laid apart all filthiness and abundance of wickedness,
and receive with meekness the grafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he has been like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 for he beholds himself, and has gone away, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was.
25 But he who having looked into the perfect Law of Liberty, and continues in it,
he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his doing.
26
If anyone among you seems to be religious,
and bridling not his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, vain is this man's religion.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before the God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself without spot from the World.
1 My brethren, have not with respect of persons[favouritism] the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of the glory.
2 For if there may come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in splendid clothing,
and there also come in a poor man in vile clothing;
3 and ye may have respect him that wears splendid clothing,
and may say to him, Sit Thou here in a good place;
and may say to the poor, Stand Thou there, or sit here under my stool:
4 and are ye not partial among yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5 Listen, My beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this World rich in faith,
and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to them that loving Him?
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment-seats?
7 Do they not blaspheme the good name by which ye was called?
8 However, if ye fulfil the royal Law according to the Scripture, Thou shall love Thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. Lev 19:18
9 But if ye have respect of persons[favouritism], ye work in sin, and being convicted by the Law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet shall stumble in one point, he has become liable of all.
11 For He who having said, Thou should not commit adultery; said also, Thou should not murder. Exo 20:13-14
But if Thou shall commit no adultery, yet if Thou shall murder, Thou have become a transgressor of the Law.
12 So speak ye, and so do, as about by a Law of Liberty to be judged.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that has shown no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.
14 What does it profit, my brethren, though a man says to have faith, and may have not works?
Can this faith save him?
15 But if a brother or sister is naked, and may be lacking daily food,
16 and one of you may say to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled;
but ye may give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit?
17 So also the faith, if it may have not works, is dead by itself.
18 But a man may say, Thou have faith, and I have works:
show me Thy faith without Thy works, and I shall show Thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believe that there is One GOD; Thou do well: the demons also believe, (and shudder).
20 But will Thou to know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, having offered Isaac his son upon the Altar? Gen 22:9
22 See Thou that faith work with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled,
which saying, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness: Gen 15:6
and he was called the Friend of God. Isa 41:8
24 See ye then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the whore justified by works,
when she having received the messengers, and she having sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the faith without works is dead.
1 My brethren, become not as many teachers, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgment.
2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone stumbles not in word, the same is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Behold, we put bits in the mouths of horses, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4 Behold also the ships, which though they are so great, and being driven by fierce winds,
yet they are turned about by the smallest rudder, wherever the desire of him that steering may wish.
5 So also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a World of unrighteousness: so is the tongue set among our members, that it defiles the whole body,
and being set on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by Gehenna.
7 For all nature: beasts, both of birds and creeping things, both marine lives that is tamed and has been tamed by human nature:
8 but the tongue can no one of men to tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With this we bless God, even the Father; and with this we curse men, who having been made after the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11 Does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olives? 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 by a good behaviour his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your heart, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom coming down not from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is unrest and every evil matter.
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 partiality, and unfeigned.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to them that make peace.
1 Whence come wars and quarrels among you?
Come they not hence, from your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust and have not:
ye murder, 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 evilly, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
have ye not known that the friendship of the World is enmity of God?
Whoever therefore will to be a friend of the World is set the enemy of God.
5 Or do ye think that the Scripture says in vain,
The spirit that dwelt in us lusts to envy?
6 But gives more grace. Therefore He says,
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Pro 3:34
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and He shall draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Be humbled before the LORD, and He shall exalt you.
11 Speak not evil against one of another, brethren;
he who speaking evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the Law,
and judges the Law: but if Thou judges the Law, Thou are not a doer of the Law, but a judge.
12 There is One Lawgiver, who is able to save, and to destroy: who are Thou that judge another?
13 Come now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow,
we may go into such a city, and may continue there one year, and may buy and sell and get gain:
14 whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow:
For what is your life? For it is a vapour, that appearing for a little time, and then vanishing away.
15 Instead of that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, and we shall live, and may do this, or that.
16 But now ye boast in your vauntings: all such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.
1 Come now, ye rich men, weep and howling for your miseries that are coming upon you.
2 Your riches have become corrupted, and your garments have become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver is corroded; and the rust of them shall be a testimony against you,
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye made treasure for the Last Days.
4 Behold, the reward of the labourers who have reaped your fields, which is by you kept back by fraud,
cries: and the cries of them who have reaped have entered into the ears of the LORD of Sabaoth.
5 Ye lived in luxury on the Earth, and lived in pleasure; ye nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye condemned and murdered the just; and he does not resist you.
7
Be patient, therefore, brethren, to the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the Husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the Earth,
and has long patience for it, until he receives rain (former and latter).
8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord has drawn near.
9 Grumble not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, before the door has stood the Judge.
10 My brethren, take for an example of suffering affliction, and of endurance, the prophets,
who have spoken in the name of the LORD.
11 Behold, we call them blessed who endure. Ye heard of the patience of Job,
and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of compassion, and of tender mercy.
12 But before all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by Heaven, neither by the Earth,
neither by any other oath: but let your yes, be yes; and the no, no; lest ye may fall into judgment.
13 Is any among you endure evil? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? 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;
even if he has done sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your trespasses one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
An energic working prayer avails much of the righteous man.
17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed in prayer that it not to rain:
and it rained not on the land by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the Heaven gave rain, and the Earth brought forth its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among you should go astray from the truth, and one should convert him;
20 let him know, that he who having converted a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.