James, bondman of God and of [the] Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that [are] in the dispersion, greeting.
Count [it] all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various temptations,
knowing that the proving of your faith worketh out endurance;
but let endurance have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all freely and reproacheth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea wind-driven and tossed
(for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord):
a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
But let the lowly brother glory in his elevation,
and the rich in his humiliation, because as flower of grass, he will pass away.
For the sun arose with its scorching, and withered the grass, and its flower fell away, and the comeliness of its look perished: thus also will the rich one fade in his goings.
Blest [is] a man who endureth trial; because, having been put to the proof, he shall receive the crown of life which he promised to those that love him.
Let none when tempted say, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted by evils, and himself tempteth none.
But each is tempted when by his own lust drawn away and enticed;
then lust having conceived bringeth forth sin; and sin when completed giveth birth to death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor shadow of turning.
Having purposed he begot us by [the] word of truth, that we should be a certain firstfruits of his creatures.
Ye know [it], my brethren beloved, but let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
for man’s wrath worketh not God’s righteousness.
Wherefore, having laid aside every sort of filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
But be word-doers, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.
Because if Anyone is a word-hearer, and not a doer, he is like a man considering his natural face in a mirror:
for he considered himself and is gone away, and straightway forgot of what sort he was.
But he that closely looked into perfect law, that of liberty, and abode close, being not a quite forgetful hearer, but a work-doer, he shall be blessed in his doing.
If anyone thinks he is religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this [man’s] religion is vain.
A religious service pure and undefiled before him that is God and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep himself unspotted from the world.