| 1 | James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (
[a]rejoice)! |
| 2 | Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in
or
encounter trials of any sort
or
fall into various temptations. |
| 3 | Be assured
and
understand that the trial
and
proving of your faith bring out endurance
and
steadfastness
and
patience. |
| 4 | But let endurance
and
steadfastness
and
patience have full play
and
do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. |
| 5 | If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of
[b]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally
and
ungrudgingly, without reproaching
or
faultfinding, and it will be given him. |
| 6 | Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither
and
thither and tossed by the wind. |
| 7 | For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, |
| 8 | [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable
and
unreliable
and
uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. |
| 9 | Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God], |
| 10 | And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away. |
| 11 | For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither
and
die in the midst of his pursuits. |
| 12 | Blessed (happy,
[c]to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial
and
stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test
and
been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. |
| 13 | Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. |
| 14 | But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed
and
baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). |
| 15 | Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death. |
| 16 | Do not be misled, my beloved brethren. |
| 17 | Every good gift and every perfect (
[d]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]. |
| 18 | And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself]. |
| 19 | Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense
and
to get angry. |
| 20 | For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires]. |
| 21 | So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive
and
welcome the Word which implanted
and
rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls. |
| 22 | But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. |
| 23 | For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it
and
being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; |
| 24 | For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. |
| 25 | But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it
and
perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience). |
| 26 | If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren). |
| 27 | External
[e]religious worship [
[f]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit
and
help
and
care for the orphans and widows in their affliction
and
need, and to keep oneself unspotted
and
uncontaminated from the world. |
Cross references:
-
James 1:11 : Isa. 40:6, 7.
|