The Epistle of
JAMES
-- Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - Copyright © 1976 - 2000 --
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James 1
1 ¶ James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion, greeting:
2 ¶ My brothers count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the proving of your faith works patience.
4 But let patience have its perfective work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all freely and with no reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, being driven by wind and being tossed;
7 for do not let that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-souled man, not dependable in all his ways.
9 But let the lowly brother rejoice in his lifting up;
10 and the rich one rejoice in his humiliation, because he will pass away like the flower of the grass.
11 For the sun rose with the hot wind and dried up the grass, and its flower fell out, and the beauty of its appearance perished; so also the rich one will fade away in his ways. Isa. 40:6, 7
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to the ones loving Him.
13 ¶ Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evil, and He tempts no one.
14 But each one is tempted by his own lusts, being drawn out and being seduced by them.
15 Then having conceived lust brings forth sin. And sin being fully formed brings forth death.
16 Do not go astray, my beloved brothers,
17 every act of good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom is no change or shadow of turning.
18 Having purposed, He brought us forth by the Word of truth, for us to be a certain firstfruit of His creatures.
19 ¶ So that, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
20 For the wrath of man does not work out the righteousness of God.
21 On account of this, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of evil, in meekness receive the implanted Word being able to save your souls.
22 But become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, this one is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he studied himself, and has gone away, and immediately he forgot of what kind he was.
25 But the one looking into the perfect Law of liberty, and continuing in it, this one not having become a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks to be religious among you, yet not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this one's religion is vain.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
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James 2
1 ¶ My brothers, do not with partiality have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a gold-fingered man in splendid clothing comes into your synagogue, and a poor one in shabby clothing also comes in;
3 and you look on the one wearing the splendid clothing, and say to him, You sit here comfortably; and to the poor one you say, You stand there, or, Sit here under my footstool;
4 did you not also make a difference among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Hear, my beloved brothers, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to the ones loving Him?
6 But you dishonored the poor one. Do not the rich ones oppress you, and they drag you to judgment seats?
7 Do they not blaspheme the good Name called on you?
8 ¶ If you truly fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. Lev. 19:18
9 But if you have partiality you work sin, being reproved by the Law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep all the Law, but stumbles in one, he has become guilty of all.
11 For He who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Ex. 20:14, 13; Deut. 5:18, 17 But if you do not commit adultery, but commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law.
12 So speak and so do as being about to be judged through a Law of freedom.
13 For judgment will be without mercy to the one not doing mercy. And mercy rejoices over judgment.
14 ¶ My brothers, what is the gain if anyone says he has faith, but he does not have works? Is the faith able to save him?
15 But if a brother or a sister is naked and may be lacking in daily food,
16 and any one of you say to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but does not give them the things the body needs, what gain is it?
17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
18 But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith out of my works.
19 You believe that God is One. You do well; even the demons believe and shudder.
20 But are you willing to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
21 Was not our father Abraham justified by works offering up his son Isaac on the altar? Gen. 22:9
22 You see that faith worked with his works; and out of the works the faith was made perfected.
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled, saying, "And Abraham believed God, and it was counted for righteousness to him;" and he was called, Friend of God. Gen. 15:6; Isa. 41:8
24 You see, then, that a man is justified out of works, and not out of faith only.
25 But in the same way Rahab the harlot was also justified out of works, having received the messengers, and sending them out by another way.
26 For as the body is dead apart from the spirit, so also faith is dead apart from works.
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James 3
1 ¶ My brothers do not be many teachers, knowing that we will receive greater judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many ways. If any one does not stumble in word, this one is a mature man, able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Behold, we put bits in the mouths of the horses, for them to obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4 Behold, the ships also, being so great, and being driven by violent winds, they are directed by a very small rudder, where the impulse of the one steering purposes.
5 So also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how little a fire kindles how large a forest!
6 And the tongue is a fire, the world of iniquity. So the tongue is set among our members, spotting all the body, and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by Hell.
7 For every species of beasts, both indeed of birds, of creeping things, and of sea animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human species;
8 but no one of men is able to tame the tongue; it is an unrestrainable evil, full of death-dealing poison.
9 By this we bless God and the Father; and by this we curse men having come into being according to the image of God. Gen. 1:26
10 Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not fitting for these things to be so.
11 Does the fountain out of the same hole send forth the sweet and the bitter?
12 My brothers, a fig tree is not able to produce olives, or a vine figs. So neither can a fountain produce both salt and sweet water.
13 ¶ Who is wise and knowing among you? Let him show his works by his good behavior, in meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and contention in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, beastly, devilish.
16 For where jealousy and contention are, there is confusion and every foul deed.
17 But the wisdom from above is firstly truly pure, then peaceable, forbearing, yielding, full of mercy and of good fruits, not partial and not pretended.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for the ones making peace.
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James 4
1 ¶ From where do wars and fightings among you come? Is it not from this, from your lusts warring in your members?
2 You desire and do not have. You murder, and are jealous, and are not able to obtain. You fight and you war, and you do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order that you may spend on your lusts.
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever, then, purposes to be a friend of the world is put down as hostile to God.
5 Or do you think that vainly the Scripture says, The spirit which has dwelt in us yearns to envy? No OT passage
6 But He gives greater grace. Because of this it says, "God sets Himself against proud ones, but He gives grace to humble ones." Prov. 3:34
7 Then be subject to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners! And purify your hearts, double minded ones!
9 Be distressed, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy into shame.
10 Be humbled before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
11 ¶ Do not speak against one another, brothers. He that speaks against a brother, and is judging a brother, he speaks against Law, and judges Law. But if you judge Law, you are not a doer of Law, but a judge.
12 One is the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you who judges another?
13 Come now, those saying, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and we will spend one year there, and we will trade and will make a profit,
14 who do not know of the morrow. For what is your life? For it is a mist, which for a little while appears, and then disappears.
15 Instead of you saying, If the Lord wills, even we will live, and we will do this or that;
16 but now you boast in your presumptions. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to anyone knowing to do good, and not doing it, it is sin to him.
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James 5
1 ¶ Come now, rich ones, weep, howling over your hardships coming on.
2 Your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver have rusted over, and their poison will be a testimony to you, and will eat your flesh as fire. You heaped treasure in the last days.
4 Behold, the wages of the workmen who have reaped your fields cry out, being kept back by you. And the cries of the ones who have reaped have entered "into the ears of the Lord of Hosts." Isa. 5:9
5 You lived luxuriously on the earth, and lived for self-pleasure; you nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter;
6 you condemned; you murdered the righteous; he does not resist you.
7 Therefore, brothers, be long-suffering until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being long-suffering over it until it may receive the early and the latter rain.
8 You also be long-suffering. Set your hearts firmly, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.
9 Do not murmur against one another, brothers, that you not be condemned. Behold, the Judge stands before the door.
10 My brothers, as an example of suffering ill, and of longsuffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 Behold, we call those blessed who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you saw the end of the Lord, "that the Lord is full of tender mercy and pity." Psa. 103:8
12 ¶ But before all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor any other oath. But let your yes be yes, and the no, no, that you may not fall under judgment.
13 Does anyone suffer ill among you? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him praise in song.
14 Is any among you sick? Let him call the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save those being sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he may have committed sin, it will be forgiven him.
16 Confess to one another the deviations from the Law, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. Very strong is a righteous petition, being made effective.
17 Elijah was a man of like feeling to us, and he prayed in prayer for it not to rain; and it did not rain on the earth three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to sprout.
19 If anyone among you goes astray from the truth, brothers, and anyone turns him back,
20 know that the one turning a sinner from the error of his way will save the soul from death, and will hide a multitude of sins.
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Scripture taken from the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Copyright © 1976 - 2000
By Jay P. Green, Sr.
Used by permission of the copyright holder
Courtesy of Sovereign Grace Publishers and
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[Policy for Reprint & Quoting from the Literal Translation]