James 1

James 1:1

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.

James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, greets the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.

James 1:2-4

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, ³knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James calls believers to count trials as joy because testing produces endurance, and endurance must finish its work so they become mature and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:5

⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Anyone who lacks wisdom should ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given.

James 1:6-8

⁶But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. ⁷For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Ask in faith without doubting; the doubter is like a wind-tossed wave, double-minded and unstable, and should not expect to receive from the Lord.

James 1:9-11

⁹Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; ¹⁰and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

The lowly brother should boast in his high position, and the rich in humiliation, because wealth withers like a flower under scorching heat.

James 1:12

¹²Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.

The one who endures temptation is blessed and will receive the crown of life promised to those who love the Lord.

James 1:13-16

¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. ¹⁵Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. ¹⁶Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.

God tempts no one; each person is enticed by their own desire, which conceives sin and gives birth to death—so do not be deceived.

James 1:17

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow.

Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, who has no variation or shadow due to turning.

James 1:18

¹⁸Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

By His own will God brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

James 1:19-20

¹⁹So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

James 1:21

²¹Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Put away filthiness and rampant wickedness, and humbly receive the implanted word that can save your souls.

James 1:22-25

²²But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Do not merely hear the word and deceive yourselves; look into the perfect law of freedom and continue as doers, for that person will be blessed in what they do.

James 1:26-27

²⁶If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Worthless religion fails to bridle the tongue; pure religion before God cares for orphans and widows in affliction and keeps unstained from the world.

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