James 1
1 [I], James, am a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. [I am writing this letter] to [all] the Jewish people [who trust in Christ] (OR, to all God’s people) who are scattered throughout the world. [I send my] greetings to [you all].
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting.
2 My fellow believers, rejoice greatly, [even] when you experience various kinds of difficulties/troubles.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations;
3 [God sometimes allows you to experience difficulties in order to] test whether or not you will continue to trust [him. Whenever that happens, you need to] realize more and more that [if you continue to trust him], you will be able to bravely/patiently endure difficulties.
knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.
4 Keep on enduring difficulties [bravely/patiently by trusting God more and more firmly] [PRS], in order that you may become all that he intends you to be [DOU] (OR, [spiritually] mature and complete), not lacking (any [good quality/anything you need to conduct your lives as God wants you to]).
And let patience have [its] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
5 If anyone of you does not know how to act wisely [in order to endure difficulties/trials well], he should ask God [to show him what he should do, because] God wholeheartedly/gladly helps all people [who ask] and does not scold [anyone for asking. Those who ask], God will give them wisdom to know [what they should do].
But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But [when you] ask [God], you should firmly trust him. You should not doubt [that he wants to help you always], because people who keep doubting God are [unstable/changeable] [SIM] like a wave of the sea that is blown back and forth by the wind {that goes back and forth when the wind blows} [DOU, SIM].
But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
7 Indeed, people [who doubt] should not think that the Lord [God] will do anything [that they request him to do],
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord;
8 [because they are] people who cannot decide [whether they will commit themselves to God, and they are] unstable/undecided in everything that they do.
a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Believers who are poor should be happy [that God] considers them very valuable (OR, has exalted them [spiritually]) [MTY].
But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate:
10 And [believers] who are rich should be happy [that] they have humbled themselves [in order to trust in Jesus Christ] (OR, but rich people [can only] take pride [in the fact that God] will humble them [when he judges everyone] [IRO]), because they [and their riches] [MTY] will pass away, just like wild flowers [wither] [SIM].
and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11 When the sun rises, the scorching hot wind dries plants, and their flowers fall and are no longer beautiful. Similarly, rich people will die [MET] while they are busy working, [leaving behind their riches].
For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass; and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.
12 [God] is pleased with people who bravely/patiently endure difficulties. And when, [by bravely enduring difficulties], they have proved [that they truly trust him], he will give them [eternal] life. That is the reward [MET] that he has promised to give to those who love him.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] promised to them that love him.
13 If people are tempted to do something that is evil, they should not think that it is God who is tempting them, because [God is totally/completely good]. He never tempts anyone [to do what is evil], nor can he ever be tempted to [do anything] evil.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man:
14 But people strongly desire to do evil [PRS] things, [and as a result] they are tempted by those desires {those desires stimulate them} to do something evil [PRS, DOU].
but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then, [because] they have desired [MET] to do evil [PRS] things, they begin to [MET] do [PRS] them. And when they have become ones who [habitually] do what is evil [MET], [if they do not turn away from their sinful behavior], they will be separated from God forever.
Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.
16 My fellow believers whom I love, stop deceiving yourselves, [thinking that God does evil things].
Be not deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 [The truth is that God], our heavenly Father [MTY], does only good [DOU] things [for us, in order to help us become] all that he intends us to be. He is not like all the things [in the sky] that he created to give light, [because they] change; [that is, they do not shine the same all the time]. But God never changes. [He is always good].
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.
18 [And because] he wanted [to help us], he gave us [spiritual] life as a result of our [trusting in his] true message. So now we have become the first ones of [all the people] [MET] that he created [to] ([be totally dedicated to/completely belong to]) [him].
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 My fellow believers whom I love, you know (OR, I want you to now) that every one of you should be eager to pay attention to [God’s true message]. Don’t speak [without thinking], nor get angry easily,
Ye know [this], my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 because when any one [of you gets] angry, you will not be doing the righteous things that God [wants] you [to do].
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 So stop doing all kinds of evil [DOU] things, and humbly obey (OR, submit to) the message that [God] put in your (inner beings/hearts), [because] he is able to save you [SYN] [if you accept his message].
Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 Do [what God commands in] his message. Do not only listen [to it, because people who only listen to it and do not obey it] are wrong when they think [that God will save them].
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
23 Some people hear God’s message but do not do [what it says] [MET]. They are like someone who looks at his face in a mirror [SIM].
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:
24 Although he looks at himself, he goes away [from the mirror] and immediately forgets what he looks like.
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But other people look closely at [God’s] message, which is perfect and which sets people free [to voluntarily do what God wants them to do]. And if they continue [to examine God’s message] and do not just hear it and then forget it, but do [what God tells them to do], God will bless them because of what they do.
But he that looketh into the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and [so] continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.
26 Some people think that they worship God in the right way, but they habitually say evil things [MTY]. Those people are wrong in thinking [SYN] [that they worship God rightly]. The fact is [that they] worship God (in vain/uselessly).
If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain.
27 [One of the things that God has told us to do] is to take care of orphans and widows who suffer hardship. [Those who do that and] who do not think or act immorally like those who do not obey God [MTY] truly [DOU] worship God, [who is our] Father, and God approves of them.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
