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 our Lord Jesus the Messiah; to the twelve tribes dispersed among the Gentiles; greeting peace.
2 My fellow believers, rejoice greatly, [even] when you experience various kinds of difficulties/troubles.
Let it be all joy to you, my brethren, when ye enter into many and various trials.
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.
For ye know, that the trial of your faith, maketh you possess 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, so that ye may be complete and perfect, and may lack 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].
And if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all freely, and reproacheth not; and it will 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, not hesitating: he who hesitateth is like the waves of the sea, which the wind agitateth.
7 Indeed, people [who doubt] should not think that the Lord [God] will do anything [that they request him to do],
And let not that man expect to receive any thing 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.
who is hesitating in his mind, and 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].
And let the depressed brother rejoice, in his elevation;
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 his depression; because, like the flower of an herb, so he passeth 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 riseth in its heat, and drieth up the herb; and its flower falleth, and the beauty of its appearance perisheth: so also the rich man withereth in his ways.
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 who endureth temptations; so that when he is proved he may receive a crown of life, which God hath 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 one when he is tempted, say, I am tempted of God: for God is not tempted with evils, nor doth he tempt any 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 every man is tempted by his own lust; and he lusteth, and is drawn away.
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.
And this his lust conceiveth, and bringeth forth sin; and sin, when mature, bringeth forth death.
16 My fellow believers whom I love, stop deceiving yourselves, [thinking that God does evil things].
Do not err, 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 and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no mutation, not even the shadow of change.
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].
He saw fit, and begat us by the word of truth; that we might be the first-fruits 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,
And be ye, my beloved brethren, every one of you, swift to hear, and slow to speak; and 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, remove far from you all impurity, and the abundance of wickedness; and, with meekness, receive the word that is implanted in our nature, which is able to vivify these 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; and do not deceive yourselves.
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 man shall be a hearer of the word, and not a doer of it, he will be like one who seeth his 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 seeth himself, and passeth on, and forgetteth what a 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 every one that looketh upon the perfect law of liberty and abideth in it, is not a hearer of something to be forgotten, but a doer of the things; and he will be blessed in his work.
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).
And if any one thinketh that he worshippeth God, and doth not restrain his tongue, but his heart deceiveth him; his worship 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.
For the worship that is pure and holy before God the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and that one keep himself unspotted from the world.
