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, —unto the twelve tribes that are in the dispersion, Wishes joy.
2 My fellow believers, rejoice greatly, [even] when you experience various kinds of difficulties/troubles.
All Joy, account it, my brethren, whensoever ye fall in with, 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.
Taking note, that, the proving of your faith, worketh out endurance;
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]).
But let, your endurance, have, mature work, that ye may be mature and complete, in nothing, coming short.
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 is sinning short of wisdom, let him be asking of God, Who giveth unto all freely 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 be asking in faith, nothing, doubting, for, he that doubteth, is like a wave of the sea, wind-driven and storm-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 from 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 two-souled 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 boasting be the lowly brother in his uplifting;
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].
Whereas the rich, in his being brought low, —because, as a flower of grass, he will 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 hath sprung up, with it scorching heat, and hath withered the grass, and, the flower thereof, hath fallen out, and, the beauty of the face thereof, hath perished, —so, also the rich, in his goings, shall languish.
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.
Happy the man who endureth temptation! Because, becoming approved, he shall receive the crown of life—which he hath promised unto 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, while tempted, be saying—From God, am I tempted, —for, God, cannot be tempted by things evil, and, himself, tempteth no one;
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 one, is tempted, when, by his own coveting, he is drawn out 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 coveting, having conceived, giveth birth to sin, and, the sin, when full-grown, bringeth forth death.
16 My fellow believers whom I love, stop deceiving yourselves, [thinking that God does evil things].
Be not deceived, my brethren beloved: —
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 giving, and every perfect gift, is, from above, coming down from the Father of lights—with whom is no alternation, nor shadow 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].
Because he was so minded, he hath brought us forth with a word of truth, to the end we should be a sort of firstfruit 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, my brethren beloved, —but let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
20 because when any one [of you gets] angry, you will not be doing the righteous things that God [wants] you [to do].
For, man’s anger, worketh not, God’s righteousness.
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 overflow of baseness, in meekness, welcome ye the word fitted for inward growth, 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].
Become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only—reasoning yourselves astray;
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].
Because, if any is, a word-hearer, and not a doer, the same, is like unto a man observing 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 observed himself, and is gone away, and, straightway, it hath escaped him, —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 hath obtained a nearer view into the perfect law of liberty, and hath taken up his abode by it, becoming—not a forgetful hearer, but a work doer, the same, happy in his doing, shall be.
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 thinketh he is observant of religion, not curbing his own tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this one’s, religious observance 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.
Religious observance, pure and undefiled with our God and Father, is, this—to be visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, unspotted, to keep, himself, from the world.
