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Greeting to the Twelve Tribes

¹James, ⚓a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:
Greetings.

Profiting from Trials

²My brethren, ⚓count it all joy ⚓when you fall into various trials, ³⚓knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵⚓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. ⁶⚓But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is⚓a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor

⁹Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, ¹⁰but the rich in his humiliation, because ⚓as a flower of the field he will pass away. ¹¹For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Loving God Under Trials

¹²⚓Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive ⚓the crown of life ⚓which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵Then, ⚓when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, ⚓brings forth death.
¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷⚓Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, ⚓with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ¹⁸⚓Of His own will He brought us forth by the ⚓word of truth, ⚓that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Qualities Needed in Trials

¹⁹So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, ⚓slow to speak, ⚓slow to wrath; ²⁰for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Doers—Not Hearers Only

²¹Therefore ⚓lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, ⚓which is able to save your souls.
²²But ⚓be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For ⚓if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵But ⚓he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, ⚓this one will be blessed in what he does.
²⁶If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and ⚓does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. ²⁷⚓Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: ⚓to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, ⚓and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.