1Ya‛aqoḇ, a servant of Elohim and of the Master יהושע Messiah, to the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion: Greetings.

2My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

3knowing that the proving of your belief works endurance.

4And let endurance have a perfect work, so that you be perfect and complete, lacking in naught.

5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him.

6But he should ask in belief, not doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7For that man should not think that he shall receive whatever from the Master –

8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9And let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he shall pass away.

11For the sun rose with burning heat, and withered the grass, and its flower fell, and its pretty appearance perished. So also the rich man shall fade away in his ways.

12Blessed is the man who does endure trial, for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which the Master has promised to those who love Him.

13Let no one say when he is enticed, “I am enticed by Elohim,” for Elohim is not enticed by evil matters, and He entices no one.

14But each one is enticed when he is drawn away by his own desires and trapped.

15Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.

16Do not go astray, my beloved brothers.

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

18Having purposed it, He brought us forth by the Word of truth, for us to be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.

19So then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,

20for the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of Elohim.

21Therefore put away all filthiness and overflow of evil, and receive with meekness the implanted Word,a which is able to save your lives.

22And become doers of the Word, and not hearers only,a deceiving yourselves.

23Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror,

24for he looks at himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like.

25But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of freedom,a and continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of work, this one shall be blessed in his doing of the Torah.

26If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is worthless.

27Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.