| King James Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. | 1From: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. To: The twelve tribes in the Dispersion. Greetings. |
| 2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; | 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, |
| 3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. | 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. |
| 4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. | 4But you must let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. |
| 5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. | 5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to everyone generously without a rebuke, and it will be given to him. |
| 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. | 6But he must ask in faith, without any doubts, for the one who has doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. |
| 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. | 7Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. |
| 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. | 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he undertakes. |
| 9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: | 9A brother of humble means should rejoice in his having been exalted, |
| 10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. | 10and a rich person in his having been humbled, because he will fade away like a wild flower. |
| 11For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it 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 ways. | 11For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass. The flower in it drops off, and its beauty is gone. That is how the rich person will fade away in his pursuits. |
| 12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. | 12How blessed is the man who endures temptation! When he has passed the test, he will receive the victor's crown of life that God has promised to those who keep on loving him. |
| 13Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: | 13When someone is tempted, he should not say, "I am being tempted by God," because God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. |
| 14But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. | 14Instead, each person is tempted by his own desire, being lured and trapped by it. |
| 15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. | 15When that desire becomes pregnant, it gives birth to sin; and when that sin grows up, it gives birth to death. |
| 16Do not err, my beloved brethren. | 16Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. |
| 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. | 17Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow. |
| 18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. | 18In accordance with his will he made us his children by the word of truth, so that we might become the most important of his creatures. |
| 19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: | 19You must understand this, my dear brothers. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. |
| 20For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. | 20For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. |
| 21Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. | 21Therefore, rid yourselves of everything impure and every expression of wickedness, and with a gentle spirit welcome the word planted in you that can save your souls. |
| 22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. | 22Keep on being obedient to the word, and not merely being hearers who deceive themselves. |
| 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: | 23For if anyone hears the word but is not obedient to it, he is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror |
| 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. | 24and studies himself carefully, and then goes off and immediately forgets what he looks like. |
| 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. | 25But the one who looks at the perfect law of freedom and remains committed to it—thereby demonstrating that he is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of what that law requires—will be blessed in what he does. |
| 26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. | 26If anyone thinks that he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but instead deceives himself, his religion is worthless. |
| 27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. | 27A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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