| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings! Faith and Endurance | 1James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. |
| 2Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. | 2Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, |
| 3For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. | 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. |
| 4So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. | 4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. |
| 5If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. | 5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. |
| 6But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. | 6But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. |
| 7Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. | 7For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, |
| 8Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. | 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. |
| 9Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. | 9But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; |
| 10And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. | 10and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. |
| 11The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements. | 11For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. |
| 12God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. | 12Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. |
| 13And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. | 13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. |
| 14Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. | 14But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. |
| 15These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. | 15Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. |
| 16So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. | 16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. |
| 17Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. | 17Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. |
| 18He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. Listening and Doing | 18In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. |
| 19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. | 19This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; |
| 20Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. | 20for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. |
| 21So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. | 21Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. |
| 22But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | 22But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. |
| 23For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. | 23For 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; |
| 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. | 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. |
| 25But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. | 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. |
| 26If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | 26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. |
| 27Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. | 27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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