King James Version KJV
New Living Translation NLT
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
1 This 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!
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If 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.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
6 But 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.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.
10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field.
11 For 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.
11 The 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.
12 Blessed 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.
12 God 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.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
13 And 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.
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every 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.
17 Whatever 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.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
21 So 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.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
23 For 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:
23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
25 But 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.
25 But 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.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.
27 Pure 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.
27 Pure 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.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.