Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Living Translation NLT
1 James, the servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
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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 you shall fall into divers temptations:
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Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience
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For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 And patience hath a perfect work: that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.
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So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men abundantly and upbraideth not. And it shall be given him.
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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, which is moved and carried about by the wind.
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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 Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
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Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways.
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Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
9 But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation:
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Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.
10 And the rich, in his being low: because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.
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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 rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
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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 hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him.
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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, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils: and he tempteth no man.
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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 by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured.
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Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
15 Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.
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These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
16 Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren.
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So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration.
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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 For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature.
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He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
19 You know, my dearest brethren. And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak and slow to anger.
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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 anger of man worketh not the justice of God.
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Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
21 Wherefore, casting away all uncleanness and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
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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.
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But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
23 For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.
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For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.
24 For he beheld himself and went his way and presently forgot what manner of man he was.
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You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
25 But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work: this man shall be blessed in his deed.
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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 And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
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If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.
27 Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one’s self unspotted from this world.
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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.
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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.