1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter trials of various kinds, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother in humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich person in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and dries up the grass. Its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So too the rich person will wither in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who endures a trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when drawn away and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow caused by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.

19 Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and overflowing wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and remains in it, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious but does not bridle his tongue, deceiving his own heart instead, his religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.