1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, which are in the dispersion: Greetings!

2Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you are beset by various trials, 3Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4But let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, not lacking in anything.

5However, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to everyone freely and does not reproach the one who asks; and it shall be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, not doubting at all because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed to and fro. 7Do not let that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9But let the brother who is in humble circumstances rejoice in his elevation, 10And let the one who is rich rejoice in his humble condition because, as the flower of the field, he himself will pass away; 11For the sun rises with its burning heat and dries up the grass, and its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way also shall the rich man wither in his pursuits.

12Blessed is the man who endures trials because, after he has been proved, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

13Do not let anyone who is tempted say, "I am being tempted by God" because God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one with evil. 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and is enticed by his own lust. 15And after lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is completely finished, brings forth death. 16Do not deceive yourselves, my beloved brethren. 17Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation, nor shadow of turning. 18According to His own will, He begat us by the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all His created beings.

19For this reason, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger 20Because man's wrath does not work out God's righteousness. 21Therefore, having rid yourselves of all filthiness and all the abounding of wickedness around you, then in meekness accept for yourselves the implanted Word, which is able to save your lives. 22Then be doers of the Word, and not only hearers, deceiving your own selves 23Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, this one is like a man considering his natural face in a mirror 24Who, after looking at himself, went away and immediately forgot what he was like. 25But the one who has looked into the perfect law of freedom, and has continued in it, this one himself has not become a forgetful hearer, but is a doer of the work. This one shall be blessed in his actions.

26If anyone among you considers himself to be religious, and does not control his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is vain. 27Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.