Epistle of James | jvb Aa
| updated: 10/26/2013 8:42 PM
James 1 jvb Aa | 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes
which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
2 Count it all
joy, my brethren, whenever you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 But allow steadfastness to have
its accomplishment perfected, that you might be being entirely mature and
sound, lacking nothing.
5 Any one of
you needing wisdom, be asking from God, the One giving to all of you liberally without
reproaching, and you will be receiving it. 6 But be asking in faith, without hesitating,
for the one hesitating has become like a wave of the sea being driven and
tossed by the wind. 7 Hesitating man, be not expecting that you will be receiving
anything from the Lord; 8 since you are being a double-hearted man, unstable in
all your ways.
9 Humble
brother, be boasting in your exaltation, 10 Wealthy brother, be boasting in your
humiliation, since like a wild flower you will be passing away. 11 For the sun
rises with a scorching heat and withers the wild plant; its flower falls, and
its outward beauty is lost. In this manner, the wealthy man, in his way of
life, will be also fading away.
12 Happy is a
man who is enduring testing; for as he is approved, he will be receiving that victor's
wreath out of life in Christ Jesus which the Lord promises to those loving Him.
13 Being tempted, be not saying, "By God I am being tempted"; for God
is being untemptable by evil, and He Himself is not tempting anyone. 14 But
each is being tempted by his own cravings, being dragged away and being lured.
15 Then, craving becomes pregnant, and is giving birth to sin; and sin, when
full-grown, is bringing forth lifelessness.
16 Be not being
led astray, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good giving and every perfect gift is
being from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is being
neither variation nor shadow of turning. 18 His will gives birth to us through
a word of truth, into our being a sort of set apart first fruits from His
creatures.
19 Come to
understand these things, my beloved brothers. Every man of you, be being swift
to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for wrath from man is not producing
righteousness from God. 21 Therefore, first put away all filthiness and residue
of evil, and then fitly receive the implanted word, which is being able to keep
your souls safe and sound.
22 But be becoming
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. 23 For if anyone
is being a hearer of the word and is not being a doer, that one has become like
a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, and
has gone away, and immediately forgets what sort of man he was being. 25 But the
one who investigates the perfect law of freedom and remains in it, and becomes
not a forgetful hearer but a doer of deeds, this one will be being happy in his
doing.
26 If anyone among
you is thinking that he is being religious, while not bridling his tongue but misleading
his own heart, this one's religion is being empty. 27 Pure and unsullied
religion before our God and Father is being this: to be visiting orphans and
widows in their affliction, and to be keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
James 2 jvb Aa
| 1 My brothers, without partiality be possessing the faith of our glorious
Lord Jesus Christ. 2 For if there comes into your meeting a man with gold
rings, in splendid clothing, and also a beggar in dirty clothes, 3 and you look
respectfully upon the one wearing the finery and say to him, "Be honorablly
sitting here," and say to the beggar, "Be standing there," or,
"Be sitting here by my footstool," 4 do you not pass judgment within
yourselves, and become judges on the basis of evil opinions? 5 Listen and
learn, my beloved brothers: Does not God choose the world's beggars to be rich
in faith and heirs of that kingdom which He promises to those loving Him? 6 But
you dishonor the beggar. Are not the rich exploiting you and are they not
dragging you into the courts? 7 Are they not slandering that beautiful name by
which you are distinguished?
8 If you are
truly fulfilling a Scripture-based, kingly, prognosis, summarized as, "You
will be loving your neighbor in the same manner as you will be loving
yourself", you are doing well. 9 But if you are respecting external
differences, you are working in sin, and are being refuted by the Law like
transgressors. 10 For whoever will be observing the entire law, and yet has
stumbled at one point, he has become liable on the basis of the whole law. 11
For the One who says, "You will not be committing adultery," also
says, "You will not be committing murder." Now if you will not be
committing adultery, but you will be committing murder, you have become a
transgressor of the law. 12 Be speaking and doing in this manner: as those who
are being about to be being evaluated upon on the basis of principles based on
freedom. 13 For evaluation is being unkind to one who does not manifest
kindness. Freedom is rejoicing in kindness replacing evaluation.
14 What
benefit, my brothers, if someone is saying that he is possessing faith, while,
in fact, he is not possessing deeds? Is that sort of faith being able to save
him? 15 If a brother or sister is lacking clothing and needing daily food, 16 and
one of you says to them, "Be departing in peace, be warming yourself, and
be eating," but you do not give to them the necessities of bodily life,
what benefit? 17 In like manner, this sort of faith also, by itself, if it is
not possessing deeds, is lifeless.
18 But someone
will be saying, "You are possessing faith, and I am possessing
deeds." Make known to me your faith by your deeds, and I will be making
known to you, by my deeds, my faith. 19 You are believing that God is being
one. You are doing rightly. Even the demons are believing -- and are
shuddering! 20 But are you willing to come to know, oh senseless man, that
faith apart from deeds is being lifeless? 21 Is not Abraham our father seen on
the basis of deeds to be righteous as he offers Isaac his son on the altar? 22
Are you perceiving that faith was working with his deeds, and by deeds faith is
brought to its goal? 23 And the Scripture is fulfilled, the part saying,
"and Abraham believes God, and it is looked upon in him as
righteousness." And he is distinguished as a friend of God. 24 You are
perceiving then that a man is being regarded on the basis of deeds as righteous
and not on the basis of faith only. 25 Likewise, is not Rahab the prostitute
also regarded on the basis of deeds as righteous as she receives the messengers
and sends them out another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is
being lifeless, in like manner faith without deeds is being lifeless also.
James 3 jvb Aa
| 1 Be not many of you becoming teachers, my brothers, having come to know that
we will be receiving a stricter judgment. 2 For in many things all of us are
stumbling. If anyone is not stumbling in word, he is a truly mature man, able
also to bridle the whole body. 3 Observe this: We are putting bits in horses'
mouths that they might be obeying us, and we are turning their whole body. 4
Look also at this: ships are being very large and are being driven by fierce
winds. They are being turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
5 In a like manner the tongue is a little member and is boasting great things.
Observe: How large a forest a little fire ignites!
6 And the
tongue is being a fire, a world of injustice. The tongue is being so positioned
among our members that it is defiling the whole body, and is setting on fire
the course of nature; and it is being set on fire by the lake of fire. 7 For
every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is being
subdued and has been subdued by man. 8 But no man is being able to subdue the
tongue. It is being an unstable evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we are
praising our God and Father, and with it we are cursing men, who have been
created in the likeness of God. 10 Out of the same mouth are proceeding
praising and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be existing. 11 Is
a spring sending forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Is a
fig tree being able, my brothers, to bear olives, or a grapevine to bear figs?
Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
13 Any wise and
understanding among you, make known by good behavior that your deeds are done
in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you are possessing bitter envy and
self-seeking in your hearts, be not boasting and lying against the truth. 15
Such wisdom is not descending from above, but is being earthly, sensual,
demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking are existing, disorder and every
evil thing are being there. 17 But wisdom from above is being first pure, then
peaceful, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality
and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is being sown in peace
by those making peace.
James 4 jvb Aa
| 1 From whence are wars and fights among you coming? Are they not coming out
of this: your pleasures warring in your members? 2 You are craving and are not
possessing. You are murdering and are coveting and are being unable to obtain.
You are fighting and warring. Yet you are not possessing because you do not
ask. 3 You are asking and not receiving, because you are asking wrongly, that
you might spend freely on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Have
you not come to understand that friendship with the world is being enmity with
God? Consequently whoever might desire to be being a friend of the world, is
making himself an enemy of God. 5 Or are you thinking that the Scripture is
saying in vain, "The spirit that lives in us is desiring zealously"?
6 But He is revealing greater favor. Therefore He is saying: "God is
opposing the arrogant, but is favoring the humble." 7 Therefore, submit
yourself t to God, and set yourself against the slanderer, and the slanderer
will be running away from you. 8 Come near to God and He will be coming near to
you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Laughter, change to mourning, and
joy, change to gloom. 10 Be humble before the Lord, and He will be exalting
you.
11 Do not speak
against one another, brothers. The one speaking against a brother and judging
his brother is speaking against the law and is judging the law. But if you are
judging the law, you are not being a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is
being one Lawmaker, the One being able to save and to destroy. What are you
being whenever you are judging another?
13 Be listening
now, those who are saying, "Today or tomorrow I travel to this city, spend
one year there, buy and sell, and make a profit". 14 You are not knowing
what will be happening tomorrow. For what sort of life is being yours? It will
be being a vapor appearing for a little while and then vanishing. 15 Instead,
be saying, "If the Lord wills, we may live and we may do this or
that." 16 But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is
being evil. 17 Consequently, to him who has come to understand the doing of
good and does not do it, to him it is being sin.
James 5 jvb Aa
| 1 Listen now. Those who are being rich, weep, wail, for your miseries, those
coming upon you! 2 Your riches have become corrupted, and your garments have
become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their
corrosion will be becoming a witness against you and will be eating your flesh
like fire. You gather earthly treasure in the last days. 4 Listen. The wages of
the workers who have reaped your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, are
crying out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of
Hosts. 5 You lead a life of self-indulgence on the earth, and you live
luxuriously, and you fatten your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You
condemn, you murder the righteous; he is not opposing you.
7 Therefore be
patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Look. The farmer is waiting
for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it may
receive the early and the latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your
hearts, for the coming of the Lord has drawn near. 9 Do not be grumbling
against one another, brothers, lest you be judged. Behold, the Judge has come
to stand at the door! 10 My brothers, take the prophets, who speak in the name
of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed, those
persevering we count as having lasting happiness. You hear of the perseverance
of Job, and you see the end purposed by the Lord, and you learn that the Lord
is very compassionate and merciful.
12 But above
all, my brothers, be not swearing, either by heaven or by earth or with any
other oath. But lest you fall into hypocrisy: Your "Yes", be being
"Yes"'; and your "No" be being "No".
13 Anyone among
you suffering, be praying. Anyone being cheerful, be singing psalms. 14 Anyone
among you sick, be calling for the elders of the assembly. Then, elders, be
praying over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the
prayer of faith will be saving the sick, and the Lord will be raising him up.
And if there is being committed sins, he will be being forgiven. 16 Be
acknowledging your trespasses to one another, and be praying for one another,
so that you might be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man is winning
much. 17 Elijah was being a man with the same nature as ours, and he prays a
prayer that it would not rain; and it was not raining on the land for three
years and six months. 18 And he prays again, and the heaven gives rain, and the
earth produces its fruit.
19 Brothers, if
anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back: 20 One who
turns the wanderer back, be coming to know that he who turns a sinner from the
delusion of his way will be saving a soul from death and will be covering a
multitude of sins.
T James jvb Aa text / Translation M1320 / 10/22/2013 7:11 PM 10/26/2013 8:42 PM
