1:1 James, slave of God and Master Jesus the Anointed,To the scattered twelve tribes:

1:2 Be overjoyed! Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various tests,

1:3 knowing that the proofing of your faith results in endurance.

1:4 So let endurance perfect its work, so you may be complete and unimpaired, lacking nothing.

1:5 Now if anyone among you lacks wisdom, let them ask for it from God, who gives to all freely without scolding, and it will be given to them.

1:6 But they must ask in faith without indecisiveness, for the one who is indecisive is like the waves of the sea being driven and tossed by the wind.

1:7 They should not think that they will get anything from the Master,

1:8 because such people are wavering and unstable in all their ways.

1:9 The lowly should celebrate their greatness,

1:10 yet the rich should celebrate their lowliness, being no more than garden flowers that quickly wilt.

1:11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up the plant, so that its flower drops off and its beauty is ruined. This is what will become of the careers of the rich.

1:12 Happy are those who endure trials, because it earns them the award of life promised to those who profess to love God.

1:13 But no one can say that these tests are from God, because God is not to be tested and does not test anyone.

1:14 Instead, each one is tested by their own desire, lured and dragged away.

1:15 Desire conceives Failures, and Failures grow up to be Death.

1:16 Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters!

1:17 All good and complete gifts are from above, descending from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no hint of variation or turning around.

1:18 It was his intention to produce us as a bountiful first crop of his creation by means of his Word. You should all understand this, my brothers and sisters.

1:19 Each person should be quick to listen, but slow to speak or become enraged,

1:20 because a person’s rage does not produce the justice of God.

1:21 Therefore, put off all filthiness and malicious indulgence; gently receive the Word implanted in you, that is able to save your souls.

1:22 Become those who do what it says, and not just hear it and only fool yourselves.

1:23 For whoever hears the word and does not do it is like one who sees their face in a mirror

1:24 and then immediately forgets what they looked like.

1:25 But the one who looks intently into the law of freedom and remains in it, who remembers what they heard and does it, will be happy.

1:26 If someone appears religious but does not control their tongue, they are fooling themselves and their religion is a waste of time.

1:27 Religion that is clean and pure before God the Father means visiting the grieving and the widows in their distress, and keeping yourself from being soiled by the world.