AUV(i)
16 [So], do not be deceived, my dearly loved brothers.
17 Every good thing that is given and every perfect gift [received] is from above, coming down from the Father of [heavenly] lights, with whom there can be no change or shifting shadow [i.e., God always remains the same].
18 It was God’s purpose to bring us into being [spiritually] by the message of truth, so that we could become a kind of “firstfruits” of those He created. [Note: “Firstfruits” here suggests either that Christians are the best of all of God’s creatures (Num. 18:12), or that they were the first to be converted, with many more to come].
19 You people [already] know this [or, “you should know this”], my dearly loved brothers. However, every person should be quick to listen, slow to talk and slow in becoming angry.
20 For the anger of people does not produce what God considers to be right.
21 Therefore, you should put away [from you] all moral filth and overflowing wickedness and humbly receive the word [of God], planted within you [by the Holy Spirit. See John 16:8], which is capable of saving your souls.
22 But you should not deceive yourselves by just listening [to God’s word] instead of doing what the word teaches.
23 For if anyone is [only] a listener to the word and does not practice it, he is like a person who sees his natural face in a mirror,
24 and [then after] he sees himself, [he] goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
25 But the person who looks closely into the perfect law that brings freedom, and continues to do so, is not a listener who forgets [what he hears], but someone who does the work [it requires]. This person will be blessed for doing so.
26 If anyone considers himself to be religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, this person is self-deceived and his religion is worthless.
27 Religion that is pure and uncorrupted in the eyes of [our] God and Father involves taking care of orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself unstained by the world.