Coverdale(i)
1 Iames the seruaunt of God and of the LORDE Iesus Christ, sendeth gretinge to the xij. trybes which are scatered here & there.
2 My brethren, counte it exceadynge ioye whe ye fall in to diuers temptacions,
3 for as moche as ye knowe, how yt the tryinge of youre faith bringeth pacience:
4 and let pacience haue her parfect worke, yt ye maye be parfecte aud sounde, lakinge nothinge.
5 Yf eny of you lacke wyssdome, let him axe of God, which geueth to all men indifferentlie, and casteth no man in the teth: and it shal be geue him.
6 But let him axe in faith and wauer not. For he that douteth, is lyke the wawes of ye See, tost of the wynde, and caried wt violence.
7 Nether let yt man thinke that he shal receaue eny thige of ye LORDE.
8 A wauerynge mynded ma ys vnstable in all his waies.
9 Let the brother of lowe degre reioyce, in yt he is exalted:
10 and the rich, in yt he is made lowe. For eue as the flor of ye grasse shal he vanyshe awaye.
11 The Sonne ryseth wt heat and the grasse wydereth, & his floure falleth awaye, and the beautie of the fassion of it perissheth: euen so shal the ryche man perisshe with his abundaunce.
12 Happy is the man that endureth in teptacion, for when he is tryed, he shal receaue the crowne of life, which the LORDE hath promised to them that loue him.
13 Let no man saye when he is tempted, yt he is tempted of God. For God tepteth not vnto euell, nether tepteth he eny man.
14 But euery ma is tepted, drawne awaye, & entysed of his awne cocupiscece.
15 The whe lust hath conceaued, she bringeth forth synne, & synne when it is fynished, bringeth forth deeth.
16 Erre not my deare brethre.
17 Euery good gifte, & euery parfait gift, is from aboue, and cometh downe from ye father of light, with whom is no variablenes, nether is he chaunged vnto darcknes.
18 Of his awne will begat he vs with the worde of life, that we shulde be the fyrst frutes of his creatures.
19 Wherfore deare brethren, let euery man be swifte to heare, slowe to speake, and slowe to wrath.
20 For the wrath of ma worketh not that which is righteous before God.
21 Wherfore laye aparte all fylthines, all superfluite of maliciousnes, & receaue with meknes ye worde yt is grafted in you, which is able to saue youre soules.
22 And se that ye be doers of ye worde & not heares only, deceauinge youre awne selues.
23 For yf eny heare the worde, and do it not, he is like vnto a ma that beholdeth his bodily face in a glasse.
24 For assone as he hath loked on himselfe, he goeth his waye, and forgetteth immediatly what his fasshion was.
25 But who so loketh in ye perfect lawe of libertie, and continueth therin (yf he be not a forgetfull hearer, but a doar of the worke) the same shalbe happie in his dede.
26 Yf eny man amonge you seme deuoute, & refrayne not his toge: but deceaue his awne herte, this mannes deuocion is in vayne.
27 Pure deuocion and vndefiled before God the father, is this: to visit the frendlesse and widdowes in their aduersite, and to kepe him selfe vnspotted of the worlde.