Williams(i)
1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve tribes that are scattered over the world.
2 You must consider it the purest joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials,
3 for you surely know that what is genuine in your faith produces the patient mind that endures;
4 but you must let your endurance come to its perfect product, so that you may be fully developed and perfectly equipped, without any defects.
5 But if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God who generously gives to everyone and never reproaches one with its lack, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith, without a doubt, for the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is whirled and swayed by the wind.
7 Such a man, indeed, a person with two minds,
8 (1:7) unreliable in every step he takes, must not expect to get anything from the Lord.
9 Let the poor brother of lowly station rejoice in his exalted station as a Christian,
10 and the rich brother rejoice in his being on a level with the poor, because the rich will fade away like the flower of the grass.
11 For the sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the grass, and its flowers wither, and its beauty fades away; so will rich men fade away in their pursuits.
12 Blessed is the person who endures trial, for when he stands the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.
13 No one must say, when he is tempted to do evil, "I have a temptation from God to do evil," for God cannot be tempted to do evil, and He never tempts anyone to do so.
14 But anyone is tempted to do evil when he is allured by his own evil desire and enticed by a bait.
15 Then evil desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is completed, it brings forth death.
16 You must avoid being misled, my dearly loved brothers.
17 Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or changing shadow.
18 In accordance with His will He made us His children by the message of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
19 You must understand this, my dearly loved brothers. Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry;
20 for a man's anger does not produce the uprightness that God requires.
21 So strip yourselves of everything impure and all the evils prevailing around you, and in humble spirit welcome the message which when rooted in your hearts is able to save your souls.
22 Keep on obeying this message; do not merely listen to it, and so deceive yourselves.
23 Because if anyone merely listens to the message without obeying it, he is like a man who looks in a mirror at his own face,
24 for he looks and then goes off and at once forgets how he looked.
25 But the man who looks at the flawless law that makes men free, and keeps on looking, proving himself to be, not a forgetful hearer but an actual doer of what it requires, will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives himself, his religious worship is worthless.
27 A religious worship that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the Father is this: To look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep one's own self unstained by the world.