{Or, Jacob}James, a {Greek: bondservant.}servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, {Greek: wisheth joy.}greeting.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold {Or, trials}temptations;
knowing that the proving of your faith worketh {Or, stedfastness}patience.
And let {Or, stedfastness}patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think {Or, that a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways, shall receive anything of the Lord}that he shall receive anything of the Lord;
a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.
But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate:
and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass; and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted {Greek: from.}of God; for God {Or, is untried in evil}cannot be tempted with {Greek: evil things.}evil, and he himself tempteth no man:
but each man is {Or, tempted by his own lust, being drawn away by it, and enticed.}tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.
Be not deceived, my beloved brethren.
Every good {Or, giving}gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
{Or, Know ye}Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of {Or, malice}wickedness, receive with meekness the {Or, inborn}implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding {Greek: the face of his birth.}his natural face in a mirror:
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing.
If any man {Or, seemeth to be}thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Querverweise zu Jakobus 1,25 Jak 1,25
The simple believeth every word;But the prudent man looketh well to his going.
So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty.
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If ye will fear Jehovah, and serve him, and hearken unto his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, {Or, then shall both ye…Jehovah your God: but &c.}and both ye and also the king that reigneth over you be followers of Jehovah your God, well:
For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding {Greek: the face of his birth.}his natural face in a mirror:
Moreover by them is thy servant warned:In keeping them there is great reward.
To the {Or, teaching}law and to the testimony! {Or, surely according to this word shall they speak for whom there is no morning}if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul:The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart:The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever:The ordinances of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold;Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.
If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples;
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Blessed are they that keep justice,And he that doeth righteousness at all times.
Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate.
I will run the way of thy commandments,When thou shalt enlarge my heart.
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies,That seek him with the whole heart.
looking carefully {Or, whether}lest there be any man that {Or, falleth back from}falleth short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled;
And I shall walk at liberty;For I have sought thy precepts.
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Yea, they do no unrighteousness;They walk in his ways.
I have seen an end of all perfection;But thy commandment is exceeding broad.
מ MEM.Oh how love I thy law!It is my meditation all the day.
{Or, Thou through thy commandments makest}Thy commandments make me wiser than mine enemies;For they are ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers;For thy testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,Because I have kept thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way,That I might observe thy word.
I have not turned aside from thine ordinances;For thou hast taught me.
How sweet are thy words unto my {Hebrew: palate.}taste!Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through thy precepts I get understanding:Therefore I hate every false way.
נ NUN.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,And light unto my path.
But we all, with unveiled face {Or, reflecting as a mirror}beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and {Or, in fellowship}fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: {Many ancient authorities read for it had been founded upon the rock: as in Matthew 7:25.}because it had been well builded.
But he that {Greek: heard.}heareth, and {Greek: did not.}doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.
So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
For I delight {Greek: with.}in the law of God after the inward man:
as free, and not {Greek: having.}using your freedom for a cloak of {Or, malice 1 Corinthians 14:20.}wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come;
If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.
but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity {Greek: in. Many ancient authorities read to.}under the law of sin which is in my members.
to them that by {Or, stedfastness}patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not {Or, void}vain in the Lord.
but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation,
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die {Or, in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit}in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.
Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have {Or, the authority over Compare chapter 6:8}the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the {Greek: portals.}gates into the city.
if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
but she shall be saved through {Or, the childbearing Compare Galatians 4:4.}her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.
Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee.
As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.