A letter for general circulation attributed to James, the brother of Jude and half-brother of Jesus through Mary. Likely written in Aramaic sometime before 66-CE.
Notice from the text that unlike Paul,
this person appears to be a staunch defender of the Old Law and its customs
(you can see this in his words encouraging following the Old Law in Chapter 2 verses 8-11).
Also, because this is one of the last books to be added to the Bible canon and
because its lack of Christian terms, some have doubted the authenticity of this writing.
However, James was indeed an Apostle to the Jews and he lived in JeruSalem.
So as such, his terms would likely have reflected the Jewish way of life.
Chapter 1
1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus the Anointed One, to the twelve tribes that are scattered
about;
Rejoice!
2 Consider
it all a joyful experience, my brothers, when you have to endure various types
of trials, 3 because you know
that this proving of your faith helps you to endure.
4 So, may your endurance reach its goal of
making you perfect and complete in every way, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of
you are lacking in wisdom, you should continue to ask God, and He will give it
to you…
He provides it easily and without any scolding.
6 However, you must believe [that you’ll
receive it] and not have any doubts, for those that doubt are like waves of the
sea that are driven and blown about by the wind.
7 Such a person shouldn’t expect to receive anything at all
from the Lord, 8
due to his unsureness and lack of faith.
9 Therefore,
let the lowly brother boast of his high standing, 10 and the rich one boast of his lowliness, because he too
will pass away like a flower in a field.
11
For when the sun comes up and puts out all of its heat, the plant withers, the
flower drops off, and its beauty fades…
And this is how the rich man will fade
away in his journey through life.
12
However, the man that endures his trials is blest, because after he’s been
approved, he’ll receive the garland of life that the
Lord promised to all those that love him.
13 So may no
one that is being tried ever say,
‘I’m being tried by God,’
for God doesn’t send
bad things to try us. In fact, He doesn’t try anyone.
14 Rather, we are each being tried by our
own desires, which bait us and lead us on.
15 Then when our desires become pregnant, they
give birth to sin.
And once the sin is committed, it ends in death.
16 Don’t
allow anyone to mislead you, my beloved brothers;
17 Every good deed and every perfect gift comes to us from
above. It comes down from the Father of all Light, who doesn’t change any more
than a shadow when it turns.
18
And because it was His Will, He gave birth to us through the message of truth,
so that we could be some of the first fruitage of His creation.
19
Recognize this, my beloved brothers:
Every man must be eager to listen, slow to
speak, and slow to get angry.
20
For a man’s anger doesn’t make him righteous
with God.
21 So, once you’ve
gotten rid of all the filth and badness, humbly allow the Word to grow within
you…
Because it can save your lives.
22 Yes,
become a person who does what the Word [directs him to do].
Don’t [be someone
that just] listens it, [for people like that] are fooling themselves.
23 Because if anyone is a hearer but not a
doer, he’s like the man that looks into a mirror at the face he was born with 24 and carefully considers himself, then
leaves and immediately forgets what sort of person he really is.
25 However,
the one that gazes into the perfect Law that belongs to a free people – and then
keeps on looking into it – isn’t someone that listens and forgets, but someone
that takes action!
This man will be blest in whatever he does.
26 Now, if
any of you think of yourselves as devout, but you’re misleading your hearts by
not putting a bridle on your tongues, your worship is worthless.
27 For what our God and Father views as
clean, pure worship is this:
[Providing aid] to orphans and widows when they’re
in need and keeping ourselves free from the stains of this system of things.
Chapter 2
1 My
brothers;
Don’t show favoritism when it comes to the glorious faith of our Lord
Jesus the Anointed One.
2 For if a man that is wearing
a gold ring and fine clothes should enter your synagogue, then someone whose clothes are filthy also
enters, 3 do you favor the one
that’s wearing the fine clothes and say,
‘Here’s a good place to sit?’
And do
you then say to the poor one,
‘Stand [over there],’
or,
‘Sit here under my
footstool?’
4 If so, aren’t you
showing favoritism among yourselves and judging from evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my
beloved brothers;
Didn’t God choose the poor of this system
of things to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom
that He promised to those that love Him?
6
Yet, you [tend to] dishonor the poor!
Aren’t rich people the ones that are
oppressing you and dragging you into courts?
7
And aren’t they the ones that speak badly of the good name by which you are
called?
8 Now, if
you’re obeying the royal law of the Scriptures that says, ‘You must love your
neighbor as yourself,’ you’re doing well.
9
But if you’re showing favoritism, you’re sinning and the Law convicts you of
being its violator!
10 For if
someone who is trying to obey the Law fails in just one little part of it, he
has broken the whole thing.
11
Because the One that said,
‘You must not commit adultery,’
also said,
‘You must
not murder.’
So if you aren’t committing adultery but
you murder someone, you’ve broken the whole Law.
12
Therefore, speak and behave as though you’re about to be judged by the law of a
free people…
13 And [remember
that] the merciless will be judged without mercy,
since mercy is an important part of justice.
14 So what
good does it do, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but isn’t moved to
do anything about it.
Can his faith save him?
15
[For example], if a brother or sister doesn’t have clothing or enough food for
each day, 16 and you tell him,
‘Go
in peace; be warm and well fed’…
If you don’t give him what he needs to
survive, what good have you done?
17
So, faith without good deeds is dead!
18 Now,
someone can say,
‘Though you may do good things, I have [more] faith!’
Well,
you show me your faith without good deeds and I’ll show you my faith by the
good things that I do.
19 And do
you say that you believe there’s just one God?
That’s good… but the demons believe that too!
Yes, they believe and it
frightens them!
20 I want
you to know, O empty man, that faith apart from [good] deeds is dead!
21 For wasn’t our father AbraHam called
righteous because of the things that he did… such as when he offered up his son
IsaAc on the altar?
22 Yes, you
can see how his faith worked along with his deeds, and that it was his deeds
that perfected his faith.
23 So
the scripture was fulfilled that says,
‘AbraHam believed in The God, and for
this he was considered to be righteous and God’s friend.’
24 So you
see;
A man is pronounced righteous by the
things that he does, not just by the things that he believes.
25 The same
was true of the prostitute, RaHab. For she was called righteous because she
took the messengers in and then sent them out by another way.
26 So, just as a body that isn’t breathing is dead, faith without good deeds
is dead.
Chapter 3
1 Brothers,
not many of you should become teachers, because you know that [teachers] will
be held more accountable… 2 and
we all make a lot of mistakes!
So if there is any man
that doesn’t stumble in his words, he’s perfect and he can lead his whole body
as with a bridle.
3 For if we
put a bridle in the mouth of a horse to make it obey us, we can control its
whole body.
4 {Look!} Even
large boats that are driven by strong winds are steered wherever the pilot
wishes by very small rudders… 5
and that’s how the tongue is!
Though it’s just a little body part, it can boast
about big things… and just a little flame can set a whole forest on fire!
6 That’s how
the tongue is… it’s a flame in a world of
unrighteousness.
It sits among our body members as the corrupter of the whole
body, which sets our very origins on fire…
And what sets them ablaze is the garbage dump!
7 Though
every sort of wild animal, flying creature, slithering thing, and sea creature
can be tamed and has been tamed by men, 8
no man can tame the tongue…
For it won’t stop saying bad things, and it’s full of
deadly poison.
9 With it we can
praise our Lord and Father, or curse men who came into existence in God’s
image…
10 So out of the same
mouth comes both blessings and curses.
There’s no need for things like this to keep happening, my
brothers!
11 Are there any
fountains that bubble up both sweet and bitter [water]?
12 Fig trees can’t produce olives,
grapevines can’t produce figs, and you can’t get sweet water from salt water,
can you my brothers!
13 So, who
among you is wise and understanding?
Let him show that he has the inner
strength that comes from wisdom by the ways that he acts and the things that he
does.
14 But if you are
bitterly jealous, and in your hearts
you just want to argue; don’t be too proud of this and don’t lie about the
facts.
15 This isn’t wisdom
that comes from above; it’s earthly, animalistic, and demonic.
16 For where
you find jealousy and arguing, you’ll also find disorder and everything that’s
foul.
17 But the wisdom that
comes from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to
obey, and full of mercy and good fruitage.
It isn’t hypocritical
or prejudiced, 18 because the
seeds of the fruit of righteousness are
planted in peace by the peacemakers!
Chapter 4
1 So, where
are all these fights and wars among you coming from?
Aren’t they the result of
battles that are being fought in your body parts over [sensual] pleasures?
2 You want, but you can’t have.
You’re
jealous and murderous, but that doesn’t get you anything.
You’re fighting and
waging war, but you haven’t received because you haven’t asked.
3 Then when you do ask, you don’t receive,
because you’re asking for the wrong reasons, since all that you’re really interested
in is pleasure!
4
Adulteresses, don’t you know that if you’re a friend of
the world you’re an enemy of God?
So, whoever wants to be a friend of this world is putting himself down as God’s enemy.
5 For what do you think the scripture
means that says,
‘The
spirit within us yearns with envy?’
6 Now, the
loving care that He sends to us is greater than of all that, for we were told:
‘God shows loving-care for the lowly, but He opposes
the haughty.’
7 So, let’s
do what God says… resist the Opposer and he’ll run from you!
8 But draw closer to God and He’ll draw
closer to you!
So, wash your hands, you sinners, and those of you that are
undecided should purify your hearts!
9
Otherwise you’ll be crying, moaning, and miserable… your laughter will be
turned into moaning and your joy will be turned into sadness!
10 Yes, humble yourselves in the eyes of the Lord and He will lift you higher!
11 Brothers,
stop complaining about each other, because those who speak against or judge their brothers are speaking against and judging
the Law.
And if you are judging the Law, you aren’t someone that’s under it, you’re
its judge…
12 And there’s just
one Lawgiver and Judge that can either save or destroy.
So, who are you to be
judging your neighbors?
13 And those
of you that say,
‘Today or tomorrow I’m going to travel to this city or that,
and I’ll spend a year there doing business and making profits’…
14 You don’t even know what’s going to
happen in your life tomorrow, because you’re just a mist that appears for a
little while and then disappears!
15
Shouldn’t you rather be saying,
‘If it’s Jehovah’s will, I will live and do
this or that?’
16 But now
you’re taking pride in things that you just assume to be true, and being proud
over such things is wickedness.
17
Because, whenever you know what’s right and you don’t do it, that’s a sin to
you!
Chapter 5
1 So go on,
you who are rich; cry and bawl over the miseries that you’ll have to endure!
2 For your wealth will rot away, your
clothes will be moth-eaten, 3
your gold and silver will corrode, and whatever remains will testify against
you and eat your flesh like the fire that you’ve treasured away for yourselves
in the last days.
4 Look! The
wages that you refused to pay the workers that harvested your fields are crying
out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of Jehovah of Armies.
5
For you’ve lived on the earth just to satisfy yourselves… yes, you’re nourishing
your hearts on self-indulgence for the day of slaughter!
6 And since you even
condemned and murdered the Righteous One, won’t He stand and oppose you?
7
Brothers, let’s be patient until the Lord arrives.
{Look!} For as the farmer
harvests the precious fruitage of the ground after patiently waiting for both
the early and late rains, 8 we
must also be patient…
But with determined hearts, because the appearance of the Lord is drawing near.
9 Brothers, stop moaning about each other, so you won’t be
judged.
For look… the judge is now standing at the door!
10 Brothers, you should learn from the examples of the Prophets who spoke in the Name of Jehovah about how to suffer bad things and how to be patient, 11 for we call those that endured, the blest!
You’ve all heard of the endurance of Job and you saw how the
Lord ended it…
And this proves that Jehovah is very kind and merciful.
12 But above
all, my brothers;
Stop swearing oaths by heaven, or by the earth, or by
anything else.
Just let your yes mean yes and your no mean no, so you don’t
fail when you’re being judged!
13 Are there
any among you that are being persecuted? Let them keep on praying!
Are there any among you that are cheerful? Let them sing psalms!
14 Are there any among you that
are ill? Let them call the elders and ask them to pray over them, as they rub
them with oil in the name of the Lord!
15
Then their faithful prayers will rescue the ill and the Lord will lift them and forgive any sins
that they’ve committed.
16 So, admit your sins to each other and pray that each one of you will be healed, because prayer has a lot of power when it’s working through righteous people.
17 Remember
that EliJah was just a man with passions like ours; but when he prayed and
asked for it not to rain, it didn’t rain in the land for three and a half
years.
18 Then when he prayed
again, the skies poured with rain, causing the ground to produce its fruitage.
19 My
brothers;
Whenever someone is led astray from the truth
and someone else leads him back;
20
Recognize that the one who turns the sinner from the error of his ways will
save his own life from death… and it will cover many of his own sins as well.