James

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: greetings.

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Note"The twelve tribes" is the old name for the whole people of Israel, descended from Jacob's twelve sons. "Scattered abroad" renders the word diaspora, used for Jews living outside the homeland, spread through the cities of the Roman world. "Servant" translates a word that normally meant a bought slave, used here as a title of belonging. The single word "greeting" was the standard opening formula of a Greek letter.

2My brothers and sisters, treat it as complete joy whenever you run into all kinds of trials,

2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Note"Divers" is 1611 English for various. "Temptations" here means testings or hard circumstances of any kind, not an inner pull toward sin; the one Greek root covers both senses, and James turns on the difference in verses 13 and 14. "Brethren" addresses a whole congregation, men and women together.

3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Note"Patience" translates a word meaning holding your ground under weight, staying put under pressure, rather than waiting calmly. "Worketh" means produces or brings about.

4And let that endurance finish its work in you, so that you may be fully grown and complete, lacking nothing.

4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Note"Perfect" here means finished, complete, having reached its proper end, not morally flawless. "Wanting" means lacking.

5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to everyone and does not scold the one who asks, and it will be given to him.

5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Note"Upbraideth not" means does not reproach or sneer, does not throw the request back in the asker's face.

6But he must ask in faith, without doubting. The person who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8He is a man of two minds, unsteady in everything he does.

8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Note"Double minded" renders a rare word meaning literally two souled: a person divided inside, pulled two ways at once. No Greek writer before James is known to use it.

9The believer who is poor should be glad in his exaltation,

9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

Note"Of low degree" and "exalted" are social status terms, high and low position. The poor believer is told to boast in a high standing that is not visible in his circumstances.

10and the rich believer should be glad that he has been brought low, because he will pass away like a wildflower.

10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

NoteThe Greek of this verse says only "the rich" and does not repeat the word "brother" from verse 9, so it is left open whether James means a rich believer who has been humbled or the rich in general, whose fall is coming.

11The sun rises with scorching heat, the plant dries up, its flower drops off, and its lovely appearance is gone. In the same way the rich man will fade away while he is busy with his affairs.

11For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it 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 ways.

Note"Burning heat" translates a word that can mean scorching sunshine or the sirocco, the dry desert wind that could shrivel a field in a single day. "The grace of the fashion of it" means the beauty of its appearance.

12The man who holds up under testing is blessed, because once he has passed the test he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Note"When he is tried" pictures metal assayed and found genuine. The "crown" is not a royal crown but a stephanos, the wreath given to the winner of a race or set on a guest's head at a feast.

13When someone is tempted, he should not say, "God is tempting me." God cannot be tempted by evil, and he tempts no one.

13Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Note"Tempted of God" means tempted by God; "of" carried that sense in 1611. The word that meant outward trial in verse 2 is used here in the narrower sense of being drawn toward evil.

14Instead, each person is tempted when his own desire drags him away and lures him in.

14But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Note"Lust" in 1611 English meant any strong desire, not only sexual desire. "Drawn away" and "enticed" are hunting and fishing words: the animal is lured out of cover, the fish is drawn to the bait.

15Then, when that desire has become pregnant, it gives birth to sin; and sin, once it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

NoteThe verse runs one continuous metaphor of conception, birth and growing up. "When it is finished" means when sin has come to full term or full growth, not when it stops.

16Do not be fooled, my dear brothers and sisters.

16Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father who made the lights in the sky. He does not change, and he casts no shifting shadow.

17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Note"Father of lights" means the maker of the sun, moon and stars. "Variableness" and "shadow of turning" borrow the vocabulary of those same lights: heavenly bodies shift, rise, set and throw moving shadows. James says God does not.

18Because he chose to, he gave us birth through the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first harvest among everything he made.

18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Note"Begat he us" means gave us birth. "Firstfruits" was the first portion of a harvest, brought to God before the rest could be used; the first sheaf both belonged to God and was the sign that the full crop was on its way.

19So then, my dear brothers and sisters, understand this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry,

19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20because human anger does not produce the kind of right living that God wants.

20For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Note"The righteousness of God" can mean the right conduct that God requires of people or the rightness that God himself produces. The Greek allows either reading.

21So get rid of every filthy habit and all the evil that spills out of you, and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you, which is able to save your souls.

21Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Note"Naughtiness" in 1611 meant wickedness, with none of the modern sense of mild misbehavior, and "superfluity" means an excess or overflow of it. "Engrafted" translates a word meaning implanted or planted in, as a seed is set into soil. "Meekness" means a teachable lack of self assertion, not weakness.

22Do what the word says. Do not just listen to it and fool yourselves.

22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23Anyone who hears the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.

23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Note"A glass" is a mirror. Ancient mirrors were disks of polished bronze or silver, usable but dim and somewhat distorted compared with modern glass.

24He looks at himself, walks away, and right away forgets what he looked like.

24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25But the person who looks closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keeps on doing so, and does not forget what he heard but acts on it, will be blessed in what he does.

25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Note"Looketh into" translates a verb meaning to stoop down and peer closely at something, deliberately set against the passing glance of verse 23. "Liberty" means freedom.

26If anyone thinks he is religious but does not keep his tongue under control, he is fooling himself, and his religion is worthless.

26If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

Note"Religious" and "religion" here translate words for the outward practice of worship: rites, observances and devotion in the form other people can see. That is narrower than the modern word. "Bridleth" is the image of a bit and reins controlling a horse. "Vain" means empty, worthless, with no result.

27Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and clean is this: to look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep yourself from being stained by the world.

27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Note"Undefiled" and "unspotted" come from the vocabulary of ritual purity, describing something clean enough to be brought into God's presence. "To visit" means to go to someone in order to help them, not to pay a social call; the same verb is used of God coming to the aid of his people. "The fatherless and widows" were the standard pair for the most exposed people in that society, left without a male provider and with little standing to defend themselves in court.