James · Bible in Basic English
James 1 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends words of love to the twelve tribes of the Jews living in all parts of the earth.
1 JACOBO, siervo de Dios y del Señor Jesucristo, á las doce tribus que están esparcidas, salud.
2 Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort;
2 Hermanos míos, tened por sumo gozo cuando cayereis en diversas tentaciones;
3 Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope;
3 Sabiendo que la prueba de vuestra fe obra paciencia.
4 But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.
4 Mas tenga la paciencia perfecta [su] obra, para que seáis perfectos y cabales, sin faltar en alguna cosa.
5 But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.
5 Y si alguno de vosotros tiene falta de sabiduría, demándela á Dios, el cual da á todos abundantemente, y no zahiere; y le será dada.
6 Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind.
6 Pero pida en fe, no dudando nada: porque el que duda es semejante á la onda de la mar, que es movida del viento, y echada de una parte á otra.
7 Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;
7 No piense pues el tal hombre que recibirá ninguna cosa del Señor.
8 For there is a division in his mind, and he is uncertain in all his ways.
8 El hombre de doblado ánimo es inconstante en todos sus caminos.
9 But let the brother of low position be glad that he is lifted up;
9 El hermano que es de baja suerte, gloríese en su alteza:
10 But the man of wealth, that he is made low; because like the flower of the grass he will come to his end.
10 Mas el que es rico, en su bajeza; porque él se pasará como la flor de la hierba.
11 For when the sun comes up with its burning heat, the grass gets dry and the grace of its form is gone with the falling flower; so the man of wealth comes to nothing in his ways.
11 Porque salido el sol con ardor, la hierba se secó, y su flor se cayó, y pereció su hermosa apariencia: así también se marchitará el rico en todos sus caminos.
12 There is a blessing on the man who undergoes testing; because, if he has God's approval, he will be given the crown of life, which the Lord has said he will give to those who have love for him.
12 Bienaventurado el varón que sufre la tentación; porque cuando fuere probado, recibirá la corona de vida, que Dios ha prometido á los que le aman.
13 Let no man say when he is tested, I am tested by God; for it is not possible for God to be tested by evil, and he himself puts no man to such a test:
13 Cuando alguno es tentado, no diga que es tentado de Dios: porque Dios no puede ser tentado de los malos, ni él tienta á alguno:
14 But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire.
14 Sino que cada uno es tentado, cuando de su propia concupiscencia es atraído, y cebado.
15 Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.
15 Y la concupiscencia, después que ha concebido, pare el pecado: y el pecado, siendo cumplido, engendra muerte.
16 Do not be turned from the right way, dear brothers.
16 Amados hermanos míos, no erréis.
17 Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.
17 Toda buena dádiva y todo don perfecto es de lo alto, que desciende del Padre de las luces, en el cual no hay mudanza, ni sombra de variación.
18 Of his purpose he gave us being, by his true word, so that we might be, in a sense, the first-fruits of all the things which he had made.
18 El, de su voluntad nos ha engendrado por la palabra de verdad, para que seamos primicias de sus criaturas.
19 You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;
19 Por esto, mis amados hermanos, todo hombre sea pronto para oir, tardío para hablar, tardío para airarse:
20 For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.
20 Porque la ira del hombre no obra la justicia de Dios.
21 For this reason, putting away all dirty behaviour and the overweight of evil, take into your souls without pride the word which, being planted there, is able to give you salvation.
21 Por lo cual, dejando toda inmundicia y superfluidad de malicia, recibid con mansedumbre la palabra ingerida, la cual puede hacer salvas vuestras almas.
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.
22 Mas sed hacedores de la palabra, y no tan solamente oidores, engañándoos á vosotros mismos.
23 Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass;
23 Porque si alguno oye la palabra, y no la pone por obra, este tal es semejante al hombre que considera en un espejo su rostro natural.
24 For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like.
24 Porque él se consideró á sí mismo, y se fué, y luego se olvidó qué tal era.
25 But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts.
25 Mas el que hubiere mirado atentamente en la perfecta ley, [que es] la de la libertad, y perseverado [en ella], no siendo oidor olvidadizo, sino hacedor de la obra, este tal será bienaventurado en su hecho.
26 If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.
26 Si alguno piensa ser religioso entre vosotros, y no refrena su lengua, sino engañando su corazón, la religión del tal es vana.
27 The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.
27 La religión pura y sin mácula delante de Dios y Padre es esta: Visitar los huérfanos y las viudas en sus tribulaciones, y guardarse sin mancha de este mundo.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
James
The Gospels name him first among Jesus' brothers (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3), and Paul calls him 'James, the Lord's brother' (Galatians 1:19); he led the church in Jerusalem and is…
Cited in the guide: Matthew 13:55; Acts 15; James 1:1
Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Ezekiel 12:15; 1 Peter 1:1; John 7:35; Acts 8:1; Acts 26:7
- 2 1 Peter 1:6–8; James 1:12; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Matthew 5:10–12; Luke 6:22–23
- 3 Romans 5:3–4; Hebrews 10:36; Colossians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 8:28
- 4 1 Peter 5:10; Luke 21:19; Matthew 5:48; 2 Timothy 3:17; Galatians 6:9
- 5 Proverbs 2:3–6; John 15:7; Jeremiah 29:12–13; Proverbs 3:5–7; 1 John 5:14–15
- 6 Matthew 21:21–22; Hebrews 11:6; Mark 11:22–24; Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 10:23
- 7 James 4:3; Proverbs 15:8; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 58:3–4; Proverbs 21:27
- 8 1 Kings 18:21; Matthew 6:24; James 4:8; Isaiah 29:13; 2 Peter 2:14
- 9 Jeremiah 9:23–24; Proverbs 19:1; James 2:5–6; 2 Corinthians 6:10; Psalm 62:9
- 10 1 Peter 1:24; 1 John 2:17; Job 14:2; 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 5:3
- 11 Isaiah 40:7–8; Psalm 37:35–36; Luke 16:19–25; Mark 4:6; Psalm 49:6–14
- 12 1 Peter 5:10; 1 Peter 1:6–8; Revelation 2:10; James 5:11; Romans 8:28
- 13 James 1:12; Habakkuk 2:12–13; Romans 9:19–20; James 1:2; Genesis 3:12
- 14 Mark 7:21–22; Ephesians 4:22; Matthew 15:18; Hebrews 3:13; Proverbs 4:23
- 15 Psalm 7:14; Job 15:35; Romans 5:12–21; Genesis 2:17; Isaiah 59:4
- 16 James 1:19; Galatians 6:7; Colossians 2:8; Hebrews 13:1; Colossians 2:4
- 17 John 3:27; Matthew 7:11; Hebrews 13:8; John 8:12; Numbers 23:19
- 18 Romans 8:29–31; 1 Peter 1:23; John 3:3–5; John 1:13; 1 Peter 1:3
- 19 Proverbs 17:27; Proverbs 21:23; Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 10:19; Proverbs 18:13
- 20 2 Timothy 2:24–25; Ephesians 4:26; James 3:17–18; Numbers 20:11–12
- 21 Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Peter 2:11; John 6:63; Psalm 25:9
- 22 Romans 2:13; Luke 6:46–48; John 13:17; James 4:17; 1 John 2:3
- 23 Matthew 7:26–27; James 2:14–26; Ezekiel 33:31–32; Luke 6:47; Jeremiah 44:16
- 24 2 Peter 3:11; Luke 1:66; Luke 7:39; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; Matthew 8:27
- 25 Luke 11:28; John 13:17; 2 Corinthians 3:17–18; 1 Peter 2:16; Luke 6:47–49
- 26 Psalm 141:3; Ephesians 4:29; 1 Peter 3:10; Ephesians 5:4; Proverbs 19:1
- 27 Isaiah 1:16–17; 1 John 3:17–19; Galatians 6:9–10; Romans 12:2; Matthew 25:34–46
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
But I hungered and thirsted not even after those first works of Thine, but after Thee Thyself, the Truth, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;" yet they still served up to me in those dishes glowing phantasies, than which better were it to love this very sun (which, at least, is true to our sight), than those …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… not by passion, or union, not in ignorance, not by effluence, not by diminution, not by alteration, for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow of turning.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
How, therefore, are demons driven off by them, diseases dispelled, sick persons made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers purified, temptations and troubles overcome, and how does every good gift from the Father of lights come down through them to those who pray with sure faith?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
… light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness; and "of His fulness have all we received," for "that was the true Light which lighted every man that cometh into the world;" for in Thee there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth, and he shall receive.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)