James · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
James 1 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
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, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
3 Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If 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.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
7 For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8 A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.
8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
10 and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
11 For 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.
11 For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed [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.
12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17 Every 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.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
20 for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
23 For 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:
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But 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.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion [is] vain.
26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27 Pure 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.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
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)