1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion: Greetings! 2 Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you experience various troubles. 3 You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Let endurance complete its work, so that you may become fully developed and complete, not lacking anything. 5 But if any of you needs wisdom, let him ask for it from God, the one who gives generously and without rebuke to all who ask, and he will give it to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For anyone who doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed around. 7 For that person must not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the poor brother boast of his high position, 10 but the rich man of his low position, because he will pass away as a wild flower in the grass. 11 For the sun rises with burning heat and dries up the grass. The flower falls off, and its beauty perishes. In the same way, the rich man will fade away in the middle of his journey. 12 Blessed is the man who endures testing. For after he has passed the test, he will receive the crown of life, which has been promised to those who love God. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” because God is not tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. 14 But each person is tempted by his own desire, which drags him away and entices him. 15 Then after the desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and after the sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It comes down from the Father of lights. With him there is no changing or shadow because of turning. 18 God chose to give us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all the things that he created. 19 You know this, my beloved brothers: Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. 20 For the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore take off all sinful filth and abundant amounts of evil. In humility receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 Be doers of the word and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word but not a doer, he is like a man who examines his natural face in a mirror. 24 He examines himself and then goes away and immediately forgets what he was like. 25 But the person who looks carefully into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so, not just being a hearer who forgets, this man will be blessed in his actions. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, but if he does not control his tongue, he deceives his heart, and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and unspoiled before our God and Father is to help the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James · Unlocked Literal Bible
James 1 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)