| For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. | Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. |
| If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. | If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. |
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| But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. | But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. |
| Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. | Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. |
| God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. | Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. |
| And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. | When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. |
| Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. | Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. |
| He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. | He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. |
| Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. | My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. |
| So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. | Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. |
| But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. |
| But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. | But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. |
| If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. |
| Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. | Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. |
