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 generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. |
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 endurance. |
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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 is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. |
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 ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven 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. | Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. |
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 anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and 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. | No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. |
He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. | In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. |
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. | You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. |
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 rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. |
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. | But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. |
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 those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. |
If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. | If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, 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 is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. |
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. | So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. |
You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. | You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. |
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. | For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. |
And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! | From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. |
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. | Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. |
For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. | For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. |
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. | But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. |
And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. | And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. |
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. | You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. |
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. | Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. |
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. | Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. |