You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. | Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. |
Therefore, ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. | 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. |
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But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. | But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. |
But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does. | 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. |
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. | If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. |
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. | 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. |