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JAMES
James 1:1
I, James, am writing this letter to Jewish people who trust in the Lord Jesus who are scattered throughout the world. Greetings!
Whenyou experience difficulties that test whetherornotyouwillcontinueto trust God, rejoice greatly and keep on bravely enduring themin order thatyoumay become allthatGod intends youtobe.
Ifyou want tohave wisdom to know whattodowhen difficulties come, ask God to help you, and firmly trust him.
Believers whoare poor andthosewhoare rich should both value highly whatGodhas done forthem, rather than focusing ontheir material resources thatwill disappear.
God blesses thosewho bravely endure difficulties; hewill reward themby causing themto live eternally.
Ifpeopleare tempted todo something evil, they should not think thatitisGodwhois tempting them. Itistheirown evil desires thatare tempting themtodo evil.
Stop thinking wrongly that God tempts you to do evil things, because God does only good thingsforus.
Every oneofyoushould eagerly pay attention to God's messageandshouldnot speak hastily or get angry easily.
So stop doingall kinds of evil things, anddowhatGod commands inhis message, instead of just listening to it. God approves of those whodowhathe wants them todo.
Thosewhoshow compassion onpeoplein need andwhodonot think or act immorally arethosewhotruly worship Godand receive his approval.
Stop honoring some people more than others, because by doing that, you are disobeying God's law that we should love one another.
Continually act mercifully toward others, becauseGodwillnot act mercifully tothosewhodonot act mercifully toward others.
Anyone who says thathe trusts inJesus Christ butdoesnotact compassionately towardothersisnot truly trusting inJesus.
But someone may claim thatsomepeopleare saved becausethey trust in God andotherpeopleare saved becausetheydogoodthingsforothers. In answer tothat, the inadequacy offaithwithoutgooddeedsis demonstrated bythe example of demons. Fromthe examples of Abraham and Rahab we can see thatonlyby obeying God anddoinggoodthingsforothers can people prove thatthey truly trust in God.
Not many of you should become teachers, because God will judge teachers with greater severity than he will judge others. You should all strive to speak what is right, because what you say has a powerful effect on others, and it is often destructive and hypocritical.
If youare jealous of others and self-seeking, donot boast thatyouare wise. Instead, demonstrate thatyouare truly wise bydoing good thingsandbyacting peaceably and compassionately toward others.
You are fighting among yourselves because of your evil desires, and you are never getting what you want because you pray with wrong motives.
Youare unfaithful to God andare behaving asevilpeopledo, soyouhave become God's enemies, buthe wants to help you. He opposes the proud, buthe helps thosewhoare humble.
So submit yourselves toGodandresistthe devil. Stop doing wrong thingsand thinking wrong thoughts. Be sorry for having sinned. Humble yourselves beforeGod, andhewill honor you.
Stop saying evil things about one another andthus condemning each other. Only God hasthe right to condemn people.
Youshouldnot boast aboutwhatyouwilldointhe future, because life is transitory. Instead, youshould plan todo whatever God wants youtodo, because boasting aboutwhatyou want todo, ratherthan considering thewillof God, is sinful.
The rich people who oppress you should weep because they will suffer much. God will punish them because they have unjustly caused others to suffer.
So wait patiently forthe Lord Jesus Christ to return andto judge allpeople fairly. Donot complain about each other, lest Jesus judge youwhen he returns. Fromthe examples ofthe prophets and Job, we know that God blesses and rewards thosewho patiently endure suffering.
Donot say, “IfIam lying, mayGod punish me.” Instead, always tell the truth, sothatGodwillnot condemn you.
Whateveryour circumstances are, pray, trusting in God, andhewillcertainly help you, both physically and spiritually. So confess your sins to each otherandprayfor each other, because God answers prayer.
Ifanyone turns away from God's true message, you believers should urge himtoonceagain obey GodsothatGodwill forgive his many sins.

Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.

© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.