¹From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.

Greetings.

Facing All Kinds of Trouble

²My brothers and sisters, think of it as pure joy when you face all kinds of trouble.

³When your faith is tested, this develops endurance in you.

⁴You must allow endurance to finish its work so that you’ll be everything you should be and have everything you need.

⁵If any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it, and he’ll give it to you. God gives freely to everyone and doesn’t tell them they shouldn’t have asked.

⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because a person who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

⁷That kind of person shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord.

⁸They can’t make up their mind and they can never decide what to do.

⁹Believers who are in low positions in life should be proud that God has given them a high position in the kingdom.

¹⁰But rich people should take pride in their low positions, since they will fade away like wild flowers.

¹¹The sun rises, and its burning heat dries up the plants. Their blossoms fall and their beauty is destroyed. In the same way, rich people will fade away even as they go about their business.

¹²Blessed is the person who keeps going when times are difficult. After they’ve made it through these times, they’ll receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to give to those who love him.

¹³When a person is tempted, they shouldn’t say, “God is tempting me.” God can’t be tempted by evil, and he doesn’t tempt anyone.

¹⁴Instead, each person is tempted by their own evil desires, which lead them on and drag them away.

¹⁵These desires have a child known as sin, and when sin grows up, it leads to death.

¹⁶Don’t let anyone fool you, my dear brothers and sisters.

¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above. It comes down from the Father who created the heavenly lights. He doesn’t change like shadows that move.

¹⁸God chose to give us new birth through the message of truth because he wanted us to be the first harvest of his new creation.

Listen to the Word and Do What It Says

¹⁹My dear brothers and sisters, pay attention to what I say: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

²⁰Human anger doesn’t produce the holy life God wants.

²¹So get rid of everything that’s sinful and the evil that’s all around you, and humbly accept the word that’s planted in you, which can save you.

²²Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to the word. You also have to do what it says.

²³If someone listens to the word but doesn’t do what it says, they’re like a person who sees what they look like in a mirror

²⁴but then goes away and forgets what they saw.

²⁵But if someone takes a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom, if they keep looking at it and don’t forget what they’ve heard but do it, then that person will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶If someone thinks they’re religious, but they don’t control what they say, then they’re fooling themselves and their religion isn’t worth anything.

²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to take care of widows and orphans who are in trouble and not let the world contaminate you.