James:1

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* Jacob , a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ , to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad : Greetings . * My brethren , count it all joy when you fall into various trials , * knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience . * But let patience have its perfecting work , that you may be perfect and complete , lacking nothing . * If any of you lacks wisdom , let him ask of God , who gives to all liberally and without reproach , and it will be given to him . * But let him ask in faith , doubting nothing , for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind . * For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord ; * he is a double-minded man , unstable in all his ways . * Let the lowly brother rejoice in his exaltation , * but the rich in his humiliation , because as the flower of the field he will pass away . * For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass ; its flower falls , and its beautiful appearance perishes . Thus the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits . * Blessed is the man who endures temptation ; for when he has been approved , he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him . * Let no one say when he is tempted , I am tempted by God ; for God cannot be tempted by evil , nor does He Himself tempt anyone . * But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed . * Then , when lust has conceived , it gives birth to sin ; and sin , when it is finished , brings forth death . * Do not be led astray , my beloved brethren . * Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above , and comes down from the Father of Lights , with whom there is no change or shadow of turning . * Of His own purpose He brought us forth by the Word of Truth , that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures . * So then , my beloved brethren , let every man be swift to hear , slow to speak , slow to wrath ; * for the wrath of man does not bring about the righteousness of God . * Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness , and receive with meekness the implanted Word , which has the power to save your souls . * But be doers of the Word , and not hearers only , deceiving yourselves . * For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer , he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror ; * for he observes himself , goes away , and immediately forgets of what sort he was . * But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it , and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work , this one will be blessed in his deeds . * If anyone among you thinks he is religious , and does not bridle his tongue but beguiles his own heart , this one ’s religion is vain . * Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this : to visit orphans and widows in their distress , and to keep oneself unspotted from the world .

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