# James 1 (New King James Version)
Greeting to the Twelve Tribes

##### Chapter 1
###### 1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:
Greetings.Profiting from Trials

###### 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  
###### 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  
###### 4 But let patience have _its_ perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  
###### 5 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.  
###### 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  
###### 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;  
###### 8 _he is_ a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.The Perspective of Rich and Poor

###### 9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,  
###### 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.  
###### 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.Loving God Under Trials

###### 12 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.  
###### 13 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.  
###### 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  
###### 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

###### 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  
###### 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  
###### 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.Qualities Needed in Trials

###### 19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;  
###### 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.Doers--Not Hearers Only

###### 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

###### 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  
###### 23 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;  
###### 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  
###### 25 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 what he does.

###### 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion _is_ useless.  
###### 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, _and_ to keep oneself unspotted from the world.