52 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
52 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown
Greeting
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# Chapter 1
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1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ:
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To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad.
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Greetings.
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Trials and Maturity
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2. Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,
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3. because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
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4. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
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5. Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God--who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly--and it will be given to him.
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6. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
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7. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord,
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8. being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.
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9. Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation,
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10. but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
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11. For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
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12. Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
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13. No one undergoing a trial should say, "I am being tempted by God," since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn't tempt anyone.
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14. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
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15. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
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16. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
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17. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
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18. By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
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Hearing and Doing the Word
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19. My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
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20. for human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.
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21. Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
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22. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
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23. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror.
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24. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.
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25. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works--this person will be blessed in what he does.
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26. If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself.
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27. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
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