James 1
1
1 #
Mt 13.55; Mk 6.3; Ac 15.13; Ga 1.19. From James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Greetings to the twelve tribes scattered all over the world.#1.1 twelve tribes scattered all over the world: James is saying that the Lord's followers are like the tribes of Israel that were scattered everywhere by their enemies.
Faith and Wisdom
2 #
Ws 3.5,6. My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3You know you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4But you must learn to endure everything, so you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.
5 #
Ws 8.21; Si 51.13,14. If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won't correct you for asking. 6But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. 7-8If you are that kind of person, you can't make up your mind, and you surely can't be trusted. So don't expect the Lord to give you anything at all.
Poor People and Rich People
9Any of God's people who are poor should be glad he thinks so highly of them. 10#Is 40.6,7 (LXX). But any who are rich should be glad when God makes them humble. Rich people will disappear like wild flowers 11scorched by the burning heat of the sun. The flowers lose their blossoms, and their beauty is destroyed. This is how the rich will disappear, as they go about their business.
Trials and Temptations
12 #
4 Macc 9.8. God will bless you, if you don't give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life,#1.12 a glorious life: The Greek text has “the crown of life.” In ancient times an athlete who had won a contest was rewarded with a crown of flowers as a sign of victory. just as he rewards everyone who loves him.
13 #
Si 15.11-20. Don't blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and he doesn't use evil to tempt others. 14We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. 15Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead.
16Don't be fooled, my dear friends. 17Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing. 18He wanted us to be his own special people,#1.18 his own special people: The Greek text has “the first of his creatures.” The Law of Moses taught that the first-born of all animals and the first part of the harvest were special and belonged to the Lord. and so he sent the true message to give us new birth.
Hearing and Obeying
19 #
Si 5.11. My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry. 20If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good things God wants done. 21You must stop doing anything immoral or evil. Instead be humble and accept the message planted in you to save you.
22Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it. 23If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror 24and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. 25But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget.
26If you think you are being religious, but can't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is useless. 27Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.
Currently Selected:
James 1: CEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jacob 1
1
1Jacob, a servant of God and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah,#1:1 “Messiah” means “Anointed One”. to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers,#1:2 The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.” when you fall into various temptations, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But 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. 6But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; 10and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. 11For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. 18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 21Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.#1:21 or, preserve your life.
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25But he who looks into the perfect Torah of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone amongst you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
PUBLIC DOMAIN. "World Messianic Bible" is a trademark.