James 2:17,20 - Compare All Versions

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In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless?

So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?