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James, bondman of God and of [the] Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which [are] in the dispersion, greeting.
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Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various temptations,
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knowing that the proving of your faith works endurance.
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But let endurance have [its] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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But if any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not, and it shall be given to him:
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but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting.
For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about;
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for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord;
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[he is] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
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But let the brother of low degree glory in his elevation,
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and the rich in his humiliation, because as [the] grass's flower he will pass away.
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For the sun has risen with its burning heat, and has withered the grass, and its flower has fallen, and the comeliness of its look has perished: thus the rich also shall wither in his goings.
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Blessed [is the] man who endures temptation;
for, having been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which He has promised to them that love him.
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Let no man, being tempted, say, I am tempted of God.
For God cannot be tempted by evil things, and himself tempts no one.
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But every one is tempted, drawn away, and enticed by his own lust;
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then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin;
but sin fully completed brings forth death.
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Do not err, my beloved brethren.
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Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning.
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According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of *his* creatures.
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So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
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for man's wrath does not work God's righteousness.
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Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness and abounding of wickedness, accept with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
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But be ye doers of [the] word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves.
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For if any man be a hearer of [the] word and not a doer, *he* is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror:
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for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like.
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But *he* that fixes his view on [the] perfect law, that of liberty, and abides in [it], being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of [the] work, *he* shall be blessed in his doing.
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If any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain.
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Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.