The New Jerusalem Bible with Apocrypha
The Letter of James
More a sermon than a letter, Jm blends OT and gospel tradition with Gk elegance. The author insists that Christian faith must issue
in good works: a faith not expressed in good works is no faith at all. In the Wisdom tradition of the OT he gives sharp and sensible advice on many
practical points of conduct, especially stressing the danger and transitoriness of wealth. Some scholars consider Jm the earliest writing of the NT;
others place it at the end of the century and deny that it was written by James, brother of the Lord and leader of the Jewish-Christian party in the
Jerusalem church.
Chapter 1
Address and greetings
1:1From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion. *[Properly, Jews
scattered in the gentile world, successors of the twelve tribes.]
Trials a privilege
2My brothers, consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you,
3for you well know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and
4perseverance must complete its work so that you will become fully developed, complete, not deficient in any way.
Prayer with confidence
5Any of you who lacks wisdom must ask God, who gives to all generously and without scolding; it will be given.
6But the prayer must be made with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea by
the buffeting of the wind.
7That sort of person, in two minds,8inconsistent in every activity, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
The lot of the rich
9It is right that the brother in humble circumstances should glory in being lifted up,
10and the rich in being brought low. For the rich will last no longer than the wild flower;
11the scorching sun comes up, and the grass withers, its flower falls, *[Is 40:6-7] its beauty is lost. It is the same with
the rich: in the middle of a busy life, the rich will wither.
Temptation
12Blessed is anyone who perseveres *[Dn 12:2] when trials come. Such a person is of proven worth and will win the prize of
life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
13Never, when you are being put to the test, say, 'God is tempting me'; God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the
test .
14Everyone is put to the test by being attracted and seduced by that person's own wrong desire.
15Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death.
Receiving the Word and putting it into practice
16Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers:
17all that is good, all that is perfect, is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such
thing as alteration, no shadow caused by change.
18By his own choice he gave birth to us by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all his creation.
True religion
19Remember this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to listen *[Si 5:11] but slow to speak and slow to human anger;
20God's saving justice is never served by human anger;
21so do away with all impurities and remnants of evil. Humbly welcome the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.
22But you must do what the Word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.
23Anyone who listens to the Word and takes no action is like someone who looks at his own features in a mirror and,
24once he has seen what he looks like, goes off and immediately forgets it.
25But anyone who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it-not listening and forgetting, but putting it into
practice-will be blessed in every undertaking.
26Nobody who fails to keep a tight rein on the tongue can claim to be religious; this is mere self-deception; that person's religion is
worthless.
27Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows in their hardships, and
keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.
Chapter 2
Respect for the poor
2:1My brothers, do not let class distinction enter into your faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified
Lord.
2Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, well-dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in
shabby clothes,
3and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, 'Come this way to the best seats'; then you tell the poor man,
'Stand over there' or 'You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.'
4In making this distinction among yourselves have you not used a corrupt
standard?
5Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who were poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to
the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.
6You, on the other hand, have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who lord it over you?
7Are not they the ones who drag you into court, who insult the honourable name which has been pronounced over you?
8Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme Law of scripture: you will love your neighbour as yourself; *[Lv 19:18.]
9but as soon as you make class distinctions, you are committing sin and under condemnation for breaking the Law.
10You see, anyone who keeps the whole of the Law but trips up on a single point, is still guilty of breaking it all.
11He who said, 'You must not commit adultery' said also, 'You must not kill.' *[Ex 20:3, 14] Now if you commit murder, you
need not commit adultery as well to become a breaker of the Law.
12Talk and behave like people who are going to be judged by the law of freedom.13Whoever acts without mercy will be judged
without mercy but mercy can afford to laugh at judgement.
Faith and good deeds
14How does it help, my brothers, when someone who has never done a single good act claims to have faith? Will that faith bring
salvation?
15If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on,
16and one of you says to them, 'I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty,' without giving them these bare necessities of life,
then what good is that?
17In the same way faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead.
18But someone may say: So you have faith and I have good deeds? Show me this faith of yours without deeds, then! It is by my deeds that I
will show you my faith.
19You believe in the one God-that is creditable enough, but even the demons have the same belief, and they tremble with fear.
20Fool! Would you not like to know that faith without deeds is useless?
21Was not Abraham our father justified by his deed, because he offered his son Isaac on the altar? *[Gn 22:9]
22So you can see that his faith was working together with his deeds; his faith became perfect by what he did.
23In this way the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham put his faith in God, and this was considered as making him upright;
*[Gn 15:6] and he received the name 'friend of God'.
24You see now that it is by deeds, and not only by believing, that someone is justified.
25There is another example of the same kind: Rahab the prostitute, *[Jos 2:1seq.] was she not justified by her deeds because
she welcomed the messengers and showed them a different way to leave?
26As a body without a spirit is dead, so is faith without deeds.
Chapter 3
Uncontrolled language
Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that we shall receive a stricter judgement.
2For we all trip up in many ways. Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a
tight rein.
3Once we put a bit in the horse's mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control.
4Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, they are directed by a tiny rudder wherever the whim of
the helmsman decides.
5So the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest;
6The tongue is a flame too. Among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a whole wicked world: it infects the whole body; catching fire
itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation.
7Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish of every kind can all be tamed, and have been tamed, by humans;
8but nobody can tame the tongue-it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison.
9We use it to bless the Lord and Father, but we also use it to curse people who are made in God's image:
10the blessing and curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong-
11does any water supply give a flow of fresh water and salt water out of the same pipe?
12Can a fig tree yield olives, my brothers, or a vine yield figs? No more can sea water yield fresh water.
Real wisdom and its opposite
13Anyone who is wise or understanding among you should from a good life give evidence of deeds done in the gentleness of
wisdom.
14But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or selfish ambition, do not be boastful or hide the truth with lies;
15this is not the wisdom that comes from above, but earthly, human and devilish.
16Wherever there are jealousy and ambition, there are also disharmony and wickedness of every kind;
17whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it is also peaceable, kindly and considerate; it is full
of mercy and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it.
18The peace sown by peacemakers brings a harvest of justice.
Chapter 4
Disunity among Christians
4:1Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?
2You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It
is because you do not pray that you do not receive;
3when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.
4Adulterers! Do you not realise that love for the world is hatred for God? Anyone who chooses the world for a friend is constituted an
enemy of God.
5Can you not see the point of the saying in scripture, 'The longing of the spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing.'?
6But he has given us an even greater grace, as scripture says: *[Pr 3:34. The saying in v. 5 is not in the OT.] God opposes
the proud but he accords his favour to the humble.
7Give in to God, then; resist the devil, and he will run away from you.
8The nearer you go to God, the nearer God will come to you. Clean your hands, you sinners, and clear your minds, you waverers.
9Appreciate your wretchedness, and weep for it in misery. Your laughter must be turned to grief, your happiness to gloom.
10Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.
11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who slanders a brother, or condemns one, is speaking against the Law and condemning the
Law. But if you condemn the Law, you have ceased to be subject to it and become a judge over it.
12There is only one lawgiver and he is the only judge and has the power to save or to destroy. Who are you to give a verdict on your
neighbor?
A warning for the rich and self-confident
13Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make
some money.'
14You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.
15Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.'
16But as it is, how boastful and loud-mouthed you are! Boasting of this kind is always wrong.
17Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.
Chapter 5
5:1Well now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to you.
2Your wealth is rotting, your clothes are all moth-eaten.
3All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be a witness against you and eat into your body. It is
like a fire which you have stored up for the final days.
4Can you hear crying out against you the wages which you kept back from the labourers mowing your fields? The cries of the reapers have
reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.
5On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart's content.
6It was you who condemned the upright and killed them; they offered you no resistance.
The coming of the Lord
7Now be patient, brothers, until the Lord's coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground
until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!
8You too must be patient; do not lose heart, because the Lord's coming will be
soon.
9Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen
waiting at the gates.
10For your example, brothers, in patiently putting up with persecution, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name;
11remember it is those who had perseverance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and understood
the Lord's purpose, realising that the Lord is kind and compassionate. *[Ps 103:8]
12Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth or use any oaths at all. If you mean 'yes', you must say 'yes'; if you
mean 'no', say 'no'. Otherwise you make yourselves liable to judgement.
13Any one of you who is in trouble should pray; anyone in good spirits should sing a psalm.
14Any one of you who is ill should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint the sick person with oil in the name of the
Lord and pray over him.
15The prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be
forgiven.
16So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another to be cured; the heartfelt prayer of someone upright works very
powerfully.
17Elijah was a human being as frail as ourselves-he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell for three and a half years;
18then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the earth gave crops.
19My brothers, if one of you strays away from the truth, and another brings him back to it,
20he may be sure that anyone who can bring back a sinner from his erring ways will be saving his soul from death and covering over many a
sin. *[Pr 10:12; Tb 12:9]
