Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, James

Excerpt

Book 59 James
001:001 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: 
        to the twelve tribes who are scattered over the world. 
        All good wishes.
001:002 Reckon it nothing but joy, my brethren, whenever you find
        yourselves hedged in by various trials.
001:003 Be assured that the testing of your faith leads to
        power of endurance.
001:004 Only let endurance have perfect results so that you may become
        perfect and complete, deficient in nothing.
001:005 And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it,
        who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding;
        and it will be given him.
001:006 But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has
        doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind
        and tossed into spray.
001:007 A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything
        from the Lord—­
001:008 such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes.
001:009 Let a brother in humble life rejoice when raised to a higher position;
001:010 but a rich man should rejoice in being brought low, for like
        flowers among the herbage rich men will pass away.
001:011 The sun rises with his scorching heat and dries up the herbage,
        so that its flowers drop off and the beauty of its
        appearance perishes, and in the same way rich men with all
        their prosperity will fade away.
001:012 Blessed is he who patiently endures trials; for when he has stood
        the test, he will gain the victor’s crown—­even the crown of Life—­
        which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
001:013 Let no one say when passing through trial, “My temptation is
        from God;” for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil,
        and He Himself tempts no one.
001:014 But when a man is tempted, it is his own passions that carry
        him away and serve as a bait.
001:015 Then the passion conceives, and becomes the parent of sin;
        and sin, when fully matured, gives birth to death.
001:016 Do not be deceived, my dearly-loved brethren.
001:017 Every gift which is good, and every perfect boon, is from above,
        and comes down from the Father, who is the source of all Light. 
        In Him there is no variation nor the slightest suggestion of change.
001:018 In accordance with His will He made us His children through
        the Message of the truth, so that we might, in a sense,
        be the Firstfruits of the things which He has created.
001:019 You know this, my dearly-loved brethren.  But let every one
        be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to be angry.
001:020 For a man’s anger does not lead to action which God
        regards as righteous.
001:021 Ridding yourselves, therefore, of all that is vile
        and of the evil influences which prevail around you,
        welcome in a humble spirit the Message implanted within you,
        which is able to save your souls.
001:022 But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be
        mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.
001:023 For if any one listens but does not obey, he is like a man
        who carefully looks at his own face in a mirror.
001:024 Although he has looked carefully at himself, he goes away,
        and has immediately forgotten the sort of man he is.
001:025 But he who looks closely into the perfect Law—­the Law of freedom—­
        and continues looking, he, being not a hearer who forgets, but an
        obedient doer, will as the result of his obedience be blessed.
001:026 If a man thinks that he is scrupulously religious,
        although he is not curbing his tongue but is deceiving himself,
        his religious service is worthless.
001:027 The religious service which is pure and stainless in the sight
        of our God and Father is to visit fatherless children and widowed
        women in their time of trouble, and to keep one’s own self
        unspotted from the world.
002:001 My brethren, you must not make distinctions between one man
        and another while you are striving to maintain faith in
        the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our glory.
002:002 For suppose a man comes into one of your meetings wearing gold
        rings and fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man
        wearing shabby clothes,
002:003 and you pay court to the one who wears the fine clothes, and say,
        “Sit here; this is a good place;” while to the poor man you say,
        “Stand there, or sit on the floor at my feet;”
002:004 is it not plain that in your hearts you have little faith,
        seeing that you have become judges full of wrong thoughts?
002:005 Listen, my dearly-loved brethren.  Has not God chosen those whom
        the world regards as poor to be rich in faith and heirs
        of the Kingdom which He has promised to those that love Him?
002:006 But you have put dishonour upon the poor man. 
        Yet is it not the rich who grind you down?  Are not they
        the very people who drag you into the Law courts?—­
002:007 and the very people who speak evil of the noble Name by which
        you are called?
002:008 If, however, you are keeping the Law as supreme, in obedience
        to the Commandment which says “You are to love your fellow
        man just as you love yourself,” you are acting rightly.
002:009 But if you are making distinctions between one man and another,
        you are guilty of sin, and are convicted by the Law as offenders.
002:010 A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep
        some one command, has become guilty of violating all.
002:011 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said,
        “Do not commit murder,” and if you are a murderer, although not
        an adulterer, you have become an offender against the Law.
002:012 Speak and act as those should who are expecting to be judged
        by the Law of freedom.
002:013 For he who shows no mercy will have judgement given against him
        without mercy; but mercy triumphs over judgement.
002:014 What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith,
        and yet his actions do not correspond?  Can such faith save him?
002:015 Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or
        lacks daily food,
002:016 and one of you says to them, “I wish you well; keep yourselves
        warm and well fed,” and yet you do not give them what they need;
        what is the use of that?
002:017 So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life
        in it—­so long as it stands alone.
002:018 Nay, some one will say, “You have faith, I have actions: 
        prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I
        will prove mine to you by my actions.
002:019 You believe that God is one, and you are quite right: 
        evil spirits also believe this, and shudder.”
002:020 But, idle boaster, are you willing to be taught how it
        is that faith apart from obedience is worthless? 
        Take the case of Abraham our forefather.
002:021 Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was
        declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered
        up his son Isaac upon the altar?
002:022 You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions,
        and that by his actions his faith was perfected;
002:023 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God,
        and his faith was placed to his credit as righteousness,”
        and he received the name of `God’s friend.’
002:024 You all see that it is because of actions that a man is
        pronounced righteous, and not simply because of faith.
002:025 In the same way also was not the notorious sinner Rahab declared
        to be righteous because of her actions when she welcomed
        the spies and hurriedly helped them to escape another way?
002:026 For just as a human body without a spirit is lifeless,
        so also faith is lifeless if it is unaccompanied by obedience.
003:001 Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers;
        for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.
003:002 For we often stumble and fall, all of us.  If there is any one
        who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity
        of character and is able to curb his whole nature.
003:003 Remember that we put the horses’ bit into their mouths to make
        them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.
003:004 So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along
        by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small
        rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at
        the helm chooses.
003:005 In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body,
        but it is immensely boastful.  Remember how a mere spark
        may set a vast forest in flames.
003:006 And the tongue is a fire.  That world of iniquity, the tongue,
        is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature,
        and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself
        set on fire by Gehenna.
003:007 For brute nature under all its forms—­beasts and birds,
        reptiles and fishes—­can be subjected and kept in subjection
        by human nature.
003:008 But the tongue no man or woman is able to tame. 
        It is an ever-busy mischief, and is full of deadly poison.
003:009 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men,
        who are made in God’s likeness.
003:010 Out of the same mouth there proceed blessing and cursing. 
        My brethren, this ought not to be.
003:011 In a fountain, are fresh water and bitter sent forth from
        the same opening?
003:012 Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine yield figs? 
        No; and neither can salt water yield sweet.
003:013 Which of you is a wise and well-instructed man? 
        Let him prove it by a right life with conduct guided by a
        wisely teachable spirit.
003:014 But if in your hearts you have bitter feelings of envy and rivalry,
        do not speak boastfully and falsely, in defiance of the truth.
003:015 That is not the wisdom which comes down from above:  it belongs
        to earth, to the unspiritual nature, and to evil spirits.
003:016 For where envy and rivalry are, there also are unrest and
        every vile deed.
003:017 The wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceful,
        courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions,
        free from favouritism and from all insincerity.
003:018 And peace, for those who strive for peace, is the seed
        of which the harvest is righteousness.
004:001 What causes wars and contentions among you?  Is it not the cravings
        which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?
004:002 You covet things and yet cannot get them; you commit murder;
        you have passionate desires and yet cannot gain your end;
        you begin to fight and make war.  You have not, because you
        do not pray;
004:003 or you pray and yet do not receive, because you pray wrongly,
        your object being to waste what you get on some pleasure or another.
004:004 You unfaithful women, do you not know that friendship with
        the world means enmity to God?  Therefore whoever is bent on
        being friendly with the world makes himself an enemy to God.
004:005 Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says,
        “The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns
        jealously over us”?
004:006 But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying,
        “God sets Himself against the haughty, but to the lowly
        He gives grace.”
004:007 Submit therefore to God:  resist the Devil, and he will
        flee from you.
004:008 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. 
        Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure,
        you who are half-hearted towards God.
004:009 Afflict yourselves and mourn and weep aloud; let your laughter
        be turned into grief, and your gladness into shame.
004:010 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He
        will exalt you.
004:011 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.  The man who speaks
        evil of a brother-man or judges his brother-man speaks evil
        of the Law and judges the Law.  But if you judge the Law,
        you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it.
004:012 The only real Lawgiver and Judge is He who is able to save or
        to destroy.  Who are you to sit in judgement on your fellow man?
004:013 Come, you who say, “To-day or to-morrow we will go to this
        or that city, and spend a year there and carry on
        a successful business,”
004:014 when, all the while, you do not even know what will happen to-morrow. 
        For what is the nature of your life?  Why, it is but a mist,
        which appears for a short time and then is seen no more.
004:015 Instead of that you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,
        we shall live and do this or that.”
004:016 But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that
        you boast:  all such boasting is evil.
004:017 If, however, a man knows what it is right to do and yet does
        not do it, he commits a sin.
005:001 Come, you rich men, weep aloud and howl for your sorrows
        which will soon be upon you.
005:002 Your treasures have rotted, and your piles of clothing are moth-eaten;
005:003 your gold and your silver have become covered with rust,
        and the rust on them will give evidence against you,
        and will eat your flesh like fire.  You have hoarded up wealth
        in these last days.
005:004 I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered
        in your crops—­pay which you are keeping back—­is calling
        out against you; and the outcries of those who have been
        your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of
        the armies of Heaven.
005:005 Here on earth you have lived self-indulgent and profligate lives. 
        You have stupefied yourselves with gross feeding; but a day
        of slaughter has come.
005:006 You have condemned—­you have murdered—­the righteous man: 
        he offers no resistance.
005:007 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the Coming of the Lord. 
        Notice how eagerly a farmer waits for a valuable crop! 
        He is patient over it till it has received the early and
        the later rain.
005:008 So you also must be patient:  keeping up your courage;
        for the Coming of the Lord is now close at hand.
005:009 Do not cry out in condemnation of one another, brethren, lest you
        come under judgement.  I tell you that the Judge is standing
        at the door.
005:010 In illustration, brethren, of persecution patiently endured take
        the Prophets who have spoken as messengers from the Lord.
005:011 Remember that we call those blessed who endured what they did. 
        You have also heard of Job’s patient endurance,
        and have seen the issue of the Lord’s dealings with him—­
        how full of tenderness and pity the Lord is.
005:012 But above all things, my brethren, do not swear,
        either by Heaven or by the earth, or with any other oath. 
        Let your `yes’ be simply `yes,’ and your `no’ be simply `no;’
        that you may not come under condemnation.
005:013 Is one of you suffering?  Let him pray.  Is any one in good spirits? 
        Let him sing a psalm.
005:014 Is any one ill?  Let him send for the Elders of the Church,
        and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil
        in the name of the Lord.
005:015 And the prayer of faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord
        will raise him up to health; and if he has committed sins,
        they shall be forgiven.
005:016 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another,
        so that you may be cured.  The heartfelt supplication of a
        righteous man exerts a mighty influence.
005:017 Elijah was a man with a nature similar to ours,
        and he earnestly prayed that there might be no rain: 
        and no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.
005:018 Again he prayed, and the sky gave rain and the land
        yielded its crops.
005:019 My brethren, if one of you strays from the truth and some one
        brings him back,
005:020 let him know that he who brings a sinner back from his evil
        ways will save the man’s soul from death and throw a veil
        over a multitude of sins.