A TRANSLATION OF

CALVIN'S VERSION OF

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES.

CHAPTER 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the dispersion, health:

2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various temptations;

3 Knowing that the trying of your faith works patience:

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so that ye may be perfect and entire, in nothing deficient.

5 But if any of you be deficient in wisdom, let him ask it from God, who giveth to all freely, and does not upbraid: and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, by no means doubting; for he who doubts, is like a wave of the sea, which by the wind is driven and tossed to and fro.

7 Let not, then, that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.

8 A man of a double mind is unstable in all his ways.

9 Now, let a brother who is low, rejoice in his exaltation; and the rich in his lowness:

10 Because as a flower of grass shall he pass away:

11 For the sun rises with heat and withers the grass, and the flower falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes; so also shall the rich fade away in his riches.

12 Blessed is the man, who endures temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life: which the Lord hath promised to them who love him.

13 Let no one, when he is tempted, say, "By God I am tempted:" for God cannot be tempted by evils, nor does he tempt any one.

14 But every one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lusts, and is ensnared.

15 Then lust, having conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, being perfected, begets death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren:

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of turning.

18 Of his own will has he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some firstfruits of his creatures.

19 Let every man, therefore, my beloved brethren, be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

21 Laying aside then all filthiness and redundancy of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 And be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if any one be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks on his natural face in a glass;

24 For he hath looked on himself and departed, and hath immediately forgotten what manner of man he was.

25 But he who attentively looks on the perfect law of liberty and continues to do so,--this man, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, shall be blessed in his work.

26 If any one seems to be religious among you and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, his religion is vain.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father, is this,--To visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep himself unspotted from the world.