James 1
1 JAMES, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (rejoice)!2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God],10 And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.11 For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.14 But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.16 Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.17 Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].18 And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].19 Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.20 For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires].21 So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).27 External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.
Jacques 1
1 Jacques, esclave de Dieu et du Seigneur Jésus Christ, aux douze tribus qui sont dans la dispersion, salut!
2 Estimez-le comme une parfaite joie, mes frères, quand vous serez en butte à diverses tentations,3 sachant que l'épreuve de votre foi produit la patience.4 Mais que la patience ait son oeuvre parfaite, afin que vous soyez parfaits et accomplis, ne manquant de rien.5 Et si quelqu'un de vous manque de sagesse, qu'il demande à Dieu qui donne à tous libéralement et qui ne fait pas de reproches, et il lui sera donné;6 qu'il demande avec foi, ne doutant nullement; car celui qui doute est semblable au flot de la mer, agité par le vent et jeté çà et là;7 or que cet homme-là ne pense pas qu'il recevra quoi que ce soit du Seigneur:8 il est un homme incertain dans ses pensées, inconstant dans toutes ses voies.9 Or que le frère de basse condition se glorifie dans son élévation,10 et le riche dans son abaissement, car il passera comme la fleur de l'herbe.11 Car le soleil s'est levé avec sa brûlante chaleur et a séché l'herbe, et sa fleur est tombée, et la grâce de sa forme a péri: ainsi aussi le riche se flétrira dans ses voies.12 Bienheureux est l'homme qui endure la tentation; car, quand il aura été manifesté fidèle par l'épreuve, il recevra la couronne de vie, qu'Il a promise à ceux qui l'aiment.
13 Que nul, quand il est tenté, ne dise: Je suis tenté par Dieu; -car Dieu ne peut être tenté par le mal, et lui ne tente personne.14 Mais chacun est tenté, étant attiré et amorcé par sa propre convoitise;15 puis la convoitise, ayant conçu, enfante le péché; et le péché, étant consommé, produit la mort.16 Ne vous égarez pas, mes frères bien-aimés:17 tout ce qui nous est donné de bon et tout don parfait descendent d'en haut, du Père des lumières, en qui il n'y a pas de variation ou d'ombre de changement.18 De sa propre volonté, il nous a engendrés par la parole de la vérité, pour que nous soyons une sorte de prémices de ses créatures.
19 Ainsi, mes frères bien-aimés, que tout homme soit prompt à écouter, lent à parler, lent à la colère;20 car la colère de l'homme n'accomplit pas la justice de Dieu.21 C'est pourquoi, rejetant toute saleté et tout débordement de malice, recevez avec douceur la parole implantée, qui a la puissance de sauver vos âmes.22 Mais mettez la parole en pratique, et ne l'écoutez pas seulement, vous séduisant vous-mêmes.23 Car si quelqu'un écoute la parole et ne la met pas en pratique, il est semblable à un homme qui considère sa face naturelle dans un miroir;24 car il s'est considéré lui-même et s'en est allé, et aussitôt il a oublié quel il était.25 Mais celui qui aura regardé de près dans la loi parfaite, celle de la liberté, et qui aura persévéré, n'étant pas un auditeur oublieux, mais un faiseur d'oeuvre, celui-là sera bienheureux dans son faire.26 Si quelqu'un pense être religieux et qu'il ne tienne pas sa langue en bride, mais séduise son coeur, le service religieux de cet homme est vain.27 Le service religieux pur et sans tache devant Dieu le Père, est celui ci: de visiter les orphelins et les veuves dans leur affliction, de se conserver pur du monde.
