James 2

Beware of Personal Favoritism

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,theLordof glory, withpartiality.

2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,

3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,”

4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brethren:Has God not chosen the poor of this worldtoberich in faith and heirs of the kingdomwhich He promised to those who love Him?

6 Butyou have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress youand drag you into the courts?

7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you arecalled?

8 If you really fulfilltheroyal law according to the Scripture,“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well;

9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law astransgressors.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yetstumble in onepoint,he is guilty of all.

11 For He who said,“Do not commit adultery,” also said,“Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged bythe law of liberty.

13 Forjudgment is without mercy to the one who has shownnomercy.Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

14 Whatdoesitprofit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

16 andone of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, whatdoesitprofit?

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”Show me your faith without your works,and I will show you my faith by my works.

19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by workswhen he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you seethat faith was working together with his works, and byworks faith was made perfect?

23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was calledthe friend of God.

24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise,was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sentthemout another way?

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James 3

The Untamable Tongue

1 My brethren,let not many of you become teachers,knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

2 Forwe all stumble in many things.If anyone does not stumble in word,heisa perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

3 Indeed,we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

5 Even sothe tongue is a little member andboasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

6 Andthe tongueisa fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that itdefiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

8 But no man can tame the tongue.Itisan unruly evil,full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been madein the similitude of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

11 Does a spring send forth freshwaterand bitter from the same opening?

12 Can afig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom

13 Whoiswise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conductthathis worksaredonein the meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you havebitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts,do not boast and lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom does not descend from above, butisearthly, sensual, demonic.

16 Forwhere envy and self-seekingexist,confusion and every evil thingarethere.

17 Butthe wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits,without partialityand without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James 4

Pride Promotes Strife

1 Where do wars and fightscomefrom among you? Dotheynotcomefrom yourdesiresforpleasurethat war in your members?

2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive,because you ask amiss, that you may spenditon your pleasures.

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know thatfriendship with the world is enmity with God?Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain,“The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

# “God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

Humility Cures Worldliness

7 Therefore submit to God.Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.Cleanseyourhands,yousinners; andpurifyyourhearts,youdouble-minded.

9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning andyourjoy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brotherand judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12 There is one Lawgiver,who is able to save and to destroy.Who are you to judge another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;

14 whereas you do not know whatwillhappentomorrow. For whatisyour life?It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 Instead yououghtto say,“If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

16 But now you boast in your arrogance.All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore,to him who knows to do good and does not doit,to him it is sin.

James 5

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

1 Come now,yourich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming uponyou!

2 Yourriches are corrupted, andyour garments are moth-eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

4 Indeedthe wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; andthe cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

Be Patient and Persevering

7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Seehowthe farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering andpatience.

11 Indeedwe count them blessed whoendure. You have heard ofthe perseverance of Job and seenthe endintendedbythe Lord—thatthe Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brethren,do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” andyour“No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

Meeting Specific Needs

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let himpray. Is anyone cheerful?Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16 Confessyourtrespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

17 Elijah was a manwith a nature like ours, andhe prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

18 And he prayedagain, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Bring Back the Erring One

19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someoneturns him back,

20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his waywill save a soul from death andcover a multitude of sins.

Hebrews 1

God’s Supreme Revelation

1 God, who at various times andin various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,

2 has in these last days spoken to us byHisSon, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

3 who being the brightness ofHisglory and the expressimage of His person, andupholding all things by the word of His power,when He had by Himself purged our sins,sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

4 having become so much better than the angels, asHe has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

The Son Exalted Above Angels

5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:

# “You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You”?

And again:

# “I will be to Him a Father,

And He shall be to Me a Son”?

6 But when He again bringsthe firstborn into the world, He says:

# “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”

7 And of the angels He says:

# “Who makes His angels spirits

And His ministers a flame of fire.”

8 But to the SonHesays:

# “Your throne, O God,isforever and ever;

A scepter of righteousnessisthe scepter of Your kingdom.

9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;

# Therefore God, Your God,has anointed You

With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

10 And:

# “You,Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

11 They will perish, but You remain;

# Andthey will all grow old like a garment;

12 Like a cloak You will fold them up,

And they will be changed.

# But You are thesame,

And Your years will not fail.”

13 But to which of the angels has He ever said:

# “Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who willinherit salvation?

Hebrews 2

Do Not Neglect Salvation

1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

2 For if the wordspoken through angels proved steadfast, andevery transgression and disobedience received a just reward,

3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation,which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and wasconfirmed to us by those who heardHim,

4 God also bearing witnessboth with signs and wonders, with various miracles, andgifts of the Holy Spirit,according to His own will?

The Son Made Lower than Angels

5 For He has not putthe world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.

6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:

# “What is man that You are mindful of him,

Or the son of man that You take care of him?

7 You have made him a little lower than the angels;

You have crowned him with glory and honor,

And set him over the works of Your hands.

8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”

# For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothingthatisnot put under him. But nowwe do not yet see all things put under him.

9 But we see Jesus,who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of deathcrowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste deathfor everyone.

Bringing Many Sons to Glory

10 For it was fitting for Him,for whomareall things and by whomareall things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvationperfect through sufferings.

11 Forboth He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctifiedareall of one, for which reasonHe is not ashamed to call them brethren,

12 saying:

# “I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”

13 And again:

# “I will put My trust in Him.”

And again:

# “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, HeHimself likewise shared in the same,that through death He might destroy him who had the power ofdeath, that is, the devil,

15 and release those whothrough fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

17 Therefore, in all things He hadto be made likeHisbrethren, that He might bea merciful and faithful High Priest in thingspertainingto God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Hebrews 3

The Son Was Faithful

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, asMoses alsowasfaithfulin all His house.

3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch asHe who built the house has more honor than the house.

4 For every house is built by someone, butHe who built all thingsisGod.

5 And Moses indeedwasfaithful in all His house asa servant,for a testimony of those things which would be spokenafterward,

6 but Christ asa Son over His own house,whose house we areif we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

Be Faithful

7 Therefore, asthe Holy Spirit says:

# “Today, if you will hear His voice,

8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

And saw My works forty years.

10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray intheirheart,

And they have not known My ways.’

11 So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,

15 while it is said:

# “Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers

16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed,wasitnot all who came out of Egypt,ledby Moses?

17 Now with whom was He angry forty years?Wasitnot with those who sinned,whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

18 Andto whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?

19 So we see that they could not enter in because ofunbelief.

Hebrews 4

The Promise of Rest

1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest,let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heardit.

3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

# “So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventhdayin this way:“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;

5 and again in thisplace:“They shall not enter My rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains that somemustenter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,

7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

# “Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua hadgiven them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.

9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as Goddidfrom His.

The Word Discovers Our Condition

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

12 For the word of Godisliving and powerful, andsharper than anytwo-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and isa discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all thingsarenaked and open to the eyes of Him to whom wemustgiveaccount.

Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Seeing then that we have a greatHigh Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,let us hold fastourconfession.

15 Forwe do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, butwas in allpointstempted asweare,yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 5

Qualifications for High Priesthood

1 For every high priest taken from among menis appointed for men in thingspertainingto God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject toweakness.

3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also forhimself, to offersacrificesfor sins.

4 And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just asAaronwas.

A Priest Forever

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, butitwasHe who said to Him:

# “You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.”

6 AsHealsosaysin anotherplace:

# “Youarea priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek”;

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He hadoffered up prayers and supplications,with vehement cries and tears to Himwho was able to save Him from death, and was heardbecause of His godly fear,

8 though He was a Son,yetHe learnedobedience by the things which He suffered.

9 Andhaving been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

10 called by God as High Priest“according to the order of Melchizedek,”

11 of whomwe have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have becomedull of hearing.

Spiritual Immaturity

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you needsomeoneto teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to needmilk and not solid food.

13 For everyone who partakesonlyof milkisunskilled in the word of righteousness, for he isa babe.

14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age,thatis,those who by reason of use have their senses exercisedto discern both good and evil.

Hebrews 6

The Peril of Not Progressing

1 Therefore,leaving the discussion of the elementaryprinciplesof Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance fromdead works and of faith toward God,

2 of the doctrine of baptisms,of laying on of hands,of resurrection of the dead,and of eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do if God permits.

4 Foritisimpossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tastedthe heavenly gift, andhave become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance,since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and putHimto an open shame.

7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated,receives blessing from God;

8 but if it bears thorns and briers,itisrejected and near to being cursed, whose endisto be burned.

A Better Estimate

9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.

10 ForGodisnot unjust to forgetyour work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name,inthatyou haveministered to the saints, and do minister.

11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligenceto the full assurance of hope until the end,

12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patienceinherit the promises.

God’s Infallible Purpose in Christ

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater,He swore by Himself,

14 saying,“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”

15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained thepromise.

16 For men indeed swear by the greater, andan oath for confirmationisfor them an end of all dispute.

17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly tothe heirs of promisethe immutability of His counsel, confirmeditby an oath,

18 that by two immutable things, in which itisimpossible for God tolie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hopeset beforeus.

19 Thishopewe have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,and which enters thePresencebehind the veil,

20 where the forerunner has entered for us,evenJesus,having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.