James 1
1. James, the servant of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Tribes that are sown among the nations, shalom.
2. I wish you all possible joy, brethren, as you experience many trials and changes.
3. For you know that holding on to the faith will result in you gaining Hope.
4. For that Hope, then, shall represent wholesome works, so that you will be devoted and lacking in nothing.
5. If a human being among you, then, is lacking in wisdom, they should ask God, who gives everyone simply and does not have to take it from one person to give it to another.
6. Ask, however, through faith, without being at odds within yourself. Those who are at odds within, however, resemble the pirates of the sea whose spirits are always in turmoil.
7. Such a person cannot hope to receive anything from the Lord.
8. Someone who is at odds with his own opinions and crazy in all their ways.
9. The gentle brother or sister is uplifted in their exaltation,
10. And the wealthy in their humility, because like the flower of the herb they pass along.
11. For when the sun rises and dries the herb with its heat, its flower falls off and the beauty of its sight passes away, thus also the wealthy shall be struck by your warmth.
12. Blessed is the person who anticipates being tested; so as when they win, they receive the wreath of everlasting life, that which God has promised those people who are merciful to Him.
13. Let no human being who is tested, say that I am being tested by God, for God does not test human beings, and He never tested any human being.
14. Except each human being is tested through their desires; they are tempted and tormented by their own desire.
15. And this desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin matures, it gives birth to death.
16. Do not lose yourselves, dear brethren.
17. Every blessed and wholesome gift comes down from above, from the Father of the Enlightened, He that nothing changes with Him, not even the shadow at sunset.
18. He was pleased to have begotten us through the Manifestation of the infallible Truth, to become the very best of His creation.
19. And you, dear brethren, let every human being among you be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger.
20. For the anger of man does not serve the righteousness of God.
21. Because of that keep away from yourselves all demonic acts and the excesses of evil, and accept with gentleness the Manifestation that is planted in you, as she* is the One who can bring to Life those souls of yours.
22. Be then the servants of the Manifestation and not only His listeners, and lose not your souls.
23. For if a person is a listener and not a servant of the Manifestation, this person looks like someone looking in the mirror.
24. For they see themselves and go off, losing sight of themselves.
25. Everyone, however, who gazes upon the Law that leads to freedom and is strengthened by it, is not like the listener who listens and then loses sight of oneself, except is like the servant who does the works, and such a person's labors are blessed.
26. And if a human being expects to serve God and does not hold back one's tongue, except allows one's heart to become lost, such a person's ministry is in vain.
27. For the pure and holy ministry before God the Father is this, to [make a difference in the lives] of orphans and widows in their tribulations and to guard oneself from the world without malice.
*1:21 Literal Aramaic (Lit. Ar.): Reference to the Manifestation of the holy Spirit. The word "spirit" is always feminine in gender in Aramaic.
James 2
1. Brethren, do not hold the faith that glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ hypocritically.
2. For if a person walks into your synagogue wearing gold rings or their clothing are beautiful, another, a poor person, enters in rags,
3. And you look at the one attired in a beautiful outfit and say, "You sit over here where it is nice," and to the poor person you say, "You stand up over there," or, "sit over here by the rug under our feet,"
4. Behold, are you not at odds within yourselves, and are you not choosing with evil intentions?
5. Listen, dear brethren, was it not those poor in worldly possessions and yet rich in faith that God chose to be the heirs of the Kingdom, that which God bequeathed to those who showed mercy to Him?
6. You, however, shun the poor. Was it not the wealthy who oppressed you and who delivered you to the court?
7. Were they not blaspheming against your blessed name by which you were Called?
8. And if you adhere to the Law of God, you would do well, as is written [in Scriptures,] "Be merciful to your brothers and sisters* as though they were yourself."
9. If you are hypocritical in your attitude, however, you are committing sin, and you are betraying the Law like those who transgressed the Law.
10. For if all the Law is observed and is applied as one, one is responsible to observe all.
11. For [the same Law] that said, "You shall not fornicate," also says, "You shall not kill." For if then you did not fornicate, except you did kill, you have transgressed the Law nevertheless.
12. Thus you shall speak and thus you shall vow, as people who are destined to be tried by the Law of Freedom.
13. For a judge has no mercy for the one who shows no mercy. You win the judge over with mercy.
14. What gratification is there, brethren, if a person says, "I have faith," but they have no works? Can such a faith bring them back to life?
15. And if a brother or sister are naked and are lacking their daily needs,
16. And they are told by one of you,* "Go in peace, keep warm and be satisfied," and you do not give them their bodily needs, where is the gratification?
17. Thus also the faith without works is dead by itself.
18. For a human being says, "To you it is having your faith and to me it is having works; show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith through my works."
19. That you believe there is one God,* you are doing well. Yet even the demons believe this as they writhe on their bellies.*
20. So then you want to know, O, you mixed up human being, that faith without works is dead?
21. Was not our father Abraham made righteous through works, as he raised his son Isaac to the altar?
22. You can see how his faith led to his works, and through the works his faith molded him.
23. And the Scripture was fulfilled that said, "It was that Abraham believed in God, which was reckoned to him as righteousness," that he was called God's Mercy, "Av-ra-him." *
24. You can see that it was through works that a human being is made righteous and not through faith alone.
25. Likewise, Rahab the adulteress, was it not through works that she was made righteous, that she received the spies and got them to escape by another route?
26. Whereas the body without spirit is dead. Likewise the faith without works is dead.
*2:8 Lit. Ar. idiom (Lit. Ar. id.): "In-laws," or: your relations through marriage or culture.
*2:16 Lit. Ar. id.: "A human being from you."
*2:19.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "That you believe that One is the God."
*2:19.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Crawl on the earth," or, "roll in the dirt."
*2:23 Lit. Aramaic name: "The Father is Merciful."
James 3
1. Let there not be too many teachers among you, brethren, except you should know that we owe a greater debt.
2. For we all lack in many areas. Whoever does not lack in the endowment of the Manifestation, this one is a mature man, someone who can bring under control his entire body.
3. For, behold, we throw a bit in the mouth of the horses and we steer their entire body.
4. Also oceanic sailboats that manage the heavy spirits, are steered by a small plank of wood, according to the captain's wishes.
5. Likewise also the tongue, so small and yet so expressive. Even a small flame wells into a great fire.
6. And the tongue is a flame, and the world of sin is like that billowing fire, and yet the tongue is one of our members that puts its stamp on our entire body, and it burns the youth of our generation who run in those circles, and they burn also in the fire.
7. For all types of creatures and birds and animals of the sea and of dry land, are subjugated according to the character of different peoples.
8. The tongue, however, cannot be stilled.* It is an unbridled evil. Its words can be deadly as poison.*
9. By it we glorify the Lord and Father, and by it we curse humanity and pretend to be God.*
10. From that same mouth there emerges curses and blessings. This is not how this was supposed to be, brethren.*
11. Why, is it possible for the same spring to produce both sweet and bitter waters?
12. Or, why, can there be found a fig tree, brethren, that can produce olives? Or, the vine [that produces] figs? Likewise, there are no brackish waters that turn into milk.*
13. Whoever among you that are endowed with wisdom, let them show it through works that produce beautiful results, through gentle wisdom.
14. If there is bitter struggle among you, or plunder in your hearts, do not boast of your sincerity as you are lying.
15. Because this is not the wisdom that came down from above, except it is from below,* it is from self interest and demonic.
16. For where there is strife and plunder, there you will also find ruin and every evil thing.
17. The wisdom from above, then, is pure and full of peace, gentleness and obedience, full of mercy and blessed fruits, and it is not ambivalent or hypocritical.
18. The fruits of righteousness, then, are sown peacefully among those who make peace.
*3:8.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "The tongue cannot be trapped."
*3:8.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Its words are its poison of death."
*3:9 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "To do as God."
*3:10 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Not the duty, brethren, that there thus should be sworn to."
*3:12 Lit. Ar. idiomatic figure of speech: "Into sweet."
*3:15 Lit. Ar. id.: "The earth."
James 4
1. What causes fights and arguments among you? Are they not because of the lusts of your members?*
2. You pine and lust, but you get nothing; you kill and plunder, but you remain empty-handed; you bite and claw* your way in a fight, but you end up with nothing -- all because you did not ask.
3. Maybe you asked, but you did not receive because you asked with evil intentions, just to satisfy your own desires.
4. Do you not know that adulterers whose compassion is only for this world, represent enmity towards God? If thus some people wish to be compassionate towards this world, then they are the enemy of God.
5. Or do you expect that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit that dwells in us yearns fervently"?
6. Our Lord, then, has given us a great blessing. That,
"God makes the exalted gentle, and those who are gentle He blesses."7. Worship thus God and stand up against Satan and he will run away from you.
8. And commune with God and He will commune with you; wipe off your hands, of sin; sanctify your hearts, from ambivalent thoughts.*
9. Be gentle and lament, and your laughter will turn to tears and your happiness to consternation;
10. Be gentle before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
11. Do not speak against each other, brethren, for those who speak against their brother or judge their brother, they speak against the Law and condemn the Law, and if they condemn the Law, they are not the Law's functionaries, except its judges.
12. For there is only one who establishes the Law and judges, He who can resurrect one to Life or send them to oblivion. You, then, who are you that you should judge your brother or sister?*
13. What shall we say about those who say, "Today or tomorrow, we will go to this city here and we will spend a year there, and we will engage in commerce and get wealthy"?
14. And they know not what tomorrow brings. For what are these lives that we live, except for a warm breath of air that is visible in the cold for a moment, which disappears and is swallowed up?
15. Instead of saying, that if the Lord is willing and we are living, we shall do this and that.
16. They are proud for their own sake. All such pride is evil.
17. And whoever know what a blessing is and do not do it, they are with sin.
*4:1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Was it not from the desires that war in your members?"
*4:2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Bite poisonously."
*4:8 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Ambivalent souls."
*4:12 Lit. Ar. id.: "Relations."
James 5
1. O, you wealthy people, lament and weep about the demons that will descend upon you.
2. For your wealth will tarnish and get ugly and your clothes shall be eaten by moths,
3. And your gold and silver will be exposed. And their glitter will be a testimony against you. And that wealth will eat your flesh. You have gathered a fire for yourselves in the Final Days.
4. Behold, the recompense of the laborers that harvested your lands, that you oppressed, is crying out, and the drudgery of the harvest has reached the ears of the Lord in fact.
5. For you frolicked on the earth and you cheated and you stuffed your bodies as for the day of slaughter.
6. You exploited and killed the righteous and they did not rise against you.
7. You, however, brethren, pour out your souls until the Coming of the Lord, like the farmer who nurtures his precious fruit trees on his land, and pours out his soul over them, until they receive the short rains and the heavy rains.
8. Likewise, you too, pour out your souls and let your hearts be true, for the Coming of the Lord is approaching.
9. Do not sigh among yourselves, brethren, that [the wealthy] are not judged, for, behold, the judgment awaits them at the gates.*
10. You should wish to become like the prophets, brethren, as they poured out their spirits on your behalf, those that spoke in the name of the Lord.
11. For, behold, we give blessings to those who preached to us the Hope [of the Kingdom.] You heard of the Hope of Job and you saw what the Lord did for him later, "For the Lord is merciful and compassionate towards us -- that He is."
12. Before everything else then, brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by earth, and nor by any other oaths. Except let your manifestation be yes, yes, and no, no, so as you may not fall under obligation.
13. And if one* of you is in tribulation, let them pray. And if happy, let them sing a hymn.
14. And if ill, let them call on the priests of the Church, to pray over them and to anoint them with the anointing in the name of our Lord.
15. And the prayers of faith will strengthen that sick person, and our Lord shall raise them, and if they are with sin, their sins shall be forgiven.
16. Confess your foolishness to each other, and pray one for the other, so as you may be healed. For great is the power of the prayer that the righteous person prays.
17. Even Elijah was a human being with doubts like you, and he prayed that no rain should fall on earth, and it did not for three years and six months.
18. And again he prayed [for it to fall] and the skies produced rains and the earth produced its fruits.
19. Brethren, if there are people among you who lose their secure path and another person should turn them back from their lost state,
20. That person who brings back the sinner from the road that leads to oblivion, brings back oneself from death and atones* for a myriad of his or her own sins in the process.
*5:9 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Do not sigh one over one, brethren, that they were not judged, for behold the judgment stands before the door."
*5:13 Lit. Ar. id.: "A human being."
*5:20 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Sends to oblivion."
Translated by Victor Alexander ©2001
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