The benefit of tribulations. Prayer with faith. God is the author of all good, but not of evil. We must be slow to anger and not hearers only, but doers of the word. Of bridling the tongue and of pure religion.

 1 James the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
Jacobus, Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi servus, duodecim tribubus, quae sunt in dispersione, salutem.

 2 My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations;
Omne gaudium existimate fratres mei, cum in tentationes varias incideritis :

 3 Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
scientes quod probatio fidei vestrae patientiam operatur.

 4 And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.
Patientia autem opus perfectum habet : ut sitis perfecti et integri in nullo deficientes.

 5 But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Si quis autem vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter, et non improperat : et dabitur ei.

 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind.
Postulet autem in fide nihil haesitans : qui enim haesitat, similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento movetur et circumfertur :

 7 Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
non ergo aestimet homo ille quod accipiat aliquid a Domino.

 8 A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways.
Vir duplex animo inconstans est in omnibus viis suis.

 9 But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation:
Glorietur autem frater humilis in exaltatione sua :

 10 And the rich, in his being low; because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.
dives autem in humilitate sua, quoniam sicut flos foeni transibit;

 11 For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
exortus est enim sol cum ardore, et arefecit foenum, et flos ejus decidit, et decor vultus ejus deperiit : ita et dives in itineribus suis marcescet.

 12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive a crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him.
Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem : quoniam cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vitae, quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se.

 13 Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils, and he tempteth no man.
Nemo cum tentatur, dicat quoniam a Deo tentatur : Deus enim intentator malorum est : ipse autem neminem tentat.

 14 But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured.
Unusquisque vero tentatur a concupiscentia sua abstractus, et illectus.

 15 Then when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.
Deinde concupiscentia cum conceperit, parit peccatum : peccatum vero cum consummatum fuerit, generat mortem.

 16 Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren.
Nolite itaque errare, fratres mei dilectissimi.

 17 Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration.
Omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre luminum, apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio.

 18 For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creatures.
Voluntarie enim genuit nos verbo veritatis, ut simus initium aliquod creaturae ejus.

 19 You know, my dearest brethren. And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Scitis, fratres mei dilectissimi. Sit autem omnis homo velox ad audiendum : tardus autem ad loquendum, et tardus ad iram.

 20 For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God.
Ira enim viri justitiam Dei non operatur.

 21 Wherefore casting away all uncleanness, and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Propter quod abjicientes omnem immunditiam, et abundantiam malitiae, in mansuetudine suscipite insitum verbum, quod potest salvare animas vestras.

 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Estote autem factores verbi, et non auditores tantum : fallentes vosmetipsos.

 23 For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass.
Quia si quis auditor est verbi, et non factor, hic comparabitur viro consideranti vultum nativitatis suae in speculo :

 24 For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was.
consideravit enim se, et abiit, et statim oblitus est qualis fuerit.

 25 But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Qui autem perspexerit in legem perfectam libertatis, et permanserit in ea, non auditor obliviosus factus, sed factor operis : hic beatus in facto suo erit.

 26 And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Si quis autem putat se religiosum esse, non refrenans linguam suam, sed seducens cor suum, hujus vana est religio.

 27 Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.
Religio munda et immaculata apud Deum et Patrem, haec est : visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum, et immaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo.