23 because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone[a] staring at his own face[b] in a mirror, 24 for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed in what he does[c].

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Footnotes

  1. James 1:23 Literally “a man,” but clearly in a generic sense here meaning “someone, a person”
  2. James 1:23 Literally “the face of his existence”
  3. James 1:25 Literally “in his doing”

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,(A) and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.(B)

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23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

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