James 3-5

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment.^{(A) 2} For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature,^[a] able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.^{(B) 3} If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. ⁴ Or look at ships: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!^{(C) 6} And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell.^{[b](D) 7} For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue—a restless^[c] evil, full of deadly poison.^{(E) 9} With it we bless the Lord^[d] and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God.^{(F) 10} From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

¹³ Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.^{(G) 14} But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. ¹⁵ This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.^{(H) 16} For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.^{(I) 17} But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.^{(J) 18} And the fruit of righteousness^[e] is sown in peace by those who make peace.^(K)

Friendship with the World

4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it, so you commit murder. And you covet^[f] something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.^{(L) 4} Adulterers!^[g] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(M) 5} Or do you suppose that the scripture speaks to no purpose? Does the spirit that God caused to dwell^[h] in us desire envy?^{(N) 6} But God gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.^{(P) 8} Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.^{(Q) 9} Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.^(R)

Warning against Judging Another

¹¹ Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.^{(S) 12} There is one lawgiver and judge^[i] who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?^(T)

Boasting about Tomorrow

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”^{(U) 14} Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(V) 15} Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”^{(W) 16} As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.^(X)

Warning to Rich Oppressors

5 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. ² Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.^{(Y) 3} Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure^[j] during the last days. ⁴ Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.^{(Z) 5} You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.^{(AA) 6} You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.^{(AB) 8} You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.^{[k](AC) 9} Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!^{(AD) 10} As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Indeed, we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about, for the Lord is compassionate and merciful.^(AE)

¹² Above all, brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.^[l]

The Prayer of Faith

¹³ Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.^{(AF) 14} Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.^{(AG) 15} The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.^{(AH) 17} Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.^{(AI) 18} Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its harvest.^(AJ)

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth^[m] and is brought back by another, ²⁰ you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s^[n] soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.^(AK)