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Jacob 1
Jacob, a servant of Yahweh, and of the Savior, Yahshua the Messiah, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting.
2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into manifold temptations; 3 knowing that the proving of your faith works patience. 4 And let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Yahweh, who gives to all liberally and upbraids not; and it shall be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing: for he that doubts is like the surge of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of Yahweh; 8 a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate: 10 and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun rises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass; and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.
12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which Yahweh promised to them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of Yahweh; for Yahweh cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man: 14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin: and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. 16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 You know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of Yahweh. 21 Therefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only deluding your own selves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he beholds himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was. 25 But he that looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and continues, being not a hearer that forgets but a doer that works, this man shall be blessed in his doing. 26 If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he bridles not his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before our El and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Jacob 2
My brethren, hold not the faith of our Savior Yahshua the Messiah, the Sovereign of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; 3 and you have regard to him that wears the fine clothing, and say, You sit here in a good place; and you say to the poor man, You stand there, or sit under my footstool; 4 do you not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren; did Yahweh not choose them that are poor of the world, rich in faith, and heirs to the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment seats? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? 8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well: 9 but if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery, but kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty. 13 For judgment without mercy is to him that has showed no mercy: mercy glories against judgment.
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled; and yet you give them not the things necessary to the body; what does it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. 18 Yes, a man will say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that Elohim is one; you do well: the demons believe also, and tremble. 20 But will you know, Oh vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed Yahweh, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of Yahweh. 24 You see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. 25 And in like manner was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
Jacob 3
Do not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive the heavier judgment. 2 For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbles not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. 3 Now if we put the horses’ bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. 4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the steersman wills. 5 So the tongue also is a little member, and boasts great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. 7 For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind: 8 but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless Yahweh and Father; and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of Elohim: 10 out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield sweet.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not a wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.
