James 2

World English Bible 119 include this book

1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.

2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,

3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”

4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts?

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 show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so do as men who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder.

20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected.

23 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

24 You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.

25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when 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.

Go deeper in James

Go deeper in James on Amazon

Where this was written

Not known unknown Traditionally associated with Jerusalem, but the letter gives no indication.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 45 AD–62 AD James, the brother of Jesus
Often held to be the earliest New Testament writing, before the Jerusalem council.
Critical: 80 AD–100 AD Written in James' name
The polished Greek and the engagement with a settled Pauline vocabulary suggest a later hand.

Who ruled Rome

Emperors reigning while this book is dated. Where the traditions differ, they often fall under different rulers.

Critical

Titus 79 AD–81 AD
Commanded the army that destroyed the Jerusalem temple before becoming emperor.
Domitian 81 AD–96 AD
An autocratic reign under which Revelation is traditionally placed, on the testimony of Irenaeus.
Nerva 96 AD–98 AD
A brief reign that eased the pressures of Domitian's last years.
Trajan 98 AD–117 AD
His correspondence with Pliny the Younger is the earliest surviving statement of official Roman policy toward Christians.

Traditional

Claudius 41 AD–54 AD
Expelled Jews from Rome, which is why Priscilla and Aquila were in Corinth when Paul met them.
Nero 54 AD–68 AD
The fire of Rome in 64 was followed by the first state persecution of Christians. Paul and Peter are traditionally martyred in this reign.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (45 AD–100 AD).

1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
500 BC–500 AD The Nazca lines South America
Vast figures drawn on the Peruvian desert, visible only from the surrounding hills.
206 BC–220 AD The Han dynasty China
Four centuries of Chinese rule contemporary with the whole of Roman expansion.
150 BC–100 AD Roman concrete and the aqueducts Rome
Hydraulic concrete let Rome build harbours, domes and aqueducts that still stand.
100 BC–550 AD Teotihuacan Mesoamerica
A city of perhaps a hundred thousand people in the valley of Mexico, with monumental pyramids.
43 AD–84 AD Rome conquers Britain Britain
Claudius invaded and the province was gradually extended to the Scottish lowlands.
66 AD–73 AD First Jewish–Roman war Levant
Revolt against Rome ending in the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70 — the decisive rupture in Second Temple Judaism.
27 BC–100 AD Roman road and sea network matures Rome
Consolidated roads, harbours and suppressed piracy made long-distance travel unusually safe, a precondition for the rapid spread of early Christian communities.

Select a verse number to compare it across every translation.