of bonds and imprisonment. (37)They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword; they went
about in sheep-skins and goats' skins, being destitute, afflicted,
tormented; (38)of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts
and mountains and caves, and the clefts of the earth.
(39)And all these, having obtained a good report through faith, did
not receive the promise; (40)God having provided something better
concerning us, that they should not without us be made perfect.
XII.
THEREFORE, let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses
surrounding, us, lay aside every weight, and the easily besetting sin,
and with patience run the race that is set before us, (2)looking away
to the author and finisher of the faith, Jesus; who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on
the right hand of the throne of God. (3)For consider him who has
endured such contradiction by sinners against him, that ye become not
weary, fainting in your souls.
(4)Not yet did ye resist unto blood, contending against sin; (5)and ye
have forgotten the exhortation, which discourses with you as with
sons:
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord,
Nor faint when reproved by him;
(6)For whom the Lord loves he chastens,
And scourges every son whom he receives.
(7)If ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what
son is there whom his father chastens not? (8)But if ye are without
chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons.
(9)Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh, who chastened us, and we
gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the
Father of spirits, and live? (10)For they indeed for a few days
chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we
might be partakers of his holiness.
(11)Now all chastening for the present indeed seems not joyous, but
grievous; but afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness, to those who have been exercised thereby.
(12)Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
(13)and make straight paths for your feet, that the lame be not turned
out of the way, but rather be healed.
(14)Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall
see the Lord; (15)looking diligently, lest any one come short of the
grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you,
and the many be thereby defiled; (16)lest there be any fornicator, or
profane person, as Esau, who for one meal sold his birthright. (17)For
ye know that he also afterward, when he wished to inherit the
blessing, was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he
sought after it with tears.
(18)For ye have not come to a mount that is touched, and burning with
fire, nor to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, (19)and the sound
of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they who heard
refused that more should be spoken to them; (20)for they could not
bear that which was commanded, Even if a beast touch the mountain, it
shall be stoned; (21)and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said: I
fear, and tremble. (22)But ye have come to mount Zion, and to the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
(23)to the general assembly and church of the first-born, who are
enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just ones made perfect; (24)and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better than
Abel.
(25)See that ye refuse not him who speaks; for if they did not escape,
refusing him who declared the divine will on earth, much more shall
not we, who turn away from him who speaks from heaven; (26)whose voice
then shook the earth; but now he has promised, saying: Yet once more I
shake, not the earth only, but also heaven. (27)And this, Yet once
more, signifies the removing of the things shaken, as of things that
have been made, that the things which are not shaken may remain.
(28)Wherefore, receiving a kingdom which can not be shaken, let us
have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and
godly fear; (29)for our God is a consuming fire.
XIII.
LET brotherly love continue.
(2)Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some
entertained angels unawares.
(3)Remember those in bonds, as bound with them; those in adversity, as
being yourselves also in the body.
(4)Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled[13:4]; but
fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
(5)Let your disposition be without covetousness, and be content with
what ye have; for he has said: I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. (6)So that we boldly say:
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear;
What shall man do to me?
(7)Remember those who were your leaders, who spoke to you the word of
God; considering the end of whose manner of life, imitate their faith.
(8)Jesus Christ is yesterday and to-day the same, and forever. (9)Be
not carried away with various and strange teachings; for it is good
that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which did
not profit those who walked therein.
(10)We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat who serve the
tabernacle. (11)For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought
into the holy places by the high priest for sin, are burned without
the camp. (12)Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people
through his own blood, suffered without the gate. (13)So then, let us
go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (14)For here
we have not an abiding city, but are seeking for that which is to
come.
(15)Through him, therefore, let us offer up the sacrifice of praise to
God continually, that is, the fruit of lips giving thanks to his name.
(16)But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased.
(17)Obey those who are your leaders, and submit; for they watch for
your souls, as those who shall give account; that they may do this
with joy, and not with sighing, for that is unprofitable for you.
(18)Pray for us; for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience,
in all things desiring to deport ourselves well. (19)But I the more
earnestly beseech you to do this, that I may the sooner be restored to
you.
(20)Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep in virtue of the blood of an eternal
covenant, (21)make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
doing in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus
Christ; to whom be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
(22)But I beseech you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation;
for I wrote to you in few words.
(23)Know that the brother, Timothy, has been set at liberty; with
whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
(24)Salute all that are your leaders, and all the saints. Those of
Italy salute you.
(25)Grace be with you all. Amen.
THE GENERAL LETTER OF JAMES.
I.
JAMES, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve
tribes which are scattered abroad[1:1], greeting.
(2)Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into various
temptations; (3)knowing that the proving of your faith works patience.
(4)But let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, lacking in nothing.
(5)But if any one of you is lacking in wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all liberally, and upbraids not, and it will be given him.
(6)But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavers is
like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. (7)For let not
that man suppose that he shall receive anything from the Lord; (8)a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
(9)Let the brother of low degree glory in that he is exalted; (10)but
the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass
he will pass away. (11)For the sun rose with the burning heat, and
withered the grass, and its flower fell off, and the grace of its
fashion perished; so also will the rich man fade away in his ways.
(12)Happy is the man that endures temptation; because, when he is
approved, he will receive the crown of life, which He promised to
those who love him.
(13)Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God
can not be tempted with evil, and himself tempts no one. (14)But each
one is tempted, when by his own lust he is drawn away and enticed.
(15)Then lust, having conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, when
completed, brings forth death.
(16)Do not err, my beloved brethren. (17)Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights,
with whom there is no variableness, or shadow of turning. (18)Of his
own will he begot us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of first-fruits of his creatures.
(19)So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow
to speak, slow to wrath; (20)for the wrath of man works not the
righteousness of God.
(21)Wherefore, putting off all filthiness and excess 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, deceiving
yourselves. (23)For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a
doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a mirror.
(24)For he beheld himself, and has gone away; and immediately he
forgot what manner of man he was. (25)But he who looked into the
perfect law, the law of liberty, and remained thereby, being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of work, this man shall be happy in his
doing.
(26)If any one thinks that he is religious, and bridles not his
tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
(27)Religion, pure and undefiled before God and the Father, is this:
To visit the orphans and widows in their affliction; to keep himself
unspotted from the world.
II.
MY brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord]
of glory, with respect of persons. (2)For if there have come into your
assembly a man with a gold ring, in gay clothing, and there have come
in also a poor man in mean clothing; (3)and ye have respect to him
that wears the gay clothing, and say: Sit thou here in a good place,
and say to the poor man: Stand thou there, or, Sit under my footstool;
(4)were ye not partial in yourselves, and become judges with evil
thoughts?
(5)Hearken, my beloved brethren. Did not God choose the poor as to
this world[2:5] to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he
promised to those who love him? (6)But ye dishonored the poor man. Do
not the rich oppress you, and do not they drag you before the
judgment-seats? (7)Do not they blaspheme the worthy name by which ye
are called?
(8)If indeed ye fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. (9)But if ye have
respect to persons, ye commit sin, being convicted by the law as
transgressors. (10)For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (11)For he who said: Do not
commit adultery, said also: Do not kill. Now if thou commit not
adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
(12)So speak, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty. (13)For the judgment shall be without mercy, to him that
showed no mercy. Mercy glories over judgment.
(14)What does it profit, my brethren, if any one say that he has
faith, and have not works? Can the faith save him? (15)But if a
brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, (16)and one
of you say to them: Depart in peace, be warmed, and be filled, but ye
give them not the things needful for the body, what does it profit?
(17)So also faith, if it has not works, is dead in itself. (18)But
some will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith
without the works, and I will show thee the faith by my works.
(19)Thou believest that God is one. Thou doest well; the demons also
believe, and tremble. (20)But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith
without works is dead?
(21)Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered
Isaac his son upon the altar? (22)Thou seest that faith wrought with
his works, and by works was faith made complete. (23)And the scripture
was fulfilled which says: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to
him for righteousness; and he was called, Friend of God.
(24)Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
(25)And in like manner, was not also Rahab the harlot justified by
works, when she received the messengers, and sent them out by another
way? (26)For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
without works is dead.
III.
MY brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive
greater condemnation. (2)For in many things we all offend. If any one
offends not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle also
the whole body.
(3)Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths[3:3], that they may
obey us, we turn about also their whole body. (4)Behold also the
ships, though they are so great, and driven by fierce winds, are
turned about by a very small helm, whithersoever the steersman may
desire. (5)So also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great
things. Behold, how great a forest a little fire kindles! (6)And the
tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity! The tongue among our members
is that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of
life, and is set on fire by hell. (7)For every nature of beasts and
birds, of reptiles and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been
tamed, by the nature of man. (8)But the tongue no man can tame; a
restless evil, full of deadly poison. (9)Therewith we bless the Lord
and Father; and therewith we curse men, who have been made after the
likeness of God. (10)Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and
cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. (11)Does the
fountain, out of the same opening, send forth the sweet and the
bitter? (12)Can a fig-tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a vine figs?
Neither can salt water yield fresh.
(13)Who is wise and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show, out
of his good deportment, his works in meekness of wisdom. (14)But if ye
have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not glory, and lie
against the truth. (15)This wisdom is not one that comes down from
above, but earthly, sensual[3:16], devilish. (16)For where there is
emulation and strife, there is confusion and every evil work. (17)But
the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, forbearing,
easily persuaded, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy. (18)And the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace, by those who work peace.
IV.
FROM whence are wars, and from whence are fightings among you? Are
they not from hence, from your lusts that war in your members? (2)Ye
desire, and have not; ye kill, and envy, and can not obtain; ye fight
and war. Ye have not, because ye ask not; (3)ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
(4)Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? Whoever therefore desires to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God. (5)Do ye think that the Scripture says
in vain, the spirit he made to dwell in us has jealous longings?
(6)But he gives the more grace. Wherefore he says:
God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.
(7)Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will
flee from you. (8)Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye
double-minded. (9)Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter
be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness. (10)Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
(11)Do not speak against one another, brethren. He that speaks against
his brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges
the law. But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law,
but a judge. (12)One is the lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save
and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest thy neighbor?
(13)Come now, ye that say: To-day and to-morrow we will go into this
city, and spend one year there, and buy and sell, and get gain;
(14)(whereas ye know not what belongs to the morrow; for what is your
life? for ye are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then
vanishes away;) (15)instead of saying: If the Lord will, we shall both
live, and do this or that. (16)But now ye glory in your boastings. All
such glorying is evil. (17)Therefore to him that knows to do good, and
does it not, to him it is sin.
V.
COME now, ye rich, weep, wailing for your miseries that are coming
upon you. (2)Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are become
moth-eaten. (3)Your gold and silver is rusted; and the rust of them
will be a witness against you, and will eat your flesh as fire. Ye
heaped up treasure, in the last days.
(4)Behold, the hire of the laborers who reaped your fields, which is
fraudulently kept back by you, cries out; and the cries of those who
reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth[5:4]. (5)Ye
have been luxurious on the earth, and lived in pleasure; ye have
nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter. (6)Ye have condemned,
ye have killed the just; he does not resist you.
(7)Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
being patient over it, till it shall have received the early and
latter rain. (8)Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, because the
coming of the Lord draws nigh. (9)Murmur not against one another,
brethren, that ye be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the
door. (10)Take, my brethren, the prophets, who spoke in the name of
the Lord, for an example of affliction, and of patience. (11)Behold,
we count those happy who endure. Ye heard of the patience of Job, and
saw the end of the Lord[5:11]; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of
tender mercy.
(12)But above all things, my brethren, swear not; neither by heaven,
nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your yea be yea, and
your nay, nay; that ye fall not under condemnation.
(13)Is any afflicted among you, let him pray. Is any cheerful, let him
sing praise. (14)Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord. (15)And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and
the Lord will raise him up; and even if he have committed sins, it
will be forgiven him.
(16)Confess therefore your trespasses to one another, and pray for one
another, that ye may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man
avails much. (17)Elijah was a man of like nature with us; and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the
earth for three years and six months. (18)And again he prayed, and the
heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
(19)Brethren, if any one among you be led astray from the truth, and
one convert him; (20)let him know, that he who converts a sinner from
the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will hide a
multitude of sins.
THE FIRST GENERAL LETTER OF PETER.
I.
PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered[1:1]
through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia; (2)chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of
the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you.
(3)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to his abundant mercy begot us again unto a living hope[1:3]
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; (4)unto an
inheritance imperishable, and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in
heaven for you, (5)who by the power of God are kept through faith,
unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6)Wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a little time, if need be, made
sorrowful by manifold trials; (7)that the proof of your faith, much
more precious than gold that perishes, but is proved by fire, may be
found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus
Christ; (8)whom having not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye see
him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory; (9)receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your
souls.
(10)Concerning which salvation the prophets diligently sought and
searched, who prophesied of the grace toward you; (11)searching as to
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
signified, when it testified beforehand the sufferings destined for
Christ, and the glories that should follow; (12)to whom it was
revealed, that not to themselves, but to you they were ministering
them, which now have been announced to you, through those who brought
you the good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven; which things
angels desire to look into.
(13)Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope
perfectly for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ; (14)as children of obedience, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance; (15)but as he who
called you is holy, be ye yourselves holy in all your deportment;
(16)because it is written: Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.
(17)And if ye call him Father[1:17], who without respect of persons
judges according to each one's work, pass the time of your sojourning
in fear; (18)knowing that not with perishable things, silver and gold,
ye were redeemed from your vain course of life received by tradition
from your fathers, (19)but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot; (20)who was foreknown indeed
before the foundation of the world, but manifested in these last times
for you, (21)who through him believe on God, who raised him from the
dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope are on God.
(22)Having purified your souls in obeying the truth unto unfeigned
brotherly love, love one another from the heart fervently; (23)being
born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the
word of God, which lives and abides forever. (24)Because,
All flesh is as grass,
And all its glory as the flower of grass.
The grass withered, and its flower fell off;
(25)But the word of the Lord abides forever.
And this is the word which was preached to you.
II.
LAYING aside therefore all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and
envyings, and all backbitings, (2)as newborn babes, long for the
spiritual, unadulterated milk, that ye thereby may grow unto
salvation; (3)if indeed ye tasted that the Lord is gracious; (4)to
whom coming, a living stone, disallowed indeed by men, but with God
chosen, honored, (5)ye yourselves also, as living stones, are built
up[2:5] a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6)Because it is
contained in the Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
corner-stone, chosen, honored; and he that believes on him shall not
be put to shame.
(7)To you therefore who believe is the honor; but to the disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is become the head
of the corner, (8)and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, who
stumble, being disobedient to the word; to which they were also
appointed.
(9)But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for a possession; that ye should show forth the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;
(10)who once were not a people, but are now the people of God; who had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
(11)Beloved, I exhort you as sojourners and strangers, to abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (12)having your deportment
honorable among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as
evil-doers, they may from your good works, beholding them, glorify God
in the day of visitation.