17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things. 19 I strongly urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you sooner.
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Yeshua, 21 make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Yeshua the Messiah, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words. 23 Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
24 Greet all of your leaders and all the holy ones. The Italians greet you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.
* 1:5 Psalms 2:7
* 1:5 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13
* 1:6 Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX
* 1:7 Psalms 104:4
* 1:9 Psalms 45:6-7
* 1:12 Psalms 102:25-27
* 1:13 Psalms 110:1
† 2:7 TR adds “and set him over the works of your hands”
* 2:8 Psalms 8:4-6
‡ 2:11 The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
* 2:12 Psalms 22:22
* 2:13 Isaiah 8:18
§ 2:16 or, seed
† 3:6 “Messiah” means “Anointed One”.
* 3:11 Psalms 95:7-11
* 3:15 Psalms 95:7-8
* 4:3 Psalms 95:11
* 4:4 Genesis 2:2
* 4:5 Psalms 95:11
* 4:7 Psalms 95:7-8
* 5:5 Psalms 2:7
* 5:6 Psalms 110:4
† 6:2 or, washings
* 6:14 Genesis 22:17
* 7:17 Psalms 110:4
* 7:21 Psalms 110:4
* 8:5 Exodus 25:40
† 8:8 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
‡ 8:11 TR reads “neighbor” instead of “fellow citizen”
* 8:12 Jeremiah 31:31-34
† 9:1 TR adds “tabernacle”
* 9:20 Exodus 24:8
* 10:7 Psalms 40:6-8
* 10:16 Jeremiah 31:33
* 10:17 Jeremiah 31:34
* 10:30 Deuteronomy 32:35
* 10:30 Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalms 135:14
* 10:38 Habakkuk 2:3-4
† 11:7 or, reverence
‡ 11:13 TR adds “and being convinced of”
§ 11:17 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενη”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only”.
* 11:18 Genesis 21:12
* 11:33 Daniel 6:22-23
* 11:34 Daniel 3:1-30
* 11:34 1 Kings 19:1-3; 2 Kings 6:31—7:20
* 11:35 1 Kings 17:17-23; 2 Kings 4:32-37
* 11:37 2 Chronicles 24:20-21
* 11:37 Jeremiah 26:20-23; 1 Kings 19:10
* 12:6 Proverbs 3:11-12
* 12:12 Isaiah 35:3
* 12:13 Proverbs 4:26
† 12:20 TR adds “or shot with an arrow”
* 12:20 Exodus 19:12-13
* 12:21 Deuteronomy 9:19
* 12:24 Jeremiah 31:31
* 12:26 Haggai 2:6
* 12:29 Deuteronomy 4:24
* 13:5 Deuteronomy 31:6
* 13:6 Psalms 118:6-7
* 13:11 Leviticus 16:27
* 13:15 Psalms 50:23
Jacob
The Letter from Jacob
1
1 Jacob, a servant of God and of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah,† to the twelve tribes which are in the Diaspora: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers,‡ when you fall into various temptations, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; 10 and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. 11 For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. 18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.§
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect Torah of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
2
1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Yeshua the Messiah 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
