NT-20 James
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Shalom.
IGGERET YA'AKOV
Letter of James
The Hebrew Names 'Plus' Version
Brief notes on Hebrew pronunciation
can be found at GLOSSARY
or at the bottom of Yirmeyahu.
[♦] See FOOTNOTES
"Adonai" is reserved to refer to YHWH. "Ha-Adon" may be ambiguous for YHWH or Yeshua.
PEREQ א
CHAPTER 1 1:1Ya'akov, eved Elohim v'ha-Adon Yeshua ha-Mashiach, to the twelve tribes which are in ha-n'fatzim:
Shalom.
1:2
Count it all simchah, my achim, when you fall into various temptations,
3
knowing that the testing of your emunah produces savlanut.
4
Let savlanut have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1:5
But if any of you lacks chokhmah, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given him.
6
But let him ask in emunah, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of ha-yam, driven by ha-ruach and tossed.
7
For let ish ha-hu not think that he will receive anything from Adonai,
8
an ish of two nafshot, unstable in all his d'rakhim.
1:9
But let ha-ach 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 ha-shemesh arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
1:12Ashrei ha-ish who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of chayyim, which ha-Adon promised to those who love him.
13
Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by Elohim," for Elohim can't be tempted with 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 chet v'ha-chet, when it is full grown, brings forth ha-mavet.
1:16
Don't be deceived, my beloved achim.
17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from Avi ha-orot, with whom can be no change or shadow of turning.
18
Of his own will, he brought us forth by d'var ha-emet, that we should be a kind of bikkurah of his creatures.
1:19
So, then, my beloved achim, let every ben adam be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
20
for the anger of ben adam doesn't produce tzidkat Elohim.
21
Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness,1-21 receive with humility the implanted davar, which is able to save your nafshot.
1:22
But be doers of ha-davar, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
23
For if anyone is a hearer of ha-davar and not a doer, he is like an ish beholding his natural face in a mirror;
24
for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of ish he was.
25
But he who looks into the perfect Torah, ha-Torah of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, ashrei ha-ish ha-hu in what he does.
1:26
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 and undefiled religion before Elohim ha-Av is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by ha`olam.
PEREQ ב
CHAPTER 2 2:1
My achim, don't have ha-emunah of Adoneinu Yeshua ha-Mashiach, (ha-Adon) of
kavod, with respect of persons.
2
For if a gold-fingered ish in fine clothing comes into your qahal, and there come in also a poor (one) in filthy clothing;
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 shoftim with evil thoughts?
5
Listen, my beloved achim. Didn't Elohim choose those who are poor in `olam hazeh to be rich in emunah,
and heirs of ha-malkhut which he promised to those who love him?
6
But you have dishonored the poor (one). Don't the rich oppress you, and personally drag you el batei din?
7
Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
2:8
However, if you fulfill the royal Torah, according to ha-katuv, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
9
But if you show partiality, you commit chet, being convicted by ha-Torah as transgressors.
10
For whoever shall keep kol ha-Torah, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all.
11
For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Lo tirtzach. [Do not commit murder]." Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of ha-Torah.
12
So speak, and so do, as b'nei adam who are to be judged by a Torah of freedom.
13
For mishpat is without chesed to him who has shown no chesed. Chesed rejoices over mishpat.
2:14
What good is it, my achim, if a man says he has emunah, but has no ma`asim? Can that emunah save him?
15
And if an ach o achot is naked and in lack of daily food,
16
and one of you tells them, "Go in shalom, be warmed and filled;" and yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
17
Even so, emunah, if it has no ma`asim, is dead in itself.
2:18
Yes, a man will say, "You have emunah, and I have ma`asim." Show me your emunah from your ma`asim, and I by my ma`asim will show you my emunah.
19Attah ma'amin ki ha-Elohim echad hu. You do well. Ha-shedim also believe, and shudder.
20
But do you want to know, vain man, that emunah apart from ma`asim is dead?
21
Wasn't Avraham avinu justified by ma`asim, in that he offered up Yitzchak b'no `al-ha-mizbeach?
22
You see that emunah worked with his ma`asim, and by ma`asim emunah was perfected;
23
and ha-Katuv was fulfilled which says, "Avraham believed Elohim, and it was accounted to him as tz'dakah;[A]" and he was called the friend of Elohim.[B]
24
You see then that by ma`asim, a man is justified, and not only by emunah.
25
In like manner wasn't Rachav the prostitute also justified by ma`asim, in that she received ha-malakhim, and sent them out b'derekh acher?
26
For as ha-guf apart from ha-ruach met hu, even so emunah apart from ma`asim metah hi.
A (23) Gen. 15:6.
B (23) Is. 41:8.
PEREQ ג
CHAPTER 3 3:1
Let not many of you be morim, my achim, knowing that we will receive heavier mishpat.
2
For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn't stumble in davar, the same is an ish tamim, able to bridle the whole body also.
3
Indeed, we put bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, and we turn about kol ha-guf.
4Hinneh, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.
5
So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. Hinneh, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!
3:6
And the tongue is a fire. Ha`olam of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles kol ha-guf, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Geh Hinnom.
7
For kol b'hemah, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by human nature.
8
But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9
With it we bless ha-Elohim Avinu, and with it we curse b'nei adam, who are made b'tselem Elohim.
10
Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My achim, these things ought not to be so.
11
Does a spring send forth from the same opening fresh and bitter mayim?
12
Can a fig tree, my achim, yield zetim, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt and fresh mayim.
3:13
Who is chakham and understanding among you? Let him show his ma`asim done in gentleness of chokhmah by his chayyim tovim.
14
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast and don't lie against ha-emet.
15
This chokhmah is not that which comes down from above, but is min-ha-adamah, sensual, and shedim.
16
For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and kol ma`aseh ra.
17
But ha-chokhmah that is from above is first tahor, then shalam, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and p'ri tov, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18
Now p'ri tz'dakah is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.
PEREQ ד
CHAPTER 4 4:1
Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
2
You lust, and don't have. You kill, covet, and can't obtain. You fight and make war. Yet you don't have, because you don't ask.
3
You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures.
4
You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with Elohim? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of ha`olam makes himself an enemy of Elohim.
5
Or do you think that ha-Katuv says in vain, "Ha-Ruach who lives in us yearns jealously"?
6
But he gives more chesed. Therefore it says, "Elohimresists the proud, but gives chesed to
the humble."[A]
7
Be subject therefore to Elohim. But resist ha-malshin, and he will flee from you.
8
Draw near l'Elohim, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you chatta'im; and purify your l'vavot, you who are of two minds.
9
Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your simchah to gloom.
10
Humble yourselves in the sight of Adonai, and he will exalt you.[B]
4:11
Don't speak against one another, achim. He who speaks against an ach and judges his ach, speaks against ha-Torah and judges ha-Torah. But if you judge ha-Torah, you are not a doer of ha-Torah, but a shophet.
12
Only one is the lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge another?
4:13
Come now, you who say, "Ha-yom or tomorrow let's go la`ir ha-hi, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain."
14
Whereas you don't know what your chayyim will be like tomorrow. For what is your chayyim? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
15
For you ought to say, "If Adonai wills, we will both live, and do this or that."
16
But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil.
17
To him, therefore, who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is chet.
A (6) Prov. 3:34.
B (10) Job 5:11.
PEREQ ה
CHAPTER 5 5:1
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
2
Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3
Your zahav and your kesef are corroded, and their corrosion will be for an `edut against you, and will eat your basar like fire. You have laid up your treasure b'ketz ha-yamim.
4Hinneh, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cries out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of YHWH Tz'va'ot.
5
You have lived delicately on ha-aretz, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your l'vavot as in a day of slaughter.
6
You have condemned, you have murdered ha-tzaddik. He doesn't resist you.
5:7
Be patient, therefore, achim, until the coming of ha-Adon. Hinneh, the farmer waits for the precious p'ri ha-aretz, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
8
You also be patient. Establish your l'vavot, for the coming of ha-Adon is at hand.
9
Don't grumble, achim, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, ha-shophet stands at ha-patach.
10
Take, achim, for an example of suffering and of savlanut, ha-nevi'im who spoke b'shem Adonai.
11
Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of savlanut Iyyov, and have seen Adonai in the end, and how Adonai is full of compassion and mercy.
5:12
But above all things, my achim, don't swear, neither by ha-shamayim, nor by ha-aretz, nor by any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no, no; so that you don't fall into hypocrisy.
5:13
Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.
14
Is any among you sick? Let him call for Ziqnei ha`edah, and let them pray over him, anointing him with shemen b'shem Adonai,
15
and t'fillat emunah will heal him who is sick, and Adonai will raise him up. If he has committed chata'im, they will be forgiven him.
16
Confess your offenses one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective, earnest t'fillat ha-tzaddik is powerfully effective.
17Eliyahu was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn't rain on ha-aretz for three years and six months.
18
He prayed again, and ha-shamayim gave rain, and ha-aretz brought forth its fruit.
5:19Achim, if any among you wanders from ha-emet, and someone turns him back,
20
let him know that he who converts a chote from the error of his way will save a nefesh mi-mavet, and will cover a multitude of chatta'im.
[♦]
1:21: "overflowing of wickedness": KJV: "superfluity of naughtiness." Grk: "overflowing of evil" or "abundance of wickedness." RETURN
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28 May 2017
Last update 29 September 2019