James 1:1-15

My Translation
1 From James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora: Greetings. 2 My brothers and sisters, consider it pure joy when you fall into various kinds of temptations, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 And let patience have its full effect in order that you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 And if any of you are lacking in wisdom, ask God who gives generously to everyone and does not reprimand, it will be given to him. 6 And he must ask with faith, not doubting, because the one who doubts is like a wave on the sea being blown and tossed about by the wind. 7 For that person must not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 The man is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the humble brother boast in his exulted position. 10 And let the rich boast in his low estate because he will pass away like a flower in the meadow. 11 For the sun rises with the scorching heat and burns the meadow. The flower wilts and its beauty if gone forever. So also the rich man in his many pursuits will fade away. 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation because having been approved he will receive the crown of life, which God promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, don’t say, “I am tempted by God.” For God is not tempted by evil and he tempts no one. 14 But everyone is tempted by his own desires when they draw him out and entice him. 15. After desire conceives it gives birth to sin, and when sin has been accomplished it produces death.

Greek
1 Ἰάκωβος θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς ταῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ χαίρειν. 2 Πᾶσαν χαρὰν ἡγήσασθε, ἀδελφοί μου, ὅταν πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις, 3 γινώσκοντες ὅτι τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν· 4 ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ ἔργον τέλειον ἐχέτω, ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι, ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι. 5 εἰ δέ τις ὑμῶν λείπεται σοφίας, αἰτείτω παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος θεοῦ πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς καὶ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος, καὶ δοθήσεται αὐτῷ. 6 αἰτείτω δὲ ἐν πίστει, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, ὁ γὰρ διακρινόμενος ἔοικεν κλύδωνι θαλάσσης ἀνεμιζομένῳ καὶ ῥιπιζομένῳ· 7 μὴ γὰρ οἰέσθω ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ὅτι λήμψεταί τι παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου, 8 ἀνὴρ δίψυχος, ἀκατάστατος ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ. 9 Καυχάσθω δὲ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ, 10 ὁ δὲ πλούσιος ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου παρελεύσεται. 11 ἀνέτειλεν γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος σὺν τῷ καύσωνι καὶ ἐξήρανεν τὸν χόρτον, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ ἐξέπεσεν καὶ ἡ εὐπρέπεια τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἀπώλετο· οὕτως καὶ ὁ πλούσιος ἐν ταῖς πορείαις αὐτοῦ μαρανθήσεται. 12 Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὃς ὑπομένει πειρασμόν, ὅτι δόκιμος γενόμενος λήμψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς, ὃν ἐπηγγείλατο τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. 13 μηδεὶς πειραζόμενος λεγέτω ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ πειράζομαι· ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἀπείραστός ἐστιν κακῶν, πειράζει δὲ αὐτὸς οὐδένα. 14 ἕκαστος δὲ πειράζεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας ἐξελκόμενος καὶ δελεαζόμενος· 15 εἶτα ἡ ἐπιθυμία συλλαβοῦσα τίκτει ἁμαρτίαν, ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἀποτελεσθεῖσα ἀποκύει θάνατον.

Notes
1 “From James”–I included “from” in this translation even though the Greek does not include it, like the NET I felt this indicates more explicitly that James is the author and is sending this letter. Having read a good portion of the LXX, I noted that when κύριος is used in the place of YHWH, it anarthorous; but when used in the place of adonai it is articular. James does not include an article and I am wondering if this is a veiled reference to Jesus’ divinity and being the second person in the one being I AM. I also decided to translate τῇ διασπορᾷ as “the Diaspora.” It felt more natural to the text to read it this way than to try to explain τῇ διασπορᾷ in the actual text.

2 I moved “my brothers and sisters” to the beginning of the verse and included “sisters” in translating ἀδελφοί μου because this was no doubt to be heard by the women and no less applicable to them.

3 My translation here mirrors and agrees with the NET. It was not intentional but when I went back and compared, there it was. I’m rather okay with that as the NET is a great translation.

4 I translated ἵνα ἦτε as “in order that you will be” so as to show that the result of letting patience have its full effect was certain, not a mere possibility even though ἦτε is subjunctive. I translated τέλειος as “full” in 1:4a and as “perfect” in 1:4b because the English felt more natural even though it is not consistent.

5 I had trouble trying to translate ὀνειδίζοντος and I really liked the NET: reprimands.

7 Again I really agreed with the NET on this verse.

8 Here is an example of ἀνὴρ possibly being used generically and not specifically referring to a male.

10. I carried over the verb Καυχάσθω from 1:9 because the text is saying that the low should boast in their height and the high in their depths as both will pass away soon. The rich person’s money does not exalt them above the humble and poor person. I also rendered the genitive χόρτου as “in the meadow” as the genitive was describing the kind of flower by where it is found. The NET says “wildflower” but I went with a more simple “flower” for ἄνθος.

12 I supplied God as the subject to ἐπηγγείλατο because only God can give life. Plus the concluding αὐτόν does not make sense contextually if it refers to anyone else but God.

14 ἐξελκόμενος and δελεαζόμενος are passive participles but I chose to translate them as active. Thus the desires, which are part of the prepositional phrase modifying the main verb, becomes the subject of the participles and the verbs themselves become plurals instead of singulars.