Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?

And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”?

Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair.

You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.”

You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is subdued and has been subdued by humankind.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.