Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ¹ 

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone ¹  who gazes at his own face ²  in a mirror.

But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him.

If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Elijah was a human being ¹  like us, and he prayed earnestly ²  that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” ¹  also said, “Do not murder.” ²  Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path ¹  will save that person’s ²  soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint ¹  him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. ¹ 

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. ¹  He who speaks against a fellow believer ²  or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. ³ 

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, ¹  if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith ²  save him? ³ 

Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹  “The spirit that God ²  caused ³  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ⁴ 

You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works.

Now the believer ¹  of humble means ²  should take pride ³  in his high position. ⁴ 

For the one who obeys the whole law but fails ¹  in one point has become guilty of all of it. ² 

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? ¹ 

So be patient, brothers and sisters, ¹  until the Lord’s return. ²  Think of how the farmer waits ³  for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient ⁴  for it until it receives the early and late rains.

Think of how we regard ¹  as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ²