If a brother or sister ¹  is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

And above all, my brothers and sisters, ¹  do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

You ought to say instead, ¹  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.”

Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ¹  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

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 

All generous giving and every perfect gift ¹  is from above, coming down ²  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ³ 

do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ¹  “You sit here in a good place,” ²  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ³ 

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 

My brothers and sisters, ¹  consider it nothing but joy ²  when you fall into all sorts of trials,

Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates! ² 

Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to? ¹ 

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

Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs.

So too the tongue is a small part of the body, ¹  yet it has great pretensions. ²  Think ³  how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹  full of mercy and good fruit, ²  impartial, and not hypocritical. ³ 

Where do the conflicts and where ¹  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²  from your passions that battle inside you? ³ 

you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

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.

Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom. ¹