16  Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17  Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning. 18  According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of his creatures.

19  So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20  for man’s wrath does not work God’s righteousness. 21  Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness and abounding of wickedness, accept with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22  But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves. 23  For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror: 24  for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like. 25  But he that fixes his view on the perfect law, that of liberty, and abides in it, being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, he shall be blessed in his doing. 26  If any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.