James 1:17–27

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning. ¹⁸According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹So that, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; ²⁰for man’s wrath does not work God’s righteousness. ²¹Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness and abounding of wickedness, accept with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²²But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves. ²³For 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: ²⁴for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like. ²⁵But 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. ²⁶If any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man’s religion is vain. ²⁷Pure 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.