YA’AQOḆ 1

1 Ya’aqoḇ, a servant of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and of the Aḏon 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤏 ha’Mashiaḥ, to the twelve tribes who are in the dispersion: Greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

3 knowing that the proving of your belief works endurance.

4 And let endurance have a perfect work, so that you be perfect and complete, lacking in naught.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of Elohim, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him.

6 But he should ask in belief, not doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For that man should not think that he shall receive whatever from the Aḏon –

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 And let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he shall pass away.

11 For the sun rose with burning heat, and withered the grass, and its flower fell, and its pretty appearance perished. So also the rich man shall fade away in his ways.

12 Baruḵ is the man who endures trial, for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of ḥai which the Aḏon has promised to those who love Him.

13 Let no one say when he is enticed, “I am enticed by Elohim,” for Elohim is not temptable by evil, and He entices no one.

14 But each one is enticed when he is drawn away by his own desires and trapped.

15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it has been accomplished, brings forth death.

16 Do not go astray, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of turning.

18 Having purposed it, He brought us forth by the Word of truth, for us to be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.

19 So then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,

20 for the wrath of man does not work righteousness of Elohim.

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and overflow of evil, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your lives.

22 And become doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror,

24 for he looks at himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like.

25 But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of work, this one shall be baruḵ in his doing.

26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is worthless.

27 Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unstained from the world.