a Sy. it cometh not into your hand. 2 3 6 7 and broils? Is it not from the lusts, which war in your members? (2) Ye covet, and possess not; and ye kill, and envy, and effect nothinga: and ye fight and make attacks; and ye have not, because ye ask not. (3) Ye ask, and receive not; because ye ask wickedly, that ye may pamper your lusts. (4) Ye adulterers, know ye not, that the love of the 4 world is hostility towards God? He therefore who chooseth to be a lover of this world, is the enemy of God. (5) Or think ye, that the scripture hath 5 vainly said: The spirit dwelling in us lusteth with bor, superior. envy? (6) But our Lord hath given us moreb grace. Therefore he said: The Lord humbleth the lofty, and giveth grace to the lowly. (7) Subject yourselves therefore to God; and stand firm against Satan, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw nigh 8 to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners: sanctify your hearts, ye divided in mind. (9) Humble yourselves, and 9 mourn: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into grief. (10) Humble yourselves 10 before the Lord, and he will exalt you.-(11) Speak 11 not against each other, my brethren; for he that speaketh against his brother, or judgeth his brother, speaketh against the law, and judgeth the law. And if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but its judge. (12) There is one Law- 12 giver and Judge, who can make alive, and [can] destroy: but who art thou, that thou judgest thy neighbor? e Gr. save. But what shall we say of those, who say: To-day 13 or to-morrow we will go to such or such a city, and will abide there a year; and we will traffic, and get gain? (14) And they know not what will be 14 to-morrow: for what is our life, but an exhalation that is seen a little while, and then vanisheth and is gone? (15) Whereas they should say: If the 15 Lord please, and we live, we will do this or that. (16) They glory in their vaunting. All such 16 glorying is evil. (17) He that knoweth the good, 17 and doeth it not, to him is sin.-(V.) O ye rich V. ones, wail and weep, on account of the miseries that are coming upon you. (2) For your wealth is 2 spoiled and putrid; and your garments are motheaten (3) and your gold and your silver have con- 3 tracted rust; and the rust of them will be testimony against you; and it will eat your flesh. Ye have heaped up a fire to you against the latter days. 4 (4) Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped your ground, which ye have wrongfully retained, crieth out; and the clamor of the reapers hath entered the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 (5) For ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and revelled, and feasted your bodies as in a day of 6 slaughter. (6) Ye have condemned and slain the just, and none resisted you. 7 But, my brethren, be ye patient until the advent of the Lord; like the husbandman, who waiteth for the precious fruits of his ground, and is patient as to them, until he receive the early and the latter 8 rain. (8) So also be ye patient, and fortify your hearts; for the advent of our Lord draweth nigh. 9 (9) Be not querulousa one against another, my brethren, lest ye be judged: for lo, the judgment 10 standeth before the door. (10) For patience in your afflictions, my brethren, take to you the example of the prophets, who spoke in the name of 11 the Lord. (11) For lo, we ascribe blessedness to them who have borne suffering. Ye have heard of the patience of Job; and ye have seen the result which the Lord wrought for him: for the Lord is merciful and compassionate. 12 But above all things, my brethren, swear ye not; neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your language be yes, yes, and no, no; lest ye become obnoxious to judgment. 13 a C or, over him. And if any of you shall be in affliction, let him pray; or if he be joyous, let him sing psalms. 14 (14) And if one is sick, let him call for the eldersbSy. of the church; and let them pray fore him, and anoint him with oil in the name of our Lord: 15 (15) and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and our Lord will raise him up; and if sins have been committed by him, they will be forgiven 16 him. (16) And confess ye your faults one to another, and pray ye one for another, that ye may be healed; for great is the efficacy of the prayer which a 17 righteous man prayeth. (17) Elijah also was a man of sensations like us, and he prayed that rain might not descend upon the earth; and it descended 18 not, for three years and six months. (18) And again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and d Gr. save. the earth gave forth its fruits.-(19) My brethren, 19 End of the Epistle of James, the Legate. a Sy ૧] * 2010 jesseo fuel 00:40? 12+] 002 The Epistle of Peter, the Legate; Simon Cephas. PETER, a legate of Jesus the Messiah,-to the I elect and sojourners, who are dispersed in Pontus, and in Galatia, and in Cappadocia, and in Asia, and in Bithynia, (2) to them who have been chosen, 2 by the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus the Messiah: -May grace and peace abound towards you. 5 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the 3 Messiah, who in his great mercy hath begottena us oanew, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, to the hope of life, (4) and to an inherit 4 ance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, which is prepared for you in heaven; (5) while ye are kept, by the power of God and by faith, for the b Gr. salvation lifeb that is prepared and will be revealed in the last times; (6) wherein ye will rejoice for ever, not- 6 withstanding ye at the present time are pressed a little, by the various trials that pass over you; (7) so that the proof of your faith may appear more precious than refined gold that is tested by fire, unto glory and honor and praise, at the manifestation of Jesus the Messiah: (8) whom having not 8 seen, ye love; and in the faith of whom ye rejoice, with joy that is glorious and ineffable, (9) that ye 9 may receive the recompense of your faith, the 7 • Gr. salvation. life of your souls; (10) that life [namely], about 10 which the prophets inquired, when they were prophesying of the grace which was to be given 11 to you. (11) And they searched for the time, which the Spirit of the Messiah dwelling in them did show and testify, when the sufferings of the Messiah were to occur, and his subsequent glory. 12 (12) And it was revealed to them, [in regard to] all they were searching, that, d not for themselves were they inquiring, but for us they were prophesying of those things, which are now manifested to you by means of the things we have announced to you, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven; which things the angels also desire to look into. 13 Wherefore, gird up the loins of your minds, and be awake perfectly, and wait for the joy, which will come to you at the revelation of our Lord Jesus the 14 Messiah, (14) as obedient children: and be ye not conversant again with those former lusts, with 15 which ye lusted when without knowledge. (15) But be ye holy in all your conduct, as he is holy who 16 hath called you. (16) Because it is written: Be 17 ye holy, even as I am holy. (17) And if so be ye call on the Father, with whom is no respect of persons, and who judgeth every one according to his deeds,--pass the time of your sojournment with 18 fear; (18) since ye know, that neither with perishable silver, nor with gold, ye were redeemed from your vain doings, which ye had by tradition from 19 your fathers; (19) but with the precious blood of or, because. that Lamb in which is no spot nor blemish, namely, 20 the Messiah: (20) who was predestined to this, before the foundation of the world; and was manifested at the termination of the times, for your 21 sakes; (21) who, by means of him, have believed in God, who raised him from the dead and conferred glory on him; that your faith and hope might 22 be in God, (22) while your minds became sanctified, by obedience to the truth; and ye be full of love, without respect of persons, so that ye love one 23 another out of a pure and perfect heart; (23) like persons born again,e not of seed that perisheth, but• Sy. of that which doth not perish, by the living word 24 of God, who abideth for ever. (24) Because all flesh is as grass, and all its beauty like the flower of the field. The grass drieth up, and the flower 25 withereth away; (25) but the word of our God Sy. ܪ̈ܘܚܢܐ abideth for ever: and this is the word that is announced to you.--(II.) Therefore, cease ye from all II. malice, and all guile, and hypocrisy, and envy, and backbiting. (2) And be like infant children; and 2 crave the word, as being the pure spiritual milk by which ye are nourished up to life; (3) if ye 3 have tasted and seen that the Lord is good: (4) to 4 whom ye have come, because he is a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but with God elect and precious. (5) And ye also, as living stones, are builded 5 and become spiritual temples, and holy priests, for the offering of spiritual sacrifices, a acceptable before God, through Jesus the Messiah. (6) For it is said 6 in the scripture, Behold, in Zion I lay a chosen and precious stone, for the head of the corner; and whoever believeth in him, will not be ashamed. (7) On you therefore who believe, is this honor 7 conferred: but to them who believe not, (8) he is a 8 stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. And they stumble at it, because they believe not the Sword: whereto they were appointed. (9) But ye 9 are an elect race, officiating as priests of the kingdom; a holy people, a redeemed congregation; that ye should proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness to his precious light: (10) who formerly were not accounted a people, but 10 now are the people of God; and also, there were [once] no mercies on you, but now mercies are poured out upon you. My beloved, I entreat you as strangers and pil- 11 grims, separate yourselves from all fusts of the body; for they war against the soul. (12) And 12 let your behavior be decorous before all men; so that they who utter evil speeches against you, may see your good actions, and may praise God in the day of trial.-(13) And be ye submissive to all the 13 sons of men, for God's sake;-to kings, on account of their authority; (14) and to judges, because they 14 are sent by him for the punishment of offenders, and for the praise of them that do well. (15) For 15 so is the pleasure of God, that by your good deeds ye may stop the mouth of the foolish, who know not God: (16) as free men, yet not like men who 16 make their freedom a cloak for their wickedness, but as the servants of God. (17) Honor all men; 17 love your brethren; fear God; and honor kings. |
