James 1:13-27 (Vespers, 4th reading)
- 13
- Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
- 14
- But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
- 15
- Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
- 16
- Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
- 17
- Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
- 18
- Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
- 19
- So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
- 20
- for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
- 21
- Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
- 22
- But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
- 23
- For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
- 24
- for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
- 25
- But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
- 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 useless.
- 27
- Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.