Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam1 of David, uwhen he fled from Saul, vin the cave.
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
win the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
2 I cry out to God Most High,
to God who xfulfills his purpose for me.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who ytramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
4 My soul is in the midst of zlions;
I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
5 aBe exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They bdug a pit in my way,
but they have cfallen into it themselves. Selah
7 dMy heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast!
eI will sing and make melody!
8 Awake, my glory!2
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
9 fI will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
10 For your steadfast love is great gto the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
Greeting
1 aJames, a bservant1 of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the cDispersion:
Greetings.
Testing of Your Faith
2 dCount it all joy, my brothers,2 when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you eknow that the ftesting of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be gperfect and hcomplete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks iwisdom, let him jask God, who gives generously to all kwithout reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, lwith no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and mtossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a ndouble-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 oLet the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the prich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass3 he will pass away. 11 For the qsun rises with its scorching heat and withers the rgrass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 sBlessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the tcrown of life, which God has promised to those who ulove him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being vtempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed wby his own xdesire. 15 Then desire ywhen it has conceived gives birth to sin, and zsin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 aDo not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 bEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is cno variation or shadow due to change.4 18 Of his own will he dbrought us forth eby the fword of truth, that we should be a kind of gfirstfruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be hquick to hear, islow to speak, jslow to anger; 20 kfor the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the limplanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be mdoers of the word, and nnot hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the olaw of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be pblessed in his doing.
26 qIf anyone thinks he is religious and does not rbridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit sorphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
