| | | English | Latin |
| 1 | 1 | James, the servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. | Iacobus Dei et Domini nostri Iesu Christi servus duodecim tribubus quae sunt in dispersione salutem |
| 1 | 2 | My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations: | omne gaudium existimate fratres mei cum in temptationibus variis incideritis |
| 1 | 3 | Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience | scientes quod probatio fidei vestrae patientiam operatur |
| 1 | 4 | And patience hath a perfect work: that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing. | patientia autem opus perfectum habeat ut sitis perfecti et integri in nullo deficientes |
| 1 | 5 | But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men abundantly and upbraideth not. And it shall be given him. | si quis autem vestrum indiget sapientiam postulet a Deo qui dat omnibus affluenter et non inproperat et dabitur ei |
| 1 | 6 | But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. | postulet autem in fide nihil haesitans qui enim haesitat similis est fluctui maris qui a vento movetur et circumfertur |
| 1 | 7 | Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. | non ergo aestimet homo ille quod accipiat aliquid a Domino |
| 1 | 8 | A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways. | vir duplex animo inconstans in omnibus viis suis |
| 1 | 9 | But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation: | glorietur autem frater humilis in exaltatione sua |
| 1 | 10 | And the rich, in his being low: because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away. | dives autem in humilitate sua quoniam sicut flos faeni transibit |
| 1 | 11 | For the sun rose with a burning heat and parched the grass: and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. | exortus est enim sol cum ardore et arefecit faenum et flos eius decidit et decor vultus eius deperiit ita et dives in itineribus suis marcescet |
| 1 | 12 | Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for, when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life which God hath promised to them that love him. | beatus vir qui suffert temptationem quia cum probatus fuerit accipiet coronam vitae quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se |
| 1 | 13 | Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils: and he tempteth no man. | nemo cum temptatur dicat quoniam a Deo temptor Deus enim intemptator malorum est ipse autem neminem temptat |
| 1 | 14 | But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. | unusquisque vero temptatur a concupiscentia sua abstractus et inlectus |
| 1 | 15 | Then, when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death. | dein concupiscentia cum conceperit parit peccatum peccatum vero cum consummatum fuerit generat mortem |
| 1 | 16 | Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren. | nolite itaque errare fratres mei dilectissimi |
| 1 | 17 | Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration. | omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est descendens a Patre luminum apud quem non est transmutatio nec vicissitudinis obumbratio |
| 1 | 18 | For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature. | voluntarie genuit nos verbo veritatis ut simus initium aliquod creaturae eius |
| 1 | 19 | You know, my dearest brethren. And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak and slow to anger. | scitis fratres mei dilecti sit autem omnis homo velox ad audiendum tardus autem ad loquendum et tardus ad iram |
| 1 | 20 | For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God. | ira enim viri iustitiam Dei non operatur |
| 1 | 21 | Wherefore, casting away all uncleanness and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls. | propter quod abicientes omnem inmunditiam et abundantiam malitiae in mansuetudine suscipite insitum verbum quod potest salvare animas vestras |
| 1 | 22 | But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. | estote autem factores verbi et non auditores tantum fallentes vosmet ipsos |
| 1 | 23 | For if a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. | quia si quis auditor est verbi et non factor hic conparabitur viro consideranti vultum nativitatis suae in speculo |
| 1 | 24 | For he beheld himself and went his way and presently forgot what manner of man he was. | consideravit enim se et abiit et statim oblitus est qualis fuerit |
| 1 | 25 | But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work: this man shall be blessed in his deed. | qui autem perspexerit in lege perfecta libertatis et permanserit non auditor obliviosus factus sed factor operis hic beatus in facto suo erit |
| 1 | 26 | And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. | si quis autem putat se religiosum esse non refrenans linguam suam sed seducens cor suum huius vana est religio |
| 1 | 27 | Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation and to keep one's self unspotted from this world. | religio munda et inmaculata apud Deum et Patrem haec est visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum inmaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo |