Jacobus, Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi servus, duodecim tribubus, quæ sunt in dispersione, salutem.

James the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, sends greeting to the members of the twelve tribes scattered throughout the world.

Omne gaudium existimate fratres mei, cum in tentationes varias incideritis:

My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations;

Consider yourselves happy indeed, my brethren, when you encounter trials of every sort,

scientes quod probatio fidei vestræ patientiam operatur.

Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

as men who know well enough that the testing of their faith breeds endurance.

Patientia autem opus perfectum habet: ut sitis perfecti et integri in nullo deficientes.

And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.

Endurance must do its work thoroughly, if you are to be men full-grown in every part, nothing lacking in you.

Si quis autem vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter, et non improperat: et dabitur ei.

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.

Is there one of you who still lacks wisdom? God gives to all, freely and ungrudgingly; so let him ask God for it, and the gift will come.

Postulet autem in fide nihil hæsitans: qui enim hæsitat, similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento movetur et circumfertur:

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.

(Only it must be in faith that he asks, he must not hesitate; one who hesitates is like a wave out at sea, driven to and fro by the wind;

non ergo æstimet homo ille quod accipiat aliquid a Domino.

Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

such a man must not hope to win any gift from the Lord.

Vir duplex animo inconstans est in omnibus viis suis.

A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways.

No, a man who is in two minds will find no rest wherever he goes.)

Glorietur autem frater humilis in exaltatione sua:

But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation:

Is one of the brethren in humble circumstances? Let him be proud of it; it exalts him,

dives autem in humilitate sua, quoniam sicut flos fœni transibit;

And the rich, in his being low; because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.

whereas the rich man takes pride in what in truth abases him. (The rich man will pass by like the bloom on the grass;

exortus est enim sol cum ardore, et arefecit fœnum, et flos ejus decidit, et decor vultus ejus deperiit: ita et dives in itineribus suis marcescet.

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.

the sun gets up, and the scorching wind with it, which dries up the grass, till the bloom on it falls, and all its fair show dies away; so the rich man, with his enterprises, will disappear.)

Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem: quoniam cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vitæ, quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se.

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.

Blessed is he who endures under trials. When he has proved his worth, he will win that crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Nemo cum tentatur, dicat quoniam a Deo tentatur: Deus enim intentator malorum est: ipse autem neminem tentat.

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.

Nobody, when he finds himself tempted, should say, I am being tempted by God. God may threaten us with evil, but he does not himself tempt anyone.

Unusquisque vero tentatur a concupiscentia sua abstractus, et illectus.

But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured.

No, when a man is tempted, it is always because he is being drawn away by the lure of his own passions.

Deinde concupiscentia cum conceperit, parit peccatum: peccatum vero cum consummatum fuerit, generat mortem.

Then when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.

When that has come about, passion conceives and gives birth to sin; and when sin has reached its full growth, it breeds death.

Nolite itaque errare, fratres mei dilectissimi.

Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren.

Beloved brethren, do not deceive yourselves over this.

Omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre luminum, apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio.

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.

Whatever gifts are worth having, whatever endowments are perfect of their kind, these come to us from above; they are sent down by the Father of all that gives light, with whom there can be no change, no swerving from his course;

Voluntarie enim genuit nos verbo veritatis, ut simus initium aliquod creaturæ ejus.

For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature.

and it was his will to give us birth, through his true word, meaning us to be the first-fruits, as it were, of all his creation.

Scitis, fratres mei dilectissimi. Sit autem omnis homo velox ad audiendum: tardus autem ad loquendum, et tardus ad iram.

You know, my dearest brethren. And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger.

You know this, my beloved brethren, well enough. It is for us men to be ready listeners, slow to speak our minds, slow to take offence;

Ira enim viri justitiam Dei non operatur.

For the anger of man worketh not the justice of God.

man’s anger does not bear the fruit that is acceptable to God.

Propter quod abjicientes omnem immunditiam, et abundantiam malitiæ, in mansuetudine suscipite insitum verbum, quod potest salvare animas vestras.

Wherefore casting away all uncleanness and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Rid yourselves, then, of all defilement, of all the ill-will that remains in you; be patient, and cherish that word implanted in you which can bring salvation to your souls.

Estote autem factores verbi, et non auditores tantum: fallentes vosmetipsos.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Only you must be honest with yourselves; you are to live by the word, not content merely to listen to it.

Quia si quis auditor est verbi, et non factor, hic comparabitur viro consideranti vultum nativitatis suæ in speculo:

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.

One who listens to the word without living by it is like a man who sees, in a mirror, the face he was born with;

consideravit enim se, et abiit, et statim oblitus est qualis fuerit.

For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was.

he looks at himself, and away he goes, never giving another thought to the man he saw there.

Qui autem perspexerit in legem perfectam libertatis, et permanserit in ea, non auditor obliviosus factus, sed factor operis: hic beatus in facto suo erit.

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.

Whereas one who gazes into that perfect law, which is the law of freedom, and dwells on the sight of it, does not forget its message; he finds something to do, and does it, and his doing of it wins him a blessing.

Si quis autem putat se religiosum esse, non refrenans linguam suam, sed seducens cor suum, hujus vana est religio.

And if any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

If anyone deludes himself by thinking he is serving God, when he has not learned to control his tongue, the service he gives is vain.

Religio munda et immaculata apud Deum et Patrem, hæc est: visitare pupillos et viduas in tribulatione eorum, et immaculatum se custodire ab hoc sæculo.

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.

If he is to offer service pure and unblemished in the sight of God, who is our Father, he must take care of orphans and widows in their need, and keep himself untainted by the world.