3:5. boasts great things. Look! how great a forest a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body and sets the world aflame and is ever being set on fire itself by gehenna. For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can no one tame. It is an uncontrollable evil, it is full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to occur in this way. Surely the fountain does not send out from the same opening salt water and fresh ? Surely a fig-tree, my brothers, cannot yield olives, or a vine, figs? Nor can a salt spring yield fresh water. Who is wise And understanding among you? 3:14. Do not boast, And do not lie against the truth. This wisdom is not one which comes down from above, But is earthly, sensual, demon-like. For where jealousy and faction are, There is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, Then peaceable, forbearing, persuasive, Full of mercy and generous fruits, Without vacillation, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of right doing is sown in peace, For those who make peace. Where do wars come from, And where do the fightings among you come from? Is it not from here, from your lusts, Which keep warring in your members? You kill and covet and cannot obtain. You do not have, Because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, Because you ask amiss, So that you may spend it on your lusts. 4:4. You adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world Is enmity with God? So whoever wishes to be a friend of the world Makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think the scripture speaks in vain, So the scripture says: God resisteth the proud, But giveth favor to the humble, So be subject to God. But resist the devil, And he will flee from you. Draw near to God, And he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, And purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, Let your laughing be turned to mourning, And your joy to heaviness, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, And he will exalt you. Do not talk against each other, brothers. 4: II. He who talks against a brother, or judges his brother, Talks against the law and judges the law. You are not a doer of the law but a judge. He who is able to save and to destroy. Come now, you who say: To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and make money. And you do not know what shall happen to-morrow. What is your life? For you are a vapor which appears for a little while, and then vanishes away: instead of your saying, If the Lord wishes, we will both live, and do this or that. But now you boast in your vauntings: all such boasting is evil. So to him who knows how to act nobly, and does not do it, to him it is sin. Come now, you rich, weep and howl For your miseries which are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted. Your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted. 5:3. Their rust will be For a witness against you, And will eat your flesh like fire. In the last days. Look, the wages of the laborers, Who mowed your fields, Which by you is kept back by fraud, Cries out. And the cries of those who reaped Have entered the Sabaoth. ears of the Lord of You have lived luxuriously on the earth, And spent wantonly. You have nourished your hearts In a day of slaughter. You condemned, you killed the doer of right. He does not resist you. So be patient, brothers, till the coming of the Lord. Look, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient over it, till it receives the early and latter rain. So you also be patient. Strengthen your hearts. For the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain about each other, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Look, the judge is standing before the door. |