| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. | 1My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, | 2For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. |
| 3and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” | 3If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, "Sit here in a good place," and yet you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or, "Sit here on the floor by my footstool," |
| 4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? | 4haven't you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? |
| 5Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? | 5Listen, my dear brothers: Didn't God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? |
| 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? | 6Yet you dishonored that poor man. Don't the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? |
| 7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? | 7Don't they blaspheme the noble name that was pronounced over you at your baptism? |
| 8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. | 8Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. |
| 9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. | 9But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. |
| 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. | 10For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all. |
| 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. | 11For He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you are a lawbreaker. |
| 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. | 12Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. |
| 13For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. | 13For judgment is without mercy to the one who hasn't shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. |
| 14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? | 14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him? |
| 15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, | 15If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food |
| 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? | 16and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it? |
| 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. | 17In the same way faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead by itself. |
| 18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. | 18But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works. |
| 19You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! | 19You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe--and they shudder. |
| 20Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? | 20Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? |
| 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? | 21Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? |
| 22You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; | 22You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected. |
| 23and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. | 23So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, and he was called God's friend. |
| 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. | 24You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. |
| 25And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? | 25And in the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by a different route? |
| 26For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. | 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. |
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