Restraining the Tongue

3 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you* know that we will receive a greater judgment.a 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual,b able to hold in check his whole body also. 3 And if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. 4 Behold also ships: although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wishes. 5 So also the tongue is a small member of the body* and boasts great things. Behold how small a fire sets ablaze how great a forest! 6 And the tongue is a fire! The world of unrighteousness,c the tongue, is set among our members, defiling the whole body and setting on fire ⌊the course of human existence⌋d, being set on fire by hell.

7 For every species of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no human being is able to tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the* Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so! 11 A spring does not pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water, does it?* 12 A fig tree is not able, my brothers, to produce olives, or a grapevine figs. Neither can a saltwater spring produce fresh water.

The Wisdom That Comes Down from Above

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his* good behavior his works, with the humility of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, nonjudgmental, without hypocrisy, 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace amonge those who make peace.

Subject Yourselves to God

4 From where are conflicts and from where are quarrels among you? Is it not from this, from your pleasures that wage war among your members? 2 You desire and do not have; you murder and are filled with envy, and are not able to obtain; you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, in order that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that in vain the scripture says, “The spirit which he caused to dwell in us desires jealously”?a 6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says,

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”b

7 Therefore subject yourselves to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded! 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your* joy to gloominess. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of the law.c 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your* neighbor?

Arrogant Boasting About the Future

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,” 14 you who do not know ⌊what will happen tomorrow⌋d, ⌊what your life will be like⌋e. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears. 15 Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Woes on the Rich Who Oppress Others

5 Come now, you rich people, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your wealth has rotted, and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have become corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and it will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages that were held back by you from the workers who reap your fields cry out, and the cries of the reapers have come to the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived self-indulgently on the eartha and have lived luxuriously. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous person; he does not resist you.

Exhortation to Patience

7 Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the soil, being patient concerning it until it receives the early and late rains. 8 You also be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Brothers, do not complain against one another, in order that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors! 10 Brothers, take as an example of perseverance and endurance the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider blessed those who have endured. You have heard about the patient endurance of Job, and you saw the outcome from the Lord, that the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 Now above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, in order that you may not fall under judgment.

The Effective Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering misfortune? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the elders of the church and they should pray over him, anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins ⌊he will be forgiven⌋b. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. 17 Elijah was a human beingc with the same nature as us, and ⌊he prayed fervently⌋d for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.

19 My brothers, if anyone among you should wander away from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that person’se soul from death, and will cover over a great number of sins.

The First Letter of

Peter

Greeting

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosena who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

A New Birth to a Living Hope

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 into an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, 6 in which you rejoice greatly, although* now for a short time, if necessary,b you are distressed by various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith, more valuable than gold that is passing away, but is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom, although you* have not seen, you love; in whom now you believe, although you* do not see him, and you rejoice greatly with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your* souls.

10 Concerning thisc salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace meant for you sought and made careful inquiry, 11 investigating for what person or which time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he* testified beforehand to the sufferings with reference to Christ and the glories after these things, 12 to whom it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you with reference to the same things which now have been announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, ⌊things into which⌋d angels desire to look.

Be Holy in All Your Conduct

13 Therefore, ⌊when you have prepared your minds for action⌋e by* being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to* in your ignorance, 15 but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, 16 for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am* holy.”f g 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your temporary residence, 18 because you* know that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb 20 who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has been revealed in these last times for you 21 who through him are believing in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from the heart,h 23 because you* have been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For

“all flesh is like grass,

and all its glory like the flower of the grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls off,

25 but the word of the Lord endures ⌊forever⌋i.”j

And this is the word that has been proclaimed to you.