James 1:17

Plain English Version

Everything that is really good comes from God in heaven. He made the sun, and the moon, and the stars, up there in the sky that give us light. You know, they move around, and they make shadows that move and change around. But God does not change, like those things. He never changes at all, not even a little bit. He always gives us good things.

Cross References

Genesis 41:16

Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Sir, I can’t do that by myself. God is the one that lets me understand people’s dreams. He will show me what your dream means, and it will be good for you to hear it.”

Matthew 7:11

You see, you might be bad, but you give good things to your kids. Well, your father in heaven is a lot better than you. He is always good, so he will always give good things to people that ask him.”

Luke 11:13

You see, you might be bad, but you always give good things to your kids. Well, your father in heaven is a lot better than you, so you can be sure that he will always give you good things. He will send the Holy Spirit to everyone that asks him.” (We have not yet translated 11:14-36. You can read about that teaching in Mark 3:20-27; 8:12; Matthew 5:15; 6:22-23; 12:41-45.)

John 3:27

John said, “A person can only get what God gives them. Some people come to me, and some people go to Jesus, but don’t worry. Don’t be jealous.

John 3:3

Jesus said to him, “Listen, I am telling you straight, people have to get born again, and then they can be in God’s family.”

John 8:12

Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am like a light for all the people in the world. Anyone that follows me will not live the wrong way, as if they are in the dark, but I will show them how to live the right way, like a light shows people the way, and they will live with God for ever.”

Acts 11:18

The Jewish Christians heard Peter say that, and they stopped arguing with him. They started to thank God and say he is really good. They said, “Now we understand it. God will let anyone come to him, even people that are not Jews, and after they turn away from doing bad things, and they come to him, then he will give them new life that never stops. God is so good.”

Acts 5:31

And he gave Jesus the best place in heaven, right next to God himself, on his right-hand side, the place where the most important person sits. And God made Jesus our leader, the one that can save us. God did that so that all the Israel people can turn back to him, and they can stop doing bad things, and then he will not punish them.

Romans 6:23

That’s how it is. If we do bad things, we will get our pay for doing those things. We will die. That’s all the pay we will get. But if we join up to our leader, Jesus Christ, God will give us properly good life. We will live with him for ever.

1 Corinthians 4:7

You yourselves are no better than other people. God gave you everything that you have. So you can’t reckon that you are really smart, and that you got it for yourselves.

Ephesians 1:18

God promised very great things to his people, and now he has them ready for you. I pray that he will show them to you clearly, like he will switch on a light in your minds, so you can know and be sure about these good things.

Ephesians 2:8

God is really good to you. You believed in Jesus, and God saved you. You didn’t do anything good, and you didn’t pay God anything, but he saved you anyway.

Philippians 1:29

You see, God lets you believe in Jesus Christ. But not only that, sometimes people make trouble for you because you believe in Jesus. God lets that happen too.

1 Timothy 6:16

He is the only one that never dies, but he goes on and on for ever. He lives in light that is so bright that nobody can go near him. Nobody ever saw him, and nobody can see him now. We have to really respect him all the time, and we have to remember that he is really powerful. Yes, that’s right.

James 1:5

So if you want to properly understand what is the right thing to do, and if you want to learn how to be strong when you get trouble, just ask God to help you. He will not be angry with you. He is happy when you ask him for help like that, and he will help you and make you think properly. He will make you think the right way so that you will do the right thing.

James 3:17

But whenever we think God’s way, we are like this, – We keep away from doing anything bad. – We want to make other people happy, and we want to help them to be friends with each other. – We are easy on other people, not hard. – We listen to people and let them get a fair go. – We feel sorry for people that have problems, and we do everything we can to help them. – We are fair to everybody. We don’t treat some people good and other people like they are rubbish. – We don’t pretend that we are better than we really are.