Hearing and Abiding by the Word

19 [fn]So then, my beloved brothers, everyone should be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. 20 For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and rampant wickedness, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the [fn]word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away, and then immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, [fn]is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone [fn]among you considers himself to be religious but does not bridle his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God our Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.