2:20 At that time 1 men will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made for themselves to worship, 2
into the caves where rodents and bats live, 3
30:22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols 4
and your gold-plated images. 5
You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,
saying to them, “Get out!”
1:1 From James, 11 a slave 12 of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. 13 Greetings!
2:1 My brothers and sisters, 14 do not show prejudice 15 if you possess faith 16 in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 17
1 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
2 tn Or “bow down to.”
3 tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”
4 tn Heb “the platings of your silver idols.”
5 tn Heb “the covering of your gold image.”
6 sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.
7 tn Heb “the death of the one dying.”
8 tn An alternative rendering for the infinitives in vv. 22-24 (“to lay aside… to be renewed… to put on”) is “that you have laid aside… that you are being renewed… that you have put on.” The three infinitives of vv. 22 (ἀποθέσθαι, apoqesqai), 23 (ἀνανεοῦσθαι, ananeousqai), and 24 (ἐνδύσασθαι, endusasqai), form part of an indirect discourse clause; they constitute the teaching given to the believers addressed in the letter. The problem in translation is that one cannot be absolutely certain whether they go back to indicatives in the original statement (i.e., “you have put off”) or imperatives (i.e., “put off!”). Every other occurrence of an aorist infinitive in indirect discourse in the NT goes back to an imperative, but in all of these examples the indirect discourse is introduced by a verb that implies a command. The verb διδάσκω (didaskw) in the corpus Paulinum may be used to relate the indicatives of the faith as well as the imperatives. This translation implies that the infinitives go back to imperatives, though the alternate view that they refer back to indicatives is also a plausible interpretation. For further discussion, see ExSyn 605.
9 tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”
10 tn Or “with meekness.”
11 tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
12 tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
13 tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.
14 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
15 tn Or “partiality.”
16 tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.
17 tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.