2:1 My brothers and sisters, 1 do not show prejudice 2 if you possess faith 3 in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 4 2:2 For if someone 5 comes into your assembly 6 wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, 2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, 7 “You sit here in a good place,” 8 and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? 9 2:4 If so, have you not made distinctions 10 among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? 11 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! 12 Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor! 13 Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts? 2:7 Do they not blaspheme the good name of the one you belong to? 14 2:8 But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, 15 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” 16 you are doing well. 2:9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. 17 2:10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails 18 in one point has become guilty of all of it. 19 2:11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” 20 also said, “Do not murder.” 21 Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. 2:12 Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom. 22 2:13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over 23 judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, 24 if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith 25 save him? 26 2:15 If a brother or sister 27 is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, 28 what good is it? 2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” 29 Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by 30 my works. 2:19 You believe that God is one; well and good. 31 Even the demons believe that – and tremble with fear. 32
2:20 But would you like evidence, 33 you empty fellow, 34 that faith without works is useless? 35 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 2:22 You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” 36 and he was called God’s friend. 37 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 2:25 And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way? 2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, 38 because you know that we will be judged more strictly. 39 3:2 For we all stumble 40 in many ways. If someone does not stumble 41 in what he says, 42 he is a perfect individual, 43 able to control the entire body as well. 3:3 And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. 44 3:4 Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs. 3:5 So too the tongue is a small part of the body, 45 yet it has great pretensions. 46 Think 47 how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents 48 the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It 49 pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. 50
3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature 51 is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. 52 3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless 53 evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord 54 and Father, and with it we curse people 55 made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. 56 3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, 57 or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 58 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such 59 wisdom does not come 60 from above but is earthly, natural, 61 demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, 62 full of mercy and good fruit, 63 impartial, and not hypocritical. 64 3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness 65 is planted 66 in peace among 67 those who make peace.
4:1 Where do the conflicts and where 68 do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, 69 from your passions that battle inside you? 70 4:2 You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; 4:3 you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.
4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? 71 So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. 4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, 72 “The spirit that God 73 caused 74 to live within us has an envious yearning”? 75 4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” 76 4:7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. 77 4:9 Grieve, mourn, 78 and weep. Turn your laughter 79 into mourning and your joy into despair. 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
4:11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. 80 He who speaks against a fellow believer 81 or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. 82 4:12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? 83
4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town 84 and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You 85 do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? 86 For you are a puff of smoke 87 that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, 88 “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, 89 you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do 90 and does not do it is guilty of sin. 91
5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud 92 over the miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! 93 5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 94 5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. 95
1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
2 tn Or “partiality.”
3 tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.
4 tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
5 tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, “equivalent to τὶς someone.”
6 tn Grk “synagogue.” Usually συναγωγή refers to Jewish places of worship (e.g., Matt 4:23, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:15, John 6:59). The word can be used generally to refer to a place of assembly, and here it refers specifically to a Christian assembly (BDAG 963 s.v. 2.b.).
7 tn Grk “and you pay attention…and say,” continuing the “if” clauses from v. 2. In the Greek text, vv. 2-4 form one long sentence.
8 tn Or “sit here, please.”
9 tn Grk “sit under my footstool.” The words “on the floor” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the modern reader the undesirability of this seating arrangement (so also TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). Another option followed by a number of translations is to replace “under my footstool” with “at my feet” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).
10 tn Grk “have you not made distinctions” (as the conclusion to the series of “if” clauses in vv. 2-3).
11 tn Grk “judges of evil reasonings.”
12 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
13 tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.
14 tn Grk “that was invoked over you,” referring to their baptism in which they confessed their faith in Christ and were pronounced to be his own. To have the Lord’s name “named over them” is OT imagery for the Lord’s ownership of his people (cf. 2 Chr 7:14; Amos 9:12; Isa 63:19; Jer 14:9; 15:16; Dan 9:19; Acts 15:17).
15 tn Grk “according to the scripture.”
16 sn A quotation from Lev 19:18 (also quoted in Matt 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14).
17 tn Or “transgressors.”
18 tn Or “stumbles.”
19 tn Grk “guilty of all.”
20 sn A quotation from Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18.
21 sn A quotation from Exod 20:13 and Deut 5:17.
22 tn Grk “a law of freedom.”
23 tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.
24 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
25 tn Grk “the faith,” referring to the kind of faith just described: faith without works. The article here is anaphoric, referring to the previous mention of the noun πίστις (pisti") in the verse. See ExSyn 219.
26 sn The form of the question in Greek expects a negative answer.
27 tn It is important to note that the words ἀδελφός (adelfos) and ἀδελφή (adelfh) both occur in the Greek text at this point, confirming that the author intended to refer to both men and women. See the note on “someone” in 2:2.
28 tn Grk “what is necessary for the body.”
29 tn There is considerable doubt about where the words of the “someone” end and where James’ reply begins. Some see the quotation running to the end of v. 18; others to the end of v. 19. But most punctuate as shown above. The “someone” is then an objector, and the sense of his words is something like, “Some have faith; others have works; don’t expect everyone to have both.” James’ reply is that faith cannot exist or be seen without works.
30 tn Or “from.”
31 tn Grk “you do well.”
32 tn Grk “believe and tremble.” The words “with fear” are implied.
33 tn Grk “do you want to know.”
34 tn Grk “O empty man.” Here the singular vocative ἄνθρωπε (anqrwpe, “man”) means “person” or even “fellow.” Cf. BDAG 82 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 8 which views this as an instance of rhetorical address in a letter; the pejorative sense is also discussed under the previous heading (7).
35 tc Most witnesses, including several important ones (א A C2 P Ψ 33 Ï sy bo), have νεκρά (nekra, “dead”) here, while Ì74 reads κενή (kenh, “empty”). Both variants are most likely secondary, derived from ἀργή (argh, “useless”). The reading of the majority is probably an assimilation to the statements in vv. 17 and 26, while Ì74’s reading picks up on κενέ (kene) earlier in the verse. The external evidence (B C* 323 945 1739 sa) for ἀργή is sufficient for authenticity; coupled with the strong internal evidence for the reading (if νεκρά were original, how would ἀργή have arisen here and not in vv. 17 or 26?), it is strongly preferred.
36 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
37 sn An allusion to 2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; 51:2; Dan 3:35 (LXX), in which Abraham is called God’s “beloved.”
38 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
39 tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”
40 tn Or “fail.”
41 tn Or “fail.”
42 tn Grk “in speech.”
43 tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).
44 tn Grk “their entire body.”
45 tn Grk “a small member.”
46 tn Grk “boasts of great things.”
47 tn Grk “Behold.”
48 tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”
49 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
50 sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).
51 tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”
52 tn Grk “the human species.”
53 tc Most
54 tc Most later
55 tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.
56 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
57 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
58 tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”
59 tn Grk “This.”
60 tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”
61 tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.
62 tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”
63 tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”
64 tn Or “sincere.”
65 tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.
66 tn Grk “is sown.”
67 tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”
68 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
69 tn Grk “from here.”
70 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
71 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”
72 tn Grk “vainly says.”
73 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
74 tc The Byzantine text and a few other
75 tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.
76 sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.
77 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
78 tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
79 tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”
80 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
81 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
82 tn Grk “a judge.”
83 tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”
84 tn Or “city.”
85 tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
86 tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”
87 tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).
88 tn Grk “instead of your saying.”
89 tn Grk “but now.”
90 tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”
91 tn Grk “to him it is sin.”
92 tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”
93 tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”
94 sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).
95 tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”