13:10 With pride 1 comes only 2 contention,
but wisdom is with the well-advised. 3
14:29 The one who is slow to anger has great understanding,
but the one who has a quick temper 4 exalts 5 folly.
15:18 A quick-tempered person 6 stirs up dissension,
but one who is slow to anger 7 calms 8 a quarrel. 9
16:32 Better to be slow to anger 10 than to be a mighty warrior,
and one who controls his temper 11 is better than 12 one who captures a city. 13
28:25 The greedy person 14 stirs up dissension, 15
but the one who trusts 16 in the Lord will prosper. 17
5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud 25 over the miseries that are coming on you.
2:20 But would you like evidence, 26 you empty fellow, 27 that faith without works is useless? 28 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
1 sn The parallelism suggests pride here means contempt for the opinions of others. The wise listen to advice rather than argue out of stubborn pride.
2 tn The particle רַק (raq, “only”) modifies the noun “contention” – only contention can come from such a person.
3 tn The Niphal of יָעַץ (ya’ats, “to advise; to counsel”) means “to consult together; to take counsel.” It means being well-advised, receiving advice or consultation (cf. NCV “those who take advice are wise”).
4 tn Heb “hasty of spirit” (so KJV, ASV); NRSV, NLT “a hasty temper.” One who has a quick temper or a short fuse will be evident to everyone, due to his rash actions.
5 sn The participle “exalts” (מֵרִים, merim) means that this person brings folly to a full measure, lifts it up, brings it to the full notice of everybody.
6 tn Heb “a man of wrath”; KJV, ASV “a wrathful man.” The term “wrath” functions as an attributive genitive: “an angry person.” He is contrasted with the “slow of anger,” so he is a “quick-tempered person” (cf. NLT “a hothead”).
7 tn Heb “slow of anger.” The noun “anger” functions as a genitive of specification: slow in reference to anger, that is, slow to get angry, patient.
8 tn The Hiphil verb יַשְׁקִיט (yashqit) means “to cause quietness; to pacify; to allay” the strife or quarrel (cf. NAB “allays discord”). This type of person goes out of his way to keep things calm and minimize contention; his opposite thrives on disagreement and dispute.
9 sn The fact that רִיב (riv) is used for “quarrel; strife” strongly implies that the setting is the courtroom or other legal setting (the gates of the city). The hot-headed person is eager to turn every disagreement into a legal case.
10 tn One who is “slow to anger” is a patient person (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). This is explained further in the parallel line by the description of “one who rules his spirit” (וּמֹשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ, umoshel bÿrukho), meaning “controls his temper.” This means the person has the emotions under control and will not “fly off the handle” quickly.
11 tn Heb “who rules his spirit” (so NASB).
12 tn The phrase “is better than” does not appear in this line in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism.
13 sn The saying would have had greater impact when military prowess was held in high regard. It is harder, and therefore better, to control one’s passions than to do some great exploit on the battlefield.
14 tn Heb “wide of soul.” This is an idiom meaning “a greedy person.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, traditionally, “soul”) has here its more basic meaning of appetites (a person is a soul, a bundle of appetites; BDB 660 s.v. 5.a). It would mean “wide of appetite” (רְהַב־נֶפֶשׁ), thus “greedy.”
15 sn Greed “stirs up” the strife. This individual’s attitude and actions stir up dissension because people do not long tolerate him.
16 tn The construction uses the participle בּוֹטֵחַ (boteakh) followed by עַל־יְהוָה (’al-yÿhvah), which gives the sense of “relying confidently on the
17 tn The verb דָּשֵׁן (dashen) means “to be fat,” and in the Piel/Pual stems “to make fat/to be made fat” (cf. KJV, ASV). The idea of being “fat” was symbolic of health and prosperity – the one who trusts in the
18 sn By your endurance is a call to remain faithful, because trusting in Jesus is the means to life.
19 tc Some important Greek witnesses plus the majority of
20 tn Grk “your souls,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. In light of v. 16 that does not seem to be the case here. The entire phrase could be taken as an idiom meaning “you will save yourselves” (L&N 21.20), or (as in v. 18) this could refer to living ultimately in the presence of God.
21 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
22 tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”
23 tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”
24 tn Grk “the promise,” referring to the thing God promised, not to the pledge itself.
25 tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”
26 tn Grk “do you want to know.”
27 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).
28 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.
29 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).
30 tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”