Yakobus 1:9-11

1:9 Now the believer ¹  of humble means ²  should take pride ³  in his high position. ⁴  1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ⁵  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ⁶  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

Yakobus 1:27--2:9

1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before ⁷  God the Father ⁸  is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ⁹  do not show prejudice ¹⁰  if you possess faith ¹¹  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ¹²  2:2 For if someone ¹³  comes into your assembly ¹⁴  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, ¹⁵  “You sit here in a good place,” ¹⁶  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ¹⁷  2:4 If so, have you not made distinctions ¹⁸  among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? ¹⁹  2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ²⁰  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! ²¹  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? ²²  2:8 But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, ²³  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” ²⁴  you are doing well. 2:9 But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. ²⁵ 

Yakobus 4:13--5:6

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ²⁶  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You ²⁷  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ²⁸  For you are a puff of smoke ²⁹  that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, ³⁰  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, ³¹  you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do ³²  and does not do it is guilty of sin. ³³ 

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ³⁴  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! ³⁵  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. ³⁶  5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you. ³⁷ 

[1:9]  ¹ tn Grk “brother.” Here the term “brother” means “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. TEV, NLT “Christians”; CEV “God’s people”). The term broadly connotes familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).

[1:9]  ² tn Grk “the lowly brother,” but “lowly/humble” is clarified in context by the contrast with “wealthy” in v. 10.

[1:9]  ³ tn Grk “let him boast.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “his height,” “his exaltation.”

[1:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[1:27]  ⁷ tn Or “in the sight of”; Grk “with.”

[1:27]  ⁸ tn Grk “the God and Father.”

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ¹² tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:2]  ¹³ 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.”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ 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.).

[2:3]  ¹⁵ 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.

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ¹⁷ 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).

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “have you not made distinctions” (as the conclusion to the series of “if” clauses in vv. 2-3).

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “judges of evil reasonings.”

[2:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:6]  ²¹ tn This is singular: “the poor person,” perhaps referring to the hypothetical one described in vv. 2-3.

[2:7]  ²² 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).

[2:8]  ²³ tn Grk “according to the scripture.”

[2:8]  ²⁴ 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).

[2:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “transgressors.”

[4:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “city.”

[4:14]  ²⁷ 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.

[4:14]  ²⁸ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ²⁹ 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).

[4:15]  ³⁰ tn Grk “instead of your saying.”

[4:16]  ³¹ tn Grk “but now.”

[4:17]  ³² tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”

[4:17]  ³³ tn Grk “to him it is sin.”

[5:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:3]  ³⁵ tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”

[5:5]  ³⁶ 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).

[5:6]  ³⁷ tn Literally a series of verbs without connectives, “you have condemned, you have murdered…he does not resist.”