Yakobus 1:16

1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹ 

Yakobus 1:18

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ²  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Yakobus 1:21

1:21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly ³  welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.

Yakobus 2:3

2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ⁴  “You sit here in a good place,” ⁵  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ⁶ 

Yakobus 2:20

2:20 But would you like evidence, ⁷  you empty fellow, ⁸  that faith without works is useless? ⁹ 

Yakobus 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ¹⁰  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ¹¹ 

Yakobus 3:3-4

3:3 And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. ¹²  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.

Yakobus 3:8

3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless ¹³  evil, full of deadly poison.

Yakobus 3:17

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ¹⁴  full of mercy and good fruit, ¹⁵  impartial, and not hypocritical. ¹⁶ 

Yakobus 4:2-4

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? ¹⁷  So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.

Yakobus 4:12-13

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? ¹⁸ 

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹⁹  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

Yakobus 4:15

4:15 You ought to say instead, ²⁰  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.”

Yakobus 5:12

5:12 And above all, my brothers and sisters, ²¹  do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall into judgment.

Yakobus 5:16

5:16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ²² 

[1:16]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[1:18]  ² tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”

[1:21]  ³ tn Or “with meekness.”

[2:3]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ⁶ 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).

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “do you want to know.”

[2:20]  ⁸ 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).

[2:20]  ⁹ 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.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

[3:3]  ¹² tn Grk “their entire body.”

[3:8]  ¹³ tc Most mss (C Ψ 1739^c Ï as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatasceton), while the most important witnesses (א A B K P 1739* latt) have “restless” (ἀκατάστατον, akatastaton). Externally, the latter reading should be preferred. Internally, however, things get a bit more complex. The notion of being uncontrollable is well suited to the context, especially as a counterbalance to v. 8a, though for this very reason scribes may have been tempted to replace ἀκατάστατον with ἀκατασχετόν. However, in a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastato") was considered strong enough of a term to denounce slander as “a restless demon” (Herm. 27:3). On the other hand, ἀκατάστατον may have been substituted for ἀκατασχετόν by way of assimilation to 1:8 (especially since both words were relatively rare, scribes may have replaced the less familiar with one that was already used in this letter). On internal evidence, it is difficult to decide, though ἀκατασχετόν is slightly preferred. However, in light of the strong support for ἀκατάστατον, and the less-than-decisive internal evidence, ἀκατάστατον is preferred instead.

[3:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

[3:17]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

[3:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “sincere.”

[4:4]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”

[4:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “city.”

[4:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “instead of your saying.”

[5:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[5:16]  ²² tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”