Yakobus 2:3

2:3 do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say, ¹  “You sit here in a good place,” ²  and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”? ³ 

Yakobus 3:6

3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents ⁴  the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It ⁵  pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell. ⁶ 

Yakobus 5:12

5:12 And above all, my brothers and sisters, ⁷  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.

[2:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “sit here, please.”

[2:3]  ³ 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).

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”

[3:6]  ⁵ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:6]  ⁶ 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).

[5:12]  ⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.