Yakobus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ¹  a slave ²  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ³  Greetings!

Yakobus 1:4

1:4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.

Yakobus 1:6

1:6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

Yakobus 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ⁴  do not show prejudice ⁵  if you possess faith ⁶  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷ 

Yakobus 2:10

2:10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails ⁸  in one point has become guilty of all of it. ⁹ 

Yakobus 4:3

4:3 you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

Yakobus 4:5

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ¹⁰  “The spirit that God ¹¹  caused ¹²  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ¹³ 

Yakobus 5:5

5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ¹⁴ 

Yakobus 5:10

5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, ¹⁵  take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name.

Yakobus 5:19

5:19 My brothers and sisters, ¹⁶  if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”

[1:1]  ³ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Or “stumbles.”

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Grk “guilty of all.”

[4:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “vainly says.”

[4:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ¹² tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

[4:5]  ¹³ 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.

[4:5]  sn No OT verse is worded exactly this way. This is either a statement about the general teaching of scripture or a quotation from an ancient translation of the Hebrew text that no longer exists today.

[5:5]  ¹⁴ 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).

[5:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[5:19]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.