Yakobus 1:18

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

Yakobus 1:21-23

1:21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly ²  welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 1:22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 1:23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone ³  who gazes at his own face ⁴  in a mirror.

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

[1:21]  ² tn Or “with meekness.”

[1:23]  ³ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[1:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “the face of his beginning [or origin].”