James 2
New American Standard Bible
The Sin of Partiality
2 (A)My brothers and sisters, (B)do not hold your faith in our (C)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of (D)personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your [a]assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in (E)bright clothes, and a poor man in (F)dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and you [b]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the (G)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges (H)with evil [c]motives? 5 Listen, (I)my beloved brothers and sisters: did (J)God not choose the poor [d]of this world to be (K)rich in faith and (L)heirs of the kingdom which He (M)promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and [e]personally (N)drag you into [f]court? 7 (O)Do they not blaspheme the good name [g]by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you (P)are fulfilling the [h]royal law according to the Scripture, “(Q)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you (R)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators. 10 For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet (S)stumbles in one point, has become (T)guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “(U)Do not commit adultery,” also said, “(V)Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law. 12 So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by (W)the law of freedom. 13 For (X)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy [i]triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Works
14 (Y)What use is it, (Z)my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can [j]that faith save him? 15 (AA)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “(AB)Go in peace, [k]be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 In the same way, (AC)faith also, if it has no works, is [l]dead, being by itself.
18 (AD)But someone [m]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your (AE)faith without the works, and I will (AF)show you my faith (AG)by my works.” 19 You believe that [n](AH)God is one. (AI)You do well; (AJ)the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to acknowledge, (AK)you foolish person, that (AL)faith without works is useless? 21 (AM)Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that (AN)faith was working with his works, and [o]as a result of the (AO)works, faith was [p]perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “(AP)And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a (AQ)friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was (AR)Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also (AS)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also (AT)faith without works is dead.
Footnotes
- James 2:2 Or synagogue
- James 2:3 Lit look at
- James 2:4 Lit reasonings
- James 2:5 Lit to the
- James 2:6 Lit they themselves
- James 2:6 Lit courts
- James 2:7 Lit which has been called upon you
- James 2:8 Or law of our King
- James 2:13 Lit boasts against
- James 2:14 Lit the
- James 2:16 Or warm yourselves and fill yourselves
- James 2:17 Or dead by its own standards
- James 2:18 Lit will
- James 2:19 One early ms there is one God
- James 2:22 Or by the deeds
- James 2:22 Or completed
Yaakov 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
2 My Achim b’Moshiach, you do not with your acts of maso panim (favoritism) hold to the [orthodox Jewish] emunah of the glorious Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua. [DEVARIM 1:17; VAYIKRA 19:15; MISHLE 24:23]
2 For if there enter into your Beit HaKnesset (House of Assembly, shul, synagogue, shtibel) a man with gold rings on his fingers in expensive bekeshe (kaftan) and shtreimel, and there enters also an underpriviledged nebach, a kabtzen (poor person) in shmattes (rags),
3 and you pay special attention to the takif [influential man] wearing the bekeshe and shtreimel and say, "You sit here in the seat of kibbud (respect, honor), and to the kabtzen (pauper) you say, "You stand there." Or "You sit at my feet,"
4 did you not among yourselves differentiate with prejudice and became shofetim (judges) with machshavot re’sha (evil thoughts)?
5 Hinei! My beloved Achim b’Moshiach, did not Der Oybershter make the Aniyim of the Olam Hazeh in fact Bechirim of Hashem to be rich in emunah and also yoreshim of the Malchut Hashem, which Adoshem gave as a havtachah (promise) to those with Ahavas Hashem? [IYOV 34:19]
6 But you dishonored the ish evyon (poor man, pauper). Do not the oishirim (rich ones) oppress you and they drag you into the Batei Din (Bet Din courts)?
7 Do they not commit Chillul Hashem gidduf (blasphemy) against the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach’s Shem Tov that has been named upon you?
8 If indeed you are shomer regarding the Dat HaMalkhut (Royal Decree), as it is written in the Kitvei Hakodesh, "V’AHAVTAH L’REI’ACHA KAMOCHA" ("And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." [VAYIKRA 19:18]) you do well.
9 But if you show maso panim (favoritism), you are chote’im (sinners) committing averos (transgressions) against the Torah. [DEVARIM 1:17]
10 For whoever is shomer over kol haTorah but stumbles in one mitzvah, such is condemned as ashem (guilty) of averoh (transgression) of kol mitzvot.
11 For the One having said, LO TINAF ("You shall not commit adultery") said also LO TIRTZACH ("You shall not murder"). Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a Poshei’a al mitzvot HaTorah (Transgressor of the Torah). [SHEMOT 20:13,14; DEVARIM 5:17,18]
12 So let your dvarim (words) be and so let your ma’asim (deeds) be as those who are about to come under the judgment of the Torah HaCherut [1:25].
13 For the Din (Judgment) will be without rachamim (mercy) to the one not having shown rachamim. Rachamim wins the nitzachon (victory) over HaDin.
14 What is the revach (gain, profit), my Achim b’Moshiach, if anyone claims to have emunah but does not have ma’asim (deeds)? Surely not such "emunah" is able to bring him to Yeshu’at Eloheinu?
15 If an Ach b’Moshiach or an Achot b’Moshiach is dressed in shmattes (tatters) and lacking "lechem chukeinu" ("our daily bread," Mt.6:11)
16 and anyone of you says to them, "Go in shalom! Be warmed and fed!" but you do not give to them the physical necessities, what is the revach (profit)?
17 So also Emunah, if alongside it there is not in its company Ma’asim, is by itself niftar (deceased, dead).
18 But someone will say, "You have emunah and I have ma’asim." You make known to me the Hisgalus haSod (the revelation of the mystery) of your emunah without your ma’asim, and I’ll show you, Chaver, from my ma’asim, the Emunah.
19 So you’re impressed with yourselves that with your emunah you can recite the kri’at Shema, nu? O you do so well...why, even the shedim have your da’as and emunah! But they shudder! [DEVARIM 6:4]
20 Are you willing to have da’as, O hollow man, that Emunah unharnessed to Ma’asim, stands idle?
21 Avraham Avinu, was he not YITZDAK IM HASHEM (justified with G-d) by his ma’asim when he performed the akedah (binding) and offered up Yitzchak Bno (Isaac his son) upon the mizbe’ach? [BERESHIS 22:9,12]
22 Hinei! While Avraham Avinu’s Emunah was working, working right alongside was Avraham Avinu’s Ma’asim, and by Ma’asim the emunah was made shleimah!
23 And the Kitvei Hakodesh was fulfilled, Avraham Avinu V’HE’EMIN BA’HASHEM VAYACHSHEVE’HA LO TZEDAKAH ("believed Hashem and it was accounted to him for righteousness," BERESHIS 15:6). He was even called "Ohev Hashem" ("Friend of G-d"). [BERESHIS 15:6; YESHAYAH 41:8; DIVREY HAYOMIM BAIS 20:7]
24 You see that from Ma’asim [of Emunah] a man is YITZDAK IM HASHEM and not from [sterilely unpartnered] “Emunah” alone. [i.e., mere intellectual assent]
25 And likewise also Rachav the Zonah—was she not made YITZDAK IM HASHEM from Ma’asim, having received the messengers and having sent them out a different way?
26 For just as the guf (body) without the neshamah is niftar (deceased, dead), so also is Emunah without Ma’asim.
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