James 3-4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. James 3:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
2. James 3:1 tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”
3. James 3:2 tn Or “fail.”
4. James 3:2 tn Or “fail.”
5. James 3:2 tn Grk “in speech.”
6. James 3:2 tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anēr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).
7. James 3:3 tn Grk “their entire body.”
8. James 3:5 tn Grk “a small member.”
9. James 3:5 tn Grk “boasts of great things.”
10. James 3:5 tn Grk “Behold.”
11. James 3:6 tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”
12. James 3:6 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
13. James 3:6 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).
14. James 3:7 tn Grk (plurals), “every kind of animals and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures.”
15. James 3:7 tn Grk “the human species.”
16. James 3:8 tc Most mss (C Ψ 1611 1739^c 1244 M as well as a few versions and fathers) read “uncontrollable” (ἀκατασχετόν, akatascheton), while most of the more significant witnesses (א A B K P 1175 1243 1735 1739* latt co) 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. In a semantically parallel early Christian text, ἀκατάστατος (akatastatos) 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 deemed more likely to be the initial reading.
17. James 3:9 tc Most later mss (M), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (theon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (P²⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.
18. James 3:9 tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anthrōpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.
19. James 3:10 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
20. James 3:12 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
21. James 3:13 tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”
22. James 3:15 tn Grk “This.”
23. James 3:15 tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”
24. James 3:15 tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.
25. James 3:17 tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”
26. James 3:17 tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”
27. James 3:17 tn Or “sincere.”
28. James 3:18 tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.
29. James 3:18 tn Grk “is sown.”
30. James 3:18 tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”
31. James 4:1 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
32. James 4:1 tn Grk “from here.”
33. James 4:1 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
34. James 4:4 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”
35. James 4:5 tn Grk “vainly says.”
36. James 4:5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
37. James 4:5 tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 5 33 436 442 1243 1611 1735 1852 2344 2492 M) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katōkēsen) 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 (P⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katōkisen), 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 (katoikizō, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikeō, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs much less frequently than 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.
38. James 4:5 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.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.
39. James 4:6 sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.
40. James 4:8 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
41. James 4:9 tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
42. James 4:9 tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”
43. James 4:11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
44. James 4:11 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
45. James 4:11 tn Grk “a judge.”
46. James 4:12 tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”
47. James 4:13 tn Or “city.”
48. James 4:14 tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
49. James 4:14 tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”
50. James 4:14 tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).
51. James 4:15 tn Grk “instead of your saying.”
52. James 4:16 tn Grk “but now.”
53. James 4:16 tn Or “you boast in your arrogance.” The translation in the text is based on two points: (1) The verb καυχάομαι (kauchaomai, “boast”) often uses the preposition ἐν (en) to indicate the focus of the boast (see BDAG 536 s.v. 1). (2) ἀλαζονεία (alazoneia, “arrogance”) here is plural and likely refers to the specific plans mentioned in v. 13.
54. James 4:17 tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”
55. James 4:17 tn Grk “to him it is sin.”