and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
Parallel translations
- WEB and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?
- KJV And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
- BSB If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?
- NKJV and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
- NASB and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Offering only kind words—"be warmed and filled"—without meeting physical needs is worthless. Empty well-wishing proves a faith that does nothing.
Overview
James completes the illustration: pious words that ignore practical need accomplish nothing for the suffering or the speaker. Such hollow religion exposes a faith devoid of love. The example shows that genuine faith expresses itself in tangible compassion, not mere sentiment, just as God's love acted concretely in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 3:27–28Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
- 1 Jn 3:16–18By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Matt 25:42–45for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
- Rom 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- 2 Cor 8:8I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
- Matt 14:15–16When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”
- Matt 15:32Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”
- Job 22:7–9You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 2:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.