Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Parallel translations
- WEB haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
- BSB have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
- NKJV have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
- NASB have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
- NLT doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?
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
By favoring the rich, they have made distinctions and become judges with evil motives. Partiality is a form of corrupt, sinful judgment.
Overview
James names the offense: such favoritism makes believers judges who discriminate from wicked motives. They have set themselves up as arbiters of worth using the world's standards rather than God's. The rhetorical question presses readers to recognize that partiality is not a minor lapse but a serious sin of misjudgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 7:24Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
- Job 34:19How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
- Matt 7:1–5Judge not, that ye be not judged.
- Jas 4:11Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
- Mal 2:9Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
- Ps 82:2How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
- Ps 58:1Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
- Job 21:27Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
- Ps 109:31For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
- Jas 1:1–27James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
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Original language
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