have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Parallel translations
- WEB haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
- KJV Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
- BSB have you not discriminated 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 7:24Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
- Job 34:19Who doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Matt 7:1–5“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.
- Jas 4:11Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
- Mal 2:9“Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.
- Ps 82:2“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.
- Ps 58:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
- Job 21:27“Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me.
- Ps 109:31For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.
- Jas 1:1–27James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 2:4 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.