For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
Parallel translations
- WEB For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
- KJV For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
- BSB For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
- NKJV For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
- NASB For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
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
Where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. False wisdom breeds chaos and wickedness.
Overview
James names the fruit of false wisdom: jealousy and rivalry produce confusion, instability, and all sorts of evil practices. Such disorder is the opposite of the peace God's wisdom brings. The destructive effects confirm that this so-called wisdom is not of God and must be rejected.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jas 3:14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- 1 Cor 3:3for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?
- 1 Cor 14:33for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints.
- 1 Jn 3:12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Gal 5:20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
- Gen 11:9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
- Acts 19:29The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel.
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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 3:16 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
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