^2:1My brothers and sisters,¹ do not show prejudice² if you possess faith³ in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.⁴^2:2For if someone⁵ comes into your assembly⁶ wearing a gold ring and fine clothing, and a poor person enters in filthy clothes, ^2:3do you pay attention to the one who is finely dressed and say,⁷ “You sit here in a good place,”⁸ and to the poor person, “You stand over there,” or “Sit on the floor”?⁹^2:4If so, have you not made distinctions¹⁰ among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?¹¹

Read in Logos

James 2:1: My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Footnotes

1 Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in .
2 Or “partiality.”
3 Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.
4 Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxēs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.
5 The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anēr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But as 2 says, “equivalent to τὶς someone.”
6 Grk “synagogue.” Usually συναγωγή refers to Jewish places of worship (e.g., Matt 4:23, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:15, John 6:59). The word can be used generally to refer to a place of assembly, and here it refers specifically to a Christian assembly ( 2.b.).
7 Grk “and you pay attention … and say,” continuing the “if” clauses from v. 2. In the Greek text, vv. 2–4 form one long sentence.
8 Or “sit here, please.”
9 Grk “sit under my footstool.” The words “on the floor” have been supplied in the translation to clarify for the modern reader the undesirability of this seating arrangement (so also , , , ). Another option followed by a number of translations is to replace “under my footstool” with “at my feet” (, , ).
10 Grk “have you not made distinctions” (as the conclusion to the series of “if” clauses in vv. 2–3).
11 Grk “judges of evil reasonings.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

NIVNew International Version (2011)

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

CSBChristian Standard Bible

My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

NLTNew Living Translation

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. For if someone enters into your assembly in fine clothing with a gold ring on his finger, and a poor person in filthy clothing also enters, and you look favorably on the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Be seated here in a good place,” and to the poor person you say, “You stand or be seated there by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

KJV 1900King James Version

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

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