Passage

James 1.20

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

18. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19. Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20. for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. (James 1:18-22, ASV)

WEB

18. Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19. So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

20. for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. (James 1:18-22, WEB)

KJV

18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:18-22, KJV)

YLT

18. having counselled, He did beget us with a word of truth, for our being a certain first-fruit of His creatures. 19. So then, my brethren beloved, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20. for the wrath of a man the righteousness of God doth not work;

wherefore having put aside all filthiness and superabundance of evil, in meekness be receiving the engrafted word, that is able to save your souls; 22. and become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, (James 1:18-22, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: James (Iakōbos), identified by the great majority of interpreters as the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; Mark 6:3), leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18). He introduces himself simply as "a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), never as a relative.
Audience: Jewish believers outside Palestine, addressed as "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad" (James 1:1). The congregations meet in a synagōgē (James 2:2) and include both poor members and wealthy visitors.
Location: Jerusalem, from which James led the mother church.
Time period: Date disputed. An early date (c. AD 44-49) would make this the earliest surviving Christian writing; a later one places it before James's death, which Josephus dates to AD 62 (Antiquities 20.200). The letter shows no awareness of the Gentile-circumcision controversy settled in Acts 15, which many take as evidence for the early date.

Theological reading

"For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

The context is listening. Verse 19: "everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." The three are a sequence, and anger is the last because it is what the first two are meant to forestall.

"Does not achieve." Ou ergazetai, does not work or produce. James's characteristic test is applied to anger as it is to faith and wisdom: assess it by what it makes. Human anger, he says, produces nothing of the righteousness God is after.

The claim is about efficacy, not merely propriety. James does not say anger is always sinful, and the biblical witness does not either: God is angry (Psalm 7:11), Jesus is angry (Mark 3:5), and Ephesians 4:26 says "be angry, and yet do not sin." What James denies is that human anger is a productive instrument of divine righteousness, which is a claim about outcomes and about self-deception.

"The righteousness of God." Dikaiosynē theou. Here it most likely means the righteous life God requires rather than the imputed righteousness of Paul's usage, which suits James's practical argument and the following verse's call to receive the implanted word.

Application in the letter. Chapter 3's warning to teachers and chapter 4's account of quarrels both trace conflict back to this. The verse is also a caution for apologetics: 1 Peter 3:15 requires gentleness and reverence in the defense for the same reason James gives here.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G1343 - dikaiosyne, dikaiosyne, Strong's G1343
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

G1343 - dikaiosyne

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.