Passage

James 1.21

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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.

21. Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. 23. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: (James 1:19-23, ASV)

WEB

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.

21. Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; (James 1:19-23, WEB)

KJV

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.

21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (James 1:19-23, KJV)

YLT

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;

21. wherefore having put aside all filthiness and superabundance of evil, in meekness be receiving the engrafted word, that is able to save your souls;

and become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, 23. because, if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one hath been like to a man viewing his natural face in a mirror, (James 1:19-23, 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

"Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."

"Putting aside." Apothemenoi, the participle used of taking off clothing, and a standard early Christian metaphor for repentance (Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:8; 1 Peter 2:1). Its recurrence across several writers suggests a shared catechetical vocabulary for new converts.

"All that remains of wickedness." Perisseian kakias, an overflow or surplus of evil. The image is of something left over and needing removal before what follows.

"Receive." Dexasthe, to welcome or accept, the word for receiving a guest. Set against the putting-off, the two verbs frame conversion and ongoing repentance as removal and welcome.

"The word implanted." Ton emphyton logon, the word planted in. The adjective can mean innate or engrafted; here the sense is planted rather than inborn, since it is something to be received. The image is agricultural and matches the parable of the sower (Mark 4:14-20), where the word is seed and the question is the soil.

"Able to save your souls." James, the letter most associated with works, attributes saving power to the word received in humility. The verse is a useful corrective to the caricature that James teaches salvation by moral effort, and it prepares for verse 22: the word must then be done, not only heard.

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.

G5590 - psyche, psyche, Strong's G5590
G4982 - sozo, sozo, Strong's G4982
G3056 - logos, logos, Strong's G3056
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

Lexicon:

G5590 - psyche

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.