Passage

James 2.5

Book: James · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"3. and ye have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; 4. do ye not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?"

"5. Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?"

"6. But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? 7. Do not they blaspheme the honorable name by which ye are called?" (James 2:3-7, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"3. and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”; 4. haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?"

"5. Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?"

"6. But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? 7. Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?" (James 2:3-7, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"3. 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: ^{in: or, well, or, seemly} 4. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"

"5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? ^{of the: or, of that}"

"6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? ^{blaspheme: or, revile, or, slander}" (James 2:3-7, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"3. and ye may look upon him bearing the gay raiment, and may say to him, 'Thou, sit thou here well,' and to the poor man may say, 'Thou, stand thou there, or, Sit thou here under my footstool,', 4. ye did not judge fully in yourselves, and did become ill-reasoning judges."

"5. Hearken, my brethren beloved, did not God choose the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the reign that He promised to those loving Him?"

"6. and ye did dishonour the poor one; do not the rich oppress you and themselves draw you to judgment-seats; 7. do they not themselves speak evil of the good name that was called upon you?" (James 2:3-7, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

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.

TBD
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Quoted in

_log-archive-2026-05

Notes

Your annotations.

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.