ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

James 4.8

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 7. Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.

  1. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you. (James 4:6-10, ASV)
WEB

6. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7. Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

  1. Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:6-10, WEB)
KJV

6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

  1. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:6-10, KJV)
YLT

6. and greater grace he doth give, wherefore he saith, 'God against proud ones doth set Himself up, and to lowly ones He doth give grace?' 7. be subject, then, to God; stand up against the devil, and he will flee from you;

8. draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled!

  1. be exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, and the joy to heaviness; 10. be made low before the Lord, and He shall exalt you. (James 4:6-10, 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

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

A promise with a reciprocal structure. The two clauses are conditional in form but not transactional in force: the drawing near is commanded, and the response is stated as certain. Compare Zechariah 1:3, "return to Me... and I will return to you", and Malachi 3:7, which James is very likely echoing.

The cultic vocabulary. Cleansing hands and purifying hearts is priestly language (Exodus 30:19-21; Psalm 24:4, clean hands and a pure heart). James applies to the whole congregation the preparation required of those approaching the sanctuary, which is consistent with his habit of redefining cultic categories in moral terms (James 1:27).

Two audiences in one verse. "Sinners" and "double-minded" (dipsychoi, the word from James 1:8). The chapter has been describing quarrels driven by desire, friendship with the world, and prayers offered with wrong motives; the divided allegiance is the diagnosis and the command is to end it.

Placement in the paragraph. Verse 7 begins "submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you", and verses 9-10 continue with mourning and humbling. Verse 10 gives the resolution: "humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." The drawing near James commands is repentance, and the promise attached to it is God's own movement toward the penitent.

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.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Lexicon:

Passages:

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.