Passage

Philippians 2.4

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

2. make full my joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3. doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself;

4. not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, (Philippians 2:2-6, ASV)

WEB

2. make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3. doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4. each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6. who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, (Philippians 2:2-6, WEB)

KJV

2. Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Philippians 2:2-6, KJV)

YLT

2. fulfil ye my joy, that ye may mind the same thing, having the same love, of one soul, minding the one thing, 3. nothing in rivalry or vain-glory, but in humility of mind one another counting more excellent than yourselves

4. each not to your own look ye, but each also to the things of others.

For, let this mind be in you that [is] also in Christ Jesus, 6. who, being in the form of God, thought [it] not robbery to be equal to God, (Philippians 2:2-6, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Philippians 1:1).
Audience: The Church at Philippi, in a Roman colony of Macedonia (Acts 16:12), founded on the mission narrated in Acts 16 and addressed with its bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1). The church had sent Paul a gift by Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-30, 4:18). The verse completes the appeal for unity in Philippians 2:1-4, just before the Christ hymn (Philippians 2:5-11).
Location: Written from imprisonment (Philippians 1:7, 1:13). The place is debated: Rome is the traditional identification, and Ephesus and Caesarea are proposed as alternatives.
Time period: Depends on the imprisonment: c. AD 60-62 if Rome, c. AD 57-59 if Caesarea, the mid-50s if Ephesus.

Theological reading

The verse finishes the sentence begun in verse 3. For the sense of "looking" (skopeō), the force of "also," and the way the Christ hymn answers this verse, see Philippians 2:4-5. For the unit as a whole, see Philippians 2:3-5.

The translations differ on whether this is a fresh command. The ASV reads "not looking each of you to his own things" (Philippians 2:4, ASV), a participle that continues verse 3 ("doing nothing... counting... not looking"). The KJV reads "Look not," a new imperative. The Greek manuscripts differ between the participle and the imperative of skopeō (G4648). The sense is nearly the same either way; the participial reading makes verse 4 part of how the joy of 2:2 is to be made full.

"Each" is said twice. Hekastos (G1538) stands in both halves of the verse, and the KJV tags it twice ("every man"). The appeal is to a community, but the duty falls on every member. No one is exempt from looking to others, and no one is only on the receiving end.

Paul has already done what he asks. At 1:23-24 he set his own desire to depart against what was "more needful for your sake" (Philippians 1:24, ASV) and chose to remain. The church, for its part, had already looked to Paul's things: he writes of "having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you" (Philippians 4:18, ASV). Verse 4 asks them to turn toward one another the care they had shown him, which the disagreement Paul addresses at 4:2 shows was needed.

Key words

No Strong's-tagged lexicon matches found in this passage. (Lexicon coverage is curated, ~159 of the most apologetically-loaded Greek/Hebrew terms.)

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.