James 4
From where do wars and fights among you come? From here — from the pleasures that serve as soldiers in your members. Four words of warfare stand here, and v.2 sets short clauses one after another: you desire, you do not have, you murder, you are zealous, you cannot obtain, you fight, you wage war. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask badly. Adulteresses — the base text carries only the feminine plural — do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? The quotation, “He longs to the point of envy for the spirit which he caused to dwell in us,” is in no scripture we have, and the text names no place for it. But he gives greater grace — Prov 3:34. Then ten aorist imperatives follow: be subject, withstand, draw near, cleanse, purify, be wretched, mourn, weep, let it be turned, be humbled. God opposes the proud and we withstand the slanderer. You double-minded — 1:8 becomes a form of address. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection — the blessing and woe of Luke 6:21·25 become commands. Be humbled before the Lord and he will exalt you. Do not backbite one another — ‘backbite’ three times and ‘judge’ four weave one verse. If you judge the law you are not a doer of the law but a judge — the ‘doer’ of 1:22-25 attaches here to the law. There is one lawgiver and judge, able to save and to destroy; ‘judge’ is carried only by the base text. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year and trade and make a gain” — a word that withholds the city’s name. You do not know the thing of tomorrow, for you are a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away — appearing and vanishing are one root, and both locales lose the pair. You ought to say, “If the Lord wills”; but as it is you boast in your pretensions. So to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Why this rendering
Jas.4.6 Observation
Syntactic observation
Πόθεν πόλεμοι καὶ ⸀πόθεν μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν; … Four words of warfare — πόλεμος ‘war’, μάχη ‘fight’, στρατεύομαι ‘serve as a soldier’, πολεμέω ‘wage war’ · v.2 sets short clauses one after another — you desire, you do not have, you murder, you are zealous, you cannot obtain, you fight, you wage war · ζηλόω ‘be zealous’ comes right after the ‘bitter zeal’ of 3:14 · ⸀μοιχαλίδες is feminine plural — the base text carries no masculine, so ‘adulteresses’ stands · φιλία ‘friendship’, κενῶς ‘emptily’ and κατοικίζω ‘cause to dwell’ stand once in the New Testament — the first shares a root with φίλος ‘friend’ · the quotation at v.5 is found in no scripture we have — the text names no place, and whether ‘the spirit’ is subject or object it does not say · πρὸς φθόνον ‘to the point of envy’ — where it attaches is not said · the quotation at v.6 is Prov 3:34, which 1 Pet 5:5 also quotes.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The base text has only the feminine plural — rendering the Textus Receptus ‘adulterers and adulteresses’ would render another text.
Basis The text names none and the sentence is in no scripture we have — supplying one would supply what is not there.
Basis Whether πρὸς φθόνον goes with the longing or the spirit is not said — the order is kept.
Lost in translation
Four words of warfare (vv.1-2) — coming one after another. Both keep them apart.
⸀μοιχαλίδες (v.4) — feminine plural. Both render the gender.
φιλία / φίλος (v.4) — one root twice in one verse. ‘Friendship / friend’ keeps it.
The citation at v.5 — the text names none. Neither locale supplies one.
πρὸς φθόνον (v.5) — where it attaches is not said. Both keep the order.
ταπεινοῖς (v.6) — one word with ‘lowly’ at 1:9 and 4:10. The three are joined.
Why this rendering
Jas.4.10 Observation
Syntactic observation
ὑποτάγητε οὖν τῷ θεῷ· ἀντίστητε δὲ τῷ διαβόλῳ … Ten aorist imperatives follow one another (vv.7-10) · ἀντιτάσσομαι (v.6) and ἀνθίστημι (v.7) come one after the other, and Korean has one word for both — at v.6 God against the proud, at v.7 we against the slanderer · διάβολος ‘slanderer’ (as fixed at John 6:70) — not turned into ‘devil’ · δίψυχοι ‘you double-minded’ returns from 1:8 · ταλαιπωρέω ‘be wretched’, γέλως ‘laughter’, μετατρέπω ‘be turned’ and κατήφεια ‘dejection’ stand once in the New Testament — the first shares a root with ταλαίπωρος ‘wretched’ at Rom 7:24, the second with γελάω ‘laugh’ at Luke 6:21 · the blessing and woe of Luke 6:21·25 become commands here · ταπεινόω and ὑψόω (v.10) are the two verbs of Luke 14:11.
Rendering options · 3
Basis This edition fixed ‘slanderer’ at John 6:70 — ‘devil’ would bring in a picture the text does not have.
Basis ἀντιτάσσομαι and ἀνθίστημι come one after the other and English has two words for them; Korean does not.
Basis The blessing and woe of Luke 6:21·25 become commands here — the same words let the echo show.
Lost in translation
Ten aorist imperatives (vv.7-10) — one after another. Both set them out as commands.
ἀντιτάσσομαι / ἀνθίστημι (vv.6-7) — two verbs in a row. English keeps them apart.
γέλως (v.9) — one root with ‘laugh’ at Luke 6:21. ‘Laughter’ keeps the link.
ταλαιπωρέω (v.9) — one root with ‘wretched’ at Rom 7:24. ‘Be wretched’ keeps the link.
δίψυχοι (v.8) — the word of 1:8 becomes a form of address. Both stand alike.
ταπεινόω / ὑψόω (v.10) — the two verbs of Luke 14:11. Both use the same words.
Why this rendering
Jas.4.12 Observation
Syntactic observation
Μὴ καταλαλεῖτε ἀλλήλων, ἀδελφοί … καταλαλέω ‘backbite’ comes three times in v.11 and κρίνω ‘judge’ four times — two verbs weaving one verse · καταλαλέω shares a root with καταλαλιά ‘backbiting’ at 2 Cor 12:20 and κατάλαλος ‘backbiter’ at Rom 1:30 · ποιητὴς νόμου ‘a doer of the law’ takes up the ποιητής of 1:22-25, where it was a doer of the word · νομοθέτης ‘lawgiver’ is once in the New Testament and shares a root with νομοθετέομαι at Heb 8:6 · εἷς ‘one’ stands at the head of the sentence — the position of ‘God is one’ at 2:19 · σῴζω ‘save’ and ἀπόλλυμι ‘destroy’ face each other · ⸂καὶ κριτής⸃ is carried by the base text (the Textus Receptus does not have it) — so the ‘judge’ of v.11 interlocks with the ‘judge’ of v.12 · πλησίον ‘neighbour’ (as fixed at Gal 5:14) returns from the quotation at 2:8.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ‘Backbiting’ at 2 Cor 12:20 and ‘backbiter’ at Rom 1:30 are already fixed — ‘slander’ would take the place of διάβολος.
Basis The Textus Receptus does not have ‘judge’ — the base text does, so it interlocks with v.11.
Basis The ‘doer’ of 1:22-25 attaches here to the law — another rendering would lose the echo.
Lost in translation
καταλαλέω three times, κρίνω four (v.11) — two verbs weaving one verse. Both keep the repetition.
καταλαλέω (v.11) — the root of 2 Cor 12:20 and Rom 1:30. ‘Backbite’ keeps the root.
ποιητὴς νόμου (v.11) — taking up the ‘doer’ of 1:22-25. Both stand alike.
νομοθέτης (v.12) — one root with Heb 8:6. ‘Lawgiver’ carries ‘law’.
⸂καὶ κριτής⸃ (v.12) — carried by the base text, not by the Textus Receptus. Both render the base text.
εἷς (v.12) — standing at the head of the sentence. Neither locale can put it first.
Why this rendering
Jas.4.17 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἄγε νῦν οἱ λέγοντες· Σήμερον ⸀ἢ αὔριον ⸀πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν … Ἄγε νῦν ‘Come now’ opens two passages, at 4:13 and 5:1 · Five futures follow one another · τήνδε ‘such and such’ is once in the New Testament, and the city is left unnamed · ἐμπορεύομαι ‘trade’ stands with 2 Pet 2:3 · φαίνω ‘appear’ and ἀφανίζω ‘vanish away’ face each other in one verse — one root with a negative prefix, and both locales lose the pairing · ἀτμίς ‘vapour’ (as fixed at Acts 2:19, there of smoke) · ἀλαζονεία ‘pretension’ stands with 1 John 2:16 and shares a root with ἀλαζών ‘braggart’ at Rom 1:30 · v.17 closes the chapter with a maxim · καλὸν ποιεῖν ‘to do good’ is the phrase of 2 Thess 3:13.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The text uses a word that deliberately withholds the name — ‘a certain city’ would blur the choice.
Basis It is one root with a negative prefix, and neither language has the pair — the sense is kept and the pairing recorded as lost.
Basis The same phrase opens two passages — varying it would dissolve the frame.
Lost in translation
Ἄγε νῦν (4:13 · 5:1) — one phrase opening two passages. Both stand alike.
φαίνω / ἀφανίζω (v.14) — one root with a negative prefix. Both lose the pairing.
τήνδε (v.13) — a word that withholds the name. Neither locale supplies one.
Five futures (vv.13 · 15) — one after another. Both keep the future.
ἀλαζονεία (v.16) — one root with ‘braggart’ at Rom 1:30. English does not carry it.
καλὸν ποιεῖν (v.17) — the phrase of 2 Thess 3:13. Both stand alike.