Darby Bible
James 3:14
14but if ye have bitter emulation and strife in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
James 3:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- New International Version (NIV)But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
- English Standard Version (ESV)But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
Context of James 3:14
12Can, my brethren, a fig produce olives, or a vine figs? Neither [can] salt [water] make sweet water. 13Who [is] wise and understanding among you; let him shew out of a good conversation his works in meekness of wisdom; but if ye have bitter emulation and strife in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15This is not the wisdom which comes down from above, but earthly, natural, devilish. 16For where emulation and strife [are], there [is] disorder and every evil thing.
Read all of James 3James 3:14 word by word
εἰ δὲ ζῆλον πικρὸν ἔχετε καὶ ἐριθείαν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν, μὴ κατακαυχᾶσθε καὶ ψεύδεσθε κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας.Read the interlinear
Cross-references for James 3:14
- James 3:16For where emulation and strife [are], there [is] disorder and every evil thing.
- James 4:1Whence [come] wars and whence fightings among you? [Is it] not thence, — from your pleasures, which war in your members?
- Genesis 30:1And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
- Genesis 37:11And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.
- Job 5:2For vexation killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the simple.
- Proverbs 14:30A sound heart is the life of the flesh; but envy the rottenness of the bones.
- Proverbs 27:4Fury is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
- Isaiah 11:13And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the troublers of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not trouble Ephraim:
- Habakkuk 1:3Why dost thou cause me to see iniquity, and lookest thou upon grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up.
- Matthew 27:18For he knew that they had delivered him up through envy.
- Acts 5:17And the high priest rising up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with wrath,
- Acts 7:9And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him away into Egypt. And God was with him,
- Acts 13:45But the Jews, seeing the crowds, were filled with envy, and contradicted the things said by Paul, [contradicting and] speaking injuriously.
- Romans 1:29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers,
- Romans 13:13As in the day, let us walk becomingly; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and lasciviousness, not in strife and emulation.
- 1 Corinthians 3:3for ye are yet carnal. For whereas [there are] among you emulation and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk according to man?
Commentaries on James 3:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14If ye have bitter envying and strife - If ye be under the influence of an unkind, fierce, and contemptuous spirit, even while attempting or pretending to defend true religion, do not boast either of your exertions or success in silencing an adversary; ye have no religion, and no true wisdom, and to profess either is to lie against the truth. Let all writers on what is called polemic (fighting, warring) divinity lay this to heart. The pious Mr. Herbert…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts - If that is your characteristic. There is reference here to a fierce and unholy zeal against each other; a spirit of ambition and contention. Glory not - Do not boast, in such a case, of your qualifications to be public teachers. Nothing would render you more unfit for such an office than such a spirit. And lie not against the truth - You would lie against what is true by setting up a claim to the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-18Verses 13-18 These verses show the difference between men's pretending to be wise, and their being really so. He who thinks well, or he who talks well, is not wise in the sense of the Scripture, if he does not live and act well. True wisdom may be know by the meekness of the spirit and temper. Those who live in malice, envy, and contention, live in confusion; and are liable to be provoked and hurried to any evil work. Such wisdom comes not down from…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14Wisdom has no association with jealousy and selfish ambition. We can only receive God's true word through humility (1:18, 21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. if ye have--as is the case (this is implied in the Greek indicative). bitter--Ep 4:31, "bitterness." envying--rather, "emulation," or literally, "zeal": kindly, generous emulation, or zeal, is not condemned, but that which is "bitter" [Bengel]. strife--rather, "rivalry." in your hearts--from which flow your words and deeds, as from a fountain. glory not, and lie not against the truth--To boast of your wisdom is virtually a lying against the truth (the…Read the comment
Topics related to James 3:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on James 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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