James 2:6

James 2:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
• New International Version (NIV)But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
• English Standard Version (ESV)But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
• New King James Version (NKJV)But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

Context of James 2:6

4If you do that, you are thinking bad thoughts. You have decided that one person among you is better than another person. You must not do that. 5My Christian friends, listen to me. God has chosen to bless people who are poor in this world. He has helped them to trust him. So really they are rich. God will give to them a place in his kingdom. He has promised to do that for all people who love him. But you have not been kind to people who are poor. You have caused them to feel ashamed. Who causes you to have troubles? It is the rich people! They are the people who want the judges to punish you. 7It is the rich people who say bad things against the good name of Jesus Christ. And you are called Christians because you belong to him. 8But the message of God's kingdom is this: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’ That is what the Bible says. If you really do that, you do well.

James 2:6 word by word

ὑμεῖς δὲ ἠτιμάσατε τὸν πτωχόν. οὐχ οἱ πλούσιοι καταδυναστεύουσιν ὑμῶν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἕλκουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς κριτήρια;Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Butδέde · thenG1161
• yeσύsu · youG4771
• have despisedἀτιμάζωatimazō · to dishonorG818
• the poorπτωχόςptōchos · poorG4434
• Doκαταδυναστεύωkatadunasteuō · to oppressG2616
• notοὐou · noG3756
• rich menπλούσιοςplousios · richG4145
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• ·αὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• drawἕλκωhelkuō helkō · to draw/persuadeG1670
• beforeεἰςeis · towardG1519
• the judgment seatsκριτήριονkritērion · court/lawsuitG2922

Cross-references for James 2:6

• James 2:3You are kind to the man who is wearing beautiful clothes. You say to him, ‘Please sit here in this good place.’ But you say to the poor man, ‘Go and stand over there.’ Or you may say to him, ‘Sit on the floor near my feet.’
• Psalms 14:6You wicked people tried to bring shame to poor people. But the Lord keeps poor people safe.
• Proverbs 14:31If you are cruel to poor people, you are insulting God who created them. But if you are kind to helpless people, it shows that you respect God.
• Proverbs 17:5If you laugh at poor people, you are insulting God, who made them. If you are happy when trouble happens to other people, you will receive the punishment that you deserve.
• Ecclesiastes 9:15There was a man who lived in the city. He was poor but he was also wise. Because he was wise, he knew how to save the city. But after he saved it, nobody remembered that poor man.
• Isaiah 53:3People did not respect him. They refused to accept him. He was a man who received much pain. He knew what it felt like to be weak and ill. People did not even want to look at him. They did not respect him. We decided that he was worth nothing.
• John 8:49Jesus replied, ‘There is no demon in me. I want people to know how great my Father is. But you want people to think bad things about me.
• 1 Corinthians 11:22If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.
• James 5:4But you have not paid the workers in your fields the money that you should have paid them. You have cheated them. Now they are shouting against you. The Lord of great power has heard them when they cry to him for help.
• Job 20:19This will happen because he has been cruel to poor people. He has refused to help them. He has taken houses for himself that do not belong to him.
• Psalms 10:2Wicked people are cruel to poor people. They use their evil ideas to take hold of weak people.
• Psalms 12:5But the Lord says: ‘Now I will do something! I know the cruel things that wicked people do to poor people. When weak people cry with pain, I hear them. So I will make them safe, as they want me to do for them.’
• Proverbs 22:16Someone may be cruel to poor people to make himself rich. Someone else may give gifts to rich people to make them his friends. But both those people will become poor in the end.
• Ecclesiastes 5:8You may see a place where poor people are suffering. Powerful people may be hurting them. Do not be surprised if you see that. The judges may not be doing what is right and fair. That happens because the government's officers have to obey people who are more important than them.
• Isaiah 3:14He comes to judge the leaders and rulers of his people. He says to them, ‘You have destroyed my vineyard. You have robbed the poor people and you have stored their things in your own houses.
• Amos 2:6The Lord says, ‘The people in Israel have done more and more wrong things. So I will certainly punish them. They sold people that did not do wrong things. They sold them for silver. And they sold poor people for only the price of shoes.

Commentaries on James 2:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6Do not rich men oppress you - The administration of justice was at this time in a miserable state of corruption among the Jews; but a Christian was one who was to expect no justice any where but from his God. The words , exceedingly oppress, and ̔ , drag you to courts of justice, show how grievously oppressed and maltreated the Christians were by their countrymen the Jews, who made law a pretext to afflict their bodies, and spoil them of their property.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6But ye have despised the poor - Koppe reads this as an interrogation: “Do ye despise the poor?” Perhaps it might be understood somewhat ironically: “You despise the poor, do you, and are disposed to honor the rich! Look then, and see how the rich treat you, and see whether you have so much occasion to regard them with any peculiar respect.” The object of the apostle is to fix the attention on the impropriety of that partiality which many were disposed to…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. The world's judgment of the poor contrasted with God's. ye--Christians, from whom better things might have been expected; there is no marvel that men of the world do so. despised--literally, "dishonored." To dishonor the poor is to dishonor those whom God honors, and so to invert the order of God [Calvin]. rich--as a class. oppress--literally, "abuse their power against" you. draw you--Translate, "is it not they (those very persons whom ye partially…Read the comment

Topics related to James 2:6

• Faith
• Oppression
• Persecution
• Poor
• Respect of Persons
• Riches
• Rulers

In the dictionaries

• Convince
• Dead
• Draw
• Justify
• Offend
• Respect
• Rich
• Sister
• Judgment Seat
• Oppression

Commentaries on James 2

• 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