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

4haven’t you made distinctions between yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor person. Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7Don’t they blaspheme the good name by which you were called? 8If, however, you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” 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 2:3and you pay special attention to the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you say to the poor person, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”;
• Psalms 14:6You would frustrate the plan of the lowly. Surely Adonai is his refuge!
• Proverbs 14:31The one who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
• Proverbs 17:5Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker. Whoever rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.
• Ecclesiastes 9:15Now a poor, wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his shrewdness. Yet nobody remembered that poor man!
• Isaiah 53:3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, One from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
• John 8:49Yeshua answered, “I do not have a demon! I honor My Father, yet you dishonor Me.
• 1 Corinthians 11:22What! It is certainly not that you do not have houses, is it? Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise God’s community and try to humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? I don’t praise you for this!
• James 5:4Behold, the wages of the workers who mowed your fields—which you kept back by fraud—are crying out against you. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
• Job 20:19For he has oppressed and abandoned the poor. He has seized a house he did not build.
• Psalms 10:2In pride the wicked hotly hunts the poor. Let them be caught in the plots they have planned.
• Psalms 12:5They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail. We own our lips—who can master us?”
• Proverbs 22:16The one who oppresses the poor to increase his own gain, and the one who gives to the rich— both end in poverty.
• Ecclesiastes 5:8Though the profit of the land is taken by all, a king is served by the fields.
• Isaiah 3:14Adonai will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and with the princes: “You have devoured the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
• Amos 2:6Thus says Adonai: “For three crimes of Israel even for four, I will not relent. For they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair 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