This verse serves as a transition that links verses 12-15 and verses 17-18. It is sometimes taken as the conclusion of the previous paragraph, as Phillips and New Revised Standard Version have done, but most commentators and translations have taken it as a transition introducing a new argument.

Do not be deceived: it is not the tempter but God who is the giver of all good gifts. James does not want his readers to have any mistake about this. The expression Do not be deceived is often used as a rhetorical device in an argument (compare 1 Cor 6.9; 15.33; Gal 6.7) and can be rendered idiomatically as “Make no mistake about this” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “Do not be fooled” (the Good News Translation rendering of the same expression in 1 Cor 15.33). We may also translate this expression as “I want you to be very sure of this.” The word “this,” of course, will refer to the information in the following verses.

James often addresses the people who will receive the letter as brethren, and occasionally adds an adjective “beloved,” as here and at 1.19 and 2.5. Here brethren is obviously general and inclusive, and therefore may be rendered as “my dear friends” (Revised English Bible), or even better, “my dear brothers and sisters.”

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .