Know this, my beloved brethren: some translators and commentators (for example, Moffatt) have taken these words with the previous paragraph as its conclusion. However, most other translations have taken them to be an introduction to the new paragraph and have therefore placed a colon after them.
Instead of Know this King James Version has “Wherefore,” following a variant reading of late date. The more reliable manuscripts have a word that is a form of the verb “to know,” and this is followed by most modern commentators and translations. This verb presents a linguistic difficulty. It is sometimes taken as an indicative; for example, “This you know” (New American Standard Bible) and “All this you know” (Translator’s New Testament). Both New English Bible and Revised English Bible have apparently followed this interpretation by rendering “Of that you may be certain.” In this case the clause is often taken as the conclusion to what is said in verse 18. The majority of translations, however, have taken the verb as an imperative; for example, “You must understand this” (New Revised Standard Version), “Take note of this” (New International Version), and “Remember this” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). In this case the expression serves as an introductory formula for what the author goes on to say next. From the formal parallel with 2.5, where we again see a combination of an imperative and a vocative, the latter understanding is preferable.
The address my beloved brethren, as it is used in this letter, generally indicates that a new topic is being introduced. Here again the word brethren is generally understood to be an inclusive term and so is reflected in renderings like “my beloved” (New Revised Standard Version) or “my dear friends” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible; see the comments at James 1.2).
The author then proceeds to give a threefold admonition or warning, using three keywords whose themes are further developed: to hear in verses 22-25, to speak in 26-27, and to anger in 20-21. The admonition is proverbial, and the teaching is very common in the Wisdom literature (compare Pro 10.19; 13.3; 15.1; 17.27-28). This has led some to conclude that what James says here is a quotation of a proverbial saying. Whether this is so or not will not affect the translation (however, for readers of the Greek it can explain why an adversative particle meaning “but” [often left untranslated] is in the Greek text after the verb “let him be”—the suggestion is that it is part of the text of the original proverb).
The first piece of advice is Let every man be quick to hear. What the author says here is not “all men” but every man, emphasizing individuality. Here again the word man is to be understood inclusively, and it is therefore rendered by most translations as “everyone.” In some languages it will even be expressed as “each one of you.” The word quick is in contrast to slow, and this contrast is best kept in translation as far as possible. However, in languages where this sort of imagery is difficult to understand, we may render be quick to hear as “always be attentive and ready to listen” (compare Knox, “be ready listeners”).
There is a problem in that the verb “to hear” does not have an object. What is the object to be supplied? Is “to hear” to listen to something or to someone? Some scholars, referring to the origin of the admonition as a proverbial saying, claim that the saying is to be understood as general advice, meaning “listen to anyone or anything good” or “be ready to listen to arguments and explanations put forward by others, whether good or not.” Others, however, insist that the intended object is “the word of truth” in verse 18, or “the implanted word” in verse 21. While recognizing that the saying is most likely of proverbial origin with a general application, in this context the obvious great emphasis placed on the word word almost certainly suggests that the author is interested in some way to connect this advice with being ready listeners to the word—that is, the preached word of the Gospel. In some languages it will be necessary to supply this information and say “always be attentive and ready to listen to God’s message.”
In contrast, the second piece of advice says, the Christian must be slow to speak. This is a warning against an attitude of being too ready and eager to have something to say without due care and thought. The sort of person who acts like this is worse than a fool: “There is more hope for a stupid fool than for someone who speaks without thinking” (Pro 29.20, TEV). Here again the advice can be calling for restraint from giving general wisdom and instruction too eagerly, or in particular from being too eager to preach the word of God. The theme of the danger of speech is picked up again by James in 3.1-12. It is desirable here, as in the first advice, not to give this verb, speak, an object unless it is required in a particular language. In languages where a literal rendering of slow to speak will suggest “to speak slowly,” it is desirable to render this phrase as “do not speak rashly” or “do not rush hastily to speak.”
The third piece of advice is to be slow to anger, again a theme frequently mentioned in the Wisdom literature (Pro 15.1) and the New Testament (Col 3.8; Eph 4.26, 31). Since it seems somewhat unnatural that the author should bring up the theme of anger here, some scholars interpret this admonition as a saying added to intensify the meaning of what has been said. On this understanding the meaning is something like this: whoever is not able to master his own tongue also cannot control his temper. However, this interpretation doesn’t seem necessary, as the use of three-part sayings to aid memory is quite common. Obviously anger here does not mean a righteous indignation against wrongdoing or evil. It refers, more likely, to constant ill temper or hostility to other people. Some take this to mean hostility against God, but the context does not lend itself to this meaning. Here again, the saying may be taken as a prohibition against a general attitude, which is applicable to everyone. Or, if we understand the previous admonition as against preachers who are too eager to preach the word of God, the anger mentioned here could conceivably be understood as a sort of contempt against or hostility to others, arising out of a person’s arrogance and zeal for the word of God. In any case, if we give a more literal rendering, or try to stay close to the terse form of the original in translation, we will be on safe ground. Slow to anger may be expressed in a variety of ways; for example, “knows how to control his anger” or “does not get a hot heart [or, liver] quickly.”
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 .