Section 1:19–27

Believers should accept the word of God and obey it

In this section, James emphasized the importance of obeying the word of God. There are three paragraphs: 1:19–21, 1:22–25, and 1:26–27.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Hearing and Doing the Word (English Standard Version)
-or-
Christians must listen to God’s message and obey it (UBS Handbook)

Paragraph 1:19–21

Believers should get rid of sin and obey the word of God.

1:19a

My beloved brothers: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as My beloved brothers refers to believers in Christ. It refers to both men and women. James loved these believers. This phrase also occurs in 1:16. See the note there for translation advice.

James used this phrase to introduce the subject of controlling one’s speech. He also used this phrase to soften his command (“understand this”) and to make it more polite. You may have another way in your language to introduce a change of subject or to soften a command. If you do, you may be able to use it instead of the phrase My beloved brothers.

understand this: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as understand this is literally “know” (as in the Revised Standard Version). (Instead of the verb “know,” some Greek manuscripts have the conjunction that the King James Version translates as “wherefore.” The reading “know” is strongly supported by a variety of manuscripts and the majority of English versions.) James was telling his readers to be attentive to what he was about to write.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

take note of this (New International Version (2011 Revision))
-or-
remember this (God’s Word)
-or-
do not forget

In some languages, it is not necessary to translate this word. For example the Contemporary English Version says:

aMy dear friends, byou should be quick to listen…

1:19b

Everyone should be quick to listen: The phrase quick to listen means:

ready to listen
-or-
eager to listen

In some languages, it may be more natural to use the second person plural “you” in giving a command like this. For example:

you should be quick to listen
-or-
always be willing to listen (New Century Version)

James was mainly referring to listening to “the word of truth” (1:18). But he stated his command in a general way. So if you need to provide an object for the verb listen in your language, use a general word like “talk” or “words.” For example:

Everyone should listen to others’ words/talk
-or-
Everyone should eagerly listen to what is said

1:19c

slow to speak: The phrase slow to speak means “take time to think carefully before speaking.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

Everyone should think before he speaks
-or-
you should not be quick to speak

This phrase does not refer to speaking slowly rather than quickly.

1:19d

slow to anger: The phrase slow to anger means “do not quickly/easily become angry.”

Some languages have an idiom to describe anger. An example of an idiom in English is:

No one should be hot-tempered
-or-
you should not be quick-tempered

© 2012 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.