1:20

for: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for introduces the reason that people should not get angry quickly. People should be slow to become angry (1:19d), for/because man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires (1:20). Another way to show this connection is:

I say this because

See also the General Comment on 1:19–20 at the end of 1:20 for an example of another way to begin this verse.

man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the righteousness that God desires is literally “the righteousness of God” (as in the Revised Standard Version). There are at least two ways to interpret this phrase:

(1) It refers to the righteous behavior/action that God desires from his people. For example, the God’s Word says:

An angry person doesn’t do what God approves of.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Century Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) It refers to God’s own righteous purposes and justice. Human anger does not achieve the right things that God himself intends to do in his people and in the world. For example, the Revised English Bible says:

For human anger does not promote God’s justice.

(Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, 1996 edition, Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the great majority of commentators follow this interpretation.

The phrase man’s anger does not bring about… indicates that man’s anger seriously hinders the righteousness of God.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

anger will not help you live the right kind of life God wants (New Century Version)
-or-
Anger makes it very hard for you to live the righteous life that God approves.
-or-
an angry person does not do what is right in God’s eyes
-or-
human anger does not help someone do the good/right things that God wants him to do

man’s: The word man here refers to any human being. It refers to both men and women. It means a human being in contrast to God. Another way to translate this word is:

human

anger: In some languages, it may be necessary to express anger as a verb or verb phrase. For example:

when people are angry….
-or-
if you become angry….
-or-
being angry….

General Comment on 1:19–20

In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of 1:19–20 and put the reason in 1:20 before the result in 1:19b–d. For example:

^19aMy beloved brothers, understand this: ²⁰man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. ^19bThat is why everyone should be quick to listen, ^19cslow to speak ^19dand slow to anger.

© 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.