4:8a

Draw near to God: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Draw near refers to approaching God in a spiritual sense. It means “Develop a close relationship with God.” It does not mean that we should change our physical location.

Consider how you speak of being in a good relationship with someone. If your readers will not understand the spiritual sense of Draw near, you will have to adjust how you express this idea. For example:

In your hearts come/go near to God
-or-
Know God better

4:8b

and He will draw near to you: The verb draw near is the same verb as in 4:8a. Some languages will use the same verb in both 4:8a and 4:8b. But other languages will use different verbs for “people going near to God” and “God coming near to them.” In any case, this does not mean that God actually changes his physical location. The verbs in 4:8a and 4:8b refer to our spiritual relationship with God.

If you made an adjustment to your translation of “Draw near” in 4:8a, you will also have to make an adjustment here. For example:

and he will reward/help you

4:8c–d

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded: This sentence has a grammatical structure called a parallelism. In this parallelism, 4:8c and 4:8d are poetic ways to say the same thing. The similar parts are underlined in the same way:

c
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,

dand purify your hearts, you double-minded

The phrase Cleanse your hands is similar in meaning to purify your hearts. The phrases you sinners and you double-minded are two ways to talk about the same group of people.

See the General Comment at the end of 4:8d to see examples of how to combine 4:8c–d.

4:8c

Cleanse your hands: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Cleanse your hands is a figure of speech. It is not a literal command to get some water and use it to clean their hands.

There are at least two ways to translate this phrase:

• Keep the figure of speech. For example:

Cleanse your hands (NET Bible)

• Translate the meaning without using a figure of speech. For example:

Clean up your lives. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
clean sin out of your lives (New Century Version)

Whichever way you translate this phrase, it is good to put the other option in a footnote.

you sinners: The phrase you sinners functions as a strong rebuke. It also strengthens James’ command about washing hands.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

You are sinners!
-or-
Realize that you have sinned. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
because you are sinners
-or-
and stop sinning

Notice that the Berean Standard Bible places the phrase you sinners at the end of 4:8c. This follows the word order in the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 4:8c.

sinners: The word sinners refers to people who habitually offend God by doing what is contrary to his law. The ways people may offend God include doing and thinking things that God does not approve. People may also offend God by their attitudes and by not doing what God wants them to do. Some ways to translate sinners are:

people who sin
-or-
people who do not obey God
-or-
wrongdoers

See also the note on “sin” at 1:15b.

4:8d

purify your hearts: The phrase purify your hearts is a metaphor. In this metaphor, removing sin from our lives is compared to purifying our hearts. The way that the two actions are similar is that something bad is removed.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the heart refers to a person’s thoughts and desires. So to purify one’s heart means to remove evil thoughts and desires.

Some ways to translate this phrase are:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

make your hearts pure (NET Bible)

In some cultures, an organ other than the heart may be used to describe the part of the person where thoughts and desires come from. For example:

Make your liver pure/good

• Translate the meaning without using a metaphor. For example:

make your thinking pure (New Century Version)

you double-minded: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as double-minded functions as a strong rebuke. It refers to people who seem to have two minds or hearts that are fighting each other. One mind wants to please God. The other mind wants to please the world, and so it is fighting God. If your language has an idiom for this term, consider using it here.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

you people who can’t make up your mind (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
You who are trying to follow God and the world at the same time (New Century Version)
-or-
because you are thinking two ways
-or-
and stop trying to follow both sin and God

Notice that the Berean Standard Bible places the phrase you double-minded at the end of 4:8d. This follows the word order in the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 4:8d.

This same word occurs in 1:8a.

General Comment on 4:8c–d

The parallel parts of 4:8c and 4:8d should be understood as repeating the same thought. So you sinners and you double-minded should not be understood as separate categories of people. If a parallel structure in your language wrongly implies different groups, you may need to combine the parallel parts in these lines. For example:

You^(plur) sinful people who are thinking two ways, clean your hands and your hearts.
-or-
You people who want to please both the world and God, remove evil thoughts and evil actions from your lives.

© 2012 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

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.