11For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “you shall not commit adultery” is translated in Toraja-Sa’dan with an established figure of speech: Da’ mupasandak salu lako rampanan kapa’ or “you shall not fathom the river of marriage” (i.e “approach the marriage relationship of another.”) (Source: H. van der Veen in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 21 ff. ).
In Hakha Chin the usual term for “adultery” applies only to women, so the translation in Hakha Chin is “do not take another man’s wife and do not commit adultery.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “You shall not kill/murder” or similar in English is translated in Una as Ninyi ona mem: “Don’t kill people” because in Una an object needed to be added. (Source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
Following are a number of back-translations of James 2:11:
Uma: “For there is a command of the Lord that says: ‘Don’t commit-adultery.’ And there is another command of his that says: ‘Don’t kill.’ So, even though we don’t commit-adultery, but if we do murder, we are still breaking the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “For God says in his law, ‘Don’t commit adultery’ and he also says, ‘Do not kill.’ Even if you don’t commit adultery but if you kill you have just the same broken the law of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For the one who said, ‘Do not commit adultery against your spouse,’ he is also the one who said, ‘Do not murder.’ And even though you have not committed adultery against your spouse, if you have murdered, you have transgressed the whole Law, for the one who commanded all those laws is only one.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because the God who commanded, ‘Don’t (sing.) commit-adultery,’ he also commanded, ‘Don’t (sing.) murder.’ So for-example, if you (pl.) have managed not to commit-adultery-with-women or commit-adultery-with-men but you have murdered one of your fellows, you have nevertheless already-broken the law.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For example, God commanded saying, ‘Do not behave-immorally with one not your (sing.) spouse.’ And he too is the one who commanded, ‘Do not kill your (sing.) fellowman.’ Well, you (sing.) truly aren’t behaving-immorally, but supposing you (sing.) kill someone, of course you (sing.) are now a sinner, for you (sing.) have indeed broken the law.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “God himself said: ‘Do not commit adultery.’ And again he said, ‘Do not kill people.’ Then if a person does not commit adultery but kills, then he rejects what is said in the law.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
In this verse James proceeds to give an example of what he means when he says that the Law must be considered a unity, an indivisible whole. The individual commandments are all part of the unified whole, reflecting the will of one and the same God. Therefore no matter which commandment is broken, God’s will is violated.
For …: the particle indicates that James is continuing his explanation. It is causal and therefore may be rendered as “Because….” The construction he who said … said also shows that both commandments came from the same person, thus supporting the unity of the Law explained in the previous verse. The pronoun he refers to God. This may have to be made clearer in some languages; for example, “For the same God who said…” or “The same God who told us…” (Contemporary English Version).
The command Do not commit adultery (Exo 20.14) means basically “do not have intercourse with another man’s wife.” But in the New Testament context a more general term is needed that covers illicit sexual relations between people who are married to someone else; for example, “Do not have intercourse with another person’s spouse.” Most languages have euphemistic ways of talking about adultery: for example, “sleep with another person’s spouse,” “be with…,” “stay and eat with…,” and so on. And in some languages adultery may be translated as “be unfaithful to your spouse.”
Do not kill (Exo 20.13) forbids an Israelite to murder a fellow Jew. Here again a more inclusive rendering is preferable, such as simply “Do not commit murder” (Good News Translation). The expression chosen by translators for the word kill or “murder” should refer to deliberate or premeditated killing that is not condoned by society. So killing in warfare or defending tribal or clan rights, or even executions, should not be included in the term used for “murder.”
What James goes on to say is literally “but if you do not commit adultery, but kill.” The meaning of the argument is clear. In some translations the force of the first “but” is sometimes taken as a “now” (so Goodspeed, New Revised Standard Version), as a form of argument. But it is perhaps best to leave it untranslated. More important, however, is the force of If. It is best taken here in the sense of “Although” or “Even if” (so Good News Translation, New American Bible). The rendering of Good News Bible is the most natural structure in English. In some other languages, however, the order of the clauses in the Greek original, reflected in Revised Standard Version, is more natural; thus “Although you do not commit adultery, if you commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”
Possible alternative translation models for this verse include:
• For the same God who said, “Do not commit adultery [or, have intercourse] with another person’s spouse,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” So even if you do not commit adultery, but commit murder, you have still disobeyed God’s Law.
• The same God who commanded us to be faithful to our spouses also commanded us not to murder. So even if you are faithful to your spouse, but murder someone, you still have broken God’s Law.
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 .
“Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”: The Greek phrases that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Do not commit adultery and Do not murder are commands. Here these commands are singular just as they are in the Old Testament in Hebrew. God gave these commands to each Israelite.
In some languages, people do not use a singular form to give a general command like this. Use whatever form is natural in your language for giving this type of general command. For example:
You(plur) must not commit adultery. You(plur) must not murder.
-or-
People must not commit adultery. People must not murder.
Also, in some languages, it may be more natural to use indirect speech here. For example:
The same God who told us to be faithful in marriage also told us not to murder. (Contemporary English Version)
2:11a
For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces an example of the statement that James made in 2:10. That statement is, “If you break one law, you are guilty of breaking all the law.”
In some languages, a conjunction will not be necessary here.
He who said: The word He refers to God. Some other ways to translate this clause are:
For the same God who said (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
Because God said both
“Do not commit adultery,”: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as commit adultery refers to a man or woman having sexual relations with someone who is married to someone else. It also refers to a married person having sexual relations with anyone other than their spouse.
Many languages have hidden ways of saying adultery that are understood but do not embarrass people when it is read in public. For example:
do not behave immorally with one not your spouse
-or-
be faithful in marriage (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Do not have sexual relations with anyone who is not your spouse
The same word occurs in Matthew 5:27; Luke 18:20; and Romans 13:9.
2:11b
“Do not murder.”: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as murder means “kill someone deliberately.” Some ways to translate this phrase are:
Do not kill
-or-
Do not purposefully cause someone to die
-or-
Do not intentionally slay someone
2:11c–e
If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker: James used an “if” clause to begin a specific example of his principle in 2:10. (The principle is that someone who breaks one point of the law breaks the entire law.) In some languages, it may be more natural to begin a specific example without using an “if” clause. For example:
11cSomeone who does not commit adultery, 11dbut commits murder, 11eis still a lawbreaker.
2:11e
you have become a lawbreaker: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you have become could also be translated as “you are.” It emphasizes the person’s situation.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
you are a breaker of the law (Revised English Bible)
-or-
you are guilty of breaking God’s law
-or-
you are a person who does not obey God’s laws
-or-
you are a person who does not do what God says to do
General Comment on 2:11c–e
In some languages, it may be natural to reorder these verse parts as the Revised English Bible has done:
11cIf you commit murder 11eyou are a breaker of the law, 11deven if you do not commit adultery as well.
General Comment on 2:10–11
In some languages, James’ explanation will be clearer if some clauses in 2:10 and 2:11 are reordered. His explanation may also be clearer if some information is made explicit. For example:
10bAnyone who stumbles at just one point of the law10cis guilty of breaking all of it 10aeven if he keeps the rest of the law. 11dFor example, if someone commits murder 11cbut never commits adultery, 11ehe is a lawbreaker 11bbecause God told us both not to murder and 11anot to commit adultery. So that is why, when you show favoritism, you are breaking the law. You are not following God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself.
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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.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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