peace (inner peace)

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The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:

In American Sign Language it is signed with a compound sign consisting of “become” and “silent.” (Source: Yates 2011, p. 52)


“Peace” in American Sign Language (source )

See also peace (absence of strife) and this devotion on YouVersion and this one on Bible Gateway .

complete verse (James 3:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of James 3:18:

  • Uma: “People who like harmony and seek harmony, their behavior follows God’s will.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Whoever is a person who reconciles/causes-to-be-good his companions he is figuratively like a farmer/person-habitually-planting. What he figuratively plants is his deeds that please his fellow-men. He does not quarrel and his conduct towards his companions is good. The outcome/result of that what he planted is straight/righteous deeds.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Peace is like a seed. Those who settle conflicts plant it, and righteous activities are the harvest it brings.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Those who get-along-together while at-the-same-time they stop-from-quarrelling their fellows who are quarrelling, it’s as if they plant peace and orderliness, and when that-aforementioned which they have planted grows, its fruit is a righteous way-of-life.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And as for those who can make a way which can cause reconciliation, when they persevere for the good being-friends of their fellowman, righteousness is the result of it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “He earnestly tries to make peace with those who want to argue with him, then they can live good lives afterwards.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Rincón Zapotec “And those who endeavor to set in quietness the things that happen, they live peaceably in order that all of them may be righteous.”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “If we make peace among our companions, then we will be at peace and will continually do good.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “And when we considerately reconcile our fellow men, it is as if we sowed seed that multiplies well more deeds that are good.” (Source for this and two above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” or “righteousness” (see below for a discussion of the English translation) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • Haroti (Hadauti): “blameless in God’s eyes” (source: Vikram Mukka in Christianity Today )
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “justice” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

The English translation of righteousness, especially in the New Testament is questioned by Nicholas Wolterstorff (2008, p. 110ff.) (Click or tap here to see the details)

Those who approach the New Testament solely through English translations face a serious linguistic obstacle to apprehending what these writings say about justice. In most English translations, the word “justice” occurs relatively infrequently. It is no surprise, then, that most English-speaking people think the New Testament does not say much about justice; the Bibles they read do not say much about justice. English translations are in this way different from translations into Latin, French, Spanish, German, Dutch — and for all I know, most languages.

The basic issue is well known among translators and commentators. Plato’s Republic, as we all know, is about justice. The Greek noun in Plato’s text that is standardly translated as “justice” is dikaiosunē (δικαιοσύνη); the adjective standardly translated as “just” is dikaios (δίκαιος). This same dik-stem occurs around three hundred times in the New Testament, in a wide variety of grammatical variants.

To the person who comes to English translations of the New Testament fresh from reading and translating classical Greek, it comes as a surprise to discover that though some of those occurrences are translated with grammatical variants on our word “just,” the great bulk of dik-stem words are translated with grammatical variants on our word “right.” The noun, for example, is usually translated as “righteousness,” not as “justice.” In English we have the word “just” and its grammatical variants coming horn the Latin iustitia, and the word “right” and its grammatical variants coining from the Old English recht. Almost all our translators have decided to translate the great bulk of dik-stem words in the New Testament with grammatical variants on the latter — just the opposite of the decision made by most translators of classical Greek.

I will give just two examples of the point. The fourth of the beatitudes of Jesus, as recorded in the fifth chapter of Matthew, reads, in the New Revised Standard Version, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The word translated as “righteousness” is dikaiosunē. And the eighth beatitude, in the same translation, reads “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Greek word translated as “righteousness” is dikaiosunē. Apparently, the translators were not struck by the oddity of someone being persecuted because he is righteous. My own reading of human affairs is that righteous people are either admired or ignored, not persecuted; people who pursue justice are the ones who get in trouble.

It goes almost without saying that the meaning and connotations of “righteousness” are very different in present-day idiomatic English from those of “justice.” “Righteousness” names primarily if not exclusively a certain trait of personal character. (…) The word in present-day idiomatic English carries a negative connotation. In everyday speech one seldom any more describes someone as righteous; if one does, the suggestion is that he is self-righteous. “Justice,” by contrast, refers to an interpersonal situation; justice is present when persons are related to each other in a certain way. There is, indeed, a long tradition of philosophical and theological discussion on the virtue of justice. But that use of the term has almost dropped out of idiomatic English; we do not often speak any more of a person as just. And in any case, the concept of the virtue of justice presupposes the concept of those social relationships that are just.

So when the New Testament writers speak of dikaiosunē, are they speaking of righteousness or of justice? Is Jesus blessing those who hunger and thirst for righteousness or those who hunger and thirst for justice?

A thought that comes to mind is that the word changed meaning between Plato and the New Testament. Had Jesus’ words been uttered in Plato’s time and place, they would have been understood as blessing those who hunger and thirst for the social condition of justice. In Jesus’ time and place, they would have been understood as blessing (hose who hunger and thirst for righteousness — that is, for personal moral rectitude.

Between the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament there came the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. (…) One of the challenges facing the Septuagint translators was how to catch, in the Greek of their day, the combination of mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) with tsedeq (צֶ֫דֶק). Tsedeq that we find so often in the Old Testament, standardly translated into English as justice and righteousness. The solution they settled on was to translate tsedeq as dikaiosunē, and to use a term whose home use was in legal situations, namely, krisis (κρίσις), to translate mishpat. Mishpat and tsedeq became krisis and dikaiosunē. For the most part, this is also how they translated the Hebrew words even when they were not explicitly paired with each other: mishpat (justice) becomes krisis, tsedeq (righteousness) becomes dikaiosunē. The pattern is not entirely consistent, however; every now and then, when mishpat is not paired off with tsedeq, it is translated with dikaiosunē or some other dik-stem word (e.g., 1 Kings 3:28, Proverbs 17:23, Isaiah 61:8).

I think the conclusion that those of us who are not specialists in Hellenistic Greek should draw from this somewhat bewildering array of data is that, in the linguistic circles of the New Testament writers, dikaiosunē did not refer definitively either to the character trait of righteousness (shorn of its negative connotations) or to the social condition of justice, but was ambiguous as between those two. If dikaiosunē had referred decisively in Hellenistic Greek to righteousness rather than to justice, why would the Septuagint translators sometimes use it to translate mishpat, why would Catholic translators [into the 1980s] usually translate it as “justice,” and why would all English translators sometimes translate it as “justice”? (All earlier Latin-based Catholic translations, the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible, both of which appeared in the early 1970s have most occurrences of dik-stem words translated with variants on “just.” In subsequent revisions of the New American Bible, and in the New Jerusalem Bible, these translations have been altered to translations along the lines of righteousness. Other translations that use a form of justice or “doing right / rightness” include the British New English Bible [1970] and Revised English Bible [1989] and some newer translations such as by Hart [2017], Ruden [2021] or McKnight [2023]).

Conversely, if it referred decisively to justice, why would the Septuagint translators usually not use it to translate mishpat, and why would almost all translators sometimes translate it as “righteousness”? Context will have to determine whether, in a given case, it is best translated as “justice” or as “righteousness” — or as something else instead; and if context does not determine, then it would be best, if possible, to preserve the ambiguity and use some such ambiguous expression as “what is right” or “the right thing.”

Let me make one final observation about translation. When one takes in hand a list of all the occurrences of dik-stem words in the Greek New Testament, and then opens up almost any English translation of the New Testament and reads in one sitting all the translations of these words, a certain pattern emerges: unless the notion of legal judgment is so prominent in the context as virtually to force a translation in terms of justice, the translators will prefer to speak of righteousness.

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Translation commentary on James 3:18

The harvest of righteousness is sown in peace: James finishes the chapter by reemphasizing the importance of peace. Apparently he is very much concerned about discord and rivalry in the Christian community created by those who do not have the wisdom from above. And so, in concluding the discussion of true wisdom, he wants to deal with the chaotic and quarrelsome situation by emphasizing the need for peace and harmony. Some scholars feel that this verse fits awkwardly in the present position, and that it could very well be an independent proverbial saying quoted to sum up the heavenly qualities. Be that as it may, it still serves well as an emphatic conclusion of the section.

This verse presents a number of problems in interpretation as well as in translation. The first problem is the expression the harvest of righteousness, literally “the fruit of righteousness.” This is a familiar expression in the Septuagint (Isa 32.16-18; Pro 11.30; Amos 6.12) and the New Testament (Phil 1.11; compare also 2 Cor 9.10). How should we understand the construction “A of B” here? It may be taken in two different ways.
(1) It is possible to take it as a subjective genitive or genitive of origin, namely “B is the source of A.” In this case it means “the fruit that grows out of righteousness,” or “the fruit that righteousness produces,” indicating that righteousness is the seed that bears the fruit. This understanding is reflected in a translation like “the harvest uprightness yields” (Goodspeed).
(2) It is also possible to take the expression as a genitive of definition, namely “A consists of B.” In this case the meaning is “the fruit that is, or consists of, righteousness.” This understanding, favored by most commentators and translators, appears to fit the context better and is recommended by this Handbook.

The second problem has to do with the meaning of the words harvest and righteousness. Strictly speaking what is sown is seed, not fruit or harvest; the harvest is what is gathered later. The same expression used in Pro 11.30 (Septuagint) also has this problem: “the fruit of righteousness grows the tree of life.” Here we would expect that the correct word to use would be “seed.” The word “fruit” then should be taken to mean “fruit seed” and is so understood by a number of translations; for example, “the seed whose fruit is righteousness” (New American Standard Bible; so also Japanese Franciscan Translation), “the seed-bed of righteousness” (Revised English Bible). If we want to keep the word “fruit” or harvest, we may have to use the verb “to produce” with it; for example, “goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds…” (Good News Translation).

The meaning of righteousness has been taken in various ways. It is sometimes understood to mean a right relationship with God, especially by those scholars who understand the “fruit of righteousness” as a subjective genitive, meaning that righteousness is the seed that bears the fruit. The reason is that to bear the right kind of fruit a person has to have the right relationship with God. It is, however, a bit awkward to say that a right relationship with God is sown in peace. Two possibilities remain. One is to take the word to mean, as in 1.20, the Christian character and conduct that is acceptable and pleasing to God. This is a rendering suitable to the context, and the word can be referring to the good qualities mentioned in verse 17. If so it may be rendered “goodness” (Good News Translation, Barclay) or “uprightness” (Goodspeed). The second possibility that commends itself in this context is to take righteousness as a term that has to do with interpersonal relationship, namely “justice.” In the Bible the word righteousness is often used side by side with the word peace (Psa 72.7; 85.10; Isa 32.17; Heb 12.11). This indicates two things. First, the two words are closely related in meaning; in fact they may even be considered the same in some contexts. For this reason some scholars propose that the “fruit of righteousness” is “peace.” Secondly, the two words are both relational terms. In this context peace means harmony and unity within the Christian community; and in this case righteousness is best taken as integrity and fairness, or as using those right and correct principles in dealing with other members of the community which make peace and harmony possible. Therefore the most suitable rendering appears to be “justice” in this context (so New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Contemporary English Version).

The next problem has to do with the expression in peace. Is it to be taken with righteousness or with the verb is sown? In Greek in peace follows right after righteousness, and so, it has been argued, it should be taken with the previous expression “the fruit of righteousness,” with the resultant rendering “the fruit of righteousness in peace” or “the fruit of righteousness that consists of peace.” The meaning of the first rendering is uncertain, and the Greek words would have to be forced to produce the second rendering. Most scholars and translators therefore take in peace with the verb is sown. The expression in peace may be understood in various ways; for example, “for peaceful purposes,” describing the purpose of sowing; “with peaceful means,” emphasizing the means; “in a peaceful atmosphere,” “in the spirit of peace” (New English Bible) or “peaceably” (Translator’s New Testament), showing the manner. The phrase is sown in peace may be rendered actively as “plant seeds of peace” (Contemporary English Version) or “spread peace as if planting seeds.”

By those who make peace: in Greek this phrase is in the dative case. Is it to be taken as a dative of agency rendered as “by those who make peace” (so Good News Translation, New English Bible, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée), or a dative of advantage translated as “for those who make peace” (so New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible)? Grammatically it is more natural to take the phrase as a dative of advantage. In this instance the fruit of righteousness is promised as a reward “for those who make peace.” There are a number of examples of the dative of agent in the New Testament, although this construction is often not recognized (compare Matt 6.18; James 3.7, 18). The argument for taking it as dative of agent is made stronger by the fact that the phrase comes right after the passive verb is sown. Another problem with this interpretation is that the expressions sown in peace and by those who make peace sound repetitious. However, we may explain this as a device that the author uses to create a rhetorical effect for emphasis. In spite of some oddities this interpretation appears to fit the context better on the whole. It suggests that the fruit (or, seed) of righteousness is produced (or, sown) by those who make peace. Those who make peace are people who actively promote unity, harmony, and the total well-being of the Christian community.

In interpreting this saying it is not necessary to press for precise equivalence in all the details. We need only to take the total meaning into consideration. While not abandoning other possibilities, the interpretation and therefore the resultant translation that appears to fit the context best is this:
• And harvest [or, seed] of justice is produced [or, sown] in a spirit of peace by those who promote peace.

We can restructure the sentence as:
• Justice is the harvest reaped by peacemakers from seeds sown in a spirit of peace (similarly New English Bible).

We can also restate this in an active form; for example:
• Peacemakers who sow peace in a spirit of peace will harvest justice.

If translators in certain languages cannot use the metaphor of “planting peace,” they may express this verse as:
• When peacemakers bring about peace between people, the result is that justice is done.

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on James 3:18

3:18a–b

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness: This sentence is a proverb. It also contains a metaphor. There are at least two main issues to consider as you translate this verse.

Issue 1: How to translate naturally

This Greek sentence is more literally “the fruit/harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by the ones making peace.” It may be strange to speak of a harvest being sown. So it may be more natural to speak of sowing seeds that result in a harvest. For example:

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))

Issue 2: How to translate the metaphor

The words sow and raise a harvest are a metaphor. James compared the activity of sowing (seeds) and harvesting a crop to the activity of a peacemaker. These activities are similar in that certain actions naturally lead to certain results. Just as planting a crop leads to a harvest, promoting peace among the community of believers leads to righteous actions in that community.

Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they will harvest justice. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

• Change the metaphor to a simile. For example:

Peacemakers are like people who plant and then harvest a crop. When they make/promote peace, it results in righteous actions.

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

When people live peacefully and help others to be at peace, then the result is righteous actions in their lives and the lives of others.

3:18a

Peacemakers who sow in peace: The phrase who sow in peace describes all peacemakers. It does not indicate that some peacemakers sow in peace and others do not.

Some ways to make this clear are:

When people who are peacemakers sow in peace
-or-
Peacemakers, because they sow in peace

Peacemakers: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Peacemakers is literally “those who make peace” (as in the Revised Standard Version). It refers to people who:

(a) live in peace with other people, and

(b) help others to stop quarreling and live together peacefully.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

People who live peacefully and who help others to live together peacefully
-or-
People who live in peace and who help others stop quarreling
-or-
Those who are peaceful and who settle conflicts

who sow in peace: The way you translate the phrase in peace will depend on whether you keep the metaphor or translate the meaning. For example:

• If you keep the metaphor, the word peace here refers to that which is sown. For example:

The peace sown by peacemakers (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
When peacemakers plant seeds of peace (Contemporary English Version)

• If you translate the meaning, the phrase in peace refers to the manner or attitude in which peacemakers act. In other words, peacemakers do things in a manner or attitude that leads to peace between people. For example:

When people live peacefully and help others to be at peace
-or-
When people behave in a peaceable way

3:18b

reap the fruit of righteousness: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as reap the fruit of righteousness is literally “a crop/harvest of righteousness.” It is a noun phrase. Some versions, like the Berean Standard Bible, translate it as a verb phrase. (Some other examples are below.)

The phrase the fruit of righteousness means “a harvest that consists of righteousness.” Right living that pleases God is the fruit or crop that is produced by wise people who sow peace.

The way you translate this phrase will depend on whether you keep the metaphor or translate the meaning. For example:

• If you keep the metaphor, you will translate the word harvest literally. For example:

reap a harvest of righteousness (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
they will harvest justice (Contemporary English Version)

• If you translate the meaning, you will translate the word fruit as “result” or “produce” or some similar word. For example:

then the result is righteous actions in their lives and the lives of others
-or-
it produces righteousness

righteousness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as righteousness means:

(a) actions that are right and good in God’s sight. Righteous actions will result when people live in peace with others and promote peace.

(b) acting in a right and fair way toward other people. Peaceful people who promote peace will reap justice in return.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

good acts/behavior
-or-
right deeds
-or-
goodness (Good News Translation)

Paragraph 4:1–3

In this paragraph, James discussed why Christian people quarrel with each other. He introduced this topic by means of a rhetorical question (4:1a). He then responded to his question, using another rhetorical question (4:1b). Christians quarrel because they selfishly desire things. In 4:2–3 he explained the answer in more detail.

4:1a

What causes conflicts and quarrels among you?: This is a rhetorical question. James used this rhetorical question to introduce a new topic. He wanted his readers to think about what was causing people in the church to quarrel and fight with one another.

Some ways to introduce this new topic are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? (Good News Translation)

• As a command/imperative form to draw the readers’ attention to the new topic. For example:

Now consider what causes you(plur) to fight…
-or-
Think about why you(plur) fight….

• As a statement expressing James’ wish. For example:

I want you(plur) to think about why you fight.

Use a natural way in your language to introduce this new topic.

What causes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as What causes is more literally “From where.” For example:

Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? (NET Bible)

The conflicts and quarrels come from inside people. So in some languages, it is more natural to say:

What causes…
-or-
Why do you fight and argue with each other? (Contemporary English Version)

conflicts and quarrels: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as conflicts and quarrels refer to serious conflicts. These words can refer to both physical fighting and verbal arguments.

Some other ways to translate these words are:

fights and arguments (New Century Version)
-or-
conflicts and disputes (New Revised Standard Version)

Notice the plural forms. This shows that these conflicts were happening frequently. James was not thinking of just one problem.

In some languages, it will be more natural to translate these nouns as verbs. For example:

you fight and quarrel so often

The words conflicts and quarrels are a doublet. This means that these two words mean almost the same thing. In some languages, both words can be translated by one word. For example:

Where do your frequent conflicts come from?

among you: The phrase among you indicates that James was talking about quarrels and disputes among Christian people.

4:1b–c

Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?: This is a rhetorical question. It is a response to the rhetorical question in 4:1a. James used this rhetorical question to emphasize that the fights and quarrels came from people’s evil desires.

Some ways to translate this emphasis are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
They come from your(plur) desires that battle within you, right?

• As a statement. For example:

They come from the selfish desires that war within you. (New Century Version)

Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.

James was not informing his readers of something they did not know. He was reminding them of something they already knew.

4:1b

they: The pronoun they refers to the “fights and quarrels” in 4:1a.

come from: Use a verb that corresponds with the verb in 4:1a. For example, if you used the verb “come from” in 4:1a, you can use come from here. If you used the verb “causes” in 4:1a, you may want to use “caused” here. For example:

Aren’t they caused by…? (God’s Word)

the passions: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as passions here refers to wrong, selfish desires. These passions are desires for personal wealth, glory, and pleasure.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

selfish desires (God’s Word)
-or-
desires for pleasure (Good News Translation)

In some languages, it is more natural to translate the phrase the passions with a clause. For example:

you(plur) selfishly desire to have
-or-
you(plur) really want

4:1c

at war within you: The clause at war within you refers to your desires “which are constantly fighting within you.” (Good News Translation)

This clause is a figure of speech called personification. The word “passions” in 4:1b is the subject of the word war. It is as if the “passions” were people who could fight.

There are at least two ways to translate this personification:

• Keep the figure of speech. For example:

that fight to control you (God’s Word)

• Translate the meaning of the figure. For example:

that are opposed/contrary to what you should want
-or-
that are against your desire to do good

The text does not state against whom or against what the desires of the person are fighting. There are basically three interpretations:

(1) The desires in a person are fighting a war against his conscience or his soul. The struggle is inside him. (Interpretation (1) is supported by Mayor, page 129; Adamson (1976), page 166; Hiebert, page 244; Davids (1982), page 157; Moo (1985), page 139.)

(2) The desires in a person are fighting a war against other people as he tries to do what pleases God and not what pleases them. (Interpretation (2) is supported by Alford, page 312; Huther, page 127; Ropes, page 253; Martin, page 140.)

(3) The different desires in a person are fighting a war with each other inside the person. (Interpretation (3) is supported by Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English and by Laws, page 168.)

English versions do not say whom the desires are fighting. If you must be specific, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

within you: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as within you can also be translated as:

inside you (NET Bible)
-or-
in your(plur) hearts
-or-
in your(plur) souls/spirits

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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.