Bible Strands
James 2:10
Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — James addresses a community practicing favoritism, using the law to demonstrate that showing partiality constitutes transgression.
The words — τηρήσῃ (tērēsē, “may keep”) and πταίσῃ (ptaisē, “may stumble”) frame the contrast between maintaining the entire law and failing at a single point.
The thread — This principle aligns with Deuteronomy 27:26’s curse on those who do not keep the law, Matthew 5:18’s guarantee that not a stroke of the law will disappear, and Galatians 3:10’s warning that reliance on law-keeping places one under a curse.
Why it lands — It requires readers to treat the law as indivisible, making selective obedience equivalent to total violation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Cross-references
- Galatians 3:10 All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Matthew 5:18 For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
- Deuteronomy 27:26 ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’