Bible Strands
James 2:4
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — James addresses his readers in the middle of a rebuke regarding their treatment of wealthy and poor visitors. He confronts them at the exact moment they are practicing partiality in their gathering.
The words — διεκρίθητε (diekrithēte) literally means were discriminated or divided, and κριταὶ (kritai) means judges. The text states the group has fractured itself and assumed the role of partial evaluators.
The thread — The prohibition against partial judgment appears in Job 34:19, which notes God does not favor the rich over the poor, and John 7:24, which commands stopping judgment by outward appearances. Matthew 7:1 similarly warns against passing judgment on others.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate cessation of favoritism and requires readers to treat all people without partial evaluation. It asks for impartial conduct that aligns with God’s selection of the poor.
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
Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Cross-references
- John 7:24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
- Job 34:19 who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.
- Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you will be judged.
- Psalms 58:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
- Psalms 82:2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
- Malachi 2:9 “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”
- James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
- Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
- Psalms 109:31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.
- James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.