Bible Strands
James 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — James addresses Jewish Christians in the diaspora who are entangled with the world and fighting among themselves (4:1–3), issuing this command immediately after telling them to submit to God and resist the devil (v. 7).
The words — ἐγγὺς (engys), "near," appears twice: first as an imperative command ("draw near"), then as a promise in the indicative ("He will draw near"), making the word the hinge of the whole sentence.
The thread — The reciprocal nearness echoes Psalms 145:18 and Malachi 3:7; the cleansing language parallels Hebrews 10:22, where a "sincere heart" and "hearts sprinkled clean" enable drawing near.
Why it lands — The verse demands two concrete acts—cleanse your hands, purify your hearts—and names the obstacle directly: double-mindedness. It is not an invitation to feel; it is a command to do.
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
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Cross-references
- Psalms 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Malachi 3:7 Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’
- Zechariah 1:3 So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
- Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- 2 Chronicles 15:2 So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
- Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Jeremiah 4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Ezekiel 36:25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Psalms 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.