James 2:4

Read in context

James 2:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

3 If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,”

4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

Greek words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study James 2:4

Read the commentary on James 2

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

James 1:1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.

James 1:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

James 1:3

because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

James 1:4

Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:5

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

James 1:6

But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

James 1:7

That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 1:8

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:9

The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.

James 1:10

But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.

James 1:11

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

James 1:13

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.

James 1:14

But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.

James 1:15

Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James 1:16

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

James 1:18

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

James 1:19

My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

James 1:20

for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:21

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

James 1:22

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

James 1:23

For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,

James 1:24

and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

James 1:25

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:26

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

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.

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 58:1

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

Psalms 109:31

For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

Matthew 7:1

“Do not judge, or you will be judged.

Matthew 7:2

For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Matthew 7:3

Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?

Matthew 7:4

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?

Matthew 7:5

You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

John 7:24

Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”