YAC 1:16 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:12–18: God does not tempt people to do evil

This section has an opening verse (1:12)Some commentators connect 1:12 to 1:2–11 (Hiebert, for example). Others see 1:12 as a kind of “hinge” that connects 1:2–11 to 1:12–18 (Moo (2000), pages 71–72; McCartney, page 100). They recognize that 1:2–3 and 1:12 form an inclusio, or verbal bracket to 1:2–12 through the repetition in both of three key words: trials (πειρασμοῖς/πειρασμόν), testing (δοκίμιον/δόκιμος), and endurance (ὑπομονήν/ὑπομένει). and two main paragraphs (1:13–15 and 1:16–18). In 1:12 James recalled 1:2–3 and that it was important to persevere in times of trial and temptation. The next paragraph, 1:13–15, points out that it is not God who tempts us but our own sinful desires, which eventually lead to death. Paragraph 1:16–18 reinforces this by saying that God gives only good gifts.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Christians should endure testing and temptations

Trials and temptations

Paragraph 1:16–18

This paragraph gives more reasons that show why it is not God who tries to make people do evil. Everything good comes from God, and he never changes. So it is unthinkable that any bad thing could come from him. God wants to give us new life.

1:16

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

¶ My dear brothers and sisters, do^(plur) not be deceived/fooled.
¶ My beloved fellow believers, do^(plur) not have wrong/false ideas and think that God tempts us^(incl).

Do not be deceived: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as Do not be deceived means “do not go astray” or “do not have false ideas.” We should not deceive ourselves into thinking that God is the one who tempts us to do evil.

This phrase is passive. Some ways to translate this phrase are:

Use a passive verb. For example:
don’t be misled (NLT)
do not be fooled (NCV)
do not be deceived into thinking that God tempts us
Use an expression that is not passive. For example:
do not deceive yourselves
do not have false/wrong ideas

This expression is used elsewhere in the New Testament to warn Christians against ideas that are dangerously wrong (1 Corinthians 6:9, 15:33; Galatians 6:7).See also Luke 21:8; 1 John 3:7. See also Davids (1982), page 86; Martin, page 37, and see the note on the word “wander” in 5:19a.

my beloved brothers: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as my beloved brothers refers to believers in Christ to whom James was writing. It refers to both men and women. The similar phrase “my brothers” occurs in 1:2a.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

my dear fellow believers

my dear brothers and sisters (NET)

my beloved relatives/siblings in Christ

my beloved Christian friends

James used the term of address my beloved brothers to soften his command “Don’t be deceived.” You may have another way in your language to soften a command. If you do, you may be able to use it instead of the phrase my beloved brothers.

Notice that the BSB places the phrase my beloved brothers at the end of 1:16. This follows the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 1:16 before the command or after 1:17. For example:

My dear brothers and sisters, do not be fooled about this. (NCV)

beloved: The Greek word that the BSB translates as beloved is used because James was telling his fellow believers that he cared about them.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

μὴ πλανᾶσθε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μή πλανᾶσθε ἀδελφοί μού ἀγαπητοί)

James is speaking as if some deceptive guides were trying to lead his readers in the wrong direction. Alternate translation: [Do not be deceived]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

μὴ πλανᾶσθε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μή πλανᾶσθε ἀδελφοί μού ἀγαπητοί)

If your language does not use this passive form, you can express this with an active form. The meaning here is probably not truly passive. That is, even though James speaks as if someone else might lead his readers astray, that is probably not what he means. This could be: (1) a warning James’ readers not to lead themselves astray, that is, not to deceive themselves. That is the interpretation in UST. (2) a simple active meaning. Alternate translation: [Make no mistake about this]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

μὴ πλανᾶσθε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μή πλανᾶσθε ἀδελφοί μού ἀγαπητοί)

James is referring back to his statement in [1:13](../01/13.md) that God never desires to do evil and that God never leads anyone to do evil. Instead, as James will say in the next two verses, God gives only good things to people. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [Do not deceive yourselves, God is not evil, God is good] or [Make no mistake about this, God is not evil, God is good]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί

brothers (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μή πλανᾶσθε ἀδελφοί μού ἀγαπητοί)

See how you translated the term brothers in [1:2](../01/02.md). Alternate translation: [my dear fellow believers]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear YAC (JAM) 1:16

SR Greek word order

Section 1:12–18: God does not tempt people to do evil

Paragraph 1:16–18

1:16

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)