YAC 1:22 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

UST It is important to what God commands, do not just listen to it. People who only listen to it and do not obey it are fooling themselves into thinking that this will save them.

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

AICNT But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

OEB Put that message into practice, and do not merely listen to it – deceiving yourselves.

CSB But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

NLT But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

NIV Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

CEV Obey God's message! Don't fool yourselves by just listening to it.

ESV But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

NASB But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

LSB But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

WEBBE But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

WMBB (Same as above)

MSG ^(22-24)Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

NET But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.

LSV and become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,

FBV But do what the word says—don't just listen to it and delude yourselves.

TCNT But be doers of the word and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

T4T Do what God commands in his message. Do not only listen to it, because people who only listen to it and do not obey it are wrong when they think that God will save them.

LEB But be doers of the message and not hearers only,[fn] deceiving yourselves,

1:22 Some manuscripts have “not only hearers”

NRSV But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

NKJV But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

NAB Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

BBE But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas.

Moff Act on the Word, instead of merely listening to it and deluding yourselves.

Wymth But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.

ASV But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.

DRA But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

YLT and become ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,

Drby But be ye doers of [the] word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves.

RV But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.
(But be ye/you_all doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves. )

SLT And be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Wbstr But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

KJB-1769 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
(But be ye/you_all doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. )

KJB-1611 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, deceiuing your owne selues.
(But be ye/you_all doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiuing your own selves.)

Bshps And be ye doers of the worde, and not hearers only, deceauyng your owne selues.
(And be ye/you_all doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceauing your own selves.)

Gnva And be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, deceiuing your owne selues.
(And be ye/you_all doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiuing your own selves. )

Cvdl And se that ye be doers of ye worde & not heares only, deceauinge youre awne selues.
(And see that ye/you_all be doers of ye/you_all word and not heares only, deceauinge your(pl) own selves.)

TNT And se that ye be doars of the worde and not hearers only deceavinge youre awne selves with sophistrie
(And see that ye/you_all be doars of the word and not hearers only deceavinge your(pl) own selves with sophistrie )

Wycl But be ye doeris of the word, and not hereris oneli, disseiuynge you silf.
(But be ye/you_all doeris of the word, and not hereris only, disseiuing yourself.)

Luth Seid aber Täter des Worts und nicht Hörer allein, damit ihr euch selbst betrüget.
(Are/Be but Täter the word and not hearer alone, with_it/so_that you(pl)/their/her you himself/itself betrüget.)

ClVg Estote autem factores verbi, et non auditores tantum: fallentes vosmetipsos.
(Estote however doneres words, and not/no listeners only: fallentes you(pl)metipsos. )

UGNT γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀκροαταὶ παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς.
(ginesthe de poiaʸtai logou, kai maʸ monon akroatai paralogizomenoi heautous.)

SBL-GNT Γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου καὶ μὴ ⸂ἀκροαταὶ μόνον⸃ παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς.
(Ginesthe de poiaʸtai logou kai maʸ ⸂akroatai monon⸃ paralogizomenoi heautous.)

RP-GNT Γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀκροαταί, παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς.
(Ginesthe de poiaʸtai logou, kai maʸ monon akroatai, paralogizomenoi heautous.)

TC-GNT Γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου, καὶ μὴ [fn]μόνον ἀκροαταί, παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς.
(Ginesthe de poiaʸtai logou, kai maʸ monon akroatai, paralogizomenoi heautous. )

1:22 μονον ακροαται 93.8% ¦ ακροαται μονον ECM^† SBL WH 4.6%

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, orange:accents differ, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:19–27: Believers should accept the word of God and obey it

In this section, James emphasized the importance of obeying the word of God. There are three paragraphs: 1:19–21, 1:22–25, and 1:26–27.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Hearing and Doing the Word (ESV)

Christians must listen to God’s message and obey it (UBS)

Paragraph 1:22–25

Believers must not forget the word of God that they had heard. They must do/obey it.

1:22

In 1:22, there are three clauses in Greek. The BSB follows the Greek order but some other English versions change the Greek order of these clauses. Compare the order of the clauses in the BSB and NIV below.

^22aBe doers of the word, ^22band not hearers only, ^22c…deceiving yourselves. (BSB)

^22bDo not merely listen to the word, ^22cand so deceive yourselves. ^22aDo what it says. (NIV)

You should arrange the clauses in 1:22 in a way that is natural in your language. See the General Comment at the end of 1:22c for more discussion on reordering these clauses.

In Greek, this verse begins with a conjunction that means “But” in some contexts. Some English versions have translated it as “But” here. However, in this context, it is not indicating a contrast. It simply introduces the next point about the “word.” So, in many languages, no conjunction is necessary here.

1:22a

Be doers of the word,

Be^(plur) doers of the word.
Do^(plur) what the word says/commands.
You^(plur) must also follow/obey it.

Be doers of the word: The clause Be doers of the word refers to those who always do what God’s word tells them to do. Such people put the word’s teaching into practice and regularly obey its commands.

Translate this clause in such a way that the action is habitual, repeated action.

Some other ways to translate this are:

Do what it says (NIV)

put it into practice (GNT)

obey God’s message (CEV)

the word: The Greek word that the BSB translates as the word refers to the gospel.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

God’s word (NLT)

God’s message

The same word occurs in 1:18a and 1:21c.

1:22b

and not hearers only.

¶ Do not only be^(plur) hearers of the word,
¶ Do not only hear^(plur) the word of God
¶ Do not just listen^(plur) to the good news

and not hearers only: The clause and not hearers only indicates that it is not enough to just listen to someone preaching or reading from the word of God.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

Do not only be hearers of the word

don’t just listen to God’s word (NLT)

You must do more than just hear God’s word/message

Do not limit yourselves to just hearing the gospel

Be careful not to translate this in a way that implies that it is not good to listen to the word.

not hearers only: The phrase hearers only refers to those who only hear the gospel teaching. They never do what it tells them to do.

In many languages, the usual word for “hear” includes the idea of obeying. If this is so in your language, be careful here to use an expression that describes hearing without obeying.

1:22c

Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

and deceive yourselves and think that just hearing is sufficient.
or you will fool yourselves. (GW)

Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as deceiving yourselves can also be translated as “fool yourselves.” It refers to wrong thinking that leads a person astray. Anyone who just listens to the message of the gospel but does not obey its commands is mistaken if he thinks that God is pleased.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

or you will fool yourselves (GW)

and lie to yourselves

General Comment on 1:22a–c

In Greek and the BSB, a clause with a positive command (“Be doers of the word”) comes first. This is followed by a clause with a negative command (“do not only be hearers”). The NIV reverses the order of the positive and negative commands. Use the order that is most natural in your language.

Another possible way to translate the verse is:

He who hears the word and does not do what it says is deceiving himself. Therefore you should be people who both hear and do, not people who only hear.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

δὲ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γίνεσθε Δέ ποιηταί λόγου καί μή μόνον ἀκροαταί παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς)

But draws a contrast not with what James has just said, but with a potential misunderstanding of what he has just said. He wants to clarify that by “receive the implanted word” he does not mean simply to believe it, but to put it into practice. It may be appropriate in your language to translate the word but with an expression that introduces a clarification. Alternate translation: [Now]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

γίνεσθε δὲ ποιηταὶ λόγου, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀκροαταὶ

˓be˒_becoming (Some words not found in SR-GNT: γίνεσθε Δέ ποιηταί λόγου καί μή μόνον ἀκροαταί παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς)

At the end of this clause, James is leaving out some of the words that it would need in many languages in order to be complete. These words can be supplied from earlier in the clause. Alternate translation: [be doers of the word and not only hearers of the word]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

γίνεσθε & ποιηταὶ λόγου, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀκροαταὶ

˓be˒_becoming & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: γίνεσθε Δέ ποιηταί λόγου καί μή μόνον ἀκροαταί παραλογιζόμενοι ἑαυτούς)

James is using the term word to describe the message about Jesus that was conveyed by using words. Alternate translation: [obey the message about Jesus, do not just listen to it]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀκροαταὶ