YAC 2:15 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=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, 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 To illustrate, suppose that a fellow believer, whether a man or a woman, is continually lacking clothes and food for each day.

AICNT [[But]][fn] If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food,

2:15, But: Later manuscripts add. BYZ TR

OEB Suppose some brother or sister should be in need of clothes and of daily bread,

WEBBE And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

WMBB (Same as above)

MSG ^(14-17)Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

NET If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,

LSV And if a brother or sister may be naked, and may be destitute of daily food,

FBV If a brother or sister doesn't have clothes, or food for the day,

TCNT If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,

T4T To illustrate, suppose that fellow believers, either men or women, don’t have enough clothing or food for each day.

LEB If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day,

BBE If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food,

Moff Suppose some brother or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food;

Wymth Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or lacks daily food,

ASV If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food,

DRA And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food:

YLT and if a brother or sister may be naked, and may be destitute of the daily food,

Drby Now if a brother or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

RV If a brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food,

SLT And if a brother or sister be naked, and be failing of daily food,

Wbstr If a brother or sister is naked, and destitute of daily food,

KJB-1769 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

KJB-1611 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of dayly foode,
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps If a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of dayly foode,
(If a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,)

Gnva For if a brother or a sister bee naked and destitute of daily foode,
(For if a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food, )

Cvdl If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of dayly fode,
(If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of daily food,)

TNT If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of dayly fode
(If a brother or a sister be naked or destitute of daily fode )

Wycl And if a brother ethir sister be nakid, and han nede of ech daies lyuelode,
(And if a brother either sister be naked, and have need of each days lyuelode,)

Luth So aber ein Bruder oder Schwester bloß wäre und Mangel hätte der täglichen Nahrung,
(So but a brother or sister just were and shortage would_have the/of_the daily food,)

ClVg Si autem frater et soror nudi sint, et indigeant victu quotidiano,
(When/But_if however brother and sister nudi let_them_be, and indigeant victu quotidiano, )

UGNT ἐὰν ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν, καὶ λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς,
(ean adelfos aʸ adelfaʸ gumnoi huparⱪōsin, kai leipomenoi taʸs efaʸmerou trofaʸs,)

SBL-GNT ⸀ἐὰν ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν καὶ ⸀λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς,
(⸀ean adelfos aʸ adelfaʸ gumnoi huparⱪōsin kai ⸀leipomenoi taʸs efaʸmerou trofaʸs,)

RP-GNT Ἐὰν δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσιν καὶ λειπόμενοι ὦσιν τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς,
(Ean de adelfos aʸ adelfaʸ gumnoi huparⱪōsin kai leipomenoi ōsin taʸs efaʸmerou trofaʸs,)

TC-GNT Ἐὰν [fn]δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ γυμνοὶ ὑπάρχωσι καὶ λειπόμενοι [fn]ὦσι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς,
(Ean de adelfos aʸ adelfaʸ gumnoi huparⱪōsi kai leipomenoi ōsi taʸs efaʸmerou trofaʸs, )

2:15 δε ¦ — CT

2:15 ωσι ¦ — NA²⁷ SBL TH WH

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:14–26: Faith without good deeds is useless

In this section, James emphasized that true faith in Jesus is a matter of both believing and doing good deeds. There is no such thing as faith without good deeds to go with it. It is the good deeds that demonstrate that there is true faith. Faith without good deeds is not true faith at all.

James used examples from the lives of Rahab and Abraham to show that faith and good deeds always go together.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Faith and good deeds

If you really believe/trust you will also do good deeds

Real faith is proved by good deeds.

Paragraph 2:14–17

In this paragraph, James used three rhetorical questions to emphasize that faith without good deeds is useless.

2:15a

Suppose a brother or sister

Suppose that there is a fellow believer, man or woman,
If there is a Christian brother or sister

Suppose: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Suppose is literally “If” (as in the RSV). This word introduces an example of faith without good deeds. Consider how your language naturally introduces an example. For example:

For example

For instance

If it happens

a brother or sister: The phrase a brother or sister refers to a male or female fellow-believer. Notice that James explicitly includes women here.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

A brother or sister in Christ (NCV)

a believer, whether a man or a woman (GW)

2:15b

is without clothes and daily food.

and he or she does not have enough clothes and food for that day.
who needs clothes and food,

without clothes and daily food: The phrase daily food means that the person did not have enough food even for that day.See Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, page 269; F. Field, Notes on the Translation of the New Testament, page 236. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

needs…food (GW)

lacks daily food (NET)

with not enough food for the day (REB)

don’t have enough to eat (GNT)

without clothes: The Greek word that the BSB translates as without clothes here means “does not have enough clothes to keep him warm.”

In the Bible lands, it is often cold, especially at night, and one of the chief functions of a person’s clothes is to keep him warm. (See Exodus 22:26–27). It is clear from the phrase “keep warm” in 2:16 that this is what James has in mind.

Some other ways to translate this word are:

needs clothes (GW)

is poorly clothed (NET)

does not have enough clothes to keep warm

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / hypo

ἐὰν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐάν ἀδελφός ἤ ἀδελφή γυμνοί ὑπάρχωσιν καί λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς)

James is using a hypothetical situation to teach. He begins to describe the condition in this verse. He describes the rest of the condition and the result in the next verse. Alternate translation: [Suppose]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἀδελφὸς ἢ ἀδελφὴ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐάν ἀδελφός ἤ ἀδελφή γυμνοί ὑπάρχωσιν καί λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς)

As everywhere else in the book, the term brother refers to a fellow believer. In every other instance, the term can mean either a man or a woman. But in this verse James uses brother to mean a believer who is a man and sister to mean a believer who is a woman. If your language has both masculine and the feminine forms of the word you have been using to translate “brother,” you can use them both here. Otherwise, you could use an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [another man or woman who believes in Jesus]

γυμνοὶ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐάν ἀδελφός ἤ ἀδελφή γυμνοί ὑπάρχωσιν καί λειπόμενοι τῆς ἐφημέρου τροφῆς)

The word unclothed can mean “naked,” and if a Bible translation already exists in your area, it may say that. But in this context, the word actually refers to lacking adequate clothes. Alternate translation: [badly clothed]

Parallel YAC 2:15

Section 2:14–26: Faith without good deeds is useless

Paragraph 2:14–17

2:15a

2:15b