YAC 2:19 Parallel Verse View

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

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject.
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).

ULT You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and they tremble.

UST Let me illustrate how believing in God without doing what God wants you to do cannot save you. You believe that there is only one true God. You are right to believe that. But the demons also believe that, and they shake with fear because they also know that the one true God is going to punish them.

BSB You believe that God is one.[fn] Good for you! Even the demons believe [that]—and shudder.

BLB You believe that God is one. You are doing well! Even the demons believe that, and shudder!

AICNT You believe that God is one.[fn] You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

2:19, God is one: Or there is one God.

OEB It is a part of your faith, is it not, that there is one God? Good; yet even the demons have that faith, and tremble at the thought.

WEBBE You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that – and tremble with fear.

LSV You believe that God is one; you do well! The demons also believe—and shudder!

FBV You believe that God is one God? That's great—but demons believe in God too, and they're scared of him!

TCNT Yoʋ believe that God is one; yoʋ do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

T4T Think about it! You believe that there is only one God, and you are right to believe that. But the demons also believe that, but they tremble with fear because they know that God is going to punish them.

LEB You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder!

BBE You have the belief that God is one, and you do well: the evil spirits have the same belief, shaking with fear.

Moff You believe in one God? Well and good. So do the devils, and they shudder.

Wymth You believe that God is one, and you are quite right: evil spirits also believe this, and shudder."

ASV Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder.

DRA Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble.

YLT thou — thou dost believe that God is one; thou dost well, and the demons believe, and they shudder!

Drby Thou believest that [fn]God is one. Thou doest well. The demons even believe, and tremble.

2.19 Elohim

RV Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and shudder.
(Thou/You believest/believe that God is one; thou/you dost/do well: the devils also believe, and shudder. )

SLT Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: and the evil spirits believe, and shudder.

Wbstr Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and tremble.

KJB-1769 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
(Thou/You believest/believe that there is one God; thou/you dost/do well: the devils also believe, and tremble. )

KJB-1611 Thou beleeuest that there is one God, thou doest well: the deuils also beleeue, and tremble.
(Thou/You believest that there is one God, thou/you dost/do well: the devils also believe, and tremble.)

Bshps Beleuest thou that there is one God? Thou doest well. The deuyls also beleue, and tremble.
(Beleuest thou/you that there is one God? Thou/You dost/do well. The devils also believe, and tremble.)

Gnva Thou beleeuest that there is one God: thou doest well: the deuils also beleeue it, and tremble.
(Thou/You believest that there is one God: thou/you dost/do well: the devils also believe it, and tremble. )

Cvdl Beleuest thou yt ther is one God? Thou doest well. The deuils also beleue and tremble.
(Beleuest thou/you it there is one God? Thou/You dost/do well. The devils also believe and tremble.)

TNT Belevest thou that ther is one God? Thou doest well. The devyls also beleve and tremble.
(Belevest thou/you that there is one God? Thou/You dost/do well. The devils also believe and tremble. )

Wycl Thou bileuest, that o God is; thou doist wel; and deuelis bileuen, and tremblen.
(Thou/You believest, that o God is; thou/you dost/do well; and devils believen, and tremblen.)

Luth Du glaubest, daß ein einiger GOtt ist; du tust wohl daran; die Teufel glauben‘s auch und zittern.
(You(sg) believe, that a some God is; you(sg) do/act probably/well to_it; the devil believe‘s also and tremble/shake.)

ClVg Tu credis quoniam unus est Deus: bene facis: et dæmones credunt, et contremiscunt.[fn]
(You(sg) credis since/because one it_is God: well you_do: and demons they_believe, and contremiscunt. )

2.19 Tu credis, etc. Probavit eos qui opera non habent veram fidem non habere; nunc cujusmodi fidem habeant, patefacit, ne illam talem fidem magnifaciant. Et dæmones credunt, et contremiscunt. BED. Scriptum est, etc., usque ad dæmonibus tardiores et proterviores sunt existimandi.

2.19 You(sg) credis, etc. Probavit them who/which works not/no they_have true faith not/no to_have; now whosemodi faith let_them_have, patefacit, not her such_a_one faith magnifaciant. And demons they_believe, and contremiscunt. BED. Scriptum it_is, etc., until to demons tardiores and proterviores are existimandi.

UGNT σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. καλῶς ποιεῖς; καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καὶ φρίσσουσιν.
(su pisteueis hoti heis estin ho Theos. kalōs poieis; kai ta daimonia pisteuousin kai frissousin.)

SBL-GNT σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι ⸂εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός⸃; καλῶς ποιεῖς· καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καὶ φρίσσουσιν.
(su pisteueis hoti ⸂heis estin ho theos⸃? kalōs poieis; kai ta daimonia pisteuousin kai frissousin.)

RP-GNT Σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι ὁ θεὸς εἷς ἐστίν· καλῶς ποιεῖς· καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν, καὶ φρίσσουσιν.
(Su pisteueis hoti ho theos heis estin; kalōs poieis; kai ta daimonia pisteuousin, kai frissousin.)

TC-GNT Σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι [fn]ὁ Θεὸς εἷς ἐστι· καλῶς ποιεῖς· καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσι, καὶ φρίσσουσι.
(Su pisteueis hoti ho Theos heis esti; kalōs poieis; kai ta daimonia pisteuousi, kai frissousi. )

2:19 ο θεος εις εστι 80.6% ¦ θεος εις εστι MSS 9.8% ¦ εις θεος εστι WH 4.1% ¦ εις εστιν ο θεος ECM NA SBL TH 1.8%

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 2:18–19

In this paragraph, James said that we show that we have true faith by the way we behave.

2:19

In 2:19, James gave more evidence to convince his readers that true faith is a matter of both faith and good deeds. People are wrong if they think that it is enough just to believe true things about God without doing good deeds.

2:19a

You believe that God is one.

You^(sing) believe/think that there is only one God.
You^(sing) accept as true that there is only one God.
You^(plur) are convinced that there is only one God.

You believe that God is one: In this verse, James talked about a second meaning of the word believe. This type of belief is different than the type of belief that he talked about in previous verses. The two types of belief are:

The type of belief that people have when they trust in God and entrust themselves to Jesus, the Messiah. This type of belief results in salvation. This is the type of belief that James talked about in 2:14–18 and 2:20–26.
The type of “belief” that people have when they just believe something about God. This type of belief does not have any good works. This type of belief does not result in salvation. The demons have this same type of belief. This is the type of belief that James talked about here in 2:19. It means “accept that a certain statement is true.” It refers specifically to the statement God is one.

James used the same Greek word to talk about these two types of belief. If your language uses two different terms for these two meanings of “believe/faith,” it may be helpful to indicate how they are related. See the General Comment on 2:19a–d at the end of 2:19d for some suggestions of how to do this.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

You accept as true that there is one God

You affirm that there is one God

You are convinced that there is one God

See also believe, meaning 1, in the Glossary.

You: In this verse, James continued to address the person who disagreed with him. So in Greek, the pronoun You is singular. However, James was also writing to anyone who believed that it was possible to have faith without good deeds. So, in some languages, it will be more natural to use the plural form of “you” here.

God is one: The Jewish belief that God is one was the most basic belief of all Jews. (This belief is expressed in Deuteronomy 6:4.) This belief was in contrast to belief in many gods.There is a textual issue here. There are a number of textual variants, but the main point of difference is whether the definite article appears with “God” (εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός vs. εἷς θεός ἐστιν). Some commentators (Moo (2000), page 130; Martin, page 77; Hiebert, page 186, for example) feel “God” with the article focuses on the unity of God (“God is one”) while “God” without the article would be a statement of monotheism (“there is one God”). Other commentators (Davids (1982), page 125; Lenski, page 584; Huther, page 92, Translator’s Handbook, page 89) suggest that the meaning of either reading would be the same – probably understood as an affirmation of monotheism.Independent of which textual variant is chosen (or whether one sees all variants as essentially expressing the same meaning), there is some question of whether this is a statement about the unity of God or his uniqueness (a statement of monotheism). The discussion in commentaries is somewhat confusing because some writers seem to use unity to mean uniqueness. That is, they state that this was about the unity of God, but then discuss unity in the sense of monotheism. Most English versions translate this as a statement of monotheism (as the NIV does). For the versions that translate it as “God is one” (RSV, ESV, NASB, NET), it is not certain if they intend this to express the unity of God or his uniqueness (monotheism). In considering the context in which Deuteronomy 6:4 was spoken and the context of the book of James, it seems much more likely that this expresses monotheism (in contrast to belief in many gods) than it does the unity of God (in contrast to his fragmentation or division into three persons). In the Old Testament period (the context of Deuteronomy 6:4), the unity of God would have been assumed. And the trinitarian understanding of God existing in three persons was not well enough developed in James’ day to think that God’s unity (though existing in three persons) was in view. This clause may be translated as:

there is only one God (CEV)

2:19b

Good for you!

That is good/correct, but not enough/sufficient!
You^(sing) do well!

Good for you!: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as Good for you is literally “You do well” (as in the RSV). James was not completely praising his readers for believing that there is only one God. His point was that such faith is good, but it is not good enough. Even the demons believe that. If their faith was no more than empty words without deeds, it was dead/useless.

Some ways to translate this phrase and indicate that such faith is not sufficient are:

Put the implied information after 2:19b. For example:
That’s good but not enough
You do well, but it is not sufficient by/in itself
Put the implied information after the word shudder in 2:19d. For example:
Good! ^19cBut even the demons believe that— ^19dand shudder. So such faith is not enough/sufficient.

2:19c

Even the demons believe that—

But even the demons believe that,
Evil spirits even/also believe that there is only one God,

Even: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Even here indicates:

something unexpected. It is not likely that demons would be described as believing in God. But even they believe. For example:
Even demons believe this (CEV)
an addition. James’ readers believed that there is one God. Demons also believe the same thing. For example:
The demons also believe (GNT)

If possible, translate this word with a word that can include both meanings. If you must make a choice, choose meaning (a).

demons: The Greek word that the BSB translates as demons refers to spirits that are evil and can control people’s actions. The word demons refers to the same type of spirit as the Greek terms that are often translated as “evil spirits” and “unclean spirits.”

Some ways to translate demons are:

Use a general term in your language that refers to spirits that are evil and can control people.
Use a specific term in your language that refers to a certain type of spirit. These spirits should be ones that do evil things. Do not use a term that refers to spirits of dead people.
Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
evil/bad spirits
unclean spirits
spirits who oppose God Be sure that an expression like “unclean spirits” does not imply that the spirits are literally dirty.

believe that: The word that refers to 2:19a. It means “that there is only one God.” Even demons believe that there is only one God.

Another way to translate this phrase is:

even the demons have the same belief (NJB)

even demons believe like that

even demons believe that there is one God

believe: Here the word believe has the same meaning as believe in 2:19a. It means to accept that something is true.

2:19d

and shudder.

and they tremble with fear!
and they shake because they fear him! So that kind of faith is not good enough.

shudder: The Greek word that the BSB translates as shudder means “shake” or “tremble.” Here it means to shake or tremble because of fear. Some ways to translate this word are:

shake with fear (CEV)

tremble in fear of him

shake with horror because they know that God will judge them

General Comment on 2:19a–d

James used the same Greek word to talk about two types of belief. Some languages use two different terms to translate these two meanings of “believe.” In such languages, it may be helpful to use both terms in 2:19 to show how they are related. For example:

You accept as true that there is one God. Good! But if that is all you mean when you say that you are trusting God, then you are just like the demons. Even they accept this as true, and it makes them shudder.

It is good that you are convinced that there is only one God. But the kind of trust in God that leads to salvation is more than that. Even the demons are convinced that there is only one God. They will certainly not be saved. Instead, thinking about this makes them shake with fear.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / reduplicaition

σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Σύ πιστεύεις ὅτι εἱς ἐστίν ὁ Θεός Καλῶς ποιεῖς καί τά δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καί φρίσσουσιν)

The verb translated believe comes from the same root as the word translated “faith.” It may be helpful to your readers to show in your translation that James is continuing to speak to the same person as in the previous verse. Alternate translation: [You have faith that God is one]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

σὺ πιστεύεις ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός

As Part 1 of the General Introduction to James explains, the people to whom James was writing were believers in Jesus who had a Jewish background. As a result, they would have known that he was referring here to the essential Jewish affirmation, “Listen, Israel, Yahweh our God is one.” Moses says this in [Deuteronomy 6:4](../deu/06/04.md). If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [You believe the essential teaching of Moses that there is one God]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / irony

καλῶς ποιεῖς; καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καὶ φρίσσουσιν

When James says You do well, he is saying the opposite of what he really means. He grants that believing in one God is a good thing in itself, but he is actually saying that by itself, it is the kind of faith without works that cannot save a person. He proves this by observing that the demons, who are not saved, also believe that there is one God, and this makes them tremble. Alternate translation: [You may think that is a good thing to do. But the demons also believe in one God, and they tremble]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καὶ φρίσσουσιν

If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state explicitly why the demons tremble at the thought of God. Alternate translation: [The demons also believe in one God, and they tremble, knowing that God is going to punish them]

Parallel YAC 2:19